WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team spread the wealth in their season-opening nonconference game against the University of Dubuque Tuesday evening.
 
The Cardinals put five players in double figures—including a team-high 16 points from Sam Jones (White Bear Lake, Minn.)—in opening the season with a 76-64 win over the Spartans at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
After grabbing a slim, four-point lead after the game's opening 10 minutes, the Cardinals took control, outscoring UD 28-16 in the second quarter to grab a 16-point, 47-31 advantage into the locker room at the break.
 
The Spartans, however, would not go away, outscoring Saint Mary's 17-11 in the third quarter to cut the lead to 10 heading into the game's final 10-minute stanza.
 
UD scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to make it a four-point game, 58-54, but Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.) drained a 3-pointer to give Saint Mary's some breathing room. The Spartans would cut the deficit to four on two more occasions—the last at 63-59—but the Cardinals would slowly pull away, outscoring UD 13-5 over the final six minutes to seal the win.
 
Along with Jones' 16 points—which including an 8-for-10 showing from the free throw line—the Cardinals also got 13 points from Alexa Huisman (Adrian, Minn.), 12 from Blattner, 11 from Brittney Flom (Kenyon, Minn.) and 10 from Emma Schaefer (Roseville, Minn.).
 
The Cardinals shot 46 percent from the field (23-for-50)—including 10 3-pointers—and finished 20-for-27 from the free throw line. Dubuque, meanwhile, hit on just 39 percent of its field goals (24-for-63) and were just 4 of 17 from behind the arc.
 
The Cardinals (1-0 overall) are back in action this weekend, heading to St. Joseph, Minn., for nonconference games against UW-Stout on Friday and Martin Luther on Saturday as part of the Saint Benedict Tournament.