Battled the rush hour traffic on I-94 on this early Friday evening to make my way over to the Gangelhoff Center on the campus of Concordia St. Paul University to take in this big NSIC clash between visiting Minot State and host Concordia St. Paul. Both teams sported identical 10-4 conference records and both are very much in their respective division's races. While I've been able to catch Concordia St. Paul earlier this season a few times, this would be my very first look at the Beavers.
Minot State would get out to a decent start in this one; grabbing a 7-2 lead by the 16:14 mark that was fueled by a score in the paint by senior forward Carly Boag and a "3" from fellow senior guard Alisha Jones. Things slowly went south from that point on for the Beavers and Concordia St. Paul was quick to jump on the opportunity as they went on a 16-2 run over the next six minutes to stake an 18-9 advantage just before the midway point of the first half. The Golden Bears did damage in the paint and behind the arc as well as junior forward Anika Whiting and senior guard Carissa Wolyniec both knocked down "3's" during this span and junior guard Ameshia Kearney snuck into the paint to snare an offensive rebound for a putback. The Beavers momentarily stalled the Concordia St. Paul push when junior guard Katie Hardy made a lay-up in transition and got a free throw out of it as well but Wolyniec was feeling it in the first half on this night and she drilled another trey from the right top are with 9:07 left and then Whiting got a score in the paint for a 23-12 Golden Bear lead. Sensing disaster, Minot State Head Coach Sheila Green called a timeout to try and regroup.
But three quick Concordia St. Paul baskets followed - lay-ups by senior guard Rachel Hansen and a routine score in the paint by Whiting - to make it a 29-12 ballgame with 5:02 left. Another Minot State timeout brought only minimal results afterward; a lay-up in transition by junior guard Morgan Klose with 4:16 left and a steal by Carly Boag who dashed the other way for a lay-up with 3:53 left that whittled the Golden Bear lead down to 29-17. But a 12-2 run by Concordia St. Paul down the stretch put the Beavers that much further into a hole. Whiting connected with a short jumper with 3:34 left and then Wolyniec found the range again behind the arc from the left corner for a 34-17 Golden Bear lead. Hansen made good on a drive and finish with 2:40 left and then two scores by Whiting in the paint - the last with 1:08 left on the clock that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the obligatory freebie - now made it a 41-17 game in favor of the Golden Bears and two late free throws by Minot State's Hardy only added two more points to the total on the Minot State side by the time halftime rolled around.
Another Wolyniec "3"; this one from the right corner at the 19:23 mark got the Golden Bears off on a high note to start the second half that expanded their lead to 44-19 and things were definitely looking good when Whiting muscled into the paint for a score and got fouled as well and knocked down the obligatory freebie for a relatively comfortable 47-23 Concordia lead. The Beavers would get two quick scores in the form of a Jones pull-up jumper in transition and a score in the paint from Carly Boag that narrowed the Golden Bear lead to 47-28 by the 13:48 mark. Concordia St. Paul Head Coach Paul Fessler called a thirty second timeout to make some defensive adjustments and perhaps to urge his squad to keep the intensity up. The Golden Bears seemingly responded well from that small break in the action as Kearney drained a "3" from the right corner at the 13:00 mark to increase the lead back to 22 at 50-28 so, for the moment anyway, things appeared to be right on track for Concordia St. Paul.
But, as the second half progressed, it became increasingly apparent that the high intensity level that sparked the Golden Bears in the first half simply wasn't there in the second half and an increasingly unhappy Fessler became more and more vocal and animated on the bench. "Move your feet!!" "Box out!" and "Move move move!!!" were all too common phrases coming from Fessler. And the Beavers, despite facing an uphill battle and a horrendous first half, slowly began to claw their way back into things. Jones uncorked a "3" from the right wing at the 12:43 mark and Carly Boag connected with a medium-range jumper from the same area less than fifteen seconds later. Another Jones jumper at the 11:36 mark shaved the deficit down to seventeen at 52-35. Wolyniec hit another "3" for the Golden Bears at the 10:18 mark that got the lead back up to twenty but that didn't deter this Minot State squad as they proceeded to go on a 13-6 spree over the next seven minutes that nearly had steam coming out of Fessler's ears. A "3" from freshman reserve guard Diondra Denton from the top of the key put the finishing touches on this run and now the Golden Bear lead was suddenly cut to 61-49 with 3:02 left. For Fessler and his coaching staff, this was one of those situations where the clock couldn't run fast enough.
A score in the paint by Whiting with 2:45 left temporarily halted this Beaver barrage but Minot State was far from finished. Hardy connected with a lay-up in transition and got fouled in the process and made the ensuing freebie with 2:14 left. With the Beavers making every attempt to press and trap on defense, things got even more complicated from a Concordia St. Paul standpoint when Minot State was in the double-bonus with 1:30 left after Carly Boag got fouled. The speedy Jones connected with a lay-up in transition with 1:07 left that got the Beavers to within single digits at 64-55. Carly Boag, frustrated throughout much of the first half, snared a rebound of her own miss for a putback with :38 left that cut the Golden Bear lead to 64-57. At this point, it would still take nothing short of a miracle for Minot State to complete the comeback and that hope of a miracle went poof in the night as both Hansen and Wolyniec made clutch free throws as the Beavers were forced to foul to have any kind of a chance. Still, two more Minot State scores in the waning moments - a lay-up by Jones with :28 left; a score in the paint by Carly Boag, and a last-gasp lay-up by Jones with just :03.5 left threw a scare into the Concordia St. Paul faithful as the Golden Bears escaped with a narrow 68-63 win.
Despite getting the win which improves Concordia St. Paul's record to 11-4 in the NSIC and 16-6 overall, a VERY unhappy Fessler had an opportunity to vent with me afterward. I made the point that I thought that the Golden Bears lost some of their intensity that they had in the first half. "Some of it? They lost all of their intensity in that second half" Fessler stated frankly. But he was far from finished. "In this conference, in this PROGRAM, you HAVE to play a full 40 minutes.....You have to or otherwise you're not going to win titles; you're not going to win championships." Reflecting on how things seemed to unravel in the second half, Fessler candidly stated that "We weren't going to lose that game; but that second half was just garbage. Absolute garbage." As a competitive athlete myself, I can feel and understand Fessler's frustration and I know all too well (too much so, unfortunately) about what it's like to see a big lead disappear and all the momentum and intensity seemingly vanish into thin air. Fessler's the type of coach who demands excellence and 100% effort from his players and he made his feelings known to his team in the locker room afterward and likely will again in the Saturday A.M. shootaround before their game againt Mary. At the same time, I have to think that the Golden Bears learned a valuable lesson from this one - and got the "W" just the same - and won't want to repeat the same mistake anytime soon.
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