Made my way on those treacherous St. Paul streets on this frigid Wednesday evening over to the Butler Center to take in this mid-week game between visiting CSB and host St. Kate's. The Blazers; who have been up and down all season long, were hoping to gain some semblance of consistency to bolster their flickering MIAC playoff hopes while the Wildcats were simply looking for a way to gain a win. Ironically, it was their trip up to St. Joe in early December where the Wildcats garnered their last win over this very same CSB team so it would remain to be seen if St. Kate's could somehow pull off a sweep of mighty CSB.
The Blazers appeared prime to gain an early advantage; getting out to a 6-1 lead by the 17:18 mark thanks to treys from both senior forward Morgan Dale and fellow senior guard Brianna Barrett. However, St. Kate's came right back and showed, early on at least, that they were going to be very much in this game. Freshman guard Abby Torgerson connected with a lay-up at the 16:06 mark and then senior guard/forward Kristen Lee tied the game at 6-all with a "3" from the left top at the 15:19 mark. Another Torgerson lay-up at the 14:53 mark gave the 'Cats the lead at 8-6 and St. Kate's flirted with an advantage of 12-9 before CSB senior guard Tish Alexander brought the 'Cats back to earth with her "3" from the right wing at the 12:27 mark that knotted the issue at 12-all. Things would stay relatively tight over the course of the next five minutes with neither side being able to gain more than a two-point advantage. With the score tied at 18, CSB sophomore forward Mattie Lueck knocked down a jumper from the right baseline with 6:45 left and then Dale unleashed another "3"; this one from the right wing area with 5:48 left that suddenly had the Blazers up 23-18 and seemingly primed to seize control. But this young, scrappy St. Kate's team was not so ready to cooperate. Freshman phenom forward LaShay Holt banged home a "3" from the left wing with 5:27 left that sliced the Blazer advantage down to 23-21 and although CSB's Barrett upped the lead to five again with her drive along the left baseline and finish that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the obligatory freebie, Kristen Lee's second trey of the game; this one from the top of the key with 1:59 left, made it a one possession game again as St. Kate's went into the locker room in great shape at the half; down only 26-24.
But unlike the last time when the Wildcats were able to sneak up and sting the Blazers on their home floor on that snowy night in early December, CSB was in no mood to do a repeat performance and they quickly set out to silence any hopes St. Kate's might have had about bringing the broom out afterward for a sweep. Barrett made good on a lay-up in transition at the 19:36 mark and then Dale got positioned perfectly on the ensuing Blazer possession to snare an offensive rebound for a putback underneath the basket at the 18:50 mark. Barrett then had a drive along the right baseline for a finish at the 18:09 mark and then another "3" from Alexander; this one from the right corner at the 17:28 mark, offset an earlier Wildcat score by Torgerson. Sensing the dam about ready to break, St. Kate's Head Coach Sean Pinkerton immediately called a timeout but the Blazers - and Alexander - were far from finished. A jumper by the former Benilde-St. Margaret's standout from the right baseline at the 16:17 mark prompted Pinkerton to burn another timeout - and shed the sport coat - to no avail. Now up double-digits at 37-26, Alexander snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 14:30 mark to expand the lead to 39-26. Free throws by Mattie Lueck and Dale plus a score in the paint by Barrett, an encore "3" from Alexander in the right corner and the final dagger; a "3" from the right wing by Mattie Lueck's older sister, junior guard Emily, completed a 24-5 run that now had CSB up 50-29 with 9:36 mark. The Blazers upped the advantage to as much as 57-31 on a jumper along the right baseline by junior reserve forward Elena Koch with 4:56 left. Shortly thereafter, with the outcome all but certain, CSB Head Coach Mike Durbin put in his reserves for mop-up duty. St. Kate's was able to make a few jabs toward the end; a lay-up in transition by Holt and a "3" from junior reserve guard Brittany Ward along with a score in the paint by fellow junior reserve guard Jenna Mistler but the damage had been done and the Blazers secured an important 63-41 road win to improve to 6-5 in the MIAC and 9-5 overall.
Afterward, Durbin was very pleased with his team's effort in the second half. "Actually, I thought we played well defensively all game" he stated. Durbin also offered up thought on what the key was to the big second-half run: "Extending the floor in the second half and getting turnovers was huge". Another sore spot addressed during halftime was rebounding. The Blazers were outrebounded by St. Kate's by 10 in the first half. "We talked about that" Durbin said. Evidently whatever was said worked because the Blazers outrebounded St. Kate's by 16 in the second half. As far as the big picture and playoff positioning, Durbin said, "We think we're a lot better than our record but we've got to go out there and prove it." Certainly the win on this night improves their standing in the conference but they will have to find a way to win a game or two against the upper-echelon teams to solidify a playoff spot. On the other side, a disappointed Pinkerton and his Assistant Coach Tim Kjar talked about a "lack of focus and energy". I think there's a lot of truth to that as well. The reality is that this is a very young St. Kate's team and they're going to have some outings like this every once in a while before they really know and understand what it takes to win consistently.
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