Bolted out of work early yesterday afternoon to make the trek down U.S. Highway 61 and the Canadian Pacific Railway's River Sub mainline down to Winona for the MIAC Quarterfinal Playoff game between visiting Gustavus and host St. Mary's. While I knew that the Gusties were coming into this one under possibly the worst circumstances a team could come into a playoff situation with, I still held out hope that they might be able to come out with resolve and fight and make this a close one. But nothing could have prepared them for the Cardinal blitzkrieg they would encounter on this Tuesday evening.
GAC definitely got off on the right foot when freshman point guard Mikayla Miller drained a "3" from the right top area at the 19:44 mark that gave the Gusties an early 3-0 lead. SMU freshman forward/post Molly O'Toole tied it at 3-all at the 19:28 mark with her "3" from the left corner off of an inbounds pass and senior guard Octavio Brown nudged the Cardinals ahead 5-3 on her lay-up in transition after a steal at the 19:09 mark. GAC junior forward Lindsey Johnson knotted the score at 5-all with her short jumper. But this is where SMU made its first decisive move of the night with a 9-0 burst. An O'Toole score in the paint at the 18:43 mark and a "3" from the left wing by senior guard Sara Schoenthaler at the 17:53 mark made it a 10-5 game. Junior reserve guard Micaela Meredith connected with a short jumper along the right baseline at the 16:46 mark and then sophomore point guard Emma Schaefer, enroute to a sensational performance on this night, knocked down a jumper from the left elbow area at the 16:07 mark to make it 14-5 Cardinals and GAC Head Coach Laurie Kelly; knowing full well that she had to stop the bleeding, called a halt to the action to talk it over with her team. This SMU run wouldn't have been quite so damaging if not for the fact that the Gusties missed several easy "bunnies" down low in the opening minutes that might have had them right in the thick of things. As it was, the Cardinals were just getting started. After the first timeout, junior guard Shelby Auseth uncorked a three-point bomb at the 15:05 mark and then freshman reserve post Kayla Lardy muscled into the paint for a score at the 14:38 mark that made it a 19-6 ballgame and Kelly burned a thirty-second timeout as she realized that this one was spiraling out of control early.
The Gusties finally shook off a few cobwebs when sophomore forward Morgan Iverson's knocked down two freebies at the 14:01 mark and Miller finally broke GAC's drought from field goal range with her score in the paint at the 13:38 mark that had the Gusties back in single-digit range trailing 19-10. A Miller drive and finish in transition at the 12:11 mark and a lay-up by sophomore guard Hannah Howard that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the obligatory free throw kept GAC in that single-digit range trailing 24-15. Iverson's two free throws at the 10:03 mark kept the Gusties in that 9-10 point range trailing 27-17 and, more importantly, GAC was in the bonus by this point so there was still some reason for hope. But here things would slowly start falling apart again for the Gusties. Another Lardy score in the paint with 9:12 mark and two Meredith freebies with 8:11 left made it 31-19 SMU. After another GAC timeout, Schaefer let loose with a three-point bomb from the left wing with 7:01 left that made it 35-19 and free throws by Schaefer, Auseth and Brown had the Cardinals up 40-23. The Gusties tried to counter on consecutive scores by both Iverson and Miller that sliced SMU's lead down to 40-27 with 3:33 left but GAC simply could not get a sustained run that might have cut things back to single digits. And a big part of that reason was that the Cardinals were particularly stingy on defense; often limiting the Gusties to one shot and making them take bad shots as well. Pairs of free throws by sophomore reserve post Sam Jones and Meredith had the lead back at sixteen at 46-30 with :37.6 left and, after a missed jumper by Miller with :12 left, Schaefer snared the defensive rebound and hustled down the floor for a drive and finish with just :00.8 left that not only gave SMU a healthy 48-30 halftime lead but also brought the house down at SMU's gymnasium as well. And that would not be the only time that Schaefer would do that on this night, either. A quick glance at the first half box revealed GAC's first half woes: 10-29 from FG range for a paltry 34.5%, an 18-13 edge in rebounding for the Cardinals, and the fact that SMU shot a blazing 14-23 for 60.9% from FG range and an even more amazing 6-8 performance from three-point land for 75%. Those numbers tell the story right there.
Down by 18 to begin the second half, the Gusties needed something - anything - that might give them a needed boost to get things going in the second half and get back to within striking distance. But, with their senior and emotional leader, Maddie Ehrich, relegated to the bench in street clothes, that boost would not be forthcoming. Schaefer drained another "3" from the right corner at the 18:40 mark and O'Toole scored in the paint at the 17:30 mark and got her fouled in the process as well and the obligatory free throw now gave the Cardinals a twenty-point cushion at 54-34. Jones was able to score in the paint off of an inbounds pass at the 17:05 mark and then Schaefer once again brought the SMU student section and fans to their feet with an explosion when, at the 16:32 mark, she did a sweet behind-the-back dribble to outmaneuver her opponent and connected with a lay-up that now made it a 58-34 game and the rout was officially on. The Cardinals maintained this 24-point edge over the next three minutes until GAC's Miller finally found the range behind the arc from the right wing area at the 13:13 mark that slimmed SMU's lead down to 64-45 but again, the Gusties simply could not mount anything consistent that might have even planted the faintest seeds of doubt amongst the Cardinals. Another 6-0 burst; a jumper from the FT line by Jones at the 12:33 mark along with two O'Toole freebies at the 12:09 mark along with a lay-up in transition by Schaefer at the 10:17 mark had the lead up to 25 at 70-45 and it would be smooth sailing the rest of the way.
Things would deteriorate even further for GAC when Miller; the Goodhue product already saddled with three fouls by this point, picked up her fourth foul with 8:33 left and then, out of sheer frustration more than anything else, picked up her fifth and final foul just a little more than thirty seconds later that relegated her to the bench for the rest of the evening. With the Gusties now in a fee-fall without their starting point guard on the floor, SMU was able to put it into cruise control mode the rest of the way. Up 75-50 after a Schaefer lay-up with 7:27 left, Brown scored on a drive and finish with 6:30 left and then two scores by Auseth - a short jumper with 5:57 left and a three-point bomb from the left wing with 5:32 left - ballooned the lead to 28 at 82-54. Schaefer put the exclamation point on her fabulous 26-point scoring performance on this night with a "3" from the right corner with 4:24 left for an 85-54 Cardinal lead. Both SMU Head Coach Mandy Pearson and the Gusties' Kelly unloaded their benches in the last few minutes that gave the reserves an opportunity to get their names in the book. Junior reserve post Anna Lundquist got the Gusties a score with 2:48 left with her bucket in the paint and sophomore reserve guard Brigette Audette added to the SMU total with one free throw with 1:27 left. GAC junior reserve forward Kelle Nett snared an offensive rebound with :51.9 left for a putback but, when the buzzer sounded and the carnage had finally been cleared, SMU had recorded a resounding 90-58 victory to advance to the MIAC Playoff semifinals on Thursday night.
I managed to get a minute with Schaefer afterward before she was snared away by friends to ask her what Pearson and her staff stressed to the team beforehand. "Defense!" she replied and the Gusties 19-51 FG shooting for 37.3% along with 21 GAC turnovers indicates that they fulfilled Pearson's wishes for this game to the hilt. This win tonight coupled with Augsburg's upset of Concordia in Moorhead on this night now sends the Cardinals to number-two seed Bethel for a semifinal tilt on Thursday night and I asked Pearson what was going to have to happen for them on Thursday night to knock off a great Bethel team. She stressed that another strong defensive performance is going to be critical to their hopes and, just as important, showing poise on the road is going to huge as well as she pointed out that Bethel is also a great defensive team that can make you take bad shots. It's kind of ironic when I think about it now but recently, in one of my recent MIAC power rankings, I made the point that SMU had to show me something. Well, on this night, they definitely showed me something and I was very, very impressed with what I saw. I couldn't help but point out to Pearson afterward that, once junior point guard Bridget Pethke gets healthy, she's going to have not only one but TWO very good point guards and that that is kind of a nice problem to have. She laughed in agreement but also pointed out that these two (Pethke and Schaefer) work very well together and are great teammates as well. Needless to say, you have to think that the Cardinals will be flying high again once Pethke is fully healed and ready to go. Can they beat Bethel on Thursday night? I can't put it past them; particularly if Schaefer has another breakout game like she did on this night.
Meanwhile, for the Gusties, what an incredibly disappointing finish to a season that saw them get off to a great start and win eight out of nine games in the period from early December through mid-January when they were playing their best basketball before the wheels started coming off for this young team. Ehrich's injury in that next-to-last regular season game with Macalester was the devastating final blow for GAC. The big question for me is who replaces Ehrich as that "leader" that the Gusties so desperately need? I don't know who that'll be off the top of my head......Maybe Miller might be best suited for that position but it's too early to tell at this point. But whoever it is, they'll be stepping into some very big shoes as Ehrich; in her one year as a Gustie, had a huge impact on this program and she'll be sorely missed. I'm just glad that she had an opportunity to do what she did. I asked Assistant Coach Dan Wolfe afterward what has to happen for GAC to be back in elite status. His reply was quite simple: "We have to go out and get some very good players and we have to make the players we have right now get better." I still think this team has a ton of potential for the future; especially going into next year with Johnson as a senior and the aforementioned Miller with a year of experience under her belt. At the same time, this conference keeps getting better as a whole so it will have to be more than just incremental improvements by GAC to get them over the hump.
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