ST. PAUL, Minn. — After six straight nonconference games—all victories—the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball team began defense of its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title Wednesday evening.
 
And for the Cardinals, the beat goes on.
 
Saint Mary's collected its seventh straight victory to open the season, putting four players in double figures—including a career-high 23-point effort from Molly O'Toole (Plymouth, Minn.)—as the Cardinals handed Hamline an 80-72 setback at Hutton Arena.
 
The Cardinals had the upper hand over the game's first 20 minutes, racing out to a 13-point, 43-30 halftime advantage. Saint Mary's continued to half the upper hand through most of the second half, building their lead to 18, 73-55, with 4:55 remaining in regulation.
 
Hamline outscored Saint Mary's 17-7 over those final five minutes, but could not get any closer than the final eight-point margin.
 
Along with O'Toole's game-high 23-point effort—which included a 9-for-15 effort from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 showing from the free throw line—the Cardinals also got 15 points from Bridget Pethke (New London, Wis.), 12 from Shelby Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn.) and 10 from Emma Schaefer (Falcon Heights, Minn.).
 
Pethke also added 11 rebounds in recording her first collegiate double-double, while chipping in a career-high eight assists to fall just two helpers shy of a triple-double.
 
As a team, Saint Mary's went 29-for-61 from the field (46 percent)—including six 3-pointers—and drained 16 of 24 free throws.
 
Hamline, which was led by Jordan Sammons' game-high 30 points, hit on 26 of 60 field goals (38 percent)—making just 7 of 23 3-pointers—and was 13-for-22 from the free throw line.
 
The Cardinals (7-0 overall) are back in action on Saturday, returning home to the Saint Mary's Gym for a 1 p.m. conference game against Augsburg.