WINONA, Minn. — For the first 20 minutes of both of its games at the Luther Tip-Off Classic, the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team was unstoppable.

For the last 20 minutes, however, the Cardinals' impenetrable suit of armor sprung a few leaks.

The Cardinals, who blew an eight-point halftime lead in falling to Luther 66-61 in Friday's opening game, saw a nine-point halftime advantage go up in flames again Saturday, as nationally ranked Wartburg escaped with an 82-76 victory.

"We battled the 17th-ranked team in the country toe-to-toe for 40 minutes," said SMU coach Dan Messmann. "Wartburg is a very good offensive basketball team and will win a lot of games this season."

And if the Cardinals continue to play like they did in the first halves of their first two games of the season, they'll be winning a lot of games this season, too.

SMU shot a blistering 60.7 percent from the field in the first half against Wartburg, draining 17 of 28 field goals — including 6 of 9 from beyond the three-point line.

Unfortunately, things cooled down considerably for the Cardinals in the second half, as SMU netted just nine field goals (39.1 percent) — while Wartburg lit it up for 45 second-half points, shooting 60 percent from the field (15-for-25).

"In the first half we were on fire — Wartburg could not defend our spread offense," explained Messmann. "Wartburg dropped into a zone in the second half and really slowed us down.

"I thought we executed very well down the stretch, but just couldn't get a couple of open looks to go down," continued Messmann, who watched as four SMU players scored in double figures, led by Jamie Rattunde's (Rollingstone, Minn.) 21 points. "Hopefully, we gained some experience and maturity this weekend that will pay off for us in the conference season."

Messmann won't have to wait long to see just how much the Cardinals learned as they return to action Tuesday, opening MIAC play against defending conference champion and seventh-ranked St. Benedict.

"It's a tough way to start the (conference) season, but if we play the way we did this weekend, we're going to give (St. Ben's) a run for their money," Messmann said. "This team showed a lot (at the Luther Tournament)."

* THIS AND THAT: Jamie Rattunde (Rollingstone, Minn.) scored a career-high 21 points and missed her second straight double-double by one rebound in Saturday's loss to Wartburg. … Rattunde had opened the season with a 13-point, 10-rebound effort vs. Luther on Friday. … The Cardinals finished with four players in double figures vs. 17th-ranked Wartburg — including Rattunde, Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn. / 17 points), Jaimie Lee (Eden Prairie, Minn. / 13 points) and Beth Walch (Altura, Minn. / 10 points). … Lee (17 points), Walch (15 points) and Rattunde were double-figure scorers vs. Luther Friday. … SMU led at halftime of each game, outscoring its opponents 78-61. … As a team, the Cardinals shot 43 percent from the field (47-107), while their opponents hit on 49 percent of their shots (55-112).