Made the trip down to Northfield this afternoon for a rare early-January non-conference game featuring one of the top-echelon teams out of the IIAC - Coe - going up against host Carleton. West Gym was a packed place when I arrived as the 1:00 P.M. men's game between crosstown rivals St. Olaf and Carleton was finishing up.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this game coming in but, once the masses from the earlier men's game started clearing out and I got settled in and started watching both teams warm-up, it was apparent that the Knights had a legion of walking wounded with two of their star players - senior guard Gabbi Stienstra and sophomore forward Anne Hamilton among them. So the burden of their absence would fall on the untested shoulders of some of the younger players on this team. On the other side of the coin, the Kohawks made the trip up from Cedar Rapids, Iowa riding on a high note with their com-from-behind win over Elmhurst (IL) right before the end of the year and a solid 8-2 record. And it didn't take long for Coe to get their offensive sparkplug; junior guard Mickey Hansche out of Iowa City, into the act. Trailing 2-0 after two free throws by Knight senior point guard Michelle Arima, Hansche dropped her first three-point bomb of the day from the right top area at the 8:27 mark. Sophomore forward Sarah Waldfogel responded for Carleton with her "3" from the top of the key at the 8:11 mark for a 5-3 Knight lead but a lay-up by sophomore guard Aleena Hobbs at the 7:42 mark and Hansche's second trey of the afternoon - this one coming from the right corner at the 7:04 mark gave Coe an 8-5 advantage and a lead they would never relinquish. Like a lightning bolt, Hansche struck again from three-point land - this one coming from the right wing area at the 5:51 mark for an 11-5 Kohawk lead. To their credit, Carleton would not simply wither and blow away. Reserve freshman forward Cece Leone connected with a lay-up with 3:53 left and then was also able to snare an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback with 3:13 left that kept the Knights within striking distance trailing 14-9. Strong sophomore reserve forward Nnenna Ezem's offensive rebound and putback with 2:00 minutes left helped keep the deficit at five at 16-11 so considering how Hansche's three-point prowess already had West Gym smoldering, it wasn't a total disaster - yet anyway - for Carleton.
The Knights would draw even closer in the opening minutes of the second period. Two scores in the paint - one by sophomore post Kayla Frank at the 8:30 mark and another one by Leone at the 7:54 mark - had Carleton back to within one possession trailing 18-15 but they couldn't put the clamps on the Kohawks wings. Senior guard Allie Wirth connected with an easy lay-up at the 7:24 mark and a lay-up in transition by Hobbs at the 6:25 mark expanded the lead to seven at 22-15. Ezem's lay-up at the 5:53 mark cut Coe's lead down to 22-17 but a pull-up "3" from the left wing area by Hobbs with 4:56 left and a score in the paint by Lehman increased the Kohawk lead to 27-19. Carleton failed to get someone on Hansche as she uncorked yet another three-point bomb - this one coming from the right wing area with 3:57 left for a 30-19 Coe lead and Knights Head Coach Cassie Kosiba wasted no time in calling a thirty-second timeout to get her squad calmed down. Arima's lay-up with 3:40 left that also drew a foul and sent her to the charity stripe to sink one freebie appeared to give Carleton a bit of a spark as they got back to within single digits trailing 30-22 but the Kohawks embarked on a 7-0 burst to end the first half. Junior reserve guard/forward Courteney McCrary connected with a pull-up jumper in transition with 2:35 left and two scores by Lehman - one in the paint with 2:00 left and a "3" from the right wing area with 1:36 left - gave Coe a cozy 37-22 lead when the buzzer sounded ending the first half. Hansche's three treys were the difference in this first half as she led all scorers with her nine points. Though the Knights committed only two turnovers in the first half, they shot only 22.2% from FG range and a paltry 14/3% from three-point land.
Not satisfied with their 15-point lead coming out of the halftime break, the Kohawks came out of the gate fast in the third period. Lehman connected with a lay-up at the 9:35 mark and then Hansche got a good look from the right top area behind the arc and unleashed another bomb for a twenty-point 42-22 Coe lead. Sophomore Shelby Lehmann's offensive rebound for a putback upped the lead to 44-22 and Carleton's Kosiba saw this one slipping away fast and called a full timeout. But the Kohawks had no intention of letting the stoppage in play affect their hot streak. A score in the paint by Hobbs at the 7:58 mark and a Hobbs "3" from the right wing area at the 7:14 mark along with one free throw by senior guard Allie Wirth completed this decisive 12-0 run and left no doubt as to how this one was going to go with Coe now up 50-22 at the 6:47 mark. A lay-up by Arima at the 5:58 mark and a score in the paint by Ezem cut some of the fat off of the deficit for the Knights but back-to-back "3's" - one by sophomore reserve guard Jordan Holmes from the right top area with 4:48 left and the shot clock winding down and another by McCrary from the top of the key with 3:55 left - increased Coe's lead to 58-26. To their credit, the Knights shaved more fat off of the deficit as Arima connected with a jumper from the left wing off of an inbounds pass with 3:30 left and Ezem got into the paint for another score with 2:36 left but they simply did not have the horses on the floor to stop the Kohawks on this day. A rebound and putback by McCrary with 1:19 left and a McCrary free throw with :06.3 left closed out the third period with Coe up comfortably now at 61-32.
Even with such a big lead, the Kohawks were reluctant to let their feet off the accelerator just yet. A Lehman pull-up jumer in the lane at the 9:42 mark and Hansche's fifth trey of the afternoon - this one coming from the top of the key at the 8:18 mark - ballooned the lead to 66-34 and a Hobbs score in the paint at the 7:19 mark doubled up things at 68-34. First-year Coe Head Coach Nate Oakland had no reservations about unloading his bench by this point which made everything else academic. Diminutive Carleton sophomore guard Maya Okamoto finally got into the scoring column with her "3" from the right corner at the 5:22 mark in an otherwise bleak afternoon for the Knights. Freshman reserve guard Lakyn Boltz also made sure her name got in the paper with her three-point bomb from the left wing with 2:10 left as did fellow freshman reserve guard Janai Robinson with her "3" from the left top area with :43.3 left as the Kohawks waltzed to a 77-39 romp.
With all the injuries that the Knights have suffered early on this season - including the ones to both Stienstra and Hamilton - all you can do is keep battling. "We just have to keep plugging away" said a disappointed Kosiba afterward. Stienstra; currently out with concussion symptoms, is a tough situation with her being a senior and I hope she can get back this season as she's a very tough player and Carleton needs her experience on the floor. Hamilton, who did her ACL, is in the beginning stages of rehab and that's normally a 6-month plus deal. So, it's a tough situation for the Knights all around. Coe meanwhile has to be feeling very good about themselves as they enter 2016 and why not? Hansche ranks fifth in DIII alone in three-point shooting averaging 3.50 triples per game. "She really helps spread the floor when she's out there" Oakland said proudly afterward and she's not the only threat either. "Lehman has that long-reach ability and is a very good player and athlete as well" he added. And certainly Coe has to figure to be in the mix as far as top honors in the IIAC is concerned. Oakland thinks this will be a four-horse race in the IIAC and he's hopeful that the conference can get one or two at-large bids when the NCAA Tournament rolls around. Don't be shocked or surprised if the Kohawks are one of those teams if not outright IIAC champs. I think they've got the goods to do it. Hobbs' 19 points followed by Hansche's 18 points paced the Kohawks in this big road win as Coe shot 50% from three-point land. The Kohawks also enjoyed a decisive advantage on the boards as well at 44-33. Arima's 13 points led the way for Carleton in the losing effort.
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