Midtown YWCA Women's College Summer League Playoff Semifinals - Wednesday 8-7-13

Only two games to report on for this night but one of them was a REAL doozy of a game. In one semifinal matchup, The Graduates; who pulled off an unlikely upset in the late game last Wednesday against the Golden Eagle Alumni took on powerful Team Sorella led by former Minnesota Golden Gopher Ashley Ellis-Milan. In this one, The Graduates got off to a good start grabbing an early 8-2 lead thanks to "3's" from both former Hamline standout Steph Rice and former Bethel and MIAC POY Taylor Sheley. Team Sorella, however, clearly had the advantage in the paint on both ends of the floor and they wasted little time in pounding the ball inside to Ellis-Milan who was unstoppable down low as they slowly but efficiently cut into the slim advantage The Graduates had. After another Sheley "3" at the 13:19 mark and a sweet drive and finish by former Hamline player Jackie Kelly, Team Sorella tied things up at 14-all and they took the lead for good with 9:37 left in the first half at 16-14. Still, The Graduates managed to hang in there as timely "3's" by former Hamline standout Cassidy "Lightning" Vogt - one at the 5:50 mark and another with just :22 left on the clock - enabled The Graduates to stay close at the half; trailing only 31-26 when it arguably could have been a lot worse. But Team Sorella went on a quick 7-0 spurt at the beginning of the second half that, for all intents and purposes, was the game. A "3" by one of the Team Sorella players made it 43-27 as numerous turnovers were now plaguing The Graduates squad. Team Sorella would cruise to an easy 74-44 win to put them into Thursday's championship game. Their opponent would come from the other semifinal game that was going on at the same time that pitted the UST Grey team led by current Tommies Anna Smith and Kelly Brandenburg against Concordia St. Paul which was led by current Golden Bears Rachel Hansen and Carissa Wolyniec. This one was an extremely close affair throughout with neither side being able to claim a decisive advantage. Coming down the home stretch, however, is when things REALLY got interesting. Concordia St. Paul had grabbed a 50-45 lead and looked like it finally had some control of things but the UST Grey squad was far from finished. Smith, the former Bloomington Jefferson product, knocked down a "3" with 2:39 left to pull the UST Grey squad to within two and, after foiling a Concordia St. Paul possession, it was then Brandenburg's time to grab the spotlight for the UST Grey team as she calmly drove into the paint and connected with a sweet turnaround jumper that knotted the issue at 50-all with just :35 left. Concordia St. Paul, however, would answer as they were able to score inside with just :15 left to grab a tenuous 52-50 advantage. But, even in the most dire straits, you should never count out this resilient UST Grey squad as even the new young ones are anxious to get in on the action. Former Maple Grove standout Madison Ordner got her chance with just :03.5 left on the clock as she made a hard drive into the paint and got fouled on her shot attempt that sent her to the charity stripe. Ordner made the first one to draw the UST Grey team to within one but missed the second as a host of players from both teams made a mad chase for the ball which went out of bounds - off of Concordia St. Paul with just a little over one second left giving the UST Grey squad one last prayer. Laura Margarit took the inbounds pass and quickly put up an errant shot that caromed off the rim but Brandenburg was right there to make an acrobatic offensive rebound and last-gasp putback attempt that JUST barely missed its mark as Concordia St. Paul escaped with a thrilling 52-51 victory to put them in Thursday's champsionship game.