SMU makes regular-season finale one to remember with
OT win over St. Olaf that clinches 1st home playoff berth

WINONA Minn. — It had all the makings of a storybook ending to the storybook careers of Saint Mary's University seniors Jamie Rattunde (Rollingstone, Minn.), Angie Arrington (Spring Grove, Minn.) and Tessa Stranik (Eatonville, Wash.).

The trio — on Senior Day, in their final regular-season game, and with the Cardinals needing one win to secure their first-ever home MIAC playoff game — had the opportunity to lead the SMU women's basketball team to victory Saturday afternoon against St. Olaf.

Yet, with 15:52 remaining in the second half, Rattunde was on the bench with her fourth foul — and a meager six points; Arrington was struggling to find her shooting touch, going 1-for-11 from the field and 0-for-6 from the 3-point line; and Stranik was pointless on two attempts.

And the Cardinals were staring at a 12-point second-half deficit.

Some storybook ending.

Unhappy with the way the Cardinals were authoring this regular-season finale, SMU's senior trio finally decided to do something about it.

Down by 10 with 6:45 remaining, Arrington promptly drilled back-to-back 3-pointers, Rattunde fed Ashley Luehmann (Lewiston, Minn.) with a picture-perfect pass that resulted in Luehmann's game-tying 3-pointer with less than a minute to go in regulation, then scored six of the Cardinals' eight points in overtime as SMU held off the Oles, 67-60 in OT last Saturday at the SMU Gym.

Now that's a storybook finish.

"That's senior leadership," said SMU coach Dan Messmann, whose team is making its fifth straight appearance in the MIAC tournament, and will play host to Gustavus — a team they've beaten twice already this season — Monday evening at 7:30 p.m. "We needed people to step up down the stretch and Jamie, Angie and Tessa did that for us."

But before the trio could put the finishing touches on this final chapter, they needed a little help from their heirs to the throne, as Luehmann, Megan Moran (Burlington, Wis.) and, Sarah Murphy (Belle Plaine, Minn.), Jess Weisbrod (Rollingstone, Minn.) and Ashley Fosmo (Plainview, Minn.) kept the Cardinals' hopes alive in the second half.

After falling behind by five, 31-26, at the half, SMU had cut the lead to four, 36-31 when Rattunde was whistled for her fourth foul. With the Cardinals' leading scorer on the bench, St. Olaf went on a 9-2 run to take their biggest lead of the half, 45-33. The Oles led by 12 once more, 48-36, before the Cardinals began chipping away.

Down by 10 with just under eight minutes to play, the Cardinals outscored St. Olaf 15-5 — including Luehmann's game-tying 3-pointer on the last basket of regulation — to send the game into OT. In the extra period, SMU outscored St. Olaf 8-1, getting six free throws from Rattunde and two from Arrington.

"You've got to give a lot of credit to our younger players, they did a great job," said Messmann, who got nine points from Moran, eight from Weisbrod, six from Murphy and three from Fosmo. "When we sat Jamie, Luehmann and G (Arrington), those girls stepped up and played very well. They did what we talked about before the game — do what we do well. They were solid defensively, moved the ball around on the offense, and knocked down shots when we needed them."

But when the Cardinals needed shots to drop down the stretch, it was Arrington and Rattunde to the rescue.

"Jamie is so important to this team — both offensively and defensively," said Messmann of his leading scorer. "To have her come back off the bench and play the way she did down the stretch — with four fouls — that was impressive.

"This was the seniors' day — and they sure made it a memorable one."