The second game on tap at UST's Schoenecker Arena on this Friday night featured UMAC Champ UW-Superior going up against undefeated and second-ranked UST. The Tommies would be heavy favorites going into this contest but, judging what happened to Wartburg in the earlier contest, you simply could not take any opponent for granted or count on an easy victory. You have to come ready to play this time of year.
The Yellowjackets drew first blood in this contest on a lay-up in transition by junior guard Hailey Kontny at the 9:37 mark but that would be about the lone high-point for UW-Superior in this first period as the Tommies slowly but surely put their hands on the proverbial windpipe and squeezed. One free throw by sophomore guard Lucia Renikoff at the 9:08 mark and a Renikoff "3" from the left corner at the 8:40 mark allowed UST to seize the momentum - and the lead - for good. Two scores by senior guard Gabby Zehrer - a lay-up in transition at the 8:16 mark and a drive and lay-up at the 7:12 mark - got the Tommie lead to 8-2 before UW-Superior got on the board again on a Kontny score in the paint at the 6:57 mark. The Yellowjackets briefly closed the gap to two points on a lay-up in transition by junior forward Bailee Bartunek at the 5:59 mark but then UST was off and running again in the form of a 10-0 run. Senior post Kaitlin Langer got one of her patented scores in the paint at the 5:47 mark and sophomore reserve post Hannah Spaulding followed suit at the 5:24 mark. Then it was two back-breaking three-point bombs by junior guard/forward Lauren Fischer - one from the left top area with 4:23 left and the other one from the right top area with 3:16 left - that surged the Tommie lead to 18-6. UW-Superior managed to trim the deficit to ten points on an offensive rebound and putback by freshman reserve guard Megan Aho with 2:56 left and a score in the paint by junior reserve post Jade Tucker with 2:08 left kept the deficit at ten by a 20-10 count. But the Tommies stretched the lead back to thirteen points when Fischer connected with her third three-pointer of the contest from the right wing area that made it a 23-10 game going into the second period.
A 19-0 UST run at the beginning of the second period left no doubt as to how this one was going to go. Lefty senior guard Paige Gernes uncorked a "3" from the left top area at the 9:44 mark and a score in the paint by Langer at the 8:43 mark got the lead out to 28-10. A Zehrer three-point bomb from the right top area at the 7:38 mark made it 31-10 and Yellowjacket Head Coach Don Mulhern knew full and well this one was getting away from his team quickly and called a timeout to try and prevent the inevitable. But the Tommies went right back to work in methodically brutal fashion after the stoppage in play as Renikoff buried a "3" from the right top area at the 6:56 mark and Gernes connected with an easy lay-up after a steal to make it 36-10. Then it was Fischer; now in undeniable groove draining yet another three-point bomb - this one from the right wing area with 4:38 left to make it 39-10. One free throw by freshman reserve guard Sarah Krynski with 4:09 left and two more by Spaulding with 3:16 left capped the run to make it 42-10 before UW-Superior finally ended its prolonged drought on a "3" from the top of the key off the glass by freshman reserve guard Emily Carpenter with 3:03 left. But UST ended the period on an 8-0 burst. Spaulding connected with a lay-up with 2:45 left and a pretty drive and finish by Renikoff with 2:04 left made it 46-13. Two free throws by Langer with 1:06 left and two more by Zehrer with :40.7 left allowed the Tommies to go into the locker room at the half with a cozy 50-13 lead. A check of the first half box score gives some insight as to why this contest was so one-sided. While the Tommies "only" held a 17-14 edge on the boards, the fact that UW-Superior committed 18 turnovers to UST's eight was a killer and the fact that the Yellowjackets shot only 6-23 for 26.1% from FG range did not help matters. Moreover, the Tommies were shooting a blistering 8-15 for 53.3% from behind the arc - thanks in large part to Fischer.
Facing an insurmountable deficit, UW-Superior could have easily folded up its tent and mailed it in once the third period got underway but this Yellowjacket team under Mulhern is a proud group and incredibly well-coached and they showed that they still had a lot of fight left in them. One free throw by junior forward Justine Larson at the 9:28 mark and a score in the paint by Kontny at the 9:05 mark helped slice some fat off of the deficit and a score in the paint by sophomore forward Hannah Norlin at the 8:36 mark trimmed the deficit down to 54-18. A Norlin jumper from the right side at the 7:33 mark helped spark an 11-0 UW-Superior run. Bartunek connected with a lay-up at the 7:04 mark and Larson buried a "3" from the right wing area at the 6:33 mark that cut UST's cushion down to 56-25. A Norlin jumper along the left baseline at the 5:54 mark and two free throws by Kontny at the 5:22 mark cut into the Tommie lead even more at 56-29 before UST finally woke up from its brief siesta as junior reserve guard Maddie Wolkow knocked down a jumper from the left wing area at the 5:12 mark and Fischer buried yet another three-point bomb - this one from the right wing area with 4:40 left - for a 61-29 Tommie lead. But UW-Superior continued to battle hard. Norlin was sent to the charity stripe for two shots and though she missed both ends, she was able to snare the offensive rebound on the back-end and get a putback with 3:51 left. Another Norlin score in the paint with 2:40 left got the deficit down to thirty points at 63-33 but UST's Fischer reigned terror again from three-point land with another bomb coming from the top of the key with 2:10 left. The Yellowjackets would get a 4-0 push on two scores by Aho - a lay-up with 1:59 left and two free throws with 1:37 - that got UW-Superior within thirty trailing 66-37. UST, however, would close the third period on a strong note as Zehrer connected with a lay-up with 1:32 left that also drew a foul and the ensuing "and one" pushed the lead to 69-37. Zehrer would drop two more freebies with 1:08 left and then Langer got into the paint for a score with :34.4 left that also drew a foul and the obligatory free throw got the lead to 74-37. Wolkow ended the period with a "3" from the left wing with just :02 left that stretched the lead to 77-39.
Though the Yellowjackets were facing an impossible situation, they still refused to quit once the fourth period got underway. Norlin knocked down a jumper along the left baseline at the 9:33 mark and the Litchfield native struck two more times a bit later. She connected with a lay-up at the 8:11 mark and also connected with a short jumper off the glass at the 7:33 mark. But one image that may stick with UW-Superior's Mulhern for a while is the sight of the Tommies' Fischer working her magic from behind the arc. At the 6:49 mark, she uncorked her last "3" of the evening from the right corner that gave UST a sizable safety net at 85-45. Tommie Head Coach Ruth Sinn started sending in the reserves for mop-up duty down the stretch and it gave a chance for some of these young faces to strut their stuff. Sophomore reserve guard Kaylie Brazil connected with a lay-up with 4:42 left and freshman reserve post Elsa Anderson got into the paint for a score with 3:05 left that made it a 90-50 game. Freshman reserve guard Janelle Alba-Garner connected with a lay-up with 1:37 left and Anderson knocked down a jumper from the left wing area with 1:16 left to maintain the forty-point lead at 94-54. Then it was sophomore reserve guard and former Park Center standout McKenna DuBois connecting with a lay-up in transition with :57 left and Alba-Garner getting a lay-up with :37.4 left as UST cruised into the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a convincing 98-56 win.
Even in the face of defeat, UW-Superior's Mulhern was incredibly proud of his team and what they accomplished this season. "I'm certainly proud of my players. St. Thomas played a great first half.....We talked at halftime about coming out and showing a lot of character like we've done all year .....We played really hard; really aggressively.......I have a group of players that are really special.....And these guys came out in the second half and showed it." I asked Mulhern about how preparing for this year's NCAA Tournament now that this was there second time around might have been a different or "better" given that they've been in this thing before. "I did feel that.....I did feel that we were really ready and I understand that in the first half we played rather passively and sometimes it's a matter of where you run into a team that's hotter than heck." But Mulhern definitely feels that the experience that his young group has been able to get under its belt these last two seasons will help next year. I asked Norlin about her solid second half and if Mulhern said anything specifically in the locker room at the halftime break to get her fired up. "Honestly, I don't think it's what he said.....I had a personal determination because we weren't playing to our potential....So I wanted to get after it!" Norlin added that she and her teammates definitely have high expectations for next year and with a team dominated by freshmen and sophomores, the future looks incredibly bright up by the Twin Ports. UST's Sinn was very proud of her squad yet humble as well in the big win tonight. "We're very excited to be here and to have this opportunity......We're excited to see how our team was 'locked in'......Defensively, I thought we did a nice job. Offensively, I thought we really shared the ball......I want to send a shout out to Lauren Fischer (who was in attendance in the press conference) because she set the school record for seven '3's' in a game that broke a record set by Kellie Ring who was in attendance tonight." I asked Sinn how hard it may be to prepare for the next game after a relatively easy win on this night. "At this point of the season, it's a focus thing......We talked tonight about how we have to play this game with intensity and passion and determination just like we play every game.....you take one game at a time and that's what this team has done all season." I couldn't resist asking Sinn as well if she thought that this squad she has now is capable of taking things yet another step; i.e., winning a national championship. But Sinn was quick to dismiss any idea of that talk. "It's too early to talk about that.....We've gotta focus on the next game....Last year, we watched another team cut the nets down on our floor.....And at this point of the season you have to have a really narrow focus." Sinn also had a lot of praise for UW-Superior and how they never quit in this contest despite the big lead that the Tommies had on them at the half. Sinn told her squad at the half that the Yellowjackets were going to come out hard in the third period and they did and she had a lot of praise for the UW-Superior squad and Mulhern as well.
That school record of seven three-pointers by Fischer; the Oshkosh, Wisconsin native, is a big reason she led UST on this night with 23 total points while Zehrer had 14 points. Langer recorded 13 points and Renikoff tallied 11 points in a very balanced scoring effort by the Tommies. Norlin's 18 points led the UW-Superior scoring attack on this night while Bartunek was the only other player for the Yellowjackets in double-figures. Interestingly enough, UW-Superior actually outrebounded UST on this night by a 35-30 count but that was largely offset by 26 turnovers on the game not to mention the fact that the Tommies shot 36-60 from FG range for 60% and 12-24 from behind the arc as well.
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