Was over at venerable Hutton Arena (THE birthplace of intercollegiate basketball) on this Wednesday night to take in this important clash between visiting Saint Ben's and host Hamline. Both teams were coming off huge upset wins from this last Saturday as Hamline knocked off Concordia up in Moorhead (despite having its bus careen off an icy I-94 on Friday night) while the Blazers upset UST at home in St. Joe. It would be interesting to see which team could sustain the momentum they were trying to build with those wins over the weekend.
Both teams showed early on what great perimeter shooters they have as Hamline senior guard Steph Pilgrim drained one of her patented "3's" from the right wing at the 19:12 mark to draw first blood but right back came Blazer sophomore guard Jessica Fischer doing her thing from behind the arc from the right corner that tied the issue at the 18:54 mark. After senior forward Cassidy Vogt's "3" from the left corner got Hamline up 6-5 at the 17:07 mark and two freebies by junior guard Je'Naya Brown at the 16:30 mark made it 8-5, CSB battled right back. Junior guard Brianna Barrett made a sweet reverse lay-up at the 15:36 mark and then it was freshman guard Mattie Lueck knocking down two freebies from the charity stripe and then getting a move inside to score at the 13:03 mark that enabled CSB to grab an 11-10 lead. Senior guard Whitney Canton helped the Blazers maintain that lead at the 9:23 mark when she knocked down free throws for a 16-14 Blazer advantage.
Hamline, however, would gain the advantage coming down the stretch. Pilgrim showed at the 8:32 mark that she's more than just a three-point shooter as she got inside for an offensive rebound and got a putback that tied things up again at 16-all. After Mattie Lueck scored inside with 8:13 left that briefly had the Blazers up again at 18-16, senior point guard Kara Poirier drained a "3" from the right top with 7:32 left that got Hamline back on top at 19-18 that was the beginning of a 9-1 run that saw Brown connecting with a tough jumper off the glass with 6:30 left and also scoring off a jumper from the right corner with 3:00 left that got the Pipers a 25-19 lead. Slowly but surely, CSB engineered a comeback move of their own that tightened things right before the break. After Canton's two free throws with 2:21 left, sophomore Emily Lueck manuevered inside for a score with 1:16 left and then a "3" from the right corner with just :31 left got the Blazers to within two at 28-26 and it stayed at a two point margin going into the locker room at halftime with Hamline up 29-27.
Blazer senior Jamie Wollin's lay-up at the 19:01 mark of the second half tied things up once again at 29-all but it looked as if Hamline was going to seize control of this contest as they went on a 8-2 run over the next three minutes highlighted by Poirier's "3" at the 18:45 mark and a sweet move and lay-up by Pilgrim at the 15:57 mark that capped the run. Sophomore sensation Jordan Sammons, while having a relatively quiet night from a scoring standpoint, was making up for it by wreaking havoc on defense and causing all sorts of problems for the Blazers with her quickness and ability to get into the passing lanes to snare steals. Her aggressiveness, however, began to catch up with her by the 14:59 mark when she picked up her 3rd foul that forced Head Coach Kerri Stockwell's hand to make a line-up change that inadvertently gave the Blazers new life. And it would be the Lueck Sisters who would play a big role in the Blazers comeback.
After a tough lay-up by Poirier off the glass at the 13:21 mark that had Hamline up 39-36, the Lueck sisters went to work. Mattie scored on a lay-up at the 12:40 mark that got the Blazers to within one at 39-38 and CSB tooks its first lead since early in the 1st half at 40-39 when Mattie knocked down two shots from the charity stripe after being fouled. After scores by both Brown and Vogt had Hamline back up at 43-40, it was then Emily's turn to shine. Her "3" from the right wing with 9:58 left tied it at 43-all and then another "3" from the left corner with 9:11 left gave the Blazers the lead for good at 46-43. A lay-up by Emily with 8:47 left had the Blazers up by five at 48-43 that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the game. Hamline tried to respond; Brown was able to get inside for a score with 7:16 left and two freebies by Sammons before that enabled the Pipers to close to within one at 50-49 but "3's" by Wollin with 6:23 left and Barrett's from the right corner with 5:45 left effectively extinguished the Piper's hopes on this night as they now found themselves down 56-49 and CSB with all the momentum. Another "3" by Barrett had CSB up 61-53 with 4:15 left plus charity stripe shots in the waning moments by Canton and Wollin let CSB escape Hutton Arena with a big 64-55 road win that has the Blazers in the thick of things in the MIAC race.
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