Was at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall on this Wednesday night for the clash between visiting Gustavus and host Augsburg. I got there early to watch the JV game; a contest in which the Gusties won handily. The main event looked to be a gimme for the Gusties as well but they've been burned before when they came in with that attitude. Even more special on this night for GAC was that former GAC standout Angie Peterson was in attendance to watch her alma mater.
Promising Auggie sophomore Brittany Dyshaw got things started off with a jumper from the left corner at the 19:08 mark and things would stay relatively close for the next 6-7 minutes. Fellow sophomore Brittany Zins; a star at Bloomington Kennedy who transferred from Northern State to Augsburg, cut the Gustie lead to 13-10 after she got inside to score but the Gusties got on the move after that. GAC junior Ava Perry scored on a layup and was promptly fouled by Augsburg's Lexi Thompson. After Perry converted on the free throw, Gustie freshmen Eli Benz and Julia Dysthie got in on the act with Benz stealing the ball and getting it to Dysthie who got the layup to make it 18-10. Both Benz and Dysthie would can 3-pointers that bloated the Gustie lead to 24-12 by the 11:51 mark. Junior Colleen Ruane's "3" from the left wing made it 29-14 GAC at the 9:00 minute mark. The Gustie blitzkrieg over the next seven minutes that was capped with Perry's "3" from the top of the key resulted in a 32-8 run and a bulging 45-18 lead by the 2:25 mark. Augsburg would be able to pick it up a bit coming down the stretch but the 47-24 lead GAC had at the half clearly had Augsburg in a hole the size of the Grand Canyon.
The one thing you have to guard against when you go into the locker room at the half with such a huge lead is to guard against a letdown coming out for the second half. GAC looked like it was satisfied with such a big lead at the start of the second half and a fired-up Augsburg team was able to battle back. Again, it was Dyshaw starting it off for the Auggies as she knocked in a short shot off the glass. But the real story of the spirited Augsburg second half rally may have been unheralded sophomore Courtney Barthel who simply went on a tear. Barthel knocked down three Auggie FG's in the span of a minute that cut the Gustie lead to 47-32 by the 17:52 mark. After a Molly Geske bucket for GAC, Barthel again scored at the 16:51 mark off the glass that again sliced the deficit to 15. GAC would get back into control over the next few minutes; getting the lead back up to around the 20-point margin. But Augsburg would catch a second wind shortly after the midway point of the second half. Dyshaw again would lead the charge. She scored on a drive inside at the 8:17 mark and then went coast to coast after a steal and finished on the home end that sliced GAC's lead to 71-55. Dyshaw, though, because of her aggressive play, also managed to pick up her fourth foul at the 7:37 mark. Still, the Auggies were able to put in another major scare into the visitors. Zins knocked down a "3" at the 6:29 mark and after junior Kandace Bostick knocked down a pair of free throws, Dyshaw would snare an offensive rebound and would finish with a putback that suddenly cut the big Gustie lead down to only 12 points at 79-67 by the 4:32 mark. By this time, GAC head coach Mickey Haller had seen enough and inserted her starters back in the line-up and the tide quickly turned as the Gusties had the lead back up to the 20-point mark going down the stretch and they would wind up winning this one 91-70.
A good win for the Gusties on the road as they faced an improving, young Augsburg bunch that is ever so slowly getting better. While AP's attendance in the stands had to be special for Haller, it was just as good to see GAC freshman phenom Abbie Arends get into the game late to show some of her stuff. She will something special to watch over the next three years.
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