WINONA, Minn. — There’s a reason Carleton is the defending Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament champion, and unbeaten heading into kast Monday’s game against Saint Mary’s.
They’re good — very good.

Just ask the Saint Mary’s University women’s basketball team.

Carleton took advantage of SMU’s offensive struggles from the field in the first half, building an 18-point, 35-17, halftime advantage, then holding on down the stretch in beating the Cardinals 67-55 to push their unbeaten record to 9-0.

“Carleton’s a very good team,” said SMU coach Dan Messmann. “They are very methodical and patient — two characteristics we definitely didn’t show.”
The Cardinals struggled miserably from the field in the first half, netting just six of 30 field goals attempts — including a 1-for-10 effort from Jamie Rattunde (Rollingstone, Minn.), who entered the game averaging more than 14 points a game — en route to a season-low 17-point effort.

“We talked before the game about how hard it was to bounce back after an emotional game like we had (Saturday against St. Benedict),” said Messmann, referring to last Saturday’s 69-64 loss to the Blazers. “The effort and the heart were there (against Carleton), but we still made way too many silly mistakes — and they all seemed to come at the worst possible moments.”

Carleton pushed their lead to 21, 42-21, less than two minutes into the second half, but the Cardinals weren’t about to go down without a fight, scoring 23 of the next 32 points to cut the gap to seven, 51-44, with 10:18 remaining. That, however, was as close as SMU would get, as Carleton used a 9-2 run to make it a 62-48 ball game with 2:30 left.

“The key for us now is to put (the Carleton game), and the St. Ben’s game, behind us,” said Messmann, whose team looks to snap its season-high two-game losing streak tonight against Macalester. “We just need to regroup, refocus, and make sure that we come out ready to play our style of basketball against Macalester.”