Was over at the Anderson Athletic Complex for last night's early evening clash between visiting Concordia and host St. Thomas. Historically, the Cobbers have been the ultimate pain in the rear for the Tommies; at least in the last few years anyway and I expected Jessica Rahman's squad to be fired up for this early season tilt.
It became quite evident early on that this game was going to be the typical defensive slugfest that I had anticipated between these two squads who pride themselves for their defensive prowess as scoring came at a premium in the first half. Senior guard Emily Thesing's "3" from the top of the key gave the Cobbers a 3-1 lead by the 18:07 mark but the Tommies quickly came back and tied the issue at 3-all behind senior guard Kellie Ring's drive along the left baseline and finish at the 17:31 mark. Concordia would slowly build a slight advantage as the first half progressed. Senior guard Tricia Sorensen's "3" from the left top at the 14:31 mark gave Concordia an 8-5 lead then the lanky blonde from Bismarck, who also excels at juggling acts with her dad during the summer months, struck again at the 9:13 mark with a drive and short jumper in the lane that tied things up at 15 and two freebies a bit later at the 8:06 mark gave Concordia a 17-15 lead. The Cobbers were able to expand this lead to as many as five points at 22-17 by the 5:30 mark fueled by two charity stripe shots by Thesing and strong work inside by freshman Olivia Johnson with a rebound and putback at the 5:42 mark.
Glaringly for the Cobbers, however, was the fact that their towering 6'4" junior center Alexandra Lippert had been held scoreless save for two freebies early on in the first half as the Tommies effectively had shut her down and the Tommies were able to erase that small cushion Concordia had coming down the stretch. Ring made a sweet drive and finish at the 4:07 mark and junior Ms. Everything Taylor Young's turnaround jumper with just under two minutes remaining pulled the Tommies to withing one at 26-25. Sophomore reserve gaurd Laura Margarit gave the Tommies the lead again with just :23 left in the first half with a rebound and putback and fellow sophomore reserve Elaine Warner connected on a lay-up with just :03 left to give the Tommies a 29-26 edge at the break. Still, in my mind, the tempo of this game favored Concordia and I wondered what adjustments UST Head Coach Ruth Sinn would make at halftime to counter that.
Concordia wasted no time getting Lippert involved in the offense as the second half began as she scored inside at the 19:48 mark to cut UST's lead to one and a Sorensen jumper for the right wing at the 17:40 mark tied things at 32-all and you had that feeling that the Cobbers had the Tommies right where they wanted them. However, this talent-laden and experienced UST squad with its run to the Final Four last year knows how to respond in these types of pressure-packed situations and they've proved it already this year when they had to fight off a double-digit deficit to then-#1 ranked UW-Stevens Point in the second half. And the Tommies knew what buttons to press on this night as well. Junior guard Kelly Brandenburg's rebound and putback at the 17:04 mark was the start of a 7-0 run that really made the difference in this game as Concordia never could quite get it going again. Sophomore sensation Jen Dockter finished the 7-0 run at the 14:17 mark and then Ring, proving how dangerous she really is, picked the pocket of Concordia sophomore Alley Fisher for a steal and lay-up and a 41-33 UST lead.
The Tommie lead expanded to as many as eleven at 46-35 by the 9:02 mark when Warner put down two freebies from the charity stripe before the Cobbers were able to make inroads on the Tommie advantage. Sorensen banged home a "3" from the left wing at the 8:46 mark and Lippert was able to cut the Tommie lead down to just five at 48-43 when she scored inside at the 6:58 mark. But as Rahman told me later, the Cobbers left a lot of points off the board with missed easy opportunities inside and a relatively poor shooting percentage overall (30.6%) doomed the Corn on this night and they never could quite find that momentum builder that would allow them to get even. Of course, the other reason was that the Tommie's had the weapons that would keep the Cobbers at bay on this night. Young made a sweet turnaround jumper at the 6:23 mark and then Ring swished home a "3" from the left wing at the 3:44 mark that upped the Tommie lead to 56-47. The real dagger came when Young was left alone at the top of the key at the 2:25 mark as she pulled up and calmly drained a "3" for a 59-50 UST lead that was, for all intents and purposes, the ball game as UST was able to salt things away from the charity stripe in the home stretch to claim a tough 65-53 win.
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