WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University women's basketball coach Dan Messmann doesn't expect to get too many presents when he looks under the tree Christmas morning.

That's because he got the only present he wanted last Wednesday.

A win over St. Thomas.

The Cardinals headed into last Wednesday's MIAC game against St. Thomas with a full head of steam. They were riding a four-game winning streak and had opened conference play with three straight wins for the first time since the 2 001-2002 season.

Problem was, they were heading into some uncharted waters. The Cardinals hadn't beaten the Tommies in 38 straight meetings – including three straight losses to UST a year ago.

In fact, no one on he SMU roster could even dribble a basketball the last time a Saint Mary's women's basketball team had beaten St. Thomas — they were all still in diapers on Jan. 18, 1986, when SMU pulled off a 52-47 win.

Fortunately for the Cardinals, streaks — like records — were made to be broken.

And break the Cardinals did as SMU rode the hot shooting of Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn.) and Jamie Rattunde (Rollingstone, Minn.) to a 71-49 rout of the Tommies.

"That was a phenomenal performance," said Messmann. "Everyone played great — they deserved that win."

Luehmann scored a game-high 21 points, while Rattunde recorded a double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds as SMU pushed its winning streak to five straight — and their MIAC-opening winning streak to four, the longest since SMU opened conference play 16-0 during that same 1985-86 season.

The Cardinals held a 37-30 halftime advantage, then outscored the Tommies 18-2 to start the second half in building their lead to 23, 55-32. SMU shot 54 percent from the field in the second half, while St. Thomas shot just 16 percent and turned the ball over 21 times.

"I was a little worried early on," admitted Messmann, whose Cardinals struggled out of the gates vs. the Tommies, falling behind 10-1. "The nice thing about that start was, we never panicked, we just kept going, and once we got into a flow, everything we did worked."

As impressive as the win was, there was a downside to the Cardinals' latest conquest – they have to wait nearly a month before they take the court again.

"Right now we are living in the moment — savoring this victory," said Messmann, whose team is off for final exams and the Christmas holidays. "But they all know how important it is for us to do our individual workouts over the break and come back focused and ready to go."

Especially considering SMU has league-leaders St. Benedict and Carleton in a three-day stretch to start the new year.

"As good as it feels to beat St. Thomas, we've still got a lot of work ahead of us," said Messmann. "We can't forget how hard we had to work (to beat the Tommies), because nothing less than that will do — especially against teams like St. Ben's or Carleton."