Was over at Robertson Center on this Tuesday night of Beat Stanford week - and two days shy of Thanksgiving as well - to take in this important WIAC-MIAC clash between visiting UW-River Falls and host Bethel. With conference play looming just around the corner for both squads, this game would be an opportunity to fine tune some items that still needed working on. On another front, I was curious to see what improvements the Falcons had made since I had last seen them in action early in the month at Augsburg.
It would be UW-River Falls getting off to a good start in this one as the Falcons managed to grab a 5-2 lead by the 16:50 mark thanks to a "3" from the right corner by lanky freshman post Taylor Karge and an offensive rebound for a putback by sophomore forward Kate Theisen. Bethel would climb right back into the thick of things as a score in the paint by junior post Rachel Parupsky and a jumper along the right baseline by junior guard Hannah Niewald at the 15:55 mark coupled with a score in the paint by sophomore forward Kalli Zimmerman that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the obligatory freebie knotted the issue at 7-all by the 14:24 mark. Things would stay tight for the next four minutes with both teams trading two point leads. Bethel took a 13-11 lead on reserve sophomore guard Shanni Moorse's lay-up at the 11:24 mark by a lay-up by Falcon reserve sophomore guard Hannah Pignato had the issue tied at 13 at the 10:19 mark.
Both teams went on a dry spell over the next two and a half minutes until a score in the paint by Karge and an offensive rebound and putback by junior guard Richell Mehus put UW-River Falls back up by four at 17-13 with 6:57 left. But, just as they had earlier in this first half, the Royals would strike back. Zimmerman connected on a lay-up in transition and was fouled in the process and the ensuing charity stripe shot cut the Falcons lead to 17-16. Zimmerman did a repeat performance less than a minute later - and got fouled again and connected with the free throw to now put Bethel up 19-17 with 5:44 left. Parupsky snared an offensive rebound for a putback a minute later for a 21-17 Royal advantage and UW-River Falls Head Coach Cindy Holbrook called for a timeout to discuss things with her squad. The timeout helped the Falcons stay at least within striking distance. Karge sank two freebies after getting fouled with 4:17 left and a pretty move and finish with just :00.7 left by the Mankato East product negated an offensive rebound and putback by Bethel junior reserve guard Lexi Friesen before that as Bethel held a slim 25-22 edge at the halftime break.
Things would stay close in the opening minutes of the second half as well. A free throw by Theisen at the 19:33 mark and a score by Mehus in the paint at the 18:56 mark tied the score at 25. But two Parupsky scores in the paint - one at the 16:09 mark and another one at the 15:06 mark off a pretty bounce pass from Niewald - seemed to propel the Royals as they embarked on a 9-2 run as a steal and lay-up the other way by junior guard Sydney "Bam Bam" Schultz and a "3" from the left corner by freshman reserve guard Angie Kirchoff had Bethel up 34-27 at the 13:10 mark. The Falcons momentarily cut the lead down to four trailing 34-30 but two free throws by senior reserve post Lindy Parker along with yet another Parupsky score in the paint and a lay-up in transition by Schultz now had Bethel up 40-30 at the 10:49 mark and UW-River Falls' Holbrook; fearful that this one was slipping away from her squad, called another halt to the action.
The Royals increased their lead to as much as fourteen points with 8:17 left when Niewald buried a "3" from the right wing area for a 48-34 advantage and, despite some stabs and jabs here and there from the Falcons that slightly closed the gap, Bethel appeared to be in firm control of this one coming down the stretch. UW-River Falls would make last-gasp attempt to draw close again, however - and nearly did. Sophomore guard Jessie Van Wyhe made a pretty spin move for a reverse lay-up underneath the basket for the Falcons with 5:29 left and then freshman reserve post Haley Rau connected on a lay-up in transition with 3:50 left to get UW-River Falls back to within single digits trailing 50-42. Still, the Falcons were now forced to foul to preserve as much clock time as possible but the normal Bethel charity stripe reliables - Niewald and Zimmerman - both missed front end attempts; much to the chagrin of Bethel Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer. A Karge score in the paint drew UW-River Falls to within six trailing 50-44 with 2:43 left. Zimmerman was fouled soon thereafter and her two freebies had the Royals back up 52-44. Whatever hope the Falcons had left appeared to snuffed out for good as the Royals employed tough man-to-man defense on a UW-River Falls inbounds pass attempt that resulted in a five-second violation. Free throws by both Kirchoff and Niewald had Bethel back up 55-44 with 1:19 left but UW-River Falls was not dead yet. Free throws by Karge with 1:05 and :52.4 left along with a "3" by Van Wyhe from the left corner with :45.2 left put one last scare in the Royals. Bethel, now in the double-bonus, would not let the Falcons get any closer. Free throws by Niewald and Kirchoff negated a score in the paint by Karge after a Falcon steal as the Royals claimed a tough non-conference win by a final tally of 60-54.
A happy but guarded Herbrechtsmeyer knew how important this win was afterward as he admitted that his squad was not yet ready for MIAC play and needed to be tested. "I challenged the kids before this one to step up and bring the intensity level up that's needed in conference play" and he felt that they did that - for the most part anyway though you can bet he'll have something to say in practice about the squad's paltry 2-18 from behind the arc for the game and equally alarming 13-22 from the charity stripe in the second half. Fortunately for the Royals, UW-River Falls wasn't that much better from three-point land either; going 3-10 for the game. While Holbrook admitted that progress has been made since the scrimmage with Augsburg, there remains much to be done. "We didn't always make good decisions with the ball out there" she lamented afterward and also pointed out some of the questionable shooting decisions her squad made from time to time. Still, this is an incredibly young team with only one junior, three freshmen and eleven sophomores. There are still some inevitable growing pains this squad is going to have to endure over the short-haul but the long-term prospects are bright and it's only a matter of time before the Falcons are right in the thick of things in the WIAC.
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