By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
NORTHFIELD, Minn. — It still wasn't the start that Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball coach Brent Pollari was looking for—but the ending was much, much more to his liking.
 
Despite giving up the game's first five points, the Cardinals battled Carleton right down to the wire Wednesday evening, scoring the game's final eight points in dealing the Knights a 71-64 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at West Gym.
 
Despite their patented slow start, Saint Mary's quickly regrouped, scoring six straight points to answer Carleton's 5-0 start and take a 6-5 advantage  less than two minutes into the first quarter.
 
The Cardinals would continue to pad their lead, taking their largest lead of the opening 10 minutes, 22-14, on a 3-pointer by Alexa Huisman (Adrian Minn.) to end the quarter.
 
Carleton started the second quarter in much the same way it opened the game, scoring 17 of the first 20 points to grab a six-point, 31-25 lead with 4:39 until halftime.
 
Saint Mary's would whittle the lead to one, 33-32, but Nia Harris scored on a layup in the waning seconds to make it a three-point, 35-32, Carleton lead at the intermission.
 
The third quarter mirrored the first two, as Carleton against started strong, building its lead to nine 47-38, with 3:02 remaining, only to have Saint Mary's score the final nine points to knot the game at 47-47 heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
A Kirsten Keefe (Chatfield, Minn.) 3-pointer gave Saint Mary's a 52-49 lead early in the final quarter, but it was Carleton that held a one-point, 64-63 advantage with 2:24 on the clock.
 
From there, however, it was all Saint Mary's, as the Cardinals rattled off seven unanswered points—a layup by Abby Winter (Winona, Minn.), a three-point play by Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.), and three straight free throws—two from Blattner and one from Savannah Bleess (Kenyon, Minn.)—to ice the win.
 
Blattner finished with a team-high 20 points, while Huisman and Winter chipped in 19 and 10 points, respectively, for the Cardinals, who shot 47 percent from the field (25-for-53) with 10 3-pointers and an 11-for-19 effort from the free throw line.
 
Katie Chavez netted a team-best 17 points and Sarah Waldfogel and Samantha Cooke each added 11 in the losing effort for Carleton (1-1 MIAC, 3-3 overall).
 
The Cardinals (1-1 MIAC, 5-3 overall) are back in action on Saturday, returning home to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 3 p.m. conference matchup against Bethel.