Made my way over to UST's Anderson Athletic Complex and Schoenecker Arena on this sunny Saturday afternoon for the climax of the MIAC women's basketball season - the MIAC Championship Game which featured a highly anticipated rematch between second-seeded Bethel and number one seed and host UST. The Tommies claimed a tough 81-77 victory ten days ago at Robertson Center so this one figured to be a battle as well. The Royals; with their victory over SMU on Thursday night, notched 21 wins for the first time in program history and were hoping to pull off the monumental upset to assure themselves of the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament instead of anxiously awaiting for an at-large bid on Monday. UST meanwhile, with its unblemished 26-0 record was looking to make history - again - by running roughshod over the rest of the conference and claiming yet another MIAC regular season and playoff title - and likely getting to host a regional pod in the NCAA Tournament as well.
The Tommies would open an early 6-2 advantage with a score in the paint by senior post Maggie Weiers at the 19:39 mark and two scores by fellow senior point guard Jen Dockter - a short jumper at the 18:46 mark and another one from the free throw line at the 18:26 mark. Bethel would trim the deficit to 6-4 on a score in the paint by junior post Rachel Parupsky but a "3" by junior guard Katie Stone from the left wing area at the 16:25 mark had things looking good for UST up 9-4. That "feel good" sensation for the Tommies, however, would take a blow when senior forward Anna Smith went down with an apparent knee injury after being fouled. Though Smith was able to get up under her own power, senior reserve forward Alyssa (nothing vanilla) Favilla came in to do the free throw honors for a 10-4 UST lead. The Royals would once again make a dent in the deficit as sophomore guard Shanni Moorse connected on a drive and finish as the shot clock expired at the 14:55 mark and junior guard Hannah Niewald knocked down two freebies after being fouled at the 14:35 mark that made it a 10-8 game. Smith; hoping that her apparent knee injury was nothing more than just a mere tweak, went back into the game at the 13:42 mark but quickly realized it was a more serious situation when she had to go out less than a minute later after a turnover. Meanwhile, a lay-up by sophomore forward Kalli Zimmerman at the 11:59 mark knotted the issue at 10-all and this one definitely appeared to be a battle at this point.
In fact, if it weren't for a plethora of missed lay-ups and "bunnies", Bethel may have very well established a bit of a lead by this point. As it was, they were right in the thick of things where they wanted to be. With the Royals trailing 14-12, Parupsky found herself open at the top of the key and uncorked a three-point bomb that kissed perfectly off the glass and into the cylinder that gave Bethel its first lead of the afternoon at 15-14 with 9:34 left and a Parupsky jumper off the glass in transition with 9:13 left increased that lead to 17-14. A determined Tommie team, however, was not going to be upstaged on its home floor and went quickly back to work to rectify the situation. Back-to-back scores by lefty senior reserve guard Hannah Hughes - a short jumper with 8:55 left and a jumper from the right wing off the glass with 8:16 left - had UST back out in front 18-17 and also helped ignite an 8-0 run that increased the lead to 24-17 that was capped off by a Stone "3" from the left wing area with 4:32 left. Smith; with that knee and leg heavily wrapped by this time for stability, was back in the contest by this time and, presumably anyway, was okay to go. With the Tommies up 26-19, Stone uncorked another three-point bomb; this one from the left top area that pushed the lead to ten at 29-19 and a Weiers drive along the right baseline and pretty reverse finish with 2:27 left made it a twelve-point 31-19 UST advantage and the Royals were arguably reeling by this point. Senior reserve forward Elaine Warner increased the lead to thirteen at 33-20 with her drive and left-handed lay-up with :18 left and it would have been a perfect ending to the first half for the Tommies except for the fact that Smith got tangled up in heavy traffic in the waning seconds and went down again in pain and sadly had to be helped to the locker room after the buzzer sounded with UST up 33-21. While it was tough to have to watch Smith be helped off the court, Bethel was facing the prospect of being down double digits at the half. A paltry 7-26 from FG range for 26.9% was bad enough but what was really shocking was that the Royals were absolutely being hammered on the glass as the Tommies owned a shocking 29-9 advantage on the boards.
UST could have had an emotional roller-coaster downfall once the second half got underway but instead the Tommies quietly and efficiently kept doing their thing. A 9-4 push in the opening minutes; fueled by a Dockter lay-up at the 17:47 mark and capped by a Weiers drive and jumper that got her fouled and allowed her to sink the obligatory freebie made it a 42-25 ballgame. Free throws by Dockter at the 14:42 mark and by Weiers at the 13:36 mark coupled with a Hughes lay-up at the 12:37 mark pushed the lead to 23 at 48-25 and it looked by this time that UST was on its way to a rout as Bethel could get nothing going offensively and found few opportunities in the paint area where not even a canister of Drano could unplug the stout Tommie "D". Down by twenty plus, the Royals could have easily thrown in the towel. Somehow, though, they hunkered down and dug deep and forged a comeback that, had it not been for all those missed lay-ups, bunnies and free throws, might have had a drastically different result.
Bethel, which had been frustrated up to this point by not being able mount a sustained run, finally got untracked and unleashed a 13-0 blitzkrieg. A pull-up jumper by freshman reserve guard Angie Kirchoff at the 11:58 mark and a Zimmerman "3" from the right top area at the 11:28 mark trimmed the UST lead down to 48-30. Parupsky was finally able to muscle into the paint for a score with 9:47 left and a pretty one-handed shot by Zimmerman with 9:14 left not only cut the Tommie lead down to fourteen at 48-34 but the Royals also now found themselves in the bonus as well. A Parupsky jumper from the right wing with 8:05 left and two free throws by Schultz after she was fouled with 7:24 left shrunk the UST lead down to ten at 48-38 and the shell-shocked Tommies definitely looked a bit dazed by this point. But two thirty-second timeouts by UST Head Coach Ruth Sinn helped calm the waters just enough to stave off disaster. While Zimmerman single-handedly tried to bring the Royals back from the brink with three consecutive scores - two free throws with 4:46 left; a steal and lay-up the other way with 4:35 left; and one more freebie with 3:58 left - the Tommies held firm when they had to and were able to snuff out the last Bethel threat. A reverse lay-up by Dockter; and a ball that seemed to go all the way up to the rafters before safely falling through the cylinder in the process, upped the lead to eleven at 59-48 with 2:42 left and two free throws by senior guard Laura Margarit with 1:30 left maintained a relatively safe ten-point cushion at 61-51. Both Parupsky and Kirchoff missed jumpers in the last minute in a vain attempt to save their hopes. Dockter and Warner knocked down pairs of insurance free throws and UST found itself hoisting yet another MIAC trophy with a 65-51 victory.
A disappointed and somewhat emotional - yet proud Bethel Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer referred to his squad as heroes as he talked about his team's comeback efforts when all appeared lost early on in the second half. The disparity in total rebounds for the game - 52 to 27 for UST - was one of the big reasons for the defeat obviously. Herbrechtsmeyer felt that if things had stayed relatively the same from the regular season contest just ten days ago and if the Royals had been able to clean some things up on the offensive end, things might have turned out differently. Alas, that didn't happen and now Bethel must await anxiously for Monday afternoon's announcement of pairings for the NCAA Tournament to see if they're in or not. I don't want to delve into a rant in this game story to explain why the Royals definitely deserve a bid but, with a 21-6 overall record playing in one of the best Division III conferences in the nation, they have a very strong argument for getting in. For UST, Sinn was very happy and pleased with her squad's efforts; especially how they were able to stand firm when Bethel had their run. "We had to get back to being aggressive again" she explained. I also asked her about the near-term outlook and status of Smith who spent the second half on the bench with ice wrapped around that injured knee. "Worst-case scenario it's an ACL injury" she said and said that she'll have an MRI done within the next couple of days to assess the damage. That's definitely a damn shame for a great player like Smith who had to battle back so hard after sitting out last year and it certainly doesn't seem fair for someone who has worked so hard to get her game back. What does this all mean in the big scheme of things? Certainly, without Smith, a very important piece for the Tommies has been removed from the picture; someone who can not only score inside and out on the perimeter but someone who also knows a thing or two about defense and rebounding as well. At the same time, I think UST is still definitely good enough to have a shot at winning the whole thing but it won't be as easy without her. Presumably, the Tommies will be hosting a first/second round NCAA regional pod at Schoenecker and it's difficult to imagine anyone knocking off the Tommies, no matter what other teams get placed here.
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