ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's basketball team headed into Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against St. Thomas with a full head of steam.

The Cardinals 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.

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.