NCAA Tournament Regional Final Game - Whitman vs UST 3-11-17

Made my way back over to UST's Schoenecker Arena on this Saturday night to take in the big Regional Final game between Friday night's two winners - Whitman out of the Northwest Conference and host UST of the MIAC.  The fact that both of these teams had been able to plow the road up to this point in the NCAA Tournament was impressive in itself and now the moment came to decide which one of these teams would earn the right to go to the Final Four.  Many had pegged the Tommies as a firm favorite in this game but I was impressed by what I saw out of the Blues on Friday night and I knew this one had the potential to be a good one.  Plus, it's the NCAA Tournament as well where anything can happen.

Certainly Whitman Head Coach Michelle Ferenz had hopes that her squad would get off to a decent start in this one but those hopes were soon dashed as the Tommies built an early 6-2 advantage. Senior guard Gabby Zehrer knocked down a jumper from the top of the key just inside the arc at the 9:08 mark and a short jumper by sophomore guard Lucia Renikoff at the 8:41 mark had UST up 4-2. Junior guard/forward Lauren Fischer found a huge hole in the Blues defense and promptly drived into the lane for a finish at the 6:30 mark that gave the Tommies their early advantage before Whitman could close to within a single possession on a lay-up by freshman forward Makana Stone at the 6:04 mark.  But a 5-0 UST push widened the lead even more.  Senior post Kaitlin Langer connected with a lay-up at the 5:35 mark and a patented three-point bomb by Fischer from the right top area at the 5:04 mark made it an 11-4 game.  The Blues would again close to within a single possession as two free throws by willowy junior point guard Casey Poe with 4:11 left and an offensive rebound and putback by junior reserve forward Sierra McGarity cut the deficit to three points at 11-8.  A pretty spin move and lay-up by sophomore reserve forward Maegen Martin with 2:15 left kept Whitman in that single-possession range trailing 13-10.  But the Tommies managed to create some more separation before the end of the opening period as a score in the paint by sophomore reserve post Hannah Spaulding with 1:45 left and a Zehrer lay-up with 1:07 left made it a 17-10 game.

For Whitman, being down by seven going into the second period on the road wasn't so bad a proposition but when Spaulding dropped two free throws at the 9:42 mark and Renikoff drained a "3" from the right wing area at the 9:13 mark to expand the Tommie lead to 22-10, the Blues' Ferenz wasted no time in calling a timeout to get her squad calmed down.  Whitman's situation wasn't helped any when junior forward Emily Rommel picked up her second foul of the contest at the 9:00 mark and Ferenz had no choice but to sit her starting forward but the Blues at least managed to get the deficit back into single-digit range for a short time.  Senior guard Alysse Ketner knocked down a jumper in the lane at the 6:48 mark and two Ketner freebies at the 6:15 mark after she was fouled trimmed the UST lead down to nine points at 22-13 and Tommie Head Coach Ruth Sinn had to yank senior guard Paige Gernes who was tagged with her second foul of the contest.  UST, however, quickly solved that problem and a Langer score in the paint at the 5:15 mark got the lead back up to double-digits at 24-13.  Then Langer struck again with 4:55 left on a lay-up that drew a foul and the resulting "and one" not only pushed the lead to fourteen points at 27-13 but now the Blues' Rommel was saddled with her third foul of the night and Ferenz now had no choice but to yank the Portland, Oregon native again.  Whitman would manage to whittle the deficit down to ten points as two free throws by senior guard Chelsi Brewer with 3:55 left and a jumper in the lane by Martin with 3:39 left made things a bit more manageable again trailing 27-17 but getting any closer than that was proving to be an arduous task for the Blues.  A Martin lay-up with 3:02 left and a lay-up by freshman reserve forward Lily Gustafson with 1:10 left and a steal and lay-up the other way by Stone finally gave some reason for hope again for the visitors from Walla Walla, Washington as they managed to cut the deficit down to seven points at 30-23 but UST would deliver in the final seconds a dagger to those hopes as Renikoff banged home a "3" from the top of the key with just :06 left that allowed the Tommies to take a 33-23 lead into the locker room at the half.  A check of the first half box score shows that UST held just a slight edge in the rebounding department by a 21-17 count and both sides committed their share of turnovers in the first half as well.  What was killing Whitman was the Tommie defense as the Blues shot only 9-29 from FG range for the first half for 31% and were 0-6 from behind the arc and that just wasn't going to get the job done and the Blues and Ferenz knew it.

Whitman tried desperately to keep the deficit in a manageable range when the third period got underway and one Ketner free throw at the 9:10 mark pulled the Blues back into single-digit range trailing 33-24 but again, trying to keep it there was another story.  UST's Renikoff drained yet another "3" - this one from the right top area at the 8:50 mark to make it a 36-24 ballgame and although the Blues cut the deficit back to ten points on two charity stripe shots by Brewer at the 8:17 mark, trying to keep pace with the Tommies on this night was a lot like trying to save a boat on Lake Superior with a bunch of holes in it.  Junior reserve guard Maddie Wolkow buried a "3" from the left wing area at the 7:21 mark and an offensive rebound and putback by Langer with 4:43 left upped the lead to fifteen points at 41-26.  Two Langer free throws with 3:06 left maintained the fifteen-point edge at 43-28 before Whitman could make another move.  Rommel got into the paint for a score with 2:37 left and two free throws by freshman reserve guard Mady Burdett with 2:13 left trimmed the deficit down to eleven points at 43-32.  Ketner went coast-to-coast with a lay-up with :45 left and two more free throws by Brewer with :20.7 left in the third period finally had the Blues; who had been working so hard, back to within single-digit range again trailing 45-36.  But just when Whitman had a ray of hope to hang onto; a lifeline that they could cling to for some hope, the Tommies delivered yet another dagger in the heart of the Blues as Wolkow got just enough space to unleash a "3" from the left top area with :00.9 left to make it a 48-36 game and, just like that, Whitman seemed totally deflated in going back to the team huddle at the bench at the end of the period.

That deflated effect for the Blues showed up in full force in the early moments of the fourth period as two free throws by UST's Langer at the 8:26 mark and a Wolkow "3" from the right wing area at the 6:40 mark bulged the Tommie lead up to 53-36 and Whitman's Ferenz could plainly see the writing on the wall by this point and called a timeout to try and prevent the seeming inevitable.  The Blues managed to slim down the deficit a bit as an offensive rebound and putback by Ketner at the 6:17 mark and a Brewer lay-up at the 5:06 mark cut UST's lead down to fifteen points at 55-40 and a lay-up after a steal by Poe with 4:52 left brought Whitman a bit closer trailing 55-42 but getting back to single-digit range by this point was simply out of the question.  Ketner was able to muscle into the paint for a score with 3:26 left that cut the deficit to twelve at 56-44 and two Poe charity stripe shots with 2:32 left kept the deficit at twelve but that's as close as the Blues would ever get.  UST's Gernes knocked down a jumper in the lane with 2:04 left and one Zehrer free throw with 1:24 left and two more by Gernes with 1:01 left made it 63-46 and Langer would sink two more with :07.8 left for icing on the cake as the Tommies advanced to their first Final Four berth since 2012 with a 65-48 victory.

Whitman's Ferenz was quick to the point when she was asked about general thoughts of the game.  "Couldn't buy a basket would be my general thought....Partly due to St. Thomas' defense....We did a great job on the boards but just couldn't get anything going offensively...It hurt when we got into foul trouble...But the bottom line is that we couldn't get anything going offensively....The effort was there...The kids played hard."  Ferenz mentioned that her bench rotation was a little short and that Stone has been a little sick the last few days which didn't help their cause any.  I asked Ferenz specifically about the two momentum-killing moments before the half when UST hit big "3's" to extend their lead to double-digits.  "We were struggling to score and every shot they make is a good shot.....I thought that they had a response every time we were able to turn them over and create a little havoc and they seemed to find a way to hit a big shot...Part of it was wrong people in the wrong spots and making wrong reads defensively and we got caught....Every time we seemed to be able to chip away, chip away, they'd hit a big shot and we'd struggle to score.....If we'd have been scoring at a decent clip or at least a lot better than we were (laughing)....But every time they'd score it would make our possessions that much more critical."  And Ferenz metioned as well that this was their worst shooting all season long and it undeniably came at the worst possible time.  Ferenz also mentioned that her team didn't use their screens very well and may have been a little gun-shy from the get-go.

UST's Sinn managed to contain her emotions after this big win that finally thrust her squad onto the Big Stage for the first time since the 2012 season after several near-misses.  "Very excited about this opportunity" she said.  "In 2012, we had an opportunity to go to the Final Four.....Today at shoot-around, I wore a shirt that said 'Final Four 11-12' and Kaitlin (Langer) right away said 'Throwback!' but it was planting a seed that we can get there and we've been on the doorstep....These young ladies were great tonight and one of the things that we said tonight that it was going to be a defensive game.....We really focused on the defense.  They (Whitman) have some great shooters....Brewer, Burdett...They're great shooters....They were 0-15 (from behind the arc) but I really credit our defense....Kaitlin (Langer); 19 boards; 14 defensive boards....That's what it is and we talked about that today so I'm very very proud because defense isn't something that everybody gets excited about." Sinn emphasized as well that her squad is a defensive team and although the Tommies have some great three-point shooters, defense has (especially this season anyway) their bread and butter.  Sinn spoke at length about how this time around, her squad has been relatively injury-free save for the ACL injury that sidelined sophomore guard Bobbi Brendefur very early in the season.  That wasn't the case last year and two years ago when UST was knocked out in the Elite 8 with both Maggie Weiers and Anna Smith both suffering ACL injuries late in the season but this time around, that malady didn't rear its ugly head and Sinn gave a ton of credit to the hard work her team does off the court and how the Tommie athletic training group helps the team stay injury-free as well.  I mentioned to Sinn as well that her squad seemed to go into this game with a very business-like manner without being too overly excited or too amped up and I asked Sinn what the mood was going into this game.  "I think it was 'strong together'.....We talked about how we just have to look forward to what everybody can bring and we just have to play off that....And that's what they did.  I thought they did a nice job of having the trust that defensively we can defend.....We can't stop them from putting the ball in the basket but we can really make it difficult.....And then offensively we can play off of each other....Kaitlin (Langer) did a great job today....She was so balanced and so strong....And we talked about getting a couple of 'and ones' and we did that......And Lucia (Renikoff) did a nice job of attacking the basket."  Finally, I asked Sinn if anything changes drastically with their preparation this coming week for the Final Four semifinal game.  "No....We've broken the tournament down and we continue to talk about that narrow focus.....I give them a booklet that they get every week and the first thing in the booklet is a four-team tournament and so we had a four-team bracket (for the teams last week) and a four-team bracket (for this week's teams coming in) and now we're going to have a four-team bracket with Tufts (UST's opponent in the semifinals) Amherst and Christopher Newport.....And I think what's neat is that we know our identity....And if we continue to play to our identity, we're going to do well.  We're going to compete and that's all we talk to them about is just enjoy this opportunity."

Again, what else can you say about Langer's performance on this night with a "double-double" of 18 points and 19 boards that included 14 defensive rebounds?  Simply outstanding.  And Renikoff was the only other scorer in double figures with her 14 points.  Whitman had two players in double-figures scoring-wise as well as both Brewer and Ketner in their final game of their collegiate career had ten points a piece.  Whitman actually did a decent job on the boards on this night as they held the edge at 41-39 but it was their offensive woes that likely made this a long flight back to Washington state for them.  They shot only 17-62 from FG range and Ferenz already mentioned the 0-15 from downtown that did them in on this night.  The fact that the Tommies had 21 turnovers on this night was probably the only fly in the ointment for Sinn and her staff but with UST, heading to the Final Four - and a reasonably good shot at winning it all - I'm guessing that they didn't complain too much.