GAC vs St. Kate's 2-15-17

Made the return trip over to Butler Center on the campus of St. Kate's on this Wednesday night for a very important late-season clash between visiting GAC and host St. Kate's.  The Gusties have been on a roll this season; the only blemish on their record was the titanic match-up with UST two weeks ago and they've recovered from that disappointment just fine as their 15-1 record in the MIAC and 22-1 record overall would suggest.  For the Gusties, this game was not only an opportunity to sew up the second-seed in the MIAC Playoffs next week but also to solidify their NCAA Tournament hopes as well.  The Wildcats meanwhile clinched a playoff spot this last Saturday in the thrilling home win over SMU and now had hopes of possibly getting the fourth seed with an upset win tonight which would give them a head of steam going into next week.

At times this season, St. Kate's has had a penchant for digging a canyon for themselves early on in contests (as recently as this last Saturday against SMU) and a flurry of miscues and errors allowed the 13th-ranked Gusties to surge to a 13-2 lead in the first four minutes of the opening period.  A hard drive and finish by sophomore guard Justine Lee at the 9:24 mark started the run and a "3" from the right corner by lefty fellow sophomore guard Brooke Lemke at the 8:28 mark had GAC up 5-2. Consecutive scores by junior forward Miranda Rice - a score in the paint at the 7:54 mark and a lay-up at the 7:17 mark that drew a foul and allowed the Forest Lake native to sink the "and one" - pushed the lead to 10-2.  Then it was another Lemke "3" - this one from the left corner at the 6:36 mark - that made it a 13-2 ballgame before the Wildcats stopped some of the bleeding on a lay-up by sophomore reserve guard Kanani Asuncion at the 5:05 mark.  But GAC would follow-up this initial run with a 7-1 push.  Sophomore reserve forward Kendall Thompson knocked down a short jumper in the lane with 4:50 left and then it was Lemke showing her prowess on defense by snaring a steal and dashing the other way for a lay-up with 4:15 left for a 17-4 Gustie lead.  Then it was senior reserve sharp-shooter Kelsey Carpenter draining a "3" from the left top area with 3:29 left for a 20-5 GAC advantage and Wildcat Head Coach Sean Pinkerton called for a thirty-second timeout to try and make some adjustments on defense.  That short stoppage in play seemed to give St. Kate's a breath of fresh air as they cut into the deficit down the stretch of the opening period.  Flashy senior reserve guard/forward LaShay Holt connected with a short jumper from the left side with 2:31 left and followed that up with a lay-up in transition with 1:54 left that trimmed the Gustie lead down to 20-9. GAC got the lead to 22-9 on a pretty one-handed scoop lay-up by junior point guard Mikayla Miller with 1:07 left but two late scores by the 'Cats - a lay-up in transition by senior forward Mari Lee with :56 left and a drive and finish by Holt with :22.2 left had St. Kate's back in single-digit range trailing 22-13 going into the second period.

Sophomore reserve guard Taylor Anderson's "3" from the left wing area at the 9:08 mark pushed the Gustie lead back to double-digits at 25-13 but St. Kate's managed to draw a bit closer.  A drive and deft touch off the glass by freshman reserve guard Jackie Radford at the 8:30 mark and two free throws by hard-charging senior forward Kennedy Jennings at the 8:01 mark had the Wildcats back withing single-digits again trailing 25-17.  But the prevailing theme in this contest seemed to be that whenever the 'Cats appeared to be on the cusp of a comeback, GAC would simply step on the gas to open up more breathing space.  Senior forward Hannah Howard; with her very own cheering section on hand on this night of family and friends, snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 7:38 mark that spurred a 7-2 Gustie push.  The versatile Rice made a hard drive into the lane for a finish at the 6:33 mark and two free throws by Carpenter at the 5:56 mark re-established that breathing space with a 31-17 lead.  St. Kate's would again attempt to cut into that deficit as a jumper in the lane by Jennings at the 5:39 mark and a Holt lay-up with 3:57 left whittled the deficit down to eleven points at 32-21 but it was down the stretch of the second period that the Gusties showed why they're a force to be reckoned with on a national scale.  Rice snared an offensive rebound for a putback with 3:37 left and then it was Miller scoring off of an inbounds pass with 3:08 left that drew a foul and allowed the former Goodhue standout to sink the obligatory free throw for a for a 37-21 GAC lead.  Two Howard free throws with 2:49 left and a score in the paint by Rice with 2:18 left completed this 9-0 venture for a comfortable 41-21 lead Gustie lead before St. Kate's could catch its breath again thanks in large part to Holt; the former St. Paul Humboldt standout.  She knocked down a short jumper with 1:58 left and one free throw by Jennings with 1:30 left and two more by Mari Lee with :59.5 left trimmed the GAC lead down to 43-26.  Two late scores by Holt - a steal and lay-up the other way with :45 left and a lay-up with :02 left got the deficit down to thirteen at 43-30 but it was obvious that the 'Cats had a lot of work in front of them as both teams headed to the locker room for the halftime intermission.  A quick check of the first half box score reveals that St. Kate's didn't shoot all that badly from FG range; going 12-28 for 42.9% but free throw shooting was another matter entirely as the Wildcats shot only 6-11 for 54.5%.  Moreover, the Gusties were pounding the glass in the first half and held a sizable 20-13 edge on the boards.  

St. Kate's short-term objective going into the third period had to be to get some stops and try to make the most out of the few opportunities they were getting on the offensive end in an effort to get the deficit down to a more manageable margin and it looked early on that they might do just that.  Junior point guard Audra Clark dropped one free throw after being fouled in a transition opportunity at the 8:10 mark and a score in the paint by Mari Lee at the 7:06 mark trimmed the deficit down to ten points at 43-33.  Two charity stripe shots by Jennings after the Grimes, Iowa native was fouled in a transition opportunity at the 6:05 mark and one more by Audra Clark at the 5:32 mark finally had the 'Cats back in that single-digit range trailing 45-36 but GAC would manage to frustrate its host once again with a 7-2 push.  Pairs of free throws - two by Howard at the 5:07 mark and two more by Justine Lee who was fouled in a transition opportunity with 4:55 left - padded that cushion at 49-36 and a Howard lay-up with 4:21 left increased the lead to 51-36.  One more free throw by Anderson with 3:18 left concluded the run before the Wildcats could respond.  Holt would get back-to-back scores for St. Kate's - a lay-up with 3:07 left and a short jumper with 2:24 left - that cut the deficit down to twelve points at 54-42 but things would soon unravel for St. Kate's as the Gusties went on a 6-0 push with a bit of a twist.  Thompson knocked down one free throw with 2:05 left as did Howard with 1:42 left.  But when Rice was fouled down low with 1:11 left, the Wildcat's Holt was a bit too vociferous with her displeasure on the foul call and, after a short discussion by the officials, was promptly slapped with a technical foul.  That, in turn, drew the ire of St. Kate's Pinkerton who also drew a technical after voicing his displeasure.  GAC Head Coach Laurie Kelly had Carpenter go to the charity stripe for four freebie attempts and the St. Peter native was able to get two of them to go down.  After that episode calmed down, it was Rice's turn to shoot her assigned free throws and she got both that suddenly bulged the lead to eighteen at 60-42.  The Wildcats got a bit of a reprieve when senior guard Alexis Garcia drained a "3" from the right top area with :24 left but, trailing 60-45 going into the fourth period, the momentum was clearly on the side of GAC and the 'Cats looked totally out of sorts.

The Gusties left no doubt as to how things were going to go in this one by starting the fourth and final period with an 9-2 run.  Rice would score in the paint at the 9:49 mark and would strike again down low less than a minute later at the 9:14 mark; this time drawing a foul and dropping the "and one" for a twenty-point 65-45 GAC lead.  Miller connected with a lay-up at the 8:55 mark and a short jumper from the left side by Howard drew a ton of cheers from her own personal cheering section and, more importantly, upped the lead to 69-47.  Jennings would finally halt some of the Wildcat drought with her lay-up in transition at the 7:16 mark but the Gusties again would embark on another push.  Miller would connect with a lay-up at the 6:57 mark and then would strike again with a lay-up in transition at the 6:02 mark for a 73-51 GAC lead and a pretty spin move in the lane and finish by Howard with 4:56 left made it a 75-51 game.  The 'Cats would make dents in the cushion; primarily from the free throw line over the next two minutes but not nearly enough to cause any worry from the Gustie side. Audra Clark knocked down one free throw with 4:46 left as did Radford with 4:17 left.  Freshman reserve guard Danica Cambrice got two freebies to go down after getting fouled with 3:56 left and two more scores by Audra Clark - a lay-up in transition with 3:11 left and a shorter lay-up with 2:56 left - had the deficit down to eighteen at 77-59.  But the Gusties' Lemke - who set the tone early in this contest with three-point bombs - dropped another one for insurance from the top of the key with 2:22 left.  Howard added two more free throws with 1:38 left before fouling out and freshman reserve guard Tierney Winter got into the scorebook with a jumper from the free throw line as GAC officially sewed up the second seed in the MIAC playoffs by cruising to an 84-65 victory.

St. Kate's Pinkerton didn't mask his frustrations afterward.  "We just didn't play very well tonight" he said shaking his head.  Being outrebounded by a 41-30 count certainly didn't help matters on this night for the Wildcats but going 18-30 from the charity stripe for the game for 60% simply isn't going to get the job done on most nights.  Pinkerton pointed to other deficiencies such as failing to rotate properly on defense and miscues in the half-court offense and said that his squad will be watching a lot of film in the next couple of days.  I managed to catch up with both GAC Assistant Coach Dan Wolfe along with Kelly afterward for their thoughts.  Both were obviously pleased with how the team played on this night to get the "W" and I asked Wolfe specifically if it were possible that the Gusties might be peaking too soon.  Wolfe pooh-poohed the notion, noting that the squad still has a ton of things it can get better at on both sides of the ball and said smiling, "I think our best basketball is still ahead of us."  Kelly meanwhile took note of how other players stepped up on this night.  First, she pointed to Howard's monstrous night of 19 points and 18 total rebounds and also mentioned how others stepped up in the backcourt on this night as well.  As an example, Miller; who normally averages 17.7 ppg, had "only" nine points on this night but that was more than made up by Lemke who finished with 11 points on this night.  But Miller is still the "go to" person on this team.  "We don't win that game up at CSB (this last Saturday) without Miller" she said.  Rice had a very good outing on this night as well with 18 points and Carpenter added 10 points.  Holt easily led the way for St. Kate's on this tough night with her 24 points while Audra Clark added 11 points and Jennings finished with 10 points.