In a contrast of styles, St. Ambrose's power in the paint won out as the Bees defeated Midland 68-59 Tuesday night in Lee Lohman Arena.

Behind Jaynee Prestegaard, Madeline Prestegaard and Kylie Wroblewski, SAU finished with 54 points in the paint. The Bees added 12 points from the free throw line, meaning all but two of the team's 68 points came from the post or from the line. That more than offset Midland's 10-of-35 effort from 3-point range.

Jaynee Prestegaard finished 12-of-14 from the floor in scoring a game-high 27 points. Her sister Madeline Prestegaard was 6-of-9 in dropping in 15 points. Wroblewski also scored 15 as the post trio combined for 57 to help SAU post its ninth straight victory.

St. Ambrose, now 15-1 on the year, led just 32-30 at the half, and despite the interior dominance, it was a guard who keyed a Bees' third-quarter surge.

Shayne Smith, who was scoreless in the opening half, netted all eight of her points in the third to help the Bees outscore the Warriors 18-10 in the period. All eight of Smith's points came during a decisive 12-2 run that turned a 38-36 lead into a 50-38 advantage.

Along with giving SAU some breathing room, Smith's pull-up jumper that capped the spurt was a milestone moment. It gave her 1,001 points in her collegiate career. Smith scored 835 points over three seasons at Monmouth College before continuing her collegiate career at St. Ambrose this season.

Midland (6-8), which missed all seven of its 3-point attempts in the third quarter, knocked down four triples in the final frame. That helped the Warriors close to within 63-57 with one minute remaining. But Wroblewski scored inside, and following a Smith steal, Wroblewski hit two from the line to push the lead back to double figures with 41 seconds left to seal the win.

The nine-game winning streak is SAU's longest since the 2013-14 team won 20 in a row.

Wroblewski pulled down a team-best nine rebounds in the victory. Jaynee Prestegaard grabbed eight boards. 

Anna Plumer scored three points to go along with four rebounds and four assists. Maddy Cash had five rebounds and five assists against just one turnover. Avari Everts came down with three boards.

The rest of the original three-day SAU Christmas Classic was canceled after Marian was forced to cancel its games. That means St. Ambrose will not play again until resuming conference play at Governors State on Jan. 5.