Macalester vs. St. Mary's statistics

Trina PaStarr (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn. / Southwest) finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead Macalester past visiting St. Mary's 65-50 at the Leonard Center as the Scots get the 2008-09 MIAC campaign off to a winning start. Macalester goes to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the MIAC, while the Cardinals are 0-3 on the season, 0-1 in league play.

Three teammates joined PaStarr in double figures. Holly Schiedermayer (Fy., Waupaca, Wis.) came off the bench to provide 14 points, going 3-for-4 from the floor and a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line. Ann Baltzer (Jr., Bismarck, N.D.) contributed 13 points, while Danielle Johnson (Jr., DeForest, Wis. / Madison Edgewood) added 11 points to go along with four assists and six rebounds.

Macalester has had four or more players reach double figures in each of the team's last three games.

The Scots shot only 33% on the night, but played solid on the defensive end of the court, holding St. Mary's to a 29% figure. Mac out-rebounded SMU 45-34, blocked five shots and forced 19 turnovers.

It took a while for Mac to get going, but the Cardinals suffered an even slower start, missing their first five shots and turning the ball over five times before scoring their initial basket with 13:07 left in the half.  At that point, however, Macalester's lead was just 4-3.  Up 15-11 with 7:21 remaining until halftime, the Scots rallied for seven straight to go on top 22-11.  St. Mary's finished with just 15 first half points.

The Cardinals played better in the second half, and drained four three-pointers, but Mac always had a double digit lead as the team received 11 points in the period from PaStarr, and nine apiece from Johnson and Beltzer.

St. Mary's was paced by Jess Miller with 12 points.

The Scots led 28-16 in points in the paint and 18-8 in second chance points.

Macalester tries to make it two-for-two in MIAC play when it plays host Saturday (Dec. 6) to Hamline at 1 p.m.