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2003-2004 Final Record: 16-6 MIAC / 17-9 Overall
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| Last Week's Results: Mon., Feb. 23: MIAC Playoffs Concordia 73, Saint Mary's 65 |
| This and That: SMU made its fourth straight appearance in the MIAC post-season tournament … SMU's 17 wins are the most since the Cardinals went 21-3 and placed third in the NCAA regional tournament in 1985-86. … Jamie Rattunde (Rollingstone, Minn.) notched her 10th double-double of the season vs. Concordia, netting 14 points and adding 10 steals. … Rattunde, who became SMU's sixth member of the 1,000 career point club earlier in the season, finished as the team's leading scorer with a 17.0 ppg average. She also averaged 9.3 rebounds and collected a school-record 118 steals. … Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn. / 16.4 ppg) and Angie Arrington (Spring Grove, Minn. / 12.5 ppg) also averaged in double figures. … SMU's tournament-opening loss snapped its four-game winning streak. … SMU finished the season averaging 68.3 ppg, while allowing just 64.9 ppg. … The Cardinals outscored their opponents 907-785 in the first half. … All six of SMU's regular-season conference losses game to teams that qualified for the MIAC playoffs. |
as SMU stumbles in opening-round game vs. Concordia
WINONA, Minn. — Qualifying for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs has become old hat for the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, so has early exits.
For the fourth straight season, SMU earned one of the six spots in the conference playoffs, posting a 16-6 MIAC mark and a fifth-place finish.
And for the fourth straight season, SMU was eliminated in the opening round, as Concordia got 11 points and 22 rebounds from Debbie Slack and had four players in double figures en route to a 73-65 playoff-opening win over the Cardinals last Monday.
"Other than the final score, it was a great college basketball game," said SMU coach Dan Messmann. "We played very well — expect for the fact that we couldn't make our free throws. You can't go 6-for-17 from the line and expect to win too many games."
The Cardinals, who split their MIAC series vs. Concordia — falling 80-57 on Jan. 19 in Moorhead, Minn., then beating the Cobbers 71-58 on Feb. 15 — led by as many as six, 26-20, with 4:30 remaining in the first half, but a 9-2 run to end the half gave Concordia a one-point, 29-28, halftime advantage.
Concordia scored 17 of the first 28 points of the second half to take a 46-39 lead with 11:59 remaining in regulation. A 3-pointer by Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn.) capped a 10-2 SMU run as the Cardinals regained the lead, 49-48 at the 10:05 mark. That, however, was the last time SMU would lead, as Concordia eliminated SMU with a game-ending 25-16 run.
"Concordia is always a tough place to play, when you factor in the long trip and everything else," said Messmann. "They had a good crowd, and that certainly worked in (Concordia's) favor. I'd say the home court advantage definitely held true."
Luehmann netted a game-high 18 points for SMU, which had its four-game winning streak snapped with the loss. The Cardinals, who finished with a 17-9 overall record — the most wins by an SMU women's basketball team since the Cardinals went 21-3 and placed third in the NCAA regional tournament in 1985-86 — also got 14 points and 10 steals from Jamie Rattunde (Rollingstone, Minn.) and 12 from Beth Walch (Altura, Minn.).
"Obviously, the season ended way before any of us had hoped it would," said Messmann. "But that doesn't diminish what this team accomplished this year. Seventeen wins, a fourth straight (MIAC) tournament appearance … . It's been a great season."