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Saturday, January 3, 2004 |
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(Through Friday, January 2) |
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The Cardinals snapped a 38-game losing streak vs. St. Thomas on Dec. 10, beating the Tommies 71-49. … St. Benedict, meanwhile, |
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The Blazers picked up a pair of wins vs. SMU a year ago, winning 72-67 on Nov. 26, then adding an 83-60 win on Jan. 4. |
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The Cardinals' 71-49 wi over St. Thomas last Wednesday snapped a 38-game losing streak to the Tommies, dating back to Jan. 18, 1986. … Sophomore Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn.) who scored a team-high 21 points vs. the Tommies, was two-years-old the last time SMU had beaten UST. … The Cardinals are now 4-0 in the MIAC, their best conference start since SMU started the MIAC 16-0 during the 1985-86 season. … SMU's win vs. St. Thomas was just its fourth in 48 meetings between the two teams all-time. … Luehmann averaged a team-leading 19 points in SMU's two games last week, while Jamie Rattunde (Rollingstone, Minn.) — who scored 20 points and added 14 rebounds vs. UST — averaged 17.5 ppg last week. … SMU has now won five straight. |
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Year Hometown |
WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary’s University women’s basketball coach Dan Messmann didn’t expect to get too many presents when he looked under the tree Christmas morning.
That’s because he got the only present he wanted two weeks before Christmas.
A win over St. Thomas.
The Cardinals headed their MIAC game against St. Thomas on Dec. 10 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 2001-2002 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 the SMU roster could even dribble a basketball the last time SMU beat St. Thomas — they were all still in diapers on Jan. 18, 1986, when the Cardinals pulled off a 52-47 win.
Fortunately, 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 took the court again.
"Right now we are living in the moment — savoring this victory," said Messmann. "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."