UMAC Playoff Quarterfinal Game - St. Scholastica vs Northwestern 2-19-18

While I am pretty focused and "locked-in" on the upcoming MIAC Playoffs that begin Tuesday night, I would certainly be amiss if I totally ignored the UMAC Playoffs and one of the conference's quarterfinal games just happened to be right in town on this somewhat snowy, slick Monday night so I made the slow drive over to Ericksen Center on the campus of the University of Northwestern in Roseville to take in the clash between visiting St. Scholastica and host Northwestern.  Both teams were coming into this game with identical regular season conference records of 9-7 with the Saints having a slightly better overall 14-11 overall record compared to the Eagles 13-12 overall record.  So this one, at least on paper anyway, had the makings of a pretty good tilt and I got settled into the stands in plenty of time for tip-off.

Northwestern Head Coach Aaron Kahl had his team in their normal 2-3 "match-up" zone defense and that certainly paid some early dividends as the Saints struggled offensively in the half court and the Eagles got off to a blazing start.  Back-to-back scores by senior post Alex Peterson - a short turnaround jumper in the lane at the 9:20 mark and a short shot off the glass at the 8:15 mark - quickly had Northwestern up 4-0 and a score in the paint by junior guard Amy Berglund at the 7:25 mark pushed that lead up to 6-0 and St. Scholastica Head Coach Stacy Deadrick; not at all liking how things were panning out early in this contest, called a halt to the action to try and make some adjustments.  Still, Eagle junior guard Taryn Tumbleson was able to snare a steal and dash the other way for an easy lay-up with a pretty assist from teammate and senior point guard Andrea Zimpel to make it an 8-0 ballgame before the Saints could finally take the lid off of their basket and quickly get right back into the thick of things with back-to-back three-point bombs.  Junior guard Danielle Cieluch drained one trey from the left wing area at the 6:25 mark and another "3" from the left corner by senior guard Emelia Miner with 4:38 left allowed St. Scholastica to suddenly pull within a single-possession down 8-6.  Northwestern managed to recover from this brief hiccup and ended the opening period on a 6-1 push.  Zimpel connected with a lay-up with 3:35 left as did Tumbleson with 2:58 left to establish a bit more breathing space with a 12-7 advantage and another lay-up by reserve senior post Jessica Brown with :24 left seemed to indicate that things were clearly pointing the Eagles way as they took a 14-7 lead into the second period.

Given the Saints struggles in the opening period with poor shooting and turnovers, being down by seven seemed larger than the actual deficit.  But a quick 6-0 St. Scholastica push changed this one around in the early moments of the second period.  Two three-point bombs - one by Miner from that same left corner at the 9:36 mark and another one by speedy junior reserve guard and former Anoka-Ramsey standout Rashonna Thomas from the left wing area at the 8:02 mark - suddenly had the deficit down to a scant point at 14-13.  The Eagles tried to establish some more space when Tumbleson was sent to the charity stripe at the 7:49 mark and she got one of two attempts to go down to make it a 15-13 game but the Saints continued with their push.  Lanky 6'2" senior forward Holly VanKempen connected with a lay-up off of an inbounds pass at the 5:14 mark to tie the game and after Northwestern's Tumbleson pushed her team ahead again with a lay-up with 4:44 left, St. Scholastica's Cieluch drained a "3" from the left corner with 3:35 left to propel the Saints out in front for the first time in this contest at 18-17.  That lead was short-lived, however, as the Eagles ended the second period on a 6-0 run.  Two free throws by freshman reserve guard Jordan Sauve with 1:12 left and a jumper from the right elbow area by Berglund with :34.5 left got Northwestern back into the lead by a 21-18 count and Berglund finished off things right before the half with two more free throws with :12.6 left as the Eagles took a 23-18 lead into the locker room at the intermission.  A check of the first half box score reveals that St. Scholastica recovered well in the second period despite shooting a somewhat dreadful 6-26 from FG range for 23.1% and 5-14 from behind the arc for 35.7%.  Northwestern definitely cooled off after the hot start and they were only 9-23 from FG range for 39.1%.  Otherwise things were pretty close.  Rebounds were nearly even with Northwestern holding a 15-14 edge and St. Scholastica had only two more turnovers than Northwestern at 14-12.  One item that did stand out, though.  Northwestern was able to snare nine steals during that first half and that had to be something that concerned St. Scholastica's Deadrick and her staff.

The Saints made every effort to close the gap once the third period got underway and one VanKempen freebie at the 9:22 mark and a Miner lay-up in transition at the 7:26 mark had St. Scholastica back within striking distance again down four at 25-21.  At the 6:39 mark, Thomas was able to snare a long offensive rebound of a missed shot and was able to get a putback out of it and suddenly the Saints were back in business again down by only two at 25-23.  Curiously, however, that's exactly where the St. Scholastica drive stalled and the Eagles were able to pounce on the opportunity to stretch their lead a bit.  Alex Peterson; the lefty, knocked down a jumper from the left elbow area at the 5:40 mark and after both teams endured a bit of a rut scoring-wise, Northwestern sophomore reserve guard Audrey Lefto connected with a short shot off of an inbounds pass with 2:55 left to get the Eagle lead out to six points at 29-23.  The Saints tried to counter on a score in the paint by sophomore reserve post Maddy Halley with 2:33 left to get the gap cut down to four points at 29-25 but Northwestern would close out the third period with a 5-0 push.  Brown connected with a lay-up with 2:03 left and one free throw by sophomore forward Rio Landers with :40.6 left in the third period pushed the Eagle lead to seven at 32-25.  With just :06 left, Tumbleson connected with a jumper from near the free throw line to increase the lead to nine points at 34-25 and now St. Scholastica found themselves back in the same position they found themselves after the first period and they had only one more period to try and reverse their declining fortunes. 

The Saints' hopes took another hit at the outset of the fourth period when Northwestern's Alex Peterson made a drive into the lane for a finish at the 8:32 mark that also drew a foul and the ensuing "and one" by the former Como Park standout not only pushed the Eagles lead to double-digits at 37-25 but now St. Scholastica's VanKempen was tagged with her fourth foul as well.  The Saints, probably now knowing they were living on borrowed time, tried desperately to make inroads again.  Two scores by junior guard Michala Walther - a jumper from the left elbow area at the 8:17 mark and a lay-up at the 7:40 mark - had St. Scholastica back in single-digit range again down 37-29 but they needed an extended run if they were truly going to get back into this thing and the Eagles had absolutely no intention of letting that happen.  And this is where Northwestern's Lefto; the former St. Croix Lutheran standout, came up big for the Eagles.  She first knocked down a jumper along the left baseline at the 6:50 mark to push Northwestern's lead back up to ten points at 39-29 but then followed that up with a "3" from the left wing area at the 6:15 mark to make it a 42-29 ballgame that effectively extinguished any hopes the Saints may have had about being able to make a real comeback in this game.  St. Scholastica did, however, make a few desperate pokes toward that as Cieluch connected with a jumper from the left wing area at the 5:54 mark and a steal and lay-up the other way by Thomas with 2:26 left had the deficit down to eleven points at 44-33.  With 2:12 left, Walther banged home a "3" from the left wing off of the glass that had the Saints back in single-digit range again down by eight at 44-36 but that's as close as they could get the rest of the way.  Northwestern would get into the bonus with 1:57 left and the always-reliable Tumbleson knocked down two charity stripe shots and one more Tumbleson free throw with 1:01 left got the Eagles lead back to eleven at 47-36.  St. Scholastica's Miner had fouled out by this point and Northwestern's Alex Peterson only added to their misery by connecting with a lay-up in transition with :46.8 left to make it a 49-36 ballgame.  The Saints had one last hurrah when Cieluch drained a "3" from the left wing off of the glass with :43 left but insurance free throws by the Eagles' Zimpel with :39 left and one more with :33 left gave Northwestern a 52-39 victory and the right to advance to the UMAC Playoff Semifinals against UW-Superior on Wednesday night. 

I caught up with Northwestern's Kahl afterward who was incredibly pleased with the win as you would expect.  He talked about the injuries his squad has had to endure this season that have prevented his team from playing to its full potential at times.  Alex Peterson, for example, has four broken bones in her left shooting hand and a couple of torn ligaments in her thumb but she has been able to play through it all and she easily gets my Jack Youngblood award for this season.  I asked Kahl about how his team got off to such a good start in this contest and how they seemed to cool off in the second period.  "For some reason, we haven't played that well in the second period this season and I really don't understand that" he replied.  But, they found a way when they had to and Lefto certainly came up big for them in the fourth period with two huge scores when things were still hanging in the balance.  Meanwhile, it has to be a frustrating end for Deadrick and her St. Scholastica team that definitely had their chances on this night only to be done in by poor shooting and turnovers when it counted the most.  Indeed, the Saints went 15-66 for the game from FG range (OUCH) for 22.7% and 7-26 from behind the arc for 26.9%.  Throw in 20 turnovers to boot and that's simply not going to get the job done.  It's especially painful for the seniors and you couldn't help but feel badly when Miner, VanKempen and former Anoka standout Sam Brannen came to the bench towards the end of the game and the tears started flowing.  And it's only the beginning of something I'll be seeing over the next few weeks.  Tumbleson led the way for Northwestern on this night with her 12 points and Alex Peterson was right behind with 11 points.  St. Scholastica had a relatively balanced attack on this night but they finished with only one player in double-figures scoring-wise on this night as Cieluch tallied 11 points.