NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The first the Saint Mary’s University and Carleton women’s basketball teams squared off, SMU’s
Jessica Thone (Woodbury, Minn.) tossed in a career-high 27 points — including 22 points in the second half.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it was the Knights who had the last laugh, going a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line in overtime to lift Carleton to an 80-70 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory.
Wednesday evening, the two teams squared off again, and this time, the Knights did a number on Thone, holding the SMU freshman without a point.
Fortunately for the Cardinals,
Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.) picked up the offensive slack — scoring a game-high 22 points — and this time around it was SMU who was laughing last, as Saint Mary’s snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 56-49 conference win.
"It was good to see us put together a complete game from start to finish," said SMU coach Mandy Pearson. "We played solid all the way around — got great performances from Kim Kaminski and Renee Pecarina — and did a nice job tonight."
Carleton had the upper hand early, jumping out to a 10-5 advantage over the game’s opening four minutes. From there, it was all SMU, as the Cardinals used a 8-2 run to tie the game 13-13, then outscored the Knights 15-12 the remainder of the half to take a three-point, 28-25, advantage into the locker room at the break.
After brief stumble at the outset of the second half — which allowed Carleton to regain the lead 34-33 five minutes into the game’s final 20 minutes — the Cardinals got back to business, riding a 21-10 run to their biggest lead of the game, 54-44, with four minutes remaining in regulation.
The Knights got to within five, 54-49, but that was as close as they would get, as the Cardinals collected their first road win of the season.
Along with Miller’s 20 points, the Cardinals also got a career-best 11 points from
Kim Kaminski (Milwaukee, Wis.) and 10 from
Cherie Kulig (Independence, Wis.). Ally Weaver scored 15 points and Megan Mileusnic added 10 in the losing effort for the Knights.
The Cardinals, who improved to 4-13 in the MIAC and 5-14 overall, are back in action on Saturday, playing host to St. Catherine in a 3 p.m. conference contest at the SMU Gym.