After Bethel held off Macalester on the north side of town, I hurried down Snelling and Summit Avenues to get over to St. Kate's and the Butler Center as the Wildcats were hosting perennial MIAC powerhouse UST on this last regular season Saturday. By the time I got in at halftime, the Tommies had waltzed to a commanding 41-15 lead by the break and there wasn't too much doubt as to how the rest of this game was going to go.
Still, if there's one thing that St. Kate's Head Coach Sean Pinkerton has been able to instill into his team despite this trying season is to always keep scrapping and battling away; no matter how hopeless things look. To their credit, the 'Cats did just that. Junior guard Kristen Lee started the second half by connecting with a jumper at the 19:40 mark and, although UST junior sensation Taylor Young countered with a perfectly swishing "3" from the left wing at the 17:00 mark plus a lay-up in transition a bit later that made it a 46-17 game, Lee was also able to connect with another jumper at the 15:56 mark and then freshman forward Cynthia Cowan was able to manuever inside for a score at the 15:14 mark that cut the UST lead to 46-21.
Tommie sophomores Jen Dockter and Alyssa Favilla helped spark another UST surge over the next few minutes and another sophomore, Carley Emery, banged home a "3" from the right wing at the 11:10 mark that upped the Tommie lead to 55-26. After Lee's "3" from the right wing area at the 10:01 mark sliced off a little bit of that deficit for the 'Cats, the Tommies built it right back up again as sophomore post Anna Smith; the Bloomington Jefferson product, snared a steal and went coast to coast for a Tommie score and after sophomore reserve Elaine Warner knocked down a freebie after being fouled in another transition opportunity, Favilla made good on another transition opportunity for a 62-32 lead with 6:33 left. By this time, UST Head Coach Ruth Sinn was beginning to subtitute liberally and it gave some of her lesser-known reserves a chance to shine. Sophomore Danielle Dreier connected with a short jumper with 5:25 left and then freshman reserve Katie Stone strutted her stuff as she knocked down a jumper from the right wing with 4:45 left and on the ensuing Tommie possession she uncorked a three-point bomb from the left wing for a 69-36 UST lead. St. Kate's made two late stabs; "3's" by both sophomore Sarina Baker and junior Madison Pertler helped make the score respectable but the Tommie reserves were enjoying some rare fun. Stone snared a steal and went the other way for a lay-up with 1:26 left and then sophomore reserve Beth Wittry put an exclamation point on this rousing Tommie victory with her "3" from the left wing with just :44 left as UST cruised to a 79-42 romp on their neighbors located just south of the UST campus.
While Pinkerton obviously has a lot of work ahead of him in getting the St. Kate's program highly competitive again, UST appears to be peaking at just the right time after stumbling through January. Young appears to be back at full strength after battling through injuries earlier in the year and junior Kelly Brandenburg was out for a spell in January. Senior point guard Kellie Ring, though, has had to endure the loss of her father just before the first of the year and that's simply a tough thing to have to deal with but even tougher when you're one of the senior leaders on this squad. Still, this Tommie squad has great chemistry and a knack for pulling together when times are tough and they did just that when it looked like things could be falling apart at the seams. They know what it takes to rise to the occasion at this time of the year and they'll arguably have to be one of the favorites when the MIAC Playoffs begin this next week.
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