WINONA, Minn. — New coach.

New players.

Same goal.

For the past two years, the Saint Mary’s University women’s basketball team has been a fixture in the MIAC post-season tournament.

And despite the loss of three starters, four of their top seven scorers — not to mention a new head coach — the Cardinals are once again expecting to be on the guest list when the MIAC hands out its post-season invitations.

“Just because we have some new faces doesn’t mean our expectations have changed — we’re just hoping to pick up where we left off last season,” said first-year head coach Dan Messmann, who spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach for the Cardinal men’s squad, before accepting the women’s position in late May. “This team has made it to the (conference) tournament the last two years, and there’s no reason why they can’t do that again this year.”

Do that, and more? Messmann isn’t ruling that out, either.

“Obviously, it’s too early to say where we are going to be by the end of the season, but we’d certainly like to make it back to the conference tournament — and get out of the first round,” said Messmann, who inherited a team that went 13-13 a year ago, losing to Gustavus 78-57 in the opening round of the conference tournament. “We’ve got a good nucleus of returning players who have all had a taste of success over the past couple of years — but they are hungry for more.”

In order for Messmann and the Cardinals to satisfy that hunger, however, they are going to have to find a way to replace their top three scorers — Amy Burns (team-leading 11.7 ppg), Stacy Hammel (11.0 ppg) and Alissa Erichsen (10.7 ppg) — as well as their leading rebounder (Hammel, 7.3 rpg).

“We lost four very good players (to graduation), players who played a big part in the success of this team over the last several years,” said Messmann. “But we also return a number of players who have some experience — not a ton, but enough that (the collegiate game) is not going to be totally new.”

The collegiate game won’t be new to many of the Cardinals, but their roles may be.

Jamie Rattunde (Rollingstone, Minn. / 8.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg) and Jaimie Lee (Eden Prairie, Minn. / 8.2 ppg / team-high 43 3-pointers) will have to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight, while other returners like Beth Walch (Altura, Minn. / 5.0 ppg, 1.6 rpg), Sarah Jensen (Rochester, Minn. / 1.1 ppg, 1.3 rpg) and Angie Arrington (Spring Grove, Minn. / 0.9 ppg, 0.9 rpg) will have to step up their games as well.

“We are going to need some people to bring their games to a new level, no question about that,” Messmann said. “We’ve got a number of questions that still need to be answered, but I really think we are off to a good start.”

If the Cardinals are going to gain any ground on perennial MIAC powers St. Thomas and St. Benedict, a good start is nice — but a consistent, high-level performance on a nightly basis is vital.

“For us to be able to make a run at teams like St. Thomas and St. Ben’s, we need to make sure we play mistake-free,” said Messmann, whose team opens play at the Luther Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 22. “We can’t have too many peaks and valleys — every night we have to be at our best.”

Messmann also realizes that the team he has assembled isn’t without a slight imperfection — there is a chink in their armor.
Rebounding.

“We are not a big team, but that’s only part of it. Historically, Saint Mary’s teams have not been very good rebounding teams,” said Messmann, noting that the Cardinals were outrebounded 987-976 — including 662-625 on the defensive glass. “Our whole (uptempo) style of play relies on us being able to rebound. If we don’t do a good job on the boards, it’s going to make it that much tougher.”