St. Joseph, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team opened its 2017-18 season with a 67-59 victory over Saint Mary's University (Minn.) Friday night in the College of Saint Benedict Tournament. The Eagles improve to 1-0 while the Cardinals drop to 1-1.

Saint Mary's (Minn.) led by as many as four points in the first quarter at 13-9 after a pair of Savannah Bleess free throws with 2:23 remaining. Delaney Schoenenberger's jumper cut the lead to 13-11 at the end of the first quarter. UWL opened the second quarter on a 12-4 run to lead 23-17 with 1:58 left on Taylor Nelson's three-point field goal. Claire Patterson's three-pointer for the Cardinals cut the lead to 23-20, but a pair of free throws from Sydney Kannel and a Shayla Karge jumper gave the Eagles a 27-20 halftime lead.

UWL led 31-22 when Saint Mary's (Minn.) scored five straight points to cut the deficit to 31-27 with 7:00 remaining in the third quarter. The Eagles responded with a 9-3 run to lead 40-30 with 3:33 left. UWL led by as many as 14 points at 48-34 with :28 remaining in the third quarter after Annie Schumacher's three-pointer. The Eagles led 48-37 at the end of the third quarter.

The Cardinals used an 11-3 run to cut the Eagles' lead to 53-48 with 5:13 left in the game. Saint Mary's (Minn.) trailed 62-58 with 1:51 left on two free throws from Brandi Blattner, but UWL scored five of the last six points. The Cardinals didn't record a field goal in the final 3:45 of the fourth quarter.

UWL shot 34.4% from the field, including 36.0% (nine-of-25) from three-point range, and 82.4% (14-of-17) at the free throw line. Nelson led four players in double figures with 16 points while Kannel and Elise DeNoyer finished with 12 points. DeNoyer recorded a game-high 12 rebounds. Schoenenberger finished with 11 points.

Saint Mary's (Minn.) shot 40.0% from the field, including 28.6% (six-of-21) from three-point range, and 68.4% (13-of-19) at the line. Blattner and Abby Winter led the Cardinals with 11 points and eight rebounds each.

UWL returns to action Saturday, November 18 at Saint Benedict (Minn.) at 3 p.m.