ST. JOSEPH, Minn. — For the second time this season, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team entered a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game riding a season-high five-game winning streak.
And, unfortunately for coach
Brent Pollari and the Cardinals, for the second time this season, the Cardinals left the floor unable to notch that sixth straight win.
Saint Benedict, which managed just four third-quarter points, outscored the Cardinals 16-11 in the game's final 10 minutes, as the Blazers dealt Saint Mary's a 47-45 conference setback at Claire Lynch Hall.
The Cardinals grabbed a 12-8 advantage following a seesaw first quarter and pushed their lead to eight, 19-10 midway through the second stanza. From there, however, the Blazers took over, scoring 17 of the final 18 points of the half—including a layup by Chelsey GUetter at the buzzer—to grab a 27-20 lead at the intermission.
Unfazed by the seven-point halftime deficit, the Cardinals held the host Blazers to just four third-quarter points—outscoring CSB 14-4 to take a 34-31 lead into the game's final 10 minutes.
CSB opened the quarter with four straight points to regain the lead, 35-34, before pushing the advantage to five, 45-40, with 6:07 remaining in regulation. Saint Mary's clawed back within one, 46-45 on a layup by
Sam Jones (White Bear Lake, Minn.), but a free throw by Allison Newton and a Cardinal miss at the buzzer, secured the Blazer win.
Alex Huisman (Adrian, Minn.) was the only Cardinal to finish in double figures, scoring 11 points, as Saint Mary's struggled all afternoon to find its shooting touch—hitting just 15 of 50 field goal attempts (30 percent)—nine of which were 3-pointers—while going 6 of 10 from the free throw line.
Saint Benedict did not have much more success from the floor, managing just 14 field goals in 56 tries (25 percent)—including a lowly 2 of 19 effort from behind the 3-point line—and added a 17-for-26 effort from the charity stripe.
The Cardinals (5-3 MIAC, 11-4 overall) are back in action—and back on the road—on Wednesday, traveling to St. Thomas' Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul, Minn., for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Tommies.
