WINONA, Minn. — There's a reason the Carleton women's basketball team is the defending Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament champion, unbeaten heading into Monday's game against Saint Mary's.

They're good — very good.

Just ask the Cardinals.

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.

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.

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 the Cardinals would get, as Carleton used a 9-2 run to make it a 62-48 ball game with 2:30 left.

After their dismal 6-for-30 first-half effort, SMU shot a much more respectable 14-for-27 (51.9 percent) in the second half.

Angie Arrington (Spring Grove, Minn.) netted a game- and season-high 21 points (one point shy of her career best) to lead all scorers. Rattunde, meanwhile, rebounded from her first-half cold spell in the second half, going 6-for-8 from the field and 3-for-4 from the free-throw line to finish with 19 points.

Linnea Engel tallied 18 points to lead three Carleton (6-0 MIAC, 9-0 overall) in double figures.