The second game on tap on this Valentines Day was the 3:00 P.M. tilt between St. Kate's and Macalester. After leaving Hutton Arena, I made my way down Snelling Avenue and got settled into Macalester's Leonard Center which was decked out with pink on "Play For Kay" Day and had a healthy contingent of students on hand as well. This was Senior Day as well and Scot senior Annie Drabot was playing her last home game. I got settled in at the 16:04 mark of this contest with St. Kate's holding an early 6-4 lead.
Drabot's two free throws at the 15:29 mark knotted the score at 6-all but it was here that the Wildcats embarked on a 7-0 run. Sophomore forward Kennedy Jennings connected on a lay-up in transition at the 14:55 mark and then freshman guard Meg Clark drained a "3" from the right corner at the 14:21 mark for an 11-6 St. Kate's lead. Sophomore forward Mari Lee's lay-up in transition at the 13:54 mark made it 13-6 and Scot Head Coach Kelly Roysland felt compelled to call a thirty-second timeout to get her squad calmed down again. But a jumper by freshman guard Audra Clark in the lane at the 13:32 mark and a score in the paint by Lee at the 12:49 mark now made it 17-6 and Roysland; not liking this development at all, called a full timeout. Macalester was able to trim down the deficit a bit as two scores in the paint by freshman post Regan Fruh at the 11:52 and 10:45 mark got the Scots back to within single digits trailing 18-10 but the Wildcats went on a 6-0 push over the next minute and a half. Lee connected on a lay-up in transition at the 10:14 mark as did Meg Clark with 9:41 left after a steal. Jennings also got a lay-up with 9:07 left for a 24-10 St. Kate's lead and it looked as if the purple-clad Wildcats finally had something going their way for a change.
The Scots would manage to get within single digits again as Fruh; enroute to a fantastic performance on this day, got a score in the paint with 8:19 left and then snared an offensive rebound for a putback with 7:45 left. Two Fruh freebies with 6:53 left and a score in the paint by junior guard Erin Murray drew Macalester closer trailing 29-21 with 5:04 left. But the Wildcats had another flurry of scores in store for their opponent. Audra Clark banged home a "3" from the right wing area with 4:49 left and followed that up with two free throws with 4:20 left and a score in the paint as well with 3:56 left for a 36-23 St. Kate's lead. Junior guard/forward Shauna Horsch's "3" from the right wing area with 3:28 left gave the Wildcats a sixteen-point advantage at 39-23 and the Scots could have been in a hole right then and there. Macalester trimmed the deficit down to ten points as sophomore guard Grace Dickman connected on a lay-up with 2:31 left and both Fruh and Drabot got freebies to go down that cut the Wildcat lead down to 39-29 with 1:53 left. But St. Kate's had one last push before halftime as consecutive scores by Meg Clark - a "3" from the left corner with 1:31 left and a lay-up in transition with 1:14 left - upped the lead to fifteen at 44-29. Horsch got one score in the paint with :32 left that allowed St. Kate's to hold a 46-31 advantage at the halftime break.
Oddly enough, Wildcat Head Coach Sean Pinkerton did not shed his sportcoat until the early stages of the second half. Maybe it was because it was so bloody cold outside. Or maybe it was because he wouldn't start feeling the heat until later on in the second half. In any event, St. Kate's got a solid start coming out of the gate in the second half. Horsch was able to score inside after she recovered a loose ball in the backcourt at the 19:18 mark and then scored at the 18:16 mark on a pretty give-and-go play for a 50-32 Wildcat lead. At the 16:46 mark, Horsch; the Inver Grove Heights native, drilled a "3" from the top of the key at the 16:46 mark that gave St. Kate's its largest lead of the day at 53-32. The Scots would quickly trim that lead down to seventeen on a score in the paint by Fruh at the 16:35 mark and a short jumper in transition at the 14:55 mark by Dickman but at the moment anyway, it looked as if the Wildcats were in firm control and that this game would be a ho-hum affair between two squads at the bottom of the MIAC simply playing out the stretch.
But someone forgot to tell that to Roysland and her Macalester squad and it quickly became apparent that this team is much, much better than their dismal 3-19 (0-15 MIAC) record would suggest. And St. Kate's; which hasn't had many opportunities as of late to manage a double-digit lead, would have to find out as well - almost the hard way. Still, the 'Cats had to be feeling fairly good about things when sophomore sensation guard/forward LaShay Holt connected with a lay-up at the 14:18 mark and connected on another pretty give-and-go play that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the obligatory free throw at the 13:09 mark for a seemingly cozy 58-42 advantage. But the Scots would now feed the 'Cats a healthy dose of Fruh down low and the lead slowly dwindled. Two Fruh scores in the paint - one at the 12:59 mark and another at the 12:13 mark - cut the St. Kate's lead down to 60-46 and sophomore guard Lauren Clamage knocked down two free throws at the 11:35 mark that cut the Wildcat lead down to twelve at 60-48 and also saddled Jennings with her third foul of the afternoon. Certainly no reason to panic by this point but Pinkerton still felt a need to call a timeout at this point to get his squad back on track.
A short jumper by Holt at the 10:59 mark got the lead back to fourteen at 62-48 but Macalester was just starting to "feel it". Fruh score in the paint again at the 10:48 mark and then Clamage was fouled in a transition opportunity at the 10:29 mark by Jennings that not only allowed her to sink two free throws but also now Jennings was tagged with her fourth foul as well. Fruh continued to be a nightmare for Pinkerton and his staff of Tim Kjar and Tim Peper as one offensive rebound for a putback that got her fouled and allowed her to sink a freebie with 9:23 left and another score in the paint with 8:05 left cut further into the St. Kate's lead as it was now a 64-58 game. A lay-up by Dickman with 7:26 left got the Scots closer trailing 65-60. Murray was fouled with 7:09 left and although she could only get the front-end to go down, her errant second attempt was snared by Drabot and she quickly put the ball back up for a score with 7:07 left that had the Macalester student section roaring and, more importantly, cut the Wildcat lead down to 66-63. St. Kate's appeared to recover somewhat from that scare as Holt launched one of her two-handed three-point attempts that found its mark from the left corner with 6:44 left and Audra Clark was able to get a score into the paint with 6:35 left that made it a 71-63 game and two Holt free throws with 6:02 left upped the lead back to ten at 73-63.
But the Scots were far from finished. Freshman reserve guard Vivi Gregorich connected with a lay-up with 5:19 left and got two free throws to go down after she was fouled in transition with 4:36 left that cut St. Kate's lead down to 73-67. The Wildcats appeared to recover for good again when Meg Clark got one free throw to go down with 4:10 left and although her second attempt was off the mark, Holt was there to snare the offensive rebound and get a putback out of it with 4:05 left that upped the St. Kate's lead to nine at 76-67. Macalester would throw one last scare into their guests, though, as yet another score in the paint by Fruh with 3:39 left and a Dickman free throw with 3:29 left cut the deficit to six at 76-70. Another explosion by the Macalester student section occurred with 3:25 left when Fruh was on the receiving end of an inbounds pass down low and she promptly scored that further cut the Wildcat lead down to a tenuous 76-72. This time, the Wildcats would find their savior of the day as Horsch made a hard drive along the right baseline and got a reverse lay-up to go down with 2:15 left that now made it a 78-72 game. A jumper by Murray with 2:01 left would once again cut the 'Cat lead down to four at 78-74. The diminutive Audra Clark, however, would dampen the Scots hopes as she scored in the paint with 1:47 left and was fouled in the process and her free throw made not only made it an 81-74 ballgame but it now forced Macalester to play hurry-up on offense which led to untimely turnovers that effectively killed their chances. Fortunately for the Wildcats, they had just a big enough lead in the last minute to offset a plethora of missed free throws in the last minute. Two free throws by Clamage with :57.6 left and one last score in the paint by Fruh with :32 left made the deficit six trailing 86-80 but the Scots could get no closer. Two free throws by Audra Clark with :29.7 left and one Holt freebie with :16.3 left gave St. Kate's a scary 89-80 win that snapped their nine-game losing streak.
While a relieved Pinkerton was definitely glad to get the "W" for his players and staff, there were other aspects of the game that left him less than pleased; particularly going only 22-43 from the charity stripe for 51.2%. Rebounding had to be an issue as well as the 'Cats took their lumps on that front as Macalester had a decided 48-37 advantage. And Fruh's ability to score into the paint like she did on this day would cause most coaches to drive to the nearest Walgreen's for a bottle of Tylenol PM. Still, I had to ask Pinkerton if it might have been a case where his squad; not having a whole lot of experience handling big leads and success, might have played a part. He pondered the idea for a moment and grudgingly admitted that it could have. Meanwhile, a courageous comeback effort by the Scots came up short on this late afternoon and you could sense the disappointment on Roysland afterward. Fruh finished with a game high 33 points on this day and she made life absolutely miserable for St. Kate's in the paint. Roysland could only point to mistakes at key times; turnovers that may have kept Macalester from getting even closer or going ahead at the crucial moments. Still, I think Roysland can take a lot of positives going forward from this game and you can bet that as this team gets more experience, they're going to be causing more headaches for their MIAC opponents.
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