WINONA, Minn. — Overtime games are nothing new to the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team.

Winning them, on the other hand, is.

Heading into Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season finale against league-champion St. Thomas, the Cardinals had played seven overtime games — but they were without a win, going 0-1-6.

Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.), however, decided enough was enough.

Kearns took a feed from Beth Zubrzycki (South St. Paul, Minn.), split a pair of Tommie defenders and beat UST goalie Becky Kilpatrick with a wristshot, giving SMU its first overtime win, 3-2.

More importantly, it gave the Cardinals a sweep of their series with the Tommies — and some much-needed momentum heading into Thursday's MIAC post-season tournament opener against Augsburg.

"We're starting to gel as a team," said SMU coach Duncan Ryhorchuk. "Emily, Christy (Hicks), Missie (Meemken) all had big games, but then, everyone played very well today."

Which, Ryhorchuk admits, was a bit of a surprise, considering Saturday's game meant little in terms of the post-season — since SMU locked up its playoff berth with Friday's 3-2 win — and it was Senior Day, which always seems to lead to a bit of an emotional letdown.

Letdown, however, was not in the Cardinals' vocabulary Saturday.

Kearns, who enjoyed her second straight two-goal game — and her ninth multi-goal game of the season — got the Cardinals on the board early, beating Kilpatrick just 55 seconds into the opening period.

St. Thomas held the upper hand in the second period, tying the game at 1:17 into the period on a goal by Sue Heinmiller, then taking a 2-1 lead when Maureen Hardwick beat SMU goalie Missie Meemken (St. Cloud, Minn.) with a shot midway through the period.

Unfazed by the sudden one-goal deficit, SMU got back-to-back goals from Ashley Graf (South St. Paul, Minn.) and Christy Hicks (Bloomington, Minn.) before the period ended ,as SMU took a 3-2 lead into the lockerroom after two.

St. Thomas got the only goal of the third period, as Tanaya Reitz beat Meemken with a wrist shot from point-blank range at the 3:55 mark. That, however, would be the last time the Tommies would get one past Meemken, who finished with 39 saves — including 18 in the second period and 12 in the third, a span in which SMU was outshot 33-13.

"Missie played great, but then, she's played great here for four years," said Ryhorchuk of Meemken, one of six seniors who played their final collegiate home game Saturday. "This was a game in which we could have very easily just gone through the motions — but we didn't. We played a strong game, and hopefully that will give us some good momentum heading into the playoffs."

Momentum and a hint of revenge could be a lethal combination for the Cardinals in their playoff opener against Augsburg.

"When you get to this stage in the season, it really doesn't matter who you play," said Ryhorchuk, whose team lost both of its games against the Auggies during the regular season — falling 4-0 and 6-1. "The bottom line is, you've got to beat them all if you are going to move on (to the NCAA Division III national tournament).

"We're playing well, but so is (Augsburg) — we'll just have to see what happens."

* THIS AND THAT: Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.) scored four of SMU's seven goals vs. St. Thomas — including the game-winner in each game of SMU's series sweep. … St. Thomas had not lost a conference game all season until meeting the Cardinals. … Saturday's overtime win was its first victory in eight OT games this season (1-1-6). … SMU has never lost to St. Thomas, improving its overall record to 11-0-1. … SMU enters the MIAC tournament as the defending champion, having defeated Gustavus 2-1 in last year's tournament final. … The winner of Thursday's game between SMU and Augsburg will face league-champion St. Thomas, while Gustavus and Concordia square off in Friday's other semifinal game. … SMU is making its third straight post-season appearance — the Cardinals placed third in the AWCHA national tournament in 2000-2001, and won the MIAC tournament and lost to Gustavus 2-0 in the inaugural NCAA Division III national tournament a year ago. … Kearns leads the team in goals (24) and points (27) and has scored in nine of SMU's last 11 games. … Kearn's two-goal games vs. UST were her eighth and ninth multi-goal games of the season. … Missie Meemken (St. Cloud, Minn.) stopped 76 of the 81 shots she faced vs. UST, lowering her team-leading goals-against-average to 2.44 and raising her save percentage to .918. … SMU has been shut out in six of its nine losses. … The Cardinals' six ties are a single-season record and is just one short of the number of ties SMU had recorded in its first four years combined.