St. Olaf vs St. Kate's 2-7-18

Made a long overdue trip back to Butler Center on the campus of St. Catherine University to take in this Wednesday night contest between visiting St. Olaf and host St. Kate's.  This has been an incredibly tough year for the Oles who were coming into this contest with a 3-18 overall record and 1-13 in MIAC play with key players injured and were riding a seven-game skid to boot.  The Wildcats were coming into this contest trying to keep their incredibly slim MIAC playoff hopes alive with a 9-12 overall record and 5-9 in conference play and, just like the Oles, St. Kate's had its own legion of walking wounded who were not available to play.  So while this game might not have necessarily been one of the marquee matchups in the conference on this night, it was an opportunity to see two of the younger teams in the MIAC battle it out.

While St. Olaf may not be having one of their better seasons, they do know a thing or two about fashion and their alternate grey uniforms with black and old gold trim that they were sporting on this night were an instant hit with yours truly.  Still, even the snazzy uniforms didn't prevent the 'Cats from getting out to a quick 6-0 lead thanks to sophomore guard Danica Cambrice who missed a chunk of the season with injury issues.  Two lay-ups in transition by the former St. Croix Lutheran standout - one at the 8:45 mark and another at the 8:05 mark - and a lay-up after a steal in the backcourt at the 7:53 mark gave St. Kate's a bit of a cushion to work with.  The 'Cat lead stretched to 9-2 after senior point guard Meg Clark drained a "3" from the right wing area at the 6:02 mark before the Oles finally were able to tighten things up a bit.  Two free throws by freshman point guard Keegan Mulvihill at the 5:11 mark and a lay-up after a steal by fellow freshman guard Brooke Sulski at the 5:03 mark had St. Olaf back to within a single possession trailing 9-6.  The Oles would cut the deficit to a single scant point on a score in the paint by sophomore forward Abby Wilgers with 3:13 left before St. Kate's could establish a bit more breathing room when freshman guard Brooke Torvik banged home a "3" from the top of the key with 1:57 left for a 12-8 Wildcat lead.  But St. Olaf would again tighten things up as Sulski knocked down a jumper from the left wing area with 1:32 left and a score in the paint off of an inbounds pass by sophomore forward Samantha Tisa with :51 left had the Oles in decent shape down by just one at 13-12 going into the second period. 

St. Olaf had started this game in a 2-3 "matchup" zone defense and that certainly played a role in slowing down the Wildcats in their half-court offense and it gave the Oles an opportunity to make a move in the early moments of the second period.  A Mulvihill lay-up at the 9:53 mark gave St. Olaf their first lead of the contest at 14-13 and another score in the paint by Tisa at the 9:06 mark increased that lead to 16-13.  St. Kate's would knot the score at 16 a piece when sophomore guard Jackie Radford drained a "3" from the right corner at the 8:37 mark but another Mulvihill lay-up at the 7:14 mark got the Oles out in front again by an 18-16 count and there were probably some in attendance at Butler Center that thought that perhaps that St. Olaf was finally ready to step up and reverse all the misfortunes they have endured this season.  Yet this is where things started to unravel a bit for the Oles.  A Meg Clark drive and finish at the 6:12 mark allowed St. Kate's to tie the contest again at 18 and then St. Olaf's Mulvihill was tagged with her third foul of the evening at the 5:09 mark that also got the Wildcats into the bonus as well.  Meg Clark dropped the two charity stripe shots for a 20-18 St. Kate's lead.  Freshman guard Ashley Fosness then buried a "3" from the right wing area with 4:34 left to expand that lead to 23-18 and although the Oles would manage to close the gap a bit on a Sulski drive and finish with 4:14 left and one Wilgers freebie with 3:23 left, the 'Cats would close out the first half on a 7-3 push.  Torvik drained her second trey of the evening from the right top area with 2:32 left and a score in the paint by freshman reserve forward Mackenzie Dettman with 1:29 left gave St. Kate's a 28-24 lead.  Radford would sneak into the paint for a score with :16 left before the halftime buzzer that had the Wildcats up 30-24 at the intermission and likely had them feeling a lot better about themselves than they did at the beginning of the second period.  A check of the first half box score shows that both teams shot reasonably well from FG range - the Oles going 9-19 for 47.4% and the Wildcats going 11-24 for 45.8%.  Neither team necessarily set the world on fire from behind the arc and rebounds were nearly even as the Oles held a 13-12 edge.  St. Olaf had a few more turnovers than the Wildcats did at 13-10 but Ole Head Coach Dave Stromme had to feel a bit encouraged down by only six at the half; hardly an insurmountable deficit. 

St. Olaf managed to stay within striking distance in the early moments of the third period as a Tisa lay-up at the 9:17 mark kept the Oles in six-point range down 32-26 and a "3" from the right corner by Sulski at the 7:52 mark trimmed the deficit down to five points at 34-29.  But St. Kate's had vastly different ideas about letting its opponent hang around and the 'Cats were able to make their first decisive move.  Two Meg Clark free throws at the 6:57 mark and a Torvik lay-up in transition at the 6:41 mark got the Wildcat lead to nine points at 38-29 and a "3" from the left wing area by freshman reserve guard Bailee Sillman at the 5:12 mark maintained that nine-point edge at 41-32 and St. Olaf's Dave Stromme felt compelled to take a thirty-second timeout to try and make some defensive adjustments.  But when St. Kate's sophomore reserve forward Jaelyn Miltz connected with a lay-up in transition with 4:08 left in the third period to get the Wildcat lead to double-digits at 43-32, St. Olaf's Dave Stromme now took a full timeout as he saw this one starting to get away from his squad.  Wildcat fortunes appeared to take a bit of a hit when Miltz went down with 3:00 left and Meg Clark gingerly left the court as well on an inadvertent collision but both appeared to be okay after a momentary pause in the action and St. Kate's continued with its course.  Radford knocked down one free throw with 2:26 left and one free throw by Cambrice with 1:48 left and two more by sophomore reserve guard Sam Skwarek with 1:24 left now upped the Wildcat lead to fifteen points at 47-32.  St. Olaf's Wilgers stopped some of the bleeding with her score in the paint with 1:06 left but the Wildcats put a further hurt on its opponent when Radford buried a "3" from the top of the key with :39 left and the Oles' Dave Stromme was not going to wait until the end of the period for the action to halt and he called another timeout.  St. Olaf got a bit of a reprieve when Sulski connected with a lay-up in transition with just :04 left but now the Oles no longer had the luxury of being close and instead were staring at a fourteen-point deficit at 50-36 when the fourth period got underway. 

St. Kate's made no mistake in the early going of the fourth and final period and a 9-2 Wildcat push snuffed out any hope the Oles may have had.  Meg Clark buried a "3" from the left wing area with 9:45 left and a drive and finish by Cambrice with 8:50 left got the Wildcat lead to nineteen points at 55-36.  An offensive rebound for a putback by Fosness at the 7:09 mark and a jumper from the top of the key just inside the arc by Cambric at the 6:42 mark gave St. Kate's the safety net it needed with a 59-38 advantage.  The Oles' Mulvihill would get back-to-back scores as the Colorado Springs, Colorado native connected with a lay-up at the 6:24 mark and also dropped two free throws at the 5:50 mark but St. Olaf was never able to string together a series of scores that would have seriously threatened the 'Cats.  Two Meg Clark free throws at the 5:24 mark and one more for insurance by sophomore reserve guard Emma Nelson with 1:58 left had the Wildcats up comfortably at 62-43 although St. Olaf would get one more score as sophomore reserve guard Myra Francisco connected with a short jumper with :23 left but it would not stop St. Kate's from getting a 62-45 victory at the buzzer. 

While the Wildcats' playoffs hopes are still flickering, I think St. Kate's Head Coach Don Mulhern has to feel more encouraged by the fact that he can dig deeper and deeper into his bench and get production and good minutes from his young core of players.  Torvik, Miltz, Sillman, Dettman, freshman reserve forward Kaitlyn Struemke and Nelson are all capable of coming off the bench and making things happen and, given the injuries the Wildcats have had to endure this season - particularly with senior guard/forward Alexis Garcia now being out with concussion issues - it's vitally important that this young group of players step up and make plays and I think Mulhern and his staff have to be encouraged by that.  Meanwhile for St. Olaf, it's been a long, long season filled with frustrations and disappointments and again, the fact that arguably three of their best players are either out of the country studying abroad or out with injuries has not helped their cause.  Still, I admire the fact that this young group is out their battling every night and showing up for practice each day with little to play for down the stretch other than pride and you certainly can't fault them for that.  The Wildcats had two players in double-figures scoring-wise on this night as Cambrice finished with 16 points to lead all scorers and Meg Clark was right behind with 14 points.  St. Olaf actually had three players in double-figures as both Sulski and Wilgers netted 12 points and Mulvihill was right behind with 11 points.  Rebounds were surprisingly close in this contest as the Wildcats held a 30-28 edge but, as with any young team, turnovers are usually a big key and St. Olaf's Dave Stromme likely had to be shaking his head in bewilderment on the bus ride back to Northfield knowing that his squad was guilty of 27 of them.  Even worse was the fact that St. Kate's had a 23-11 edge in points off of turnovers and there were times during the game when I felt I might have to hobble over to the St. Olaf bench to give Dave Stromme a bottle of Excedrin or Tylenol PM for later on.  One item that may have had Dave Stromme feeling a bit better was that the Oles had a slight edge in points in the paint by an 18-16 margin and I think both Tisa and Wilgers are going to be solid players down the road with another year of experience under their belts.