CSB vs Bethel 1-27-18

Made my way over to Robertson Center on the campus of Bethel University on this Saturday afternoon to take in the big MIAC clash between visiting CSB and host Bethel.  I arrived early enough to catch the last seven minutes of the men's game between St. John's and Bethel; a heart-stopping affair that the Johnnies won in overtime and naturally CSB Head Coach Mike Durbin was hoping that his Blazer squad could pull off some of the same heroics - minus the drama.  The Blazers had recovered from last Saturday's drubbing at home at the hands of league-leading UST to beat Hamline at home on Wednesday night and were still in the thick of things in the MIAC race; just one game behind UST.  Bethel meanwhile had taken care of business against Concordia on Wednesday night and although their regular season title hopes had long gone out the window, they were still in position to get a decent seed in the MIAC playoffs and keep their slim hopes alive for an NCAA Tournament berth. 

6'3" senior forward/post Niki Fokken got her Blazers team on the board first with her score in the paint at the 9:30 mark but Bethel would match that as sophomore forward Taite Anderson got into the paint for another score and a three-point bomb from the left wing area by senior guard Abby Miller at the 8:15 mark propelled the Royals into the lead at 5-2.  CSB would narrow the gap to one point on a Fokken lay-up at the 7:42 mark.  Bethel again would try to open up more breathing space on a Miller drive and finish at the 7:28 mark but the Blazers would come right back on a lay-up at the 7:17 mark by freshman guard Megan Thompson.  Now it was the Royals turn and willowy junior post Hannah Johnson slithered into the paint off of an inbounds pass for a score at the 6:27 mark and drew a foul in the process and although the former Duluth East standout couldn't convert on the "and one", Bethel was still up 9-6.  The Blazers went into a bit of a drought and CSB's Durbin shed his sportcoat at the 5:33 mark knowing full and well that his team was going to be in another big-time battle today.  Reserve sophomore post Alex Johnson brought the Blazers back to a single point again with her score in the paint with 4:24 left before Bethel could extend their lead to three points again on two free throws by Taite Anderson.  CSB would try again to nestle up close as junior reserve guard Breanna Gates sneaked into the paint for a score with 3:43 left before the Royals were finally able to get a bit more elbow room with a 6-0 push.  Freshman reserve forward Lainie Cox got into the paint for a score with 3:16 left and another score in the paint by senior reserve guard Hannah Simpson with 2:02 left had Bethel up 15-10.  Hannah Johnson would strike again in the paint with one of her patented moves to extend the Royal lead to seven points at 17-10 and a Hannah Johnson lay-up with :28 left maintained the seven-point lead at 19-12.  Sophomore point guard Haylee Barker added one free throw for Bethel with :05.4 left to make it a 20-12 game but the Blazers would get a bit of a reprieve when Gates drained a "3" from the left top area with just :00.3 left on the clock to get the deficit down to five points at 20-15. 

CSB would go to work in the opening minutes of the second period to make things tight again.  Fokken knocked down a jumper from the free throw line at the 8:41 mark to get the Blazers back to within a single possession at 20-17 and a "3" from the left corner by Thompson at the 7:01 mark narrowed the gap to two points at 22-20.  Senior guard/forward Chelsey Guetter helped the Blazers forge a 22-all tie with her lay-up at the 6:32 mark and a lay-up by sophomore point guard Sidney Schiffler at the 5:43 mark kept CSB even with its opponent at 24-all.  The Royals would come alive offensively at this point with an 8-0 run as Barker made a hard drive into the land of giants for a finish at the 5:30 mark and a "3" from the right top area by Taite Anderson with 4:58 left got the Royal lead to five points at 29-24.  Simpson would drop one free throw after getting fouled with 4:33 left and another Hannah Johnson score in the paint with 3:32 left capped the drive to give Bethel more breathing space up 32-24.  Hannah Johnson's offenisve rebound and putback off the glass with 2:56 left maintained the Royals' eight-point advantage at 34-26 before Guetter could bring her CSB squad close again.  The Wabasso native drained a "3" from the left corner with 2:02 left and followed that up with a steal near mid-court and a subsequent lay-up with 1:52 left that helped the Blazers get back into single-possession range again trailing 34-31.  Bethel would step on the gas again as Simpson buried a "3" from the left wing area with 1:24 left and two free throws by senior guard Angie Kirchoff with :36.9 left before the half expanded the Royals lead to eight points at 39-31.  CSB would try and counter as Gates was able to connect with a lay-up with :23.2 left and drew a foul in the process and the ensuing "and one" by Lake City native trimmed the deficit to five points at 39-34.  Kirchoff would add more to the Royals ledger with just :06 left with a drive and finish to give Bethel a 41-34 lead at the intermission.  A check of the first half box score shows that rebounds were almost even with Bethel holding a 15-13 edge and CSB had only five turnovers to Bethel's seven.  The big difference up to this point was that the Royals shot 16-23 from FG range for 69.6% and were 3-for-3 from behind the arc in the first half as well whereas the Blazers arguably left some points on the table in the FG department; going 14-34 for 41.2%

Bethel seemed bound and determined to forge more space in the opening moments of the third period and a score in the paint by Kirchoff at the 9:29 mark and a Barker lay-up at the 8:52 mark had the Royals enjoying a 45-34 lead.  But CSB's Fokken would not let her team get beyond the point of no return and responded with three consecutive scores.  The Oronoco native first connected with a jumper from along the left baseline at the 8:03 mark and repeated the feat along the right baseline a little more than thirty seconds later at the 7:30 mark to reduce the deficit to seven points at 45-38.  At the 6:14 mark, Fokken would make a drive along the left baseline for a finish and drew a foul in the process and although she couldn't convert on the "and one" opportunity, the Blazers deficit was now down to a much more manageable five points at 45-40.  Now it was time for Bethel's Hannah Johnson to go to work and she responded with four consecutive scores.  She first slithered into the paint for one score at the 5:53 mark and then uncorked a "3" from the left wing area at the 5:11 mark for a 50-42 Royal lead.  With 4:29 left, Hannah Johnson would strike again down low with a score and drew a foul in the process and her obligatory free throw re-established the double-digit lead that Bethel had earlier at 53-42.  With 4:07 left, Hannah Johnson would get into the paint again for another score to increase that lead to 55-42 and one Cox free throw with 3:46 left had the Royals up a couple of touchdowns at 56-42.  CSB could have easily been dead in the water right then and there but somehow this Blazer team responded.  Fokken connected with a lay-up with 3:22 left and Durbin called a timeout shortly thereafter to get his squad not only calmed down a bit but perhaps a chance to collect their respect breaths as well.  That stoppage in play may have been what exactly CSB needed as they responded with a 7-2 push before the end of the third period.  Guetter snared an offensive rebound for a putback of her own miss in transition with 2:42 left and a pretty turnaround jumper in the lane with 1:40 left now had the Blazers back in single-digit range trailing 56-48.  With just :06 left in the period, Gates unleashed a "3" from the right top area that trimmed the deficit down to seven points at 58-51 and now CSB looked like a re-energized team. 

Bethel's Miller tried to get her team going at the outset of the fourth period with her three-point bomb that briefly extended the Royals lead back to double-digit range again at 61-51 but CSB had no plans to go anywhere anytime soon.  Guetter unleashed a "3" of her own from the right corner at the 9:30 mark to bring the Blazers back into single digits again trailing 61-54.  Gates would get into the paint for a score at the 8:59 mark and draw a foul in the process as well and although she wasn't able to convert on the "and one", Guetter was there for the offensive rebound and with 8:52 left, Guetter buried a "3" from the right wing area that suddenly closed the gap to four points at 63-59.  Feeling the pressure now, Bethel's Hannah Johnson responded with yet another score in the paint at the 8:35 mark that drew a foul and her "and one" got the Royals lead back to seven points at 66-59.  But CSB kept breathing down their host's neck and two scores by Banovetz got the Blazers back to within a single possession.  The former Holy Angels standout first scored in the paint off of an inbounds pass at the 8:20 mark and followed that up with an offensive rebound for a putback at the 7:07 mark that whittled the deficit down to three points at 66-63.  Bethel senior reserve guard Jasmin Bretoi; who had been quiet thus far, finally got untracked at the 6:54 mark with one of her patented three-point bombs from the left corner to give the Royals a bit more breathing space with a 69-63 advantage but CSB refused to go away.  Two Banovetz freebies at the 6:35 mark cut the deficit down to four points at 69-65 and then Blazer freshman reserve guard/forward Haylee Fingalsen went to work.  The former Rogers standout first snared a steal and dashed the other way for a lay-up at the 6:16 mark and after a foiled Bethel possession, Fingalsen would reign terror from three-point land; draining a bomb from the right wing area at the 5:27 mark that suddenly propelled CSB into the lead for the first time since the opening moments of the game at 70-69 and Royals Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer called a thirty-second timeout to try and get his squad not only regrouped but presumably to catch their collective breaths as well.  The two teams would come out of that short stoppage in play; trading one-point leads in the next minute and with CSB clinging to a one-point 72-71 advantage, the Royals' Bretoi struck again from three-point land; draining one from the right wing area with 4:24 left for a 74-72 Bethel lead.  Fokken would come right back for CSB with her score in the paint with 4:10 left to knot things up at 74 a piece.  Bretoi would answer again for the Royals with her jumper from the right wing area with 3:55 left to get the lead back for Bethel at 76-74 but this is where things started falling apart for the home team as the Blazers would close out the contest with a 9-0 run.  For starters, Fokken got into the paint for a score with 3:30 left that drew a foul and the ensuing "and one" pushed CSB into the lead for good at 77-76.  The Royals would suffer a turnover on their ensuing possession and the Blazers would capitalize off of that as Gates connected with a lay-up with 2:51 left for a 79-76 CSB lead.  Still plenty of time left for Bethel to respond but on the ensuing Royal possession, Miller was unable to connect from three-point land in an effort to tie the contest.  Bethel's Herbrechtsmeyer called another thirty-second timeout with 1:25 left and on the ensuing Blazer possession, Schiffler would get fouled with 1:20 left but the former Albany standout could only get one of the two free throws to go down for an 80-76 CSB lead.  Still a reasonable enough time left for the Royals down two possessions but the promptly turned the ball over again on their ensuing possession.  With :38.5 left, CSB's Gates would get fouled but both of her free throw attempts were off the mark but Gates was somehow able to get the offensive rebound off of the back-end attempt and with :31.8, Schiffler would get fouled but she was only able to get one of the two attempts to go down for an 81-76 Blazer lead.  With the Royals down to their last chance, they managed to turn the ball over again and CSB's Gates would be fouled with :14.3 left but she, too, could get only one of the two charity stripe attempts to go down for an 82-76 Blazer lead.  Another Bethel timeout but on the next Royal possession, Simpson would get called for an offensive foul that ended Bethel's chances for good.  Schiffler would get sent to the line one more time for the Blazers and she was able to add one more insurance free throw with :13 left as CSB bagged a huge road victory by an 83-76 count. 

It was a bit of an unpredictable encounter but I first caught up with current CSB Assistant Coach and former Blazer standout Alison Newton afterward and couldn't help but remark that this was gut-check time for CSB after last week's disappointment with UST at home and the Blazers came through when they had to.  Both Newton and fellow assistant Kaytlin Kuefler both think that a win like this can mean a lot down the road assuming that the Blazers can take care of business where they're supposed to.  It was unusual that I would be joined later by both CSB's Durbin and Bethel's Herbrechtsmeyer and both were incredibly gracious with each other given the hard-fought contest between their teams with so much on the line.  Durbin still seemed somewhat amazed by how his squad came back in the contest to begin with and Herbrechtsmeyer was a little surprised at the final score given his squad's penchant for defense.  For CSB, this win does keep alive their regular season title hopes but they've still got a lot of wood to chop and they have to have UST slip up somewhere along the way.  More importantly, they keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive and well and again, should they take care of business where they're supposed to and at least get to the MIAC Championship Game, they SHOULD be in good shape on that front.  Meanwhile for Bethel, it's a disastrous setback in more ways than one.  Let's face it.  Their last lifeline has long since been used up and the simple fact of the matter is that it's going to be an all or nothing proposition now for the Royals - they have to put all their eggs in one basket and find a way to win the MIAC Championship Game to get into the Big Dance or it's all over for them.  And the funny thing is that I feel that Bethel, more than any other team in the MIAC, probably matches up better than anyone else with UST.  So now it's up to them to see if they can get there.  On the CSB side it was a fantastic outing for Fokken as she led the way with her 23 points but the Blazers also had two other players in double figures - Gates with 16 points and Guetter with 15 points.  Bethel's Hannah Johnson led all scorers with her 25 points and had a "double-double" with 15 rebounds as well.  Taite Anderson would add 11 points and Kirchoff had ten points.  Rebounds were pretty close as CSB held a 30-28 edge in that department but what ultimately may force Bethel's Herbrechtsmeyer to be looking for that bottle of Tylenol PM on this Saturday night are the 21 turnovers his squad committed on this day with a bunch of them coming at the end which is so incredibly uncharacteristic for his team.  Moreover, CSB held a 24-4 edge in points off of those turnovers and had an 18-2 edge in those all-important "second chance" points as well.