Happy New Year! Good to be back in action again. Actually, I would have done some reporting on the Dick's Sporting Goods Holiday Tournament over at Hopkins High School (won by Hopkins - surprise, surprise) but throw in some bowl games and my L.A. Rams actually playing for the N.F.C. West title this last Sunday night and things can get left out.
In any event, I was at Hutton Arena last night for the Gustavus - Hamline game. Going in, I really felt that this SHOULD be a comfortable win for the Gusties knowing full well how, for the most part anyway, Hamline has struggled so far this season. Perhaps the Gusties shared the same false sense of security that I did last night and little did I suspect that Hamline was ready to pounce.
The Pipers actually got off to a pretty decent start as flashy senior PG Nikki Klinck - perhaps the fastest player in the MIAC - nailed a "3" from the left wing. Not to be left out of the show, senior three-point specialist Jackie Kelly made the net sing from the top of the key. A couple minutes later, senior post Mary Wilkowski finished a Piper fast break and at the 15:59 mark in the first half Hamline found themselves up 10-4 before GAC finally began to wake up a little bit. Thanks to some tough work by junior Molly Geske and freshman Eli Benz the Gusties whittled the Hamline lead down to 14-10 at the 13:20 mark.
Despite the fact that the Gusties were able to get back into things, it was becoming more and more clear how the speed that Hamline has at the guard position; particularly from Klinck, junior Stephanie Robinson and freshman Je'Naya Brown would wear down the vaunted Gustie "D". Nevertheless, things stayed close for the next several minutes. Benz would get a finish down low at the 7:46 mark and lanky sophomore Abby Rothenbuler (who I STRONGLY believe should get MUCH more playing time) would show her scoring versatility at the 6:39 mark by nailing a "3" from the top of the key that would give GAC its first lead at 26-25. Despite Kelly's "3" from the left corner that put Hamline back on top at 30-29 at the 4:16 mark, the Gusties would be able to consolidate their momentum over the next two minutes that saw them up by their largest margin, 36-30. But just when you thought that MAYBE GAC had suddenly found themselves and righted the ship the Pipers were able to get a late second wind that was mainly fueled by yet another Kelly 3-pointer at the 1:43 mark and a coast-to-coast finish by Klinck at :35 that enabled the Pipers to close the gap at halftime to 40-39.
Sensing how vulnerable the Gusties were, the Pipers came out in the second half smelling blood. Wilkowski started off the second stanza with one of her patented turnaround spin moves down low for a finish that left Gustie defenders completely befuddled. After a rare Klinck "3" that put Hammy back up 44-43 at the 17:58 mark, Wilkowski again would torch the GAC "D" by driving the baseline and finishing off the glass at the 15:02 mark to put the Pipers back up 48-47. Shortly thereafter, Kelly would sneak around a GAC defender for an offensive rebound and putback. A couple minutes later, Wilkowski wowed the home crowd again with a pretty move under the basket and an equally pretty finish and Hamline was on its way to victory.
Things would only get worse from that point on for GAC and, perhaps just as alarming, the Gustie defense was exposed BIG TIME by the Pipers. Kelly would continue the 3-point barrage for Hamline; scoring at the 8:58 and 6:27 mark that would give Hamline a 69-58 lead. Klinck would add insult to injury as she easily drove around senior Molly Mathiowetz to finish giving the Pipers a 73-58 advantage. The Gusties would make another one of those typical "too little, too late" runs that would make the final margin read 83-76 in favor of Hamline.
I try to be somewhat diplomatic over on the D3 Hoops message board and, although my humor and sarcasm may bite from time to time, rarely will I call someone or a team out unless they absolutely deserve it. Well, here, I'm not bound by such barriers. The Gustie "D" last night was an ABSOLUTE JOKE. I'm almost glad that former Gusties like Kelly Etzel, Angie Peterson, Kate Sandvig, Kelly Van Norman, Lacy Skoog, Jess Vadnais, Bri Monahan, et al, weren't in attendance last night as they would have been HORRIFIED at what they would have seen. It was an absolute embarrassment. Hell, I can put a team together made up of my beer-drinking buddies and play better defense last night than what the Gusties put on for display. I see NO sense of urgency from this team that now finds itself below .500 overall and a paltry, mediocre 3-3 in conference play. This does NOT look like a team that is playoff worthy and, if they continue to play like they did last night, they'll be damn lucky to finish 8th in the conference. This is a team that looks utterly confused, clueless, and that likes to play "nice". Well GAC, it's time to STOP being nice and kick it into gear and get back to playing GAC basketball again - dominating, in-your-face defense and SMART, aggresive offense that gets everybody involved and ALSO includes taking the bloody ball to the rack now and then. As the NFL Gameday crew on ESPN would say, "C'mon, man!"
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