NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinal Game - Marymount vs UST 3-10-17

The second game on tap at Schoenecker Arena on the Friday night featured yet another intriguing contest as Marymount out the Capital Athletic Conference was pitted up against undefeated MIAC Champion and host UST.  The Saints were coming into this contest with a pretty solid 24-5 overall record but were a relative unknown in this part of the country being out of Arlington, Virginia which is right outside of Washington, D.C.  The Tommies meanwhile were rolling right along with a perfect 29-0 record and would be a heavy favorite in this one being on their home court but, at the same time, they dare not take Marymount lightly as everyone remembers all too well that it was a lightly-regarded Wartburg team that came up here last year and spoiled UST's party.

Tommie junior sharp-shooting guard/forward Lauren Fischer unleashed one of her patented three-point bombs - this one coming from the left wing area at the 8:56 mark - to get things started in a positive manner for the home team but Marymount would come right back and assume a 4-3 advantage on a jumper from the right wing area by junior point guard Leah Hurst at the 7:52 mark and a lay-up in transition by sophomore guard Tyffani McQueen at the 7:27 mark.  UST would reclaim the lead on another three-point bomb - this one coming from the left wing area by lefty senior guard Paige Gernes at the 7:13 mark but a drive and finish by Saint junior forward/post Nicole Viscuso with 4:42 left leveled the contest at 6 a piece.  One thing Marymount found out early is that when you play UST, it really becomes a "pick your poison" type of proposition and Saints Head Coach Ashlee Rogers opted to go with a 2-3 zone in hopes of clogging the middle and limiting the touches for UST senior post Kaitlin Langer.  But Marymount was now finding out how lethal the Tommies are from three-point land and after UST sophomore guard Lucia Renikoff put her team ahead 8-6 with a lay-up with 3:32 left, Fischer then buried her second trey of the evening - this one from the left corner with 2:56 left for an 11-6 Tommie advantage.  Marymount would close the gap to a single point as a lay-up in transition by senior guard/forward Kiki Laux with 2:13 left and two free throws by Hurst with 1:22 left cut UST's lead down to 11-10 but Tommie senior guard Gabby Zehrer stretched the home team's lead to 14-10 with her three-point bomb from the left top area with :54 left in the opening period.

The Saints seemed to settle down after perhaps a few opening period jitters and they were able to push their nose out in front.  Two lay-ups by Laux - one at the 8:31 mark and the other at the 7:21 mark - knotted things up at 14-all.  After Langer helped forge UST back out in front 16-14 with her offensive rebound for a putback at the 7:02 mark, Saint freshman guard Regan Lohr gave Marymount its first lead of the game with her "3" from the left corner at the 6:39 mark and Viscuso helped stretch the Saints lead to 20-16 when she snared an offensive rebound for a putback and was fouled in the process that resulted in the obligatory free throw.  One thing Marymount was having some success with was its double-teaming of the Tommies' Langer whenever the Stillwater native got the ball down low but it also gave her teammates opportunities to score as well.  Gernes dropped her second three-point bomb of the evening when she unloaded from the right corner at the 5:40 mark and a Zehrer drive and finish with 2:33 left pushed UST back out in front 21-20.  The two sides would trade one-point leads over the next minute but with the Saints clinging to a 24-23 edge, two scores by UST's Fischer propelled the Tommies back into the lead.  A pretty reverse lay-up with 1:14 left and another three-point bomb - this one from the left wing area with :27 left - had UST up 28-24.  The Saints would close to within a single possession when freshman reserve guard/forward Lauryn Stouffer connected with a lay-up with just :04 before the halftime buzzer as the two sides trotted to the locker room with the Tommies holding a 28-26 lead.  A check of the first half box score reveals that this one had been a pretty clean game up to this point.  UST held a small 23-20 advantage on the boards and turnovers weren't much of a factor as the Tommies committed five while the Saints committed four. Neither side was shooting exceptionally well save for UST's Fischer and Gernes and perhaps somewhat encouraging for Rogers and her staff at Marymount was that Langer was held to just four first half points and the Saints were right in the thick of things.

The Tommies looked to seize full control of things in the early moments of the third period as a Renikoff "3" from the left top area at the 9:44 mark and a score in the paint by Langer at the 7:49 mark widened UST's lead to 33-26.  The Saints momentarily closed the gap the four points as one Lohr freebie at the 7:39 mark and two more by freshman reserve guard/forward Gabriella Haddad at the 7:11 mark had Marymount back in striking distance range but when the Tommies got back-to-back scores on Renikoff's jumper in the lane at the 7:01 mark and Langer's lay-up in transition at the 6:26 mark that made it a 37-29 game, Marymount's Rogers wasted no time in calling a halt to the action before things got away from her squad.  That stoppage in play allowed the Saints to catch their breath a bit and give them a second wind which allowed them to gradually cut into the deficit as the third period wore on.  Viscuso got into the paint for a score at the 6:11 mark and a Hurst lay-up at the 5:40 mark got the deficit slimmed down to six points at 39-33.  Scores in the paint by Hurst at the 5:06 mark and by Lohr with 4:38 left kept things manageable trailing 43-37 and two charity stripe shots by McQueen with 3:55 left drew Marymount closer trailing 43-39.  Then the Saints were able to knock down two key treys in the final two minutes.  Lohr unleashed a three-point bomb from the right top area with 1;50 left that got Marymount back to within a single possession trailing 45-42 and one Hurst free throw with :11.6 left allowed the Saints to cut the deficit down to just two points at 45-43.  UST hoped to create a bit more breathing space right before the end of the period but when Tommie junior reserve guard Maddie Wolkow couldn't connect on her three-point attempt in the closing seconds, Marymount found a way to not only steal the spotlight but to usurp the advantage from the home team in dramatic fashion.  Laux snared the defensive rebound for the Saints and hustled up to near the half-court line and unleashed a Hail Mary prayer that made the cotton dance on the other end with a mighty swish that had the Marymount contingent and the Saints bench in an uproar and, just like that, the visitors from Arlington, Virginia grabbed a 46-45 lead going into the fourth period.

The Saints threatened to take full control of this contest in the opening minutes of the fourth and final period.  McQueen connected with a lay-up at the 9:43 mark and when Laux connected with a lay-up that drew a foul and resulted in the ensuing "and one", Marymount had suddenly established a six-point edge at 51-45 and even some in the die-hard UST student section were probably starting to squirm by this point but unlike last year against Wartburg, the Tommies never panicked but instead hunkered down and battled their way back.  Langer was fouled at the 7:19 mark and promptly dropped two free throws that cut the deficit to four points at 51-47 and at the 6:40 mark, Langer perhaps made the play of the contest that tipped the balance in favor of UST.  The Stillwater native used her 6'3" frame to make a hard drive for an incredible finish that also drew a foul and had the partisan Tommie crowd on its feet cheering loudly.  Langer proceeded to sink the obligatory free throw that cut the Saints lead down to a scant one point at 51-50.  Renikoff looked primed to help UST regain the lead a bit later at the 6:14 mark when she was fouled and although she was unable to get either attempt to go down, the former Minneapolis Washburn standout more than made up for it less than a minute later when, at the 5:35 mark, she buried a "3" from the right wing area that pushed the Tommies back out in front by a 53-51 count and Marymount's cause grew more desperate a short time later when, at the 5:18 mark, Lohr was tagged with her fourth foul of the contest.  Ten seconds later, UST would get in the bonus and two Langer free throws gave the Tommies a two-possession lead at 55-51.  Marymount would manage to slice the deficit to one point when McQueen connected with a lay-up with 3:49 left that also drew a foul and the resulting "and one" cut the deficit to a scant point at 55-54 but UST would not buckle.  Sophomore reserve post Hannah Spaulding got into the paint for an important score with 3:28 left and then Gernes dropped a dagger "3" from the right corner with 1:05 left to make it a 60-54 game and the Saints were unable to recover.  McQueen couldn't connect on a lay-up attempt on Marymount's ensuing possession and although Viscuso was there for the offensive rebound that drew a foul, she could only get the front-end attempt of the two-shot situation to go down that still gave the Tommies a bit of a safety net with a 60-55 advantage with :09.2 left.  Wolkow would be fouled with :06.1 left and the former Lakeville South standout dropped two insurance free throws that allowed UST to bag a 62-55 victory to put them in Saturday night's Elite Eight contest against Whitman.

A disappointed Rogers of Marymount said in the press conference afterward that "I thought it was a heckuva game....It was a game of runs; back and forth.  It was one of those things where it was unfortunate that one of the teams had to lose....St. Thomas was all that we that we had expected them to be....They have amazing threats from the outside and their posts are pretty difficult to defend on the inside but I give my team a lot of credit.....They stuck to the gameplan and felt that they did an excellent job of frustrating Langer at times......She scored 15 points but I think we made her earn every bucket that she had today.....I couldn't have asked for a better effort from my team and better leadership from our senior (Laux, who was also in the press conference).  Rogers said that in that critical moment of the fourth period, it basically came down to UST digging deep and going to their All-American (Langer) to dig them out of trouble but she felt like her squad was in a very good position going into the fourth period when they grabbed the lead on that Hail Mary heave that Laux hit.  I asked Rogers specifically about that situation and she replied, half-jokingly (I think!) that "We practice that a lot" she said laughing.  "They practice that a lot when I'm not in the gym!"  In all seriousness, Rogers said that "We talked about just continuing the fight....Fight to the end and I think that's exactly what the girls did.....We talk about starting strong and finishing strong.....That shot gave us a lot of good momentum going into the fourth quarter and that's exciting; especially in the atmosphere that St. Thomas provided....We were able to hit a couple of 'back-doors' in the beginning of the fourth quarter and then it was their turn to go on a run."  Rogers admitted that her squad, which does not go that deep, may have run out of gas in the critical moment of the fourth period when UST went on its game-clinching run.  "We lost a step maybe....Getting a cut or setting a screen when we should have....We just looked late and we just looked a little off.....I think that's where we became a little undisciplined and just not on the same page."

UST Head Coach Ruth Sinn brought in both Gernes and Langer into the press conference for their session and Sinn's opening comments seemed to echo those after the close call against Chicago a week ago.  "I think it had to have been an exciting game if you were a fan.....It was a game of plays.  It wasn't that much of a game of mistakes if I'm looking at turnovers (Marymount with 10 and UST with 14).....I give Marymount a lot of credit.  They execute so well......Coming into this game, one of the things that we said that we were so impressed with them is how disciplined they were to their system and understanding what their strengths were and they did a great job of that.  But we're proud of our girls because we had to look for some different ways again to score.  I give Paige (Gernes) a lot of credit.....She continued to find a way.......And Kaitlin (Langer) was just so poised....Her and Hannah (Spaulding) did a great job kind of getting a one-two punch down low and it was kind of nice to go to a big line-up for a little bit."  I asked Sinn specifically about the Hail Mary shot that Laux of Marymount made and the six-point lead they got in the early moments of the fourth period and how the Tommies righted the ship and regained control.  "Well, that's one of the things that we keep talking about with this group and I think they've done a great job when you use the word 'momentum' ........And momentum is 'moment by moment by moment' and you just have to put the moments together....And we try to do that and our motto is 'Own the Moment" and the idea is every single possession so we try to get a score, a stop and then another score to become a really narrow focus and that's what these guys have done such a great job of and even when we were down six, we just kept talking about what do we have to do to be successful defensively to get stops.....And then to try to get that ball moving so we can get easier shots.....It wasn't until we started to get some lane penetration that we started to get some easy baskets that we started to get our momentum going."  I also asked Langer about her big moment in the fourth period at the 6:40 mark when the Tommies still trailed by four points and she made that drive and finish that drew a foul and resulted in the three-point play that really turned things around in this game.  "I think definitely that in these big games, there's a lot of emotion and so I think a lot of times we talk about momentum and motivation and I think that when a big play like that happens.......something like that definitely brings everyone up and when Lucia's (Renikoff) three's that she hit....That was another one of those moments where like 'We've got this' so I think it was a confidence-builder; not only for me but I think everyone kind of felt that."  And Sinn was in agreement when I mentioned it was one of those "energy plays" that she referred to last weekend after the two victories.  "We always talk about being tough together" she said.  "We talk about 'How do we bring that emotion and energy forward'"  Gernes had a laugh when she mentioned that she normally only takes one "3" in a game and on this night she was 3-3 from downtown which played a big part in the Tommies win on this night.  Sinn also had special praise for Gernes in the press conference as well.  "Paige does whatever we need....She always wants to make sure that Kaitlin (Langer) gets her 'touches' and to have that kind of unselfish of a leader and a player on your team and then defensively she's just going to make the other team's life miserable."  Sinn told Gernes how much she has loved coaching her because she does everything for the team.  Indeed, Gernes definitely appears to be the "glue" that holds this team together and helps it play so well on both ends of the floor.  I also mentioned to Sinn how impressed I was with how her squad moves the ball so well in its offensive sets and Sinn replied that she and her staff talk a lot about 'spacing' all the time and that her squad did a nice job of spacing on this night.

Not surprisingly, it was Langer who led the way for UST on this night with her 15 points and three of those coming at perhaps the biggest moment of the contest at the 6:40 mark of the fourth period when the Tommies were down by four.  Fischer followed up with 11 points while Renikoff had 10 points and Gernes had nine points - all from downtown.  Marymount was led by Laux with her 14 points and Hurst had 12 points.  UST didn't have that big of an edge on the boards at 38-34 and turnovers (as Sinn mentioned in the press conference) weren't that big of a factor either.  Again, it really came down to UST just making some big plays when they had to and that seems to be the big story for this group all season long.  One thing that hurt Marymount in that critical fourth period was that they shot only 3-13 from FG range for 23.1% after doing considerably better in the previous three periods.