Made the short trip over to Bethel's Robertson Center on this Wednesday evening to take in the contest between host Bethel and visiting St. Kate's. The red-hot Royals; winners of five straight including a big one on the road at GAC a week ago were looking to keep the streak going and to keep pace with SMU for second place in the MIAC while the struggling Wildcats were riding a four-game skid and were looking break this dismal stretch with an upset win over one of the conference's upper-echelon teams.
Bethel would claim an early 5-0 advantage on a score in the paint by sophomore forward Kalli Zimmerman at the 19:49 mark and a "3" from the left wing area by junior guard Sydney "Bam Bam" Schultz at the 18:01 mark and scores by junior guard Hannah Niewald and an offensive rebound and putback of her own miss by sophomore guard Shanni Moorse maintained the five-point cushion at 11-6 by the 15:16 mark. A short jumper from the left side by freshman reserve guard Angie Kirchoff at the 14:46 mark along with two charity stripe shots by Schultz gave the Royals a 15-7 advantage before St. Kate's began to start clicking on offense. A "3" from the right wing area by junior guard/forward Shauna Horsch at the 12:23 mark along with a free throw by sophomore sensation guard/forward LaShay Holt and a lay-up by sophomore forward Mari Lee helped trim the Bethel lead to 17-13 with 9:12 left.
A Schultz lay-up with 8:57 left upped the Royal lead to six at 19-13 but Holt single-handedly brought the Wildcats to within two on a pair of free throws with 8:37 left and a drive and lay-up with 7:22 left that cut Bethel's lead to 19-17. Two free throws by Horsch brought St. Kate's to within one trailing 20-19 but with 6:39 left Holt was tagged with her second foul and St. Kate's Head Coach Sean Pinkerton; who had shed his sportcoat early again in this contest, had no choice but to sit his sophomore star for a spell. This allowed the Royals to build up there (now) small cushion with a 7-0 burst highlighted by a score in the paint by junior post Rachel Parupsky with 6:20 left that gave the former Mounds View star her 1,000th career point at Bethel and helped give the Royals a 30-21 lead with 4:09 left. A Niewald lay-up with 3:36 left and a short shot by Moorse with 2:57 left maintained the nine-point cushion and a Schultz lay-up with 2:20 left gave the Royals their largest advantage in the contest up to this point at 36-25. Another Parupsky score in the paint with 1:48 left maintained the eleven-point cushion at 38-27 before the 'Cats were able to make a late swipe at the Bethel advantage. One "3' by Holt from the top of the key with :46 left and another from senior reserve guard Mary Neumann from the right corner with :11.3 left enabled St. Kate's to get to within six trailing 39-33 at the half. Considering that the Wildcats shot a somewhat icy 10-33 from FG range (30.3%), they were fortunate to be where they were at against one of the top teams in the conference.
Pinkerton and his assistants Tim Kjar and Tim Peper tweaked their game plan during the halftime break and the Wildcats managed to get right back into the thick of things early on in the second half. Two scores by freshman guard Audra Clark - a score in the paint at the 19:48 mark and a lay-up at the 19:21 mark along with one free throw by Holt at the 18:28 mark brought St. Kate's to within one trailing 39-38. More importantly for the 'Cats, Holt was now getting some isolation and one-on-one opportunities on offense that allowed her to utilize her strengths with the ball - and also let St. Kate's poke their nose out in front. A drive into the lane and finish by Holt that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the obligatory free throw tied the score at 41-all. A lay-up by Audra Clark at the 16:51 mark and another Holt drive and finish at the 16:19 mark put the Wildcats out in front for the first time at 45-43. A Parupsky score in the paint at the 16:00 mark tied the issue at 45 and a Kirchoff jumper from the free throw line put Bethel back in front 47-45 but it was here that St. Kate's went on a 6-0 run. Audra Clark uncorked a "3" from the top of the key at the 14:46 mark and an offensive rebound and putback of her own miss by Horsch at the 14:46 mark and a lay-up in transition by Lee at the 13:55 mark suddenly had the Wildcats up 52-47 and the home crowd; after celebrating Parupsky's 1,000th point in the first half, now had good reason for concern.
But this young Bethel bunch has grown up a lot in the past couple of years and where they might have folded in a situation like this in years past, they now showed resolve and fought their way out of the woods. They quickly whittled the St. Kate's lead down to one on a freebie from Moorse and a lay-up in transition by Niewald that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the ensuing free throw by the 13:01 mark. Two scores by Zimmerman - a lay-up at the 11:26 mark and a score in the paint at the 10:52 mark - put the Royals back up for good at 57-56 and then Schultz banged home another "3"; this one from the right wing at the 10:24 mark that gave Bethel a 60-56 lead that took some the air out of the balloon for the Wildcats. A Horsch "3" from the right top area with 9:15 left kept the 'Cats within striking distance trailing 62-59 but the Royals didn't flinch and gradually built their lead. A "3" by senior reserve guard Lisa O'Connor from the left corner with 9:00 left and two Parupsky scores increased the lead to eight at 69-61. Pinkerton called a timeout with 6:32 left in hopes of getting one last St. Kate's charge. A Horsch "3" from the left wing area with 5:51 left and a lay-up by Audra Clark with 5:22 left got the Wildcats back to within four trailing 72-68 but they could get no closer. Schultz launched a dagger "3" from the left corner with 5:04 left and a steal and lay-up the other way by the smart Niewald upped the lead to nine at 77-68. Two Niewald free throws with 3:24 left and a drive and short jumper off the glass by the Fridley product now had the Royals safely up by fifteen at 83-68 with 2:46 left. Pairs of freebies by both Niewald and Zimmerman down the stretch gave Bethel a 90-77 victory at the buzzer as the Royals kept their lofty hopes alive and, more importantly, kept them tied with SMU for second place in the conference.
With an 8-3 record in the MIAC and a 14-4 record overall, it's easy for one to look ahead; considering the upcoming schedule for the Royals and not have high hopes but don't tell that to Bethel Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer who insists on a "one game at a time" mentality and stressed that his squad will be focused solely on the next game. And, considering that early loss at St. Kate's back in early December coupled with back-to-back losses on the road to both CSB and Concordia shortly after the first of the year and you can understand that line of thinking. Yet, for me, the only daunting aspect of their remaining regular season schedule is a home date with national powerhouse UST that looms after Valentine's Day weekend. It's all laid out there for them. It's an opportunity that they just missed out on last year and it's all laying out there in front of them now. Can they grab it? We'll see.
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