UST vs Bethel 1-17-18

Was back over at Bethel's Robertson Center on this Wednesday night to take in another highly-anticipated match-up of two of the upper-tier teams in the MIAC between visiting UST and host Bethel.  The Tommies; winners of six straight games since that loss to Luther at home back in mid-December, were hoping to stay neck-and-neck with MIAC co-leader CSB while the Royals had reeled off eight straight wins; including a big one at home over GAC this last Saturday and were hoping to stay in the conference race.

Things would stay relatively tight over the first six minutes of the opening period as expected with both teams in man-to-man defense.  UST relied heavily on Spaulding early and often and she got the Tommies on the board first with an offensive rebound and putback of her own miss at the 8:58 mark.  At the 6:42 mark, Spaulding would strike again in the paint and drew a foul in the process and the ensuing "and one" by the former Annandale standout had UST up 5-2.  The Royals would close the gap to one point on a lay-up by senior guard Angie Kirchoff at the 6:35 mark but a short drive and finish by Spaulding at the 6:05 mark had the Tommies up by three at 7-4.  Bethel would again close the gap to one when willowy junior post Hannah Johnson slithered into the paint for a score with 4:21 left but it was here where the slope became slippery for the Royals as UST made its first decisive move in the form of a 9-0 run.  Spaulding dropped two free throws after getting sent to the charity stripe with 4:07 left got the lead back to three points again at 9-6 and a Spaulding lay-up with 3:40 left pushed the lead to five points at 11-6.  The Royals were unable to convert on their ensuing possession and UST quickly got into transition off of the defensive rebound and Spaulding finished with a pretty lay-up in transition with 3:20 left that now made it a 13-6 ballgame.  The icing on the cake of this first Tommie blitz was a three-point dagger from the left wing by senior guard Maddie Wolkow with 2:36 left that pushed the UST lead to ten points at 16-6 and Royal Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer right away knew his squad was in a heap of trouble right then and there and quickly called a halt to the action.  Sophomore forward Taite Anderson finally stopped some of the bleeding for Bethel with two free throws with 1:27 left but another Spaulding score in the paint with 1:06 left and two free throws by junior guard Kaylie Brazil with :48.3 left had UST up 20-8 going into the second corner and for Herbrechtsmeyer and the Royals it was a situation which they had hoped to avoid at all costs - having to play catch-up with the Tommies early on.

And trying to play catch-up with the Tommies proved to be quite an arduous task as the second period rolled around.  A Spaulding lay-up at the 9:41 mark and a jumper from the left wing by Brazil at the 8:48 mark stretched the UST lead to sixteen at 24-8.  Two scores in the paint by the Royals' Johnson - one at the 8:24 mark and another at the 7:56 mark - momentarily slowed the downward spiral that Bethel seemed to be in.  Two scores by Taite Anderson - a lay-up at the 7:21 mark and a score in the paint at the 6:51 mark - at least kept some hope alive for the Royals down by twelve at 28-16.  It was here, however, where UST was really able to put Bethel into a serious hole; going on a 14-3 run to close out the first half.  Brazil drained a "3" from the left wing area at the 6:25 mark and a short, one-handed shot in the lane by junior guard Lucia Renikoff with 4:02 left got the Tommie lead to seventeen at 33-16.  With 3:23 left, Renikoff would strike from behind the arc; draining a "3" from the left wing area and two free throws by freshman reserve guard Madi Radtke with 2:59 left upped UST's lead to 38-19.  With 2:29 left, Brazil would strike on the defensive end with a steal and whiz the other way for a lay-up attempt.  Though she was unable to get the lay-up to go, she was fouled in the process and was able to get one of the free throw attempts to go down for a 39-19 lead.  Lanky sophomore reserve post Elsa Anderson knocked down a short, turnaround jumper with 1:13 left and one more free throw by Renikoff with :53.8 left allowed the Tommies to take a virtually insurmountable 42-19 lead into the locker room at the half as the Bethel team shuffled off to their locker room a bit dazed and frustrated.  A glance at the first half box score is enough to make your eyes pop out and little wonder why.  UST's Spaulding had already accumulated 17 points and Brazil had 12 points in the first half alone.  More importantly, The Tommies owned the boards by a 21-16 count and the Tommies also forced nine Bethel turnovers in the first half as well.  For Herbrechtsmeyer and his staff, it was probably their worst nightmare come true having dug themselves into a canyon and with little chance of getting out of this mess.

The Royals needed something positive to happen once the third period got underway and they finally started showing a few signs of life in the first five minutes.  Kirchoff knocked down a jumper from the left elbow at the 9:20 mark and although UST's Brazil banged home a "3" from the right wing area at the 7:39 mark, Bethel continued with this early second half charge.  Taite Anderson was able to snare an offensive rebound for a putback and drew a foul in the process and the ensuing "and one" at the 5:56 mark had the Tommie lead down to 45-24.  A bit later, senior reserve guard Hannah Simpson drained a "3" from the left corner at the 5:27 mark and a Taite Anderson drive and finish with 4:48 left in the period whittled UST's lead down to 45-29 and Tommie Head Coach Ruth Sinn felt compelled to call a thirty-second timeout to get her troops reorganized.  That short stoppage in play seemed to get UST refocused and they responded with a 9-4 push down the stretch of the third period.  Spaulding got into the paint for a score with 4:25 left and drew a foul as well and she dropped the obligatory free throw to up the Tommie lead to 48-29.  Two more Spaulding freebies with 3:20 left and a three-point bomb by Renikoff from the left corner with 2:15 left had UST up 53-31 and one free throw by Elsa Anderson with :14.7 left in the third period appeared to have the Tommies safely ahead by a 54-33 count going into the fourth period.

It may have been somewhat of a desperation mode but Bethel had no intentions of going quietly into the night on their home floor and the Royals started out the fourth period with an 8-0 burst.  Freshman reserve forward Lainie Cox kissed a short jumper off the glass at the 9:37 mark and two Johnson free throws at the 8:42 mark trimmed the deficit down to seventeen points at 54-37.  Back-to-back scores in the paint by Taite Anderson - one at the 7:42 mark and another one at the 6:55 mark - now whittled that deficit down to thirteen points at 54-41 and UST's Sinn called a halt to the action to try and prevent further inroads.  A Spaulding lay-up at the 6:26 mark temporarily stopped some of the Tommie bleeding but Bethel was far from finished from putting a scare into its opponent.  A Taite Anderson drive and finish at the 5:46 mark started a 10-2 Royal run and a steal in the backcourt by senior guard Abby Miller forced a Tommie foul and the former Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted standout got one free throw to go down at the 5:35 mark.  Then Miller; who was held in check for the most part of the evening by that stifling Tommie defense, finally got free from behind the arc in the left corner with 4:57 left and unleashed a bomb that finally had the Royals back in single-digit range trailing 56-47.  A Kirchoff lay-up with 3:16 left kept Bethel in that nine-point range trailing 58-49 and when Taite Anderson muscled in for a lay-up with 2:34 left, the Royals now trailed by seven at 58-51 and UST's Sinn had no choice but to take a match to another timeout.  But this unlikely comeback attempt by Bethel would prove to simply be a bridge too far with not enough time to pull it off.  The Tommies righted the ship in the last two minutes as Spaulding connected with a lay-up at the 2:02 mark as the shot clock was winding down to increase UST's lead to 60-51 and the Royals were unable to cut into the deficit down the stretch.  A "3" from the left corner by Brazil with just :17 left was all the insurance that the Tommies would need in the stretch run as they claimed an important 63-51 road victory.

I caught up with UST's Sinn afterward and mentioned to her that that may have been the best first half that her Tommie squad has played thus far this year.  She wouldn't completely agree with that notion but she did mention to me back in the early part of the season that she felt that her squad was still trying to find an identity for itself; that some of the younger players needed to know and understand their roles a bit better.  I think that we're finally beginning to see that and when they play at or near their best, they're incredibly tough to beat.  Spaulding was simply unstoppable at times in the first half and though Bethel did a better job on her defensively in the second half, she was still able to come up with a big play when she needed to.  The Annandale native may only be a junior but she's got my vote for POY right now.  There was a bit of concern on my part on how difficult it would be for UST to replace an All-American like Kaitlin Langer but I think they've weathered that potential storm quite well.  Meanwhile for Bethel, while this loss broke an eight-game winning streak, in reality it's a devastating blow to their already-slim MIAC title and NCAA Tournament hopes.  Herbrechtsmeyer pointed out to me afterward that they really had only one day of preparation for this game as they had that Monday night make-up game at Concordia.  "We dug ourselves into too big of a hole" he lamented.  He said that they had a chance to get refocused at the half and that "we were fine in the second half" but they just had dug themselves too deep to bring it back all the way.  And that really seems to be the prevailing pattern for any other top-tier team in the conference right now when they play the Tommies.  The margin for error is so small when you play them and they can hurt you in so many different ways and you can ill-afford to try and play catch-up with them.  It just doesn't work and when UST ventures up to CSB on Saturday for a titanic clash with the Blazers, it will be interesting to see how CSB handles the moment.  It was simply a spectacular night for Spaulding as she finished with a "double-double" of 26 points and 12 rebounds.  Brazil, too, had an incredibly solid night from a scoring standpoint as she finished with 20 points.  For Bethel, Taite Anderson really came on strong in the second half and she finished with 19 points with thirteen of those points coming in the second half alone.  Johnson was the only other Bethel player in double figures on this night with her 12 points.  Undoubtedly, Herbrechtsmeyer and his staff will look at the 16 turnovers as one of the contributing factors in this loss alongside with getting into too big of a hole too early.