OK, so here I am; only 4 days late. Throw in getting up early in the A.M. for work, Toastmasters meeting on Thursday night, an indoor practice and workout on Friday after work, working OT on Saturday and THEN snownami 2010 that can REALLY, really foul things up and keep me from getting in my game stories on a timely basis. God, I HATE winter.
In any event, I was very much looking forward to taking in this game this last Wednesday night between host UST and a suddenly resurgent St. Olaf team that had lost two very close games at home to Concordia and Gustavus but did manage to knock off CSB by one point in Northfield. I was anxious to get a look at this team to see what kind of potential it has and, from just taking a look at them in warm-ups you can understand why Head Coach Dave Stromme has to be excited about the future.
The first half would stay relatively close for the first 6-7 minutes. Lanky 6-2 sophomore Erin Haglund would things started for the Oles with a nice move and finish inside but Tommie PG Carolyn Dienhart would quickly respond for the Tommies. UST's Sarah Smith's basket off the glass got the Tommies a 7-4 lead at the 16:35 mark but St. Olaf would then respond a mere minute later as Haglund made another pretty move down low for a bucket inside and then sophomore Kirstee Rotty knocked down a short shot that would give the Oles a brief lead of 8-7. Things would be knotted up at 9-all when freshman Elise Raney sank a FT at the 13:42 mark.
But at 13:34 UST would make their move that would allow them to pull away. UST freshman Maggie Weiers sank two FTs from the charity stripe to put the Tommies back in front. At exactly the halfway point senior Rachel Booth made an incredibly sweet spin move and finished off the glass that pushed the lead to 13-9. Even more ominous for St. Olaf was the fact that UST was already in the bonus at the 9:34 mark that gave the Tommies a green light to start working inside. And the Tommies would do just that. Sophomore Kellie Ring drove from the left side and finished for a 16-9 UST lead. Junior Ali Johnson made her presence felt when the willowy swing forward sank one of her trademark "3's" to make it a 22-10 UST lead. Weiers would add to the carnage a few minutes later as she got an inbound pass and scored off of it to make it 27-12. Fellow freshman phenom Taylor Young got in on the act at the 2:07 mark with a nice move inside of her own and finish that got UST to 29-12. St. Olaf stopped the bleeding momentarily when sophomore Mackenzie Wolter connected behind the arc but UST went into the locker room at halftime enjoying a comfortable 33-17 lead.
St. Olaf would come out in the second half and cut into the Tommie lead some. Freshman Brittany Webber was able to score inside and Haglund's left-handed shot off the glass narrowed UST's lead to 33-21. Wolter would hit another "3" at the 17:27 mark that cut the deficity to a slightly more manageable 11 points at 35-24. But being the experienced and defending conference champs that they are UST would respond as senior Jazmin Townsend knocked down a shot and Dienhart would light it up from the outside at the 16:21 mark to push UST's lead back to 40-24. Dienhart would also show how comfortable she is at the PG spot as she would score on a strong move down the middle at the 15:18 mark and finish and then scoot along the baseline and finish as well at the 13:33 mark that got the Tommies to a 20-point lead at 44-24. Raney would try to get St. Olaf back into it with another left-handed shot off the glass at the 12:34 mark but a little more than a minute later she had the misfortune of stepping on a Tommie player's foot and apparently rolled her ankle that would force her to watch the rest of the game from the bench. Coming down the stretch with UST comfortably in front allowed Head Coach Ruth Sinn to empty her bench and, although St. Olaf would make a flurry of a run at the end, UST wound up winning this one 61-52 which is really not indicative of how dominant UST was in this one.
Still, I like this St. Olaf team and it's going to be fun to watch this team grow. This is a young team right now; not high profile yet but they've got some serious size down low with both Haglund and Raney and Webber and Wolter look like they have the potential to be very, very solid in the backcourt. Once this team gets some experience under their belt and, more importantly, LEARNS how to take care of the basketball and be efficient with the small teams I fully expect this squad to move into the upper echelon of the MIAC where they can be in the mix for not only a playoff spot but a conference title as well.
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