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2004-05 Record: 6-3 MIAC / 10-3 Overall
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| Last Week's Results: Saint Mary's 88, Hamline 78 / Details Saint Mary's 72, St. Thomas 58 / Details |
| Upcoming Games: Wed., Jan. 19: Saint Mary's at St. Olaf, 7:30 p.m. Sat., Jan. 22: St. Catherine at Saint Mary's, 1 p.m. |
| This and That: SMU's win vs. St. Thomas was its third straight vs. the Tommies. … Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn.) averaged 20.5 ppg — including a 21-point effort vs. Hamline last Wednesday — and was one of five Cardinals players to average in double figures last week. … Angie Arrington (Spring Grove, Minn.) netted 17 points vs. Hamline and 11 vs. St. Thomas and has scored in double figrues in 12 of SMU's 13 games. … Jamie Rattunde (Rollingstone, Minn.) recorded her third double-double of the season vs. Hamline, scoring 15 points and dishing out 11 assists. … SMU’s 88 points vs. the Pipers was its second-highest offensive output of the season. … Wednesday's win vs. Hamline was the Cardinals' sixth in seven road games. … The Cardinals have now won two straight and five of their last six. … Arrington leads the team in scoring, averaging 14.8 ppg, while Luehmann (14.5 ppg) and Rattunde (13.7 ppg) are also averaging in double figures. |
become new Goliath in Saint Mary's-St. Thomas rivalry
WINONA, Minn. — There was a time in the not-too-distant past when even hearing the name "St. Thomas" would make members of the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team cringe.
A 38-game losing streak to the mighty Tommies will do that to a person.
Last Saturday afternoon at the SMU Gym, however, it was the Tommies who were doing the cringing, as the Cardinals, led by Ashley Luehmann's (Lewiston, Minn.) game-high 20 points, cruised to a 72-58 victory.
Their third straight victory over the Tommies.
My, how times have changed.
"It's like night and day," said SMU coach Dan Messmann of the SMU team that took the floor Saturday, and the one that was beaten by the Tommies 74-59 two years ago to extended the streak to 38. "After what we did to them last year, we came into this game confident — we knew we were the better team, and we were determined to prove it.
"It's always an extra-big game when we play St. Thomas," continued Messmann. "Everyone was pretty jacked-up to play — not just because it was a conference game, but because it was a conference game against St. Thomas."
And, once SMU got its early game emotions in check, the Cardinals quickly proved that they were no longer intimidated by the St. Thomas mystique.
Down by six, 13-7, six minutes into the game, SMU went on a 12-5 run to take the lead for good, 19-18 midway through the opening half. The Cardinals built the lead to as many as 11 — 37-26 on a three-pointer by Luehmann — before settling for a seven-point, 37-30 halftime advantage.
It was more of the same in the second half as the Cardinals padded their lead to 16, 65-49 on a basket by Angie Arrington (Spring Grove, Minn.) with seven minutes remaining. The Tommies made one final push, pulling to within nine, 67-58, but the Cardinals were not rattled, knocking down five of six free throws down the stretch to ice the win.
Luehmann led the way for the Cardinals, scoring a game-high 20 points, while Megan Moran (Burlington, Wis.) chipped in 14 and Arrington tallied 11.
"This is a big win, no question about it," said Messmann, whose team has now won five of six since the Christmas break — including an 88-78 win over Hamline last Wednesday — to improve to 6-3 in the MIAC and 10-3 overall. "We've got ourselves on a nice roll right now, hopefully we can keep it going."