I have to apologize for the lateness in getting this one in. I fell behind a little bit and then my father passed away last weekend so am slowly starting to get things back in order. Bear with me...
Was at Macalester's Leonard Center on this Wednesday evening to watch the host Scots take on a much-improved St. Olaf team that has been all alone in third place in the MIAC this season and has high hopes for the post season as well. But on this night I knew things didn't bode well for the Oles when I saw sophomore post Elise Raney wearing street clothes and sitting on the bench when I got there.
Sure enough, it was the host Scots that got off to a fast start in this one as senior Shannon Rene started the bloodshed with a "3" from the left corner for a quick 3-0 lead. The lead ballooned to 11-2 by the 13:08 mark when sophomore reserve post Rebekah Keller scored inside. It didn't help the Oles cause either that they were simply ice cold from the perimeter in the early minutes as well as junior PG Mackenzie Wolter struggled mightily with her long-range shooting. St. Olaf sophomore reserve guard Addy Bates temporarily halted the Ole shooting woes with her "3" from the top at the 12:25 mark to cut the Macalester lead to a more manageable 11-5 score but the Scots were able to capitalize on Ole mistakes and were able to take a 22-8 advantage by the 7:28 mark when junior PG Kyana Jones nailed a jumper as the shot clock expired. Wolter finally found a cure for her shooting slump when she drained a "3" from the right wing from the 5:53 mark but Shannon Rene and twin sister Jessica were able to do the same coming down the stretch and senior post Holly Schiedermayer didn't have a two-headed monster to deal with down low from St. Olaf (which made her job a LOT easier) that enabled Macalester to take a 35-22 lead going into the locker room at the half.
The carnage continued in the early part of the second half as Shannon Rene was left open behind the arc by another Ole defensive mistake and she made them pay dearly for it at the 17:19 mark and a 40-24 Scot lead. But the Oles, who likely got a big-time chewing out from Head Coach Dave Stromme during the halftime break, finally got things going. Freshman Sheridan Blanford got a rebound and putback at the 17:01 mark and freshman post Nicole Frogner made an impact at both the charity stripe and in the interior as well. Wolter drilled a "3" from the left wing at the 13:30 mark and then Blanford scored inside at the 10:14 mark and all of a sudden the once-bulging Macalester lead had been cut to 46-41 with a ton of time left.
But as quickly as the Ole surge came, it fizzled almost as fast. Schiedermayer had three trips to the charity stripe in the span of less than three minutes and her defense neutralized Ole junior forward/post Erin Haglund when Stromme needed her to score the most. The Scots got the lead back to ten points at the 3:42 mark when senior Maggie Wood finished on a pretty back-door pass given to her and the Scots were able to do the job from the charity stripe as they pulled off the 59-50 upset at home.
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