Made the trip down to Rochester on this Saturday afternoon to take in the two big games on Saturday evening down at the UCR-Sports Center on the outskirts of town to take in the two big evening games of the NJCAA Division III National Tournament - the first one being the third place game between perennial powerhouse Anoka-Ramsey and Brookdale Community College out of New Jersey. Anoka-Ramsey; arguably operating at about 85% with the ACL injury suffered by sophomore forward Nicole Schaub and sophomore point guard Maria Loughlin slowed by an injury as well, lost a heartbreaker on Friday evening to conference rival Northland that propelled the Pioneers into Saturday night's Championship Game. The Golden Rams; never satisfied with anything less than a national championship, would now have to take out their frustrations in the third place game. Brookdale was knocked off on Friday night as well by top-seeded Rock Valley Community College and would be looking for a measure of revenge to come out of this tournament on a good note.
Brookdale started this game off in a 2-3 zone that, despite an early score by Golden Ram freshman forward Ashley Carter in the paint, Anoka-Ramsey found difficult to penetrate. The Jersey Blues; fueled by a score in the paint by sophomore post Sam Carlson at the 17:55 mark and a jumper from the left baseline by freshman reserve forward Jasma Stanback had Brookdale up 4-2 by the 16:02 mark. The Golden Rams continued to struggle on the offensive end and simply could not take the lid off of their basket which allowed Brookdale to consolidate on their early lead. Freshman reserve guard Megan DeGrushe connected with a lay-up in transition at the 12:18 mark and sophomore forward Nadya Szaniszlo did the same less than a minute later for an 10-3 Jersey Blue lead at the 11:45 mark. Anoka-Ramsey finally got untracked somewhat as a jumper in the lane by sophomore forward Olivia Antilla at the 10:10 mark and a score in the paint by fellow sophomore guard Erica Parker drew the Golden Rams closer trailing 11-7 but a 9-1 run by Brookdale over the next four minutes fueled by a "3" by sophomore guard Marina Lukianov from the left corner at the 9:01 mark and a short jumper by freshman guard Kimberly McNelis had the Jersey Blues up 20-8 with 5:49 left and Anoka-Ramsey was in some serious trouble.
The Golden Rams continued to struggle with untimely turnovers and mistakes on the offensive end and a "3" by freshman Mattie Racek from the right wing with 4:13 left only incrementally cut into the deficit. A "3" from McNelis with 3:07 left from the right corner and a short shot off the glass by Szaniszlo with 1:47 left upped the Jersey Blue lead to 27-13. Anoka-Ramsey uncharacteristically struggled from the charity stripe which only added to their compounding troubles. Loughlin did connect with a "3" from the right wing with just :20 left but the Golden Rams were staring at a 28-17 deficit once halftme rolled around.
Anoka-Ramsey only saw their fortunes head south once the second half got underway as the Golden Rams soon found themselves down 33-19 by the 17:51 mark. A score in the paint by Antilla and a rebound and putback by Carter had the Golden Rams back to within nine trailing 33-24 by the 15:54 mark but Brookdale jumpers by Stanback and Szaniszlo soon had the lead back up to double digits at 39-24 by the 13:14 mark. A steal and lay-up the other way by sophomore guard Jazmin Palma at the 11:12 mark and a "3" by Lukianov from the left corner with 10:04 left had the Jersey Blues back up by a 44-26 left and, considering how Anoka-Ramsey continued to sputter on offense, the prospects of a comeback were not bright at all.
To their credit, the Golden Rams tried to muster a comeback as a rebound and putback by Antilla of her own miss with 8:26 left and two treys by Loughlin - one from the left corner with 7:25 left and another from the right wing with 7:03 left whittled the Brookdale lead down to 13 at 49-36 but those Golden Ram hopes were soon snuffed out as the Jersey Blues calmly responded. A short jumper by Stanback with 6:47 left and a lay-up in transition by sophomore guard Lauren Bowler had Brookdale sizzling again leading 54-36 with 5:46 left. Anoka-Ramsey's Carter picked up her fourth foul with 6 left and there was little the Golden Rams could do after that to thwart the Jersey Blue attack. A score down low by Hayes had Brookdale up by 21 at 57-36 and despite late efforts by the Golden Rams they could never get halfway close again. Antilla fouled out with 1:13 left and Brookdale went on to a comfortable 64-49 victory to take third place.
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