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 next weekend's MIAC post-season tournament.

"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 1-1 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 beating 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 playing their final collegiate home game. "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."