St. Kate's vs UST 12-1-18

After catching some of the morning action at the Breakdown Tip-Off Classic over at Hopkins High School, the real first order of this Saturday was to head over to the St. Paul side of town to Schoenecker Arena on the campus of UST for a renewal of the Friendly Neighborhood rivalry with St. Kate's located down the street.  The Tommies; looking incredibly strong (again) were coming into this game unblemished at 4-0 while the Wildcats were coming into this contest with a 2-3 record although in their previous game they had defeated Northland at home so St. Kate's Head Coach Don Mulhern naturally hoped some momentum might carry over into their opening MIAC tilt against mighty UST.

The 'Cats have been able to give UST problems at Schoenecker before and in the first few minutes of the opening period it looked as if St. Kate's might be able to stay reasonably close.  Tommie sophomore guard/forward Kaia Porter started this game with two big three-point bombs - one from the right top area at the 8:39 mark and another one from the left wing area at the 8:05 mark - to give UST a 6-2 lead.  Wildcat freshman forward Sam Orth; already on the board with a lay-up at the 8:23 mark, caught the Tommie defense sleeping with a lay-up off of an inbounds pass at the 7:51 mark to cut the deficit to two points at 6-4.  UST senior guard Lucia Renikoff nailed a "3" from the left corner at the 7:41 mark to expand the Tommies lead to 9-4 but St. Kate's Orth managed a drive across the lane for a finish at the 7:10 mark to get the 'Cats back to within a single possession down 9-6.  Right back came UST's Renikoff with another heart-splitting "3" - this one from the left wing area at the 6:40 mark to give the Tommies a 12-6 lead but a jumper from the left elbow area by Wildcat junior guard Jackie Radford at the 6:32 mark cut the deficit down to four points at 12-8 and gave the St. Kate's faithful some hope that they might have a shot in this game.  However, those hopes quickly went up in flames as the Tommies reeled off a 16-6 burst to finish out this first period.  A Porter lay-up at the 6:02 mark got UST's lead up to six at 14-8 and then senior All-American post Hannah Spaulding got her game going.  One score in the paint at the 5:13 mark and another one with 4:31 left in the opening period had the Tommie lead up to eight at 18-10 and although St. Kate's senior guard Audra Clark answered with a lay-up with 4:11 left, consecutive Spaulding scores got UST's lead up to double digits.  A Spaulding drive and finish with 3:22 left and a Spaulding "3" from the left top area with 3:02 left now gave the Tommies a 23-12 lead.  Then sophomore reserve guard and former Elk River standout Kelsie Cox made her presence felt as the southpaw casually drained a back-breaking "3" from the right corner with 2:12 left to make it a 26-12 ballgame.  Another UST southpaw made her presence felt as well in the waning moments of this first period - sophomore reserve guard Madi Radtke - as her drive into the lane and finish with 1:18 left and a lay-up in transition after a steal with :20 left had the Tommies up 30-12.  St. Kate's got on the board again before the first period buzzer sounded as flashy junior reserve guard Danica Cambrice was able to snare an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback with with just :02 left on the clock but down 30-14, the Wildcats were already looking at a sizable gap.

And UST was able to widen the gap even more in the first few minutes of the second period with a 7-2 push.  Junior guard Sarah Krynski connected with a short running jumper at the 9:37 mark and Porter's third trey of the afternoon - this one coming from the right wing area at the 8:09 mark - had the Tommies up 35-16.  Krynski would add a jumper from the left corner just inside the arc at the 7:35 mark to make it 37-16 before St. Kate's could again cut into the cushion.  One Clark free throw at the 7:15 mark was the start of an 11-3 push.  Clark would follow that up with a pretty running jumper along the left baseline with 4:00 left and thirty seconds later the former Kenyon-Wanamingo standout shined brightly again as she connected with a lay-up and drew a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" had the deficit down to sixteen points at 38-22.  Then Cambrice was able to snare a steal and dash the other way for a lay-up with 3:13 left and with 2:30 left before the half, Cambrice would drain a "3" from the top of the key that now had the deficit down to thirteen points at 40-27.  This definitely got the Tommies' attention and they closed out the second period strong to widen the gap again.  Spaulding connected with a tough scoop shot down low with 2:01 left and two Renikoff free throws with 1:11 left had the lead up to fifteen at 44-29.  With :40.7 left, Spaulding connected with a lay-up in transition and drew a foul in the process and the obligatory free throw now had UST up 47-29.  Fittingly, the Tommies ended their late second period push with :08 left when Renikoff banged home yet another back-breaking three-point bomb - this one from the left top area - that had UST up comfortably 50-29 as the teams retreated to the locker room for the halftime break. 

St. Kate's obviously needed to get out on the right foot once the third period got underway and a pretty reverse lay-up by Orth at the 9:47 mark followed by two Orth free throws at the 8:23 mark had the deficit down to seventeen points at 50-33.  But getting a sustained run that would make a meaningful dent was proving tough to come by as the Tommies quickly picked up the pace.  Two lay-ups - one by Spaulding at the 7:58 mark and another by Renikoff at the 7:26 mark - got the safety net increased with a 54-33 advantage.  A routine Spaulding score in the paint at the 6:55 mark increased the lead to 56-33 before the 'Cats could take a bite out of it with a three-point bomb from the right top area by freshman guard Taylor Johnson at the 6:36 mark.  Two more UST scores - a drive into the lane and a pretty one-handed jumper by senior guard Kaylie Brazil at the 6:20 mark and a lay-up in transition by backcourt mate Krynski at the 6:03 mark - made it a 60-36 game.  The Wildcats would again attempt to cut into this large cushion as a drive and finish by Cambrice at the 5:14 mark and a jumper along the left baseline by Orth with 4:13 left had the deficit down to twenty at 60-40 but it would quickly grow again.  UST's Porter knocked down a jumper in the lane with 3:35 left and a lay-up by Spaulding off of an inbounds pass with 3:06 left made it 64-40.  Then Cox would get a look behind the arc from the right top area and she gracefully buried a "3" from there to bulge the lead to 67-40.  And then Renikoff would make a drive into the lane for a finish with :47 left as the Tommies had practically an insurmountable 69-40 lead going into the fourth period. 

Facing such a large deficit with practically no hope of making this a reasonably close game again, it would have been easy for the Wildcats to simply fold up their tent and go home.  And when UST's Radtke made a drive into the lane for a finish at the 9:19 mark of the fourth period which was followed up by a Renikoff "3" from the left wing area at the 8:35 mark to make it a 74-42 ballgame, the outcome of this one seemed to be a foregone conclusion.  But before the Fat Lady could get her vocal chords warmed up, this resilient St. Kate's team geared up for one last push even though the chances of actually getting close again had long gone out the window.  Cambrice would start this unlikely 16-2 blitz with a lay-up at the 8:18 mark that drew a foul and resulted in an "and one".  Then the versatile Orth drilled a "3" from the right top area at the 7:55 mark and when Clark connected with a lay-up at the 7:27 mark that also drew a foul in the process, her ensuing "and one" had the Tommie lead reduced to 76-51.  Clark would strike again at the 6:29 mark when she unleashed a "3" from the right top off the glass and Cambrice would connect with a lay-up in transition at the 6:04 mark that now had the deficit down to twenty points at 76-56.  Orth would cap with run at the 5:15 mark with her short shot off the glass and just like that the 'Cats had whittled that huge mountain of a deficit down to eighteen points at 76-58.  That got the attention of UST Head Coach Ruth Sinn; who had earlier yanked most of her chain gang to give her reserves some quality minutes and was now forced to insert her starters once again to stifle this Wildcat attack.  And the Tommies indeed just that as one Spaulding free throw with 4:21 left and a Porter lay-up with 3:28 left slowly but surely got the ship righted again and also started to increase the lead to 79-58.  Krynski would add one free throw with 3:04 left and Spaulding would add two more with 2:26 left to give UST an 82-60 lead.  The Wildcats would get two more three-point bombs to fall before the final buzzer went off - one by sophomore guard Ashley Fosness from the right wing area with 2:16 left and another one by freshman reserve guard Grace Amacher with 1:32 left but it would not be nearly enough as UST bagged an 82-66 victory to move to 5-0 on the season. 

As happy as she was with the win, UST's Sinn acknowledged afterwards that there's still a lot of work that remains; primarily on two fronts at the moment:  (1) Getting the reserves up to par - even though I think they're well on their way to being where they need to be and (2) getting the defense strengthened as well.  The good news for UST is that it's only early December and even Sinn agreed when I said that this squad isn't anywhere close to hitting its stride yet.  I also got to speak briefly with UST's Porter after the game as well and it's amazing to see her starting to blossom as she's not only a threat down low but now defenders have to worry about her hitting the "3".  Meanwhile, on the St. Kate's side, Mulhern, although disappointed with the final outcome of this contest, couldn't help but feel some pride when he spoke about the gallant comeback attempt that his squad made in the fourth quarter when everything seemed hopeless.  The one thing about this St. Kate's team; especially under Mulhern, is that they will never quit.  They will keep finding ways to come at you no matter what the score is.  Another fabulous outing for UST's Spaulding on this afternoon as she led all scorers with 28 points while Renikoff added 18 points and Porter finished with 15 points.  It was also a very good afternoon for the newcomer on the St. Kate's side - Orth - as she led the way for her team with 21 points and Cambrice was not far behind with her 18 points while Clark finished with 14 points.