Made the excruciatingly SLOW drive over to Bethel University's Robertson Center today on the snow- and ice-packed roads on this midday Saturday to take in Senior Day as host Bethel was taking on visiting St. Olaf in what would be a preview of this next week Tuesday night's first-round playoff match-up between the two again at Robertson Center. As I mentioned earlier in the week, it's never easy having to prepare for a team when you know you're going to be preparing for them again a few short days later. With that in mind, I was curious to see what each team would try to throw at the other in this regular season finale.
Bethel seniors Katelyn Vavra and Micaella Petrich were honored before the game to a nice round of applause from the crowd on hand that braved the bad roads to get their way to the game today. And it would be Vavra; the Askov native getting the first points on the board for the Royals right away at the 19:45 mark with a "3" from the right wing area. Consecutive scores by sophomore post Rachel Parupsky made it a 7-0 game by the 18:21 mark before the Oles were able to claw their way back into the thick of things. Senior guard Britt Webber connected with a jumper along the left baseline at the 18:00 mark and then it was sophomore guard Kim Cerjan; a prominent member of the St. Olaf Front Range bombing squad, drilling a "3" of her own from the right wing that allowed the Oles to get to within two at 7-5 by the 17:37 mark. A score in the paint by senior post Elise Raney at the 15:07 mark kept the Oles within that two point margin trailing only 9-7
As it was in their win on Wednesday night against St. Kate's, it took just a bit before things got cranked up offensively for the Royals but when they found their groove, they were able to put some distance between themselves and St. Olaf. Two free throws by Parupsky at the 14:09 mark and a score in the paint by the former Mounds View standout made it a 13-7 game by the 11:02 mark and another Vavra "3"; this one from the right wing at the 9:09 mark, had Bethel up 16-7. Another foray into the paint and finish by Parupsky completed this 9-2 Royal spurt to make it an 18-9 game. St. Olaf junior reserve forward Maddie Ehrich was able to temporarily trim the Royal advantage with her drive and finish that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the obligatory freebie but then Bethel reserve sophomore guard Lexi Friesen let loose with a "3" from the right top area for a 21-12 Royal lead and St. Olaf looked like they could be in some serious trouble with 7:47 left before the half.
But the Oles, who likely had to endure a tortuous, slow rough trip coming up I-35 from Northfield, slowly battled right back into the thick of things. Trailing 23-15, sophomore reserve forward Zoe Hansen connected with a jumper in the lane with 5:32 left and then Webber drained a "3" from the left wing with 5:10 left that suddenly had St. Olaf back to within three at 23-20. Petrich was able to get one freebie to go down for the Royals after being fouled with 4:34 left but then St. Olaf sophomore reserve sharpshooting guard Afton Wolter uncorked a "3" from the right top area that cut the Royal advantage to a scant point at 24-23. Two freebies by Parupsky with 2:43 left gave Bethel a little more breathing room but then Wolter drained another "3" from the right top area again that knotted things up at 26-all. A lay-up by Bethel reserve sophomore guard Hannah Niewald and a free throw from freshman reserve guard Shanni Moorse gave the Royals a slim 29-26 advantage at the half but St. Olaf, which looked to be in serious trouble at one point, recovered nicely to tighten things up at the break.
Bethel freshman phenom Kalli Zimmerman's drive and finish that got her fouled in the process and allowed her to sink the obligatory free throw at the 19:15 mark of the second half upped the Royal lead to 31-26 but St. Olaf was quick to respond. Ehrich craftily snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 18:44 mark and then Raney, who struggled offensively in the first half, got out of that funk and made three straight scores in the paint at the 18:24, 18:01 and 16:33 marks that suddenly had the Oles out in front for the first time by a 34-31 count. Bethel's Friesen connected with a jumper from the right wing area a bit later at the 16:22 mark that drew the Royals to within one but Bethel Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer; not liking the look of things and how Raney was getting carte blanche by his defense to score at will, called a timeout to make some changes. The Royals would recover somewhat to grab a 36-34 lead by the 13:40 mark but a jumper from the left elbow by Wolter at the 11:20 mark and an offensive rebound by the 6'3" Raney who put the ball back in the cylinder for a score and got fouled in the process allowed her to sink the ensuing free throw and St. Olaf regained the three-point edge at 37-34 by the 10:24 mark.
But the Ole resurgence would be short-lived. And part of the problem was that the Oles were so fixed to the slow, half-court game that allows their "bigs" to flourish that they were unable to effective adjust to the many transition opportunities that Bethel would get coming down the stretch. With St. Olaf clinging to a 40-39 lead, Friesen was fouled in a transition attempt that sent her to the charity stripe to sink two free throws that had the Royals back out in front 41-40. The Osage, Iowa native then made good on the next transition attempt and connected with a lay-up with 7:52 left for a 43-40 Bethel lead. Two free throws by Parupsky a little more than twenty seconds later expanded the Bethel lead to 45-40 and now St. Olaf Head Coach Dave Stromme; sensing things suddenly slipping away, called a timeout to try and reverse the momentum. St. Olaf's Cerjan came out of that timeout and knocked down a "3" from the right wing at the 7:16 mark that got the Oles to within two but they could never get any closer. Free throws by Zimmerman and another transition attempt by Friesen got her fouled as well and sent her to the line to sink two freebies for a 49-43 Royal lead. Then Friesen drained a "3" from the left wing with 5:40 left for a ten-point 53-43 Bethel lead and now it was getting close to panic time for St. Olaf. A score in the paint by Niewald and a steal of an errant Ole pass by Zimmerman who dashed the other way for an easy lay-up maintained the ten-point cushion at 57-47 with 3:29 left and prompted another timeout by Stromme. Another Cerjan "3" from the right wing with 2:10 left gave the Oles a wisp of hope but a lay-up by Friesen with 1:45 left and free throws by Niewald down the stretch sealed the deal for Bethel as they made this Senior Day a happy one by recording a 62-55 win.
A happy and relieved Herbrechtsmeyer was in the process of making the rounds with parents and friends at Robertson Center afterwards and when I was finally able to catch up with him, I asked him about how he and his assistants prepared for this game knowing full and well that they would be facing this same St. Olaf team this next week Tuesday night in the opening round of the MIAC playoffs. While Herbretchtsmeyer, of course, couldn't get into specifics, he was unabashed when I asked about how important it was for Bethel to be hosting their first-ever MIAC playoff game. "It's huge!" he stated....."If you're going to make a deep run in the MIAC playoffs, having a first-round home game is so important.....Not that it can't be done on the road, of course....It's been done before. But it's so much easier when you have that opening home game." Realistically I think this Bethel team is arguably a year away before they can seriously vie for the MIAC title but, at the same time, they're not a team you would want to have to face in the playoffs, either. Meanwhile for the Oles, this loss coupled with Wednesday night's shocking defeat at the hands of last-place Macalester have effectively killed off any momentum St. Olaf may have had coming into this last week of the regular season. They've had this fifth spot effectively locked up for a while now but have not done a good job in leveraging their playoff positioning. One item from looking at the box score that stood out to me was this: Bethel had 22 points off of turnovers while St. Olaf only had eight. That's one thing the Oles must clean up if they're going to entertain thoughts of moving forward in the MIAC playoffs. For whatever reason, they stubbornly refuse to add some wrinkles to the offense that may give players such as sophomore point guard Lauren Gutierrez and fellow sophomore reserve guard Woo Bandel a chance to shine in some transition attempts. Don't get me wrong here.....Having those "bigs" such as Raney and sophomore Emily Wahlberg is a great thing to have and the slow-it-down, half-court approach will work - up to a certain point. But, somewhere along the line, they're going to have to be willing to throw caution to the wind and take some chances in transition so they don't get too predictable.
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