Made my way over to venerable Hutton Arena on this Saturday afternoon armed with a Subway lunch to take in this early January contest between visiting Macalester; making its way up Snelling Avenue to take on host Hamline. With the first weekend in January upon us and the MIAC season now in full swing, there would no longer be any safety net of non-conference cream puffs to devour. For Hamline, this game would be particularly important as the Pipers were sitting at 6-4 (1-2 in the MIAC) and they needed to get off to a good start in 2015.
Apparently, the Pipers were in agreement as they came out of the gate with a sense of urgency and bolted out to a 6-0 lead; using their speed and quickness to offset the 2-3 zone that Macalester was employing to try and clog up the middle with. Senior guard Jordan "Flash" Sammons was doing much of the damage early on; connecting with a jumper from the left wing at the 19:50 mark and getting a lay-up in transition after a steal at the 18:08 mark. A jumper from Scot junior guard Erin Murray from the left top area got Macalester on the board at the 17:46 mark but Sammons struck again with another easy lay-up in transition at the 16:38 mark for an 8-2 Hamline lead and new Scot Head Coach and former Golden Gopher standout Kelly Roysland had seen enough to know that a timeout was warranted. Macalester would briefly recover after the stoppage in play as Murray connected with a jumper in the lane at the 13:56 mark and sophomore reserve guard Grace Dickman got a lay-up at the 13:22 mark to get the Scots to within four trailing 11-7. But the speed and athleticism of the Pipers slowly began taking its toll on Macalester as the home team embarked on another 6-0 push. A score in the paint by sophomore reserve forward Mattie Shelton at the 13:04 mark and an offensive rebound and putback by Sammons at the 12:26 mark made it a 15-7 game. A drive and finish by the former Apple Valley standout at the 11:56 mark gave Hamline a ten-point cushion at 17-7 by the 11:56 mark.
A "3" by sophomore guard Chloe Graves from the right wing area at the 10:38 mark increased the Piper lead to 22-9 but, to their credit, Macalester would chop some of the fat off of the deficit to at least stay within reasonable distance. A "3" from the left top area by sophomore guard Lauren Clamage got the Scots back to within ten trailing 22-12 with 9:58 left. Hamline would maintain a 10-12 point cushion over the next four minutes but the continuous pressing and trapping that the Pipers were doing were forcing several Macalester miscues and eventually those mistakes would come back to haunt them. After a Scot timeout with 5:43 left, Hamline went on a decisive run to end the first half. A short shot in transition by sophomore guard Chelsey Bonsante with 4:55 left and another Sammons lay-up in transition after a steal upped the Piper lead to 31-16 with 4:28 left. A score in the paint by the Scots freshman post Regan Fruh with 3:11 left temporarily halted the Hamline Express but a freebie by Sammons with 2:28 left and a three-point bomb by Bonsante from the left wing area with 1:55 left gave the Pipers a commanding 35-18 advantage at the half and Macalester was arguably sitting behind the 8-ball at this point.
Things only got worse for the Scots once the second half got underway as Hamline embarked on a 9-2 spurt; highlighted by a "3" from junior forward Makenzie Lee from the right wing area that had Macalester's Roysland clamoring for a timeout at the 16:54 mark with the Pipers up 44-20. But Hamline showed no signs of cooling off anytime soon as they proceeded to go on 14-2 tear over the next 5 1/2 minutes that ballooned the lead to 58-22 at the 11:17 mark and effectively ended any doubt as to the out come. Scores in the paint by both Shelton and freshman reserve forward Alison Bartak had the Pipers up 62-24 with 9:57 left.
The Scots certainly weren't giving up by any means but they were just outmatched on this day. Bonsante uncorked another trey from the left wing area with 9:04 left and Sammons connected with yet another lay-up in transition with 8:35 left for a 67-26 lead. Macalester was getting to the charity stripe to make points as the Scots got into the bonus with 8:11 left but free throws alone simply wouldn't be near enough. A lay-up by freshman forward Alex Peterson with 6:26 left; a drive and finish by Sammons with 4:11 left and a lay-up by sophomore reserve guard Monica Herzog with 3:41 left gave Hamline its largest lead of the day at 73-32 and Piper Head Coach Kerri Stockwell unloaded her bench for the home stretch. Sophomore reserve guard Kelly Stacken got one free throw with 3:20 left and then connected with a "3" from the left wing with just :11.7 left as Hamline recorded a resounding 77-38 triumph.
A very pleased Stockwell was quick to admit that this was a very good performance by her squad on this afternoon at home but she also knows full and well that her squad can't rest their laurels on just one good game. She noted that her squad needs to get better defensively and offered that "we're not very big". Still, you have to like what you see when they're at their best and when they have their transition game clicking. It can be devastating. On the other side, I also asked Macalester's Roysland what her squad has to do to get better. "A LOT" she said emphatically. She did note that this is a very young squad with only one senior (Annie Drabot) that hasn't had a game in nearly a month. Roysland no doubt had to cringe when she looked at some of the ugly numbers from the box score: 12-46 26.1% FG shooting and an equally woeful 2-10 for 20% from three-point land. And the task doesn't get any easier for the Scots as Concordia will be making the trip along the BNSF's Staples Sub mainline down to the Twin Cities for an early evening date at Leonard Center on Monday night.
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