A busy Monday night found myself first over at St. Kate's to take in what I could of the 6:00 P.M. clash with visiting Concordia which had to be anxious to bounce back after getting beat up and bullied by suddenly-rising Augsburg this last Saturday. The Cobbers wasted little time taking control of this one early as sophomore post Alexandra Lippert scored twice within the first minute for a quick 4-0 lead. Junior Tricia Sorenson's "3" from the top at the 17:28 mark bulged the lead to 9-0 before freshman Sarah Mong finally got the 'Cats on the board at the 15:19 mark. But there would be no spirited comeback by St. Kate's on this night against a bigger and more talented Concordia squad. Freshman Alley Fisher banged home a "3" at the 14:10 mark as did Sorenson at the 13:36 mark. Sorenson also took a sweet back door pass at the 11:58 mark to score inside to build the Cobbers lead to 21-9. By the time I had to get going to head over to Bethel for their game with Augsburg, Concordia was safely up 37-19 and would never look back en route to 73-47 win which had to make the long trek back to Moorhead slightly more enjoyable.
I was up at Bethel to help out as a proud member of the Community Hoops "Sinister 6-Pack" to do coverage of the Augsburg vs Bethel tilt at 7:30. I was quite anxious to see this up-and-coming Augsburg squad that has already notched wins over both CSB and this last Saturday against Concordia. Augsburg is basically the same team as they were last year; they've always had decent talent there but new Head Coach Bill McKee has brought his own brand to this team and in the process has re-energized it as well. The first half was very tight although the Auggies were able to build a five-point advantage with just 3:44 left in the first half. In their two big wins, this is where Augsburg was able to open up the necessary distance to pull away for ultimate victory. But Bethel was able to respond and withstood the Auggie assault and quickly got even and was able to build a small 31-28 lead by the half. The challenge for Bethel in this game was to try and contain the 1-2-3- punch of Seranae Levine, Kendra Ware, and Brittany Zins who is quickly establishing herself as one of the top tier players in the conference.
But the Royals have a few weapons of their own in their arsenal; one of them obviously being senior sensation Taylor Sheley who was simply fantastic in the second half. Junior forward Kelly Swenson; known more for her defensive prowess also had good night making some key buckets down the stretch. After Swenson's layup off the glass at the 2:56 mark that appeared to put Bethel in control by a count of 59-51, the Auggies were able to make a quick 6-0 push that tightened things up again to 59-57 with just under a minute left. Augsburg had one more real opportunity left but junior Katie Ahlstrom's "3" point attempt missed that allowed the host Royals to ice the game away at the charity stripe for a huge 66-57 win and, just as important, move into first place in the MIAC with a 3-0 record.
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