CARDINAL WOMEN'S BASKETBALL HOME
(http://sports.smumn.edu/w_basketball)
Cardinal Roster
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MIAC Standings
2006-2007 Records:
0-0 MIAC, 2-1 Overall
Last Week's Results:
Saint Mary's 52, Martin Luther 42 / Details
Upcoming Games:
Wed., Nov. 29: SMU at St. Thomas, 7:45 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 2: Saint Benedict at SMU, 3 p.m.
Cardinal News and Notes:
SMU closed out its nonconference schedule with a 2-1 record, sandwiching wins over Willamette and Martin Luther around a 52-38 loss to Lewis & Clark. … Danielle Dehning (Spring Grove, Minn.) scored a game-high 13 points and added seven rebounds in SMU's win vs. Martin Luther last week. … Jessica Weisbrod (Rollingstone, Minn.) notched her first double-digit rebound performance of the season vs. the Knights, pulling down 10 boards. … SMU has held its opponents to less than 45 points in both of its wins (56-43 vs. Willamette and 52-42 vs. Martin Luther). … As a team, the Cardinals have shot 40 percent from the field (55-for-137), but have made just 8 of 27 3-pointers. SMU's opponents, meanwhile, are just 5 of 32 behind the arc. … SMU has been outscored 74-70 in the first half, but the Cardinals have outscored their opponents 76-63 in the second half.
Cardinals head into conference play on a high note
following 10-point, 52-42 victory over Martin Luther

Danielle
Dehning
13 pts, 7 reb.
in win over
Martin Luther
WINONA, Minn. — With just one game remaining before the opening of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season, Saint Mary's University women's basketball coach Shawn Stimmel was looking for a complete-game effort from his Cardinals when they took the floor last Tuesday evening against Martin Luther.

What he got was a complete defensive effort.

The jury is still out on the offensive performance.

"We've played three games, and all three have been very similar — the defense plays very well, and the offense has its moments," said Stimmel, whose team rallied from a 25-24 halftime deficit to beat the Knights 52-42 in the Cardinals' home opener at the SMU Gym. "I was very pleased with the way we came out and played in the second half. I think everyone stepped up their game a bit over those last 20 minutes."

And the Cardinals needed it.

After shooting just 33 percent from the field in the first half, the Cardinals' offensive touch came to life in the second half — while the defense remained its same, stingy self — as SMU knocked down 10 of 22 shots, while holding Martin Luther to just seven field goals and 17 second-half points en route to their second win in three games.

"Defensively, we are playing extremely well — I couldn't be happier with our defensive performance," said Stimmel, whose team has not allowed more than 52 points in any of its three games this season. "But we've got to do a better job on the offensive end."

The Cardinals led by seven, 24-17, with four minutes remaining in the first half, before Martin Luther used an 8-0 run to go into the locker room with its only lead of the half, 25-24.

"I thought we shot the ball much better in the second half," said Stimmel, whose team opens conference play on Wednesday at St. Thomas. "Hopefully we can keep that going."