Women's Basketball 2/15/03 -- St. Mary's 69, Augsburg 45 

BOXSCORE

WINONA, Minn. (2/15/03) -- One down, one two go. The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball playoff picture is a jumbled mess with less than a week remaining in the regular season, but for the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team the picture could not have been more clear — win two and the season continues.

The Cardinals got the first win out of the way Saturday, as Ashley Luehmann netted a game-high 17 points and led three SMU players in double figures as Saint Mary's snapped a two-game losing streak with a 69-45 victory over Augsburg College.

With the win, the Cardinals improved to 10-11 in the MIAC and are currently tied for the sixth and final playoff spot with Concordia.

More importantly, the win sets up a winner-take-all showdown with fifth-place St. Catherine on Wednesday. If the Cardinals win that game, they will hold the tiebreaker over the Wildcats, should the two teams finish in a tie.

SMU started out a bit sluggish against the pesky Auggies, falling behind 4-0 and 8-5, before going on a 18-12 run to take its biggest lead of the first half, 23-14, with five minutes remaining. Augsburg battled back, scoring six straight points to pull within four, 23-19, before SMU settled for a seven-point, 30-23, halftime edge.

The Auggies continued to hang tough, closing the gap to one, 30-29, by scoring the second half's first six points. That was as close as Augsburg would get, however, as SMU used a 27-8 run to put the game out of reach, 53-37, with 10 minutes remaining.

Along with Luehmann's game-high 17 points, SMU also got 14 points from both Jamie Rattunde and Tessa Stranik.

Rosinta Stromquist (Fr., Brooklyn Park, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) scored 12 points for the Auggies, who have now lost 13 straight in falling to 3-17 in the MIAC and 4-19 overall. Ashley Vossen (Fr., St. Paul, Minn./Central HS) had nine points.

Augsburg has its final home game of the season on Wednesday (2/19), hosting Concordia-Moorhead as part of a women's and men's basketball doubleheader. The women's game starts at 5:30 p.m., with the men's game following at 7:30 p.m.