Los Angeles Rams

Los Angeles Rams

Sunday, December 18, 2016

UW-River Falls vs Augsburg 12-17-16


Made my way over to Si Melby Hall on the campus of Augsburg College on this wintry December day to take in a big non-conference clash between visiting UW-River Falls out of the WIAC taking on host Augsburg of the MIAC.  Coming into this contest, both teams had something in common: both had lost heartbreakers to St. Kate's.  The Auggies dropped a hotly-contested 93-91 decision to the 'Cats at Butler Center last week Saturday while the Falcons fell victim to a buzzer beater by Kennedy Jennings at Karges Center earlier in the week.  So while this game would take both teams into the long-awaited holiday break, both were looking for some measure of good feeling going into it.

UW-River Falls would build an early 6-2 lead on the strength of a drive and finish by senior guard Hannah Pignato at the 8:26 mark along with two free throws by strong senior forward Kate Theisen at the 8:03 mark and a Theisen offensive rebound and putback at the 6:52 mark.  The Auggies would close the gap to two points when freshman guard Tamira McLemore connected with a short shot at the 5:42 mark but, for the most part anyway, Augsburg seemed to struggle offensively in the early minutes and the Falcons were ready to try and take advantage.  Senior guard Katie Messman drained a "3" from the right corner at the 5:24 mark and sophomore forward Taylor Paulsrud did the same from the right corner with 4:50 left that gave UW-River Falls a 12-6 lead.  The Auggies finally found their shooting touch down the stretch of the opening period that helped close the gap.  McLemore banged home a "3" from the right corner with 4:13 left and although Pignato would sink two freebies for the Falcons with 4:05 left that made it a 14-9 game, Augsburg freshman reserve guard Ari Jones uncorked a "3" from the top of the key with 3:49 left that got the Auggies back to within a single possession trailing 14-12 and the former Osseo player would repeat that feat with 1:23 left that helped Augsburg climb back to a single point trailing 16-15.  Junior post Hannah Steinhaus' free throw with :34.7 left in the first period tied the game at 16 a piece before Theisen gave UW-River Falls a 17-16 lead with one free throw with :04.1 left.

The back-and-forth pattern continued into the second period with the Auggies trying to set the pace this time around.  Freshman guard K'Aezha Wubben connected with a lay-up in transition after a steal at the 8:47 mark and one McLemore charity stripe shot had Augsburg up 19-17 by the 8:05 mark.  UW-River Falls was quick to counter, however, as Theisen scored on a pretty give-and-go lay-up thanks to a perfectly timed bounce pass from junior forward Taylor Karge at the 7:18 mark that knotted the issue at 19 and a Paulsrud lay-up at the 6:24 mark again had the game tied at 21-all.  The Falcons were able to embark on a 6-2 push as a score in the paint by Theisen at the 6:02 mark put UW-River Falls up 23-21.  Two Pignato lay-ups - one at the 5:25 mark and another one with 4:39 left - gave the Falcons a bit of breathing room up 27-23.  Now it was Augsburg's turn to come back as two free throws by junior reserve forward Bridget Bednar with 4:25 left and two more by Jones with 3:32 left and one more by Jones with 2:44 left had the Auggies back out in front 28-27.  Freshman reserve forward Abby Jordan's "3" from the right wing area with 2:25 left expanded Augsburg's lead to 31-27 before the Falcons could close the gap.  The versatile Karge drained a "3" from the left wing area with 1:56 left that sliced the Auggie lead to one at 31-30 and a Paulsrud "3" from the right corner with 1:25 left took some more wind out of Augsburg's sail as UW-River Falls took a 33-31 lead into the locker room at the half.  A glance at the first half box score reveals that neither side shot exceptionally well although the Falcons did hold a bit of an edge percentage-wise from FG range at 41.4% to 30% while the Auggies were slightly better from behind the arc at 40% to 36.4% for UW-River Falls.  The Falcons did hold a slight edge on the boards at 24-21 but they also had more turnovers at 7-5 so the score reflected how close this game truly was.

Augsburg seized some much-needed momentum in the early going of the third period as a Wubben drive and lay-up at the 9:43 mark tied the score at 33 and two McLemore free throws at the 8:53 mark not only gave the Auggies the lead back at 35-33, but now the Falcon's enforcer down low; Theisen, was saddled with her third foul as well much to the chagrin of Head Coach Cindy Holbrook. Freshman guard Aiza Wilson's drive and finish at the 8:04 mark stretched Augsburg's lead to four at 37-33 and an Aiza Wilson "3" from the right corner at the 6:56 mark along with a McLemore drive and finish at the 6:29 mark now had the Auggies up 42-36 and an alarmed Holbrook saw things going south for her squad in a hurry and called for a thirty-second timeout to try and rectify the situation. But Augsburg was able to keep the Falcons at bay for the most part of the third period.  Holding a 42-38 lead, a Bednar lay-up at the 5:45 mark and an offensive rebound and putback by freshman forward Camryn Speese upped the Auggie lead to eight at 46-38.  One Wubben freebie with 4:40 left and a drive and finish by Jones with 4:10 left got the lead to nine at 49-40.  UW-River Falls momentarily halted this march by the home team as Theisen; riding those three fouls, snared an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback with 3:32 left and a "3" from the right top area by senior reserve guard Mikaela Wilson narrowed Augsburg's lead down to 49-45.  But the Auggies were able to step on the gas again as Jordan swished a "3" from the top of the key with 1:53 left and a drive and finish by Aiza Wilson with 1:15 left quickly had the lead back up to nine at 54-45.  A Wubben drive into the lane and finish with :45 left gave Augsburg its first double-digit lead at 56-46 and although two free throws by Mikaela Wilson with just :02.5 left in the period got the Falcons back to within single digits trailing 56-48, things were looking a bit bleak for UW-River Falls going into the fourth period.

Perhaps it was a sense of urgency or desperation depending upon your point of view but the Falcons; now needing a spark to get them going, found it in the early moments of the fourth period.  A Pignato lay-up at the 8:40 mark sparked a 7-0 explosion.  Messman connected from downtown with a bomb from the left corner at the 7:53 mark and a lay-up in transition by freshman reserve forward Crystal Pearson at the 7:30 mark suddenly had Augsburg's lead down to a scant point and Auggie Head Coach Ted Riverso quickly called a thirty-second timeout to get his squad calmed down.  Two McLemore scores - two free throws at the 7:11 mark and a drive and finish at the 6:49 mark - got Augsburg's lead back up to five at 60-55 and it looked as if the Auggies had regained control of things.  But UW-River Falls had no intentions of going away anytime soon.  Paulsrud uncorked a "3" from the top of the key at the 6:24 mark along with one Mikaela Wilson freebie at the 5:49 mark not only had the Falcons back to a single point trailing 60-59, but now Augsburg's Wubben was saddled with her fourth foul as well.  Two Paulsrud free throws at the 5:37 mark finally had UW-River Falls back in front at 61-60 but alas, that would be the last lead that the Falcons would see for the day.  A Jordan "3" from the left wing area at the 5:09 mark put the Auggies back out in front 63-61 and two McLemore charity stripe shots with 3:24 left maintained that two-point edge at 65-63.  Some of the earlier wind in UW-River Falls' sail seemed to give out when Karge picked up her fourth foul with 3:05 left although the former Mankato East product would make up for that when she tied the contest at 65-all with her lay-up with 2:44 left.  Still, Augsburg seemed to show their best when they needed it the most.  Two Wubben free throws with 2:25 left and a tough drive into the lane and hook shot by Bednar with 2:02 left gave the Auggies a bit more breathing space up 69-65.  Two more free throws by Speese not only had the Auggies up 71-66 but now Theisen was gone with her fifth and final foul of the day.  Surprisingly, the Falcons had one last gasp left in them as one Karge free throw with 1:05 left and another by Pearson with :41.1 left had UW-River Falls back to within a single possession down 71-68 but the Falcons could never quite get that one critical one stop when they needed it or convert when they had the ball.  McLemore sank two free throws with :38.9 left that upped Augsburg's lead to 73-68 and the Falcons suffered a turnover on their ensuing possession and that was game, set and match right there.  One more Speese freebie with :26.9 left and two more by Wubben who was fouled in transition with :16 left sealed the deal for the Auggies as they claimed a tough 76-68 non-conference win to improve to 8-3 on the season.

Augsburg's Riverso said afterward that "A win's a win" although he likely wished it was a conference victory after last Saturday's heart-breaking finish over at St. Kate's.  Still, he has to be happy with how his young squad keeps taking steps forward and this is a good way for the Auggies to go into the holiday break.  Meanwhile, a disappointed Holbrook could only point to execution errors down the stretch in this latest setback.  She talked about how her squad's losses so far have been only been by one or two possessions when things were still in the balance late.  Obviously, not having senior guard Brynn Liljander; who went down with an ACL injury recently, hurts the Falcons and it's no secret that they're not quite as good of a team without her on the floor.  "She shoots 15% better than any other player on our team" Holbrook said.  It's also tough for some of the other players who had previously been in strictly role-type positions; now suddenly thrust into a situation where they have to step into leading roles on the team.  That may take some time for those players to grow into those roles but the Falcons, now saddled with a 5-5 record overall, have to know that time is not on their side and they have to find a way around this if they are to defend their WIAC regular season championship from a season ago.  Holbrook, too, has faith in her squad.  "We'll be fine without Brynn" she said.  McLemore's 18 points led all scorers on this day and following right behind her on the Auggie scoring list was Wubben with her 17 points and then Jordan who had a surprisingly good day with her 12 points.  Paulsrud led the way for UW-River Falls on this day with her 15 points while Pignato and Theisen both had 12 points a piece.  The Falcons actually held a slight advantage on the boards at 38-35 but unfortunately, also had twice as many turnovers as well at 20-10 and those things cost you games.  

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