Made the trek down to Northfield on this Tuesday evening to catch one of the MIAC Quarterfinal playoff games going on this night - the clash between #5 seed St. Mary's and host St. Olaf. I have seen the Oles on several occasions this season but did not have the chance to catch St. Mary's until this night so I was anxious to see this team in action for the first time in a long time.
Despite their overall youth and inexperience, it was the Cardinals who got off to a hot start in this one as the Oles looked not only out of synch offensively but a bit shell-shocked and frustrated as well; particulary junior PG Mackenzie Wolter who was being hounded on defense by St. Mary's freshman Octavia Brown; an extremely quick guard out of the greater Chicago area. After things were tied at 4-all by the 17:38 mark, Cardinal senior Brittany Begrowicz made her presence known by canning a "3" from the left wing at the 17:08 mark. Begrowicz was able to follow that act with a lay-up less than two minutes later for a 9-4 St. Mary's lead. Ole junior forward Erin Haglund's work inside cut the deficit to a scant point a bit later with her work inside but the Cardinals were able to once again grab the edge and momentum. After two freebies by strong sophomore post Courtney Euerle, lanky junior Jamie Stefely connected on a turnaround jumper at the 11:38 mark and the Begrowicz banged home another "3" from the left top this time at the 11:04 mark. Another Stefely basket at the 10:22 mark made it 18-10 St. Mary's and then the Cardinals main scoring weapon, junior guard Jessica Thone, decided it was time for her to get into the act as she buried a "3" at the 9:27 mark for a 21-12 lead.
St. Olaf, though, slowly collected themselves as a team and found a way to gradually creep their way back into it - and a lot of the credit for them being able to make a charge coming down the stretch of the first half has to go to equally-lanky sophomore post Elise Raney who would score 14 points on this night. She scored inside at the 9:06 mark and followed that with a pretty turnaround jumper at the 7:43 mark. After withstanding another three-point bomb by Thone at the 7:14 mark, Raney again was able to manuever inside and finish at the 6:46 mark that cut the Cardinal lead to 24-18. Finally, Wolter was able to get untracked from a scoring standpoint as she cashed in with a long two-pointer from the top at the 6:07 mark. Cardinal freshman Sara Schoenthaler briefly built the lead back up to nine with her three-point bomb at the 5:06 mark but the Oles would climb right back as freshman Nikki Frogner out of Providence Academy scored inside at the 3:15 mark. Then it was Ole sophomore Addy Bates out of Nevada, Iowa (where the UP "Overland Route" and "Spine Line" mainlines instersect) who lit the house up with three-point bombs - one from the right wing at the 2:41 mark and another from the top of the key at the 1:59 mark - that slashed the St. Mary's lead to 29-28. St. Olaf Head Coach Dave Stromme had been working the officials hard all first half long and was incredibly lucky not to get "T'd-up"; he was warned - twice - by the officials at the 1:18 mark. He kept his cool - for the most part - after that. On the last Ole possession of the first half, Wolter was fouled trying to score and she cashed in with two shots from the charity stripe with just 29.6 left before halftime that allowed the Oles to take a 30-29 lead into the locker room. Certainly things were looking better now for them than what they were early on.......
The Oles would maintain the advantage for a good chunk of the second half as well; upping their lead while St. Mary's was cold. After junior Kirstee Rotty made a hard drive and finish to start things off at the 19:15 mark, Raney was then able to score inside on a pretty give and go pass at the 18:23 mark for a 34-29 Ole lead. Both Raney and Frogner made baskets in the paint at the 17:19 and 16:45 marks that upped the St. Olaf lead to 38-31. Schoenthaler cut the Ole lead to five points when she finished in transition at the 16:00 mark but then both teams went on a drought that lasted nearly three minutes and, in the end, this may have been what did St. Olaf in. They had the lead; they had the momentum, they were in control.....and yet they never could quite put St. Mary's in the rear-view mirror. And with St. Mary's being such a strong second-half team all season long that has seen their share of staring at halftime deficits would spell disaster for the Oles in crunch time.
Still, the Oles would maintain that 6 - 7 point advantage throughout much of the midway portion of the second half. Rotty made it an eight-point game with her drive along the baseline and a one-handed finish at the 11:04 mark but ever so slowly the Ole lead began to dwindle. Stefely scored off the glass at the 8:26 mark and then reserve freshman guard Adrianna Stephens helped the Cardinals cut the deficit even more with a lay-up at the 6:52 mark and then finishing after collecting a sweet back-door pass at the 5:55 mark. As St. Olaf squandered several scoring opportunities the Cardinals kept right on clawing. Euerle banged home a long "2" from the right corner at the 4:56 mark. Freebies at the charity stripe wouldn't from Bates and Rotty wouldn't be enough. Thone again grabbed the spotlight by canning two free throws at the 3:02 mark and then a three-point bomb from the top at the 2:08 mark that cut the St. Olaf lead down to a measely 52-51 count. Then Saint Mary's grabbed the lead for good after yet another squandered scoring opportunity by the Oles as Thone was fouled trying to score and her two obligatory freebies made it 53-52. The highlight of the night (and what won it for St. Mary's) were the heroics of Stefely as she calmly sank a jumper from near the right elbow JUST as the shot clock was expiring with :32.6 left - much to the chagrin of Stromme and assistant coach Mike Ludwig who both immediately jumped off the bench and vehemently argued with the officials that the shot didn't beat the shot clock. But the officials gave the basket to St. Mary's and with that, drastically changed the complexion of the game. Now, instead of needing just perhaps a score inside from Raney or Haglund to re-take the lead, St. Olaf needed a three and St. Mary's Head Coach Mandy Pearson knew how to adjust her defense to not let them get a clean look. A missed "3" by Rotty with just :19 left and then a last-gasp three-point attempt by Wolter with just two ticks left on the clock doomed the Oles as St. Mary's escaped back to Winona with a prized 55-52 playoff road win and the right to take on UST on Thursday night.
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