WINONA, Minn. — Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Augsburg might have been a little closer than Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's basketball coach Mandy Pearson may have liked, but the bottom line was … the Cardinals racked up win No. 8.
 
Eight straight.
 
But it wasn't easy—although, for 20 minutes it sure looked like it was.
 
The Cardinals—ranked No. 14 in the latest USA Today Sports Coaches Poll and No. 16 in the D3hoops.com Top 25—raced out to leads as big as 22 in the first half, but had to survive a 20-0 Augsburg second-half run to dispatch of the Auggies 66-57 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at the Saint Mary's Gym.
 
Saint Mary's has proven all season that when it comes to offense, the Cardinals are more than willing to spread the wealth. But when it comes to defense, they are as stingy as they come.
 
Case in point—the first half Saturday.
 
Saint Mary's got scoring from eight of the nine players who saw playing time in the game's opening 20 minutes en route to its 38 first-half points, while the Cardinal defense limited the entire Augsburg team to just 16 points.
 
It was more of the same to open the second half, as the Cardinals boasted a comfortable 48-22 advantage, only to have the Auggies rattle off 20 unanswered points to make it a six point game, 48-42 with 10 minutes remaining.
 
That would be as close as the Cardinals would all Augsburg to get, however, as Saint Mary's outscored the Auggies 18-15 in those final 10 minutes to keep their season-opening winning streak in tact.
 
Shelby Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinal offense, scoring 12 points, while Molly O'Toole (Plymouth, Minn.)—coming off a career-high 23-point performance against Hamline on Wednesday—chipped in 11 points.
 
As a team, the Cardinals shot 45 percent from the field (23-for-51)—including four 3-pointers—while going 16-for-22 from the free throw line.
 
Jessica Lilliquist and Abbey Luger each tossed in 14 points for the Auggies (1-1 MIAC, 5-13 overall).
 
The Cardinals (2-0 MIAC, 8-0 overall) are right back in action on Monday, hosting Bethel in a 7:45 p.m. conference contest at the Saint Mary's Gym.