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St. Joseph, Minn. -- Despite leading by as many as 11 points in the second half the Saint Benedict basketball team lost another close MIAC game today, 60-58 at the hands of the Saint Mary's Cardinals.

Brianna Barrett led all scorers with 13 points, all scored in the first half. The loss drops the Blazers to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the MIAC, while the Cardinals improve to 6-1 on the year and 4-1 in conference play.

The Blazers jumped out to a 36-31 halftime lead, the most first-half points the stingy Cardinal defense has given up all season.

After Hannah Hylla's jumper with 16 minutes remaining in the game the Blazers stretched their lead to 11, their largest of the game.

Over the next four minutes, though, the Cardinals went on an 8-to-0 run to cut the Blazer lead to three at 44-41 with 12 minutes remaining.

The teams traded buckets the rest of the way, until Jessica Thone's jumper gave Saint Mary's the lead with slightly less than three minutes to play.

On the next possession Jessica Fischer's three-pointer gave the Blazers their lead back at 58-56.

A minute later, Octavia Brown's two free throws tied the game at 58-58 with a minute and half left on the clock.

The team's traded scoreless possessions over the next minute, until Saint Mary's called a timeout with 19 seconds remaining.  On the ensuing possession Thone took the ball baseline-to-baseline and nailed a jumper in traffic to give her team a 60-58 lead with nine seconds left on the clock.

Then on the next trip down the floor, the Blazer's Mattie Lueck received the ball, drove to her right, but missed her contested layup, ending the game in another close loss for the Blazers.

The loss come with both things to build on, and areas to improve. They shot 19-of-23 (83%) from the free throw line, their highest total from the charity stripe this season. However, they also shot 17-of-48 (35%) from the floor, their season-worst in field goals scored. They were outrebounded 37-to-32, including 14 offensive boards and outscored 21-to-5 in hustle points, a measure of a team's fast-break and second-chance points.

The Blazers return to action on Wednesday, when they will travel to Minneapolis to play Augsburg in their final game before  holiday break. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.