UM-Morris vs Macalester 11-27-18

Motored over to the St. Paul side of town on this Tuesday evening to Leonard Center on the campus of Macalester College to get my first glimpse of the Scots under new Head Coach Pamela Findlay as they got set to take on UM-Morris out of the UMAC in this interesting clash of MIAC and UMAC teams.  This young Macalester team was coming into this contest with a lackluster 1-4 record thus far but they got that first win on the road at another UMAC opponent - Northwestern - the week before so certainly that had to be a boost for the Scots coming into this contest.  The Cougars meanwhile were looking to get on solid footing themselves after absorbing losses to three MIAC opponents already - CSB, GAC and Bethel - but they did record a big home win recently over WIAC opponent UW-Eau Claire over the weekend so naturally UM-Morris Head Coach Tim Grove was hoping that the real Cougar team would stand up on this night.

Scoring would come at a premium in the first five minutes of the opening period and that may have had something to do with jitters on both sides more than anything else although both teams opened up in man-to-man defense.  Scot junior guard Holly Hull got Macalester on the board first with a jumper along the left baseline at the 7:50 mark and although the Cougars would grab the lead on two free throws by speedy senior point guard Elli Stevenson at the 6:20 mark and a lay-up by lanky junior forward Abby Van Kempen at the 5:10 mark, Macalester would tie the contest at 4-all on a jumper from the left wing by sophomore reserve guard Luci Swift with 3:45 left.  Turnovers committed by both teams played a big part in keeping the scoring down early on as well but UM-Morris was able to settle down a bit as the opening period wore on to at least have the upper hand in things.  Two free throws by strong senior forward Kendra Raths with 3:13 left put the Cougars up 6-4 and an offensive rebound for a putback by Raths with 1:27 left maintained that two-point edge at 8-6.  The lead expanded to four points when Van Kempen got into the paint for a score with :29 left but Scot junior guard Tyana Loiselle managed to cut the deficit down to two points with her lay-up with just :05 left in the opening period that made it a 10-8 game.

UM-Morris was to maintain the upper hand once the second period got underway.  After the Scots tied the game at 10-all on a pretty give-and-go lay-up by junior reserve forward Caitlyn Burmester at the 9:42 mark, the Cougars' Stevenson got one free throw to go down at the 6:22 mark and a short jumper in the paint by willowy sophomore reserve forward Zoe Loucks at the 6:03 mark got the UM-Morris lead to 13-10.  Grove got some more production from his bench as freshman reserve guard Lexie Winter's two freebies at the 5:08 mark kept the lead at three at 15-12 and a timely three-point bomb by Raths from the left corner with 3:43 left increased the lead to four points at 18-14.  Van Kempen was able to snare an offensive rebound for a putback with 2:58 left to expand the lead to six points at 20-14 and one more Winter free throw with 2:13 left made it a 21-14 ballgame.  Raths connected with a lay-up with 1:25 left and one Stevenson charity stripe shot with :59.6 left now had the Cougars in very good shape up 24-16.  Macalester's Holly Hull single-handedly cut into that cushion as she drained a "3" from the top of the key with :43 left and added one free throw to boot with just :09.7 left that cut the deficit down to four points at 24-20.  UM-Morris would get the last laugh of this first half, however, as Van Kempen knocked down a tough jumper along the left baseline with just :00.1 left on the clock as the teams headed for the locker room with the Cougars up 26-20.  A check of the first half box score no doubt gave Macalester's Findlay reasons to cringe on a number of fronts.  Going 9-29 from FG range for an ice-cold 31% and 1-8 from behind the arc for an Arctic 12.5%.  Throw in nine first half turnovers along with that plus the fact that they were lucky to just get to the charity stripe at all shows they were indeed fortunate to be down by only six at the break.  The Cougars weren't exactly setting the world on fire either; going 8-27 from FG range for 29.6% and 1-6 from three-point land for 16.7%.  One positive note for Grove and his staff was that UM-Morris committed only five turnovers in the first half. 

And the Cougars certainly did seem to have things well in control in the opening moments of the third period as well.  Raths unloaded her second trey of the evening - this one coming from the left top area at the 9:16 mark - that gave UM-Morris its biggest lead of the night at nine points at 29-20.  Hull would respond for Macalester, however, with her own "3" from the left wing area at the 8:59 mark and then sophomore guard Justine Barraza finally got into the scoring column with a three-point bomb of her own from the left top area at the 8:17 mark that suddenly had the Scots back to within a single possession down 29-26.  The Cougars tried to widen their lead again as Stevenson was able to get to the charity stripe at the 7:52 mark to drop two free throws to make it a 31-26 game but the Scots' Barraza made a hard drive for a finish at the 7:40 mark to get Macalester back to within a single possession again and two free throws by sophomore forward/post Katherine Podoll at the 6:06 mark kept the Scots in that three-point range down 33-30.  Then Macalester senior reserve guard Addy Perkins let loose with a "3" from the left wing area with 4:00 left that had this one knotted at 33-all.  Then Burmester used her strong 5'7" frame to muscle into the paint for a score with 3:15 left that allowed the Scots to finally poke their nose out in front again at 35-33 and another Barraza "3" from the right wing area with 2:47 left had Macalester up 38-36.  Sophomore forward Kayla Togneri's score in the paint increased that lead to 40-36 with 1:21 left and although the Cougars were able to close the gap on one Stevenson free throw with 1:09 left and one by Raths with :10.1 left in the third period to make it a 40-38 game, the momentum clearly seemed to have shifted in the Scots favor.

But a resilient UM-Morris team was not about to let this night get away from them which would result in a long bus ride back on U.S. Highway 12 and the BNSF's Wayzata Sub mainline.  Van Kempen unleashed a "3" from the left corner at the 9:50 mark of the fourth period to give the Cougars the lead back for good at 41-40 and a Raths "3" from the right corner at the 7:45 mark made it a 44-40 ballgame and the Scots' Findlay; seeing that momentum they had just a short while ago slipping into the cold darkness of the night, quickly called for a thirty-second timeout to try and rectify things.  Still, UM-Morris was able to grow their lead to 46-40 when the wily Stevenson was able to snare a steal and dash the other way for a lay-up at the 6:45 mark before Macalester could close the gap.  Barraza uncorked a "3" from the left top area at the 6:03 mark and a Togneri lay-up at the 5:05 mark now had the deficit back to a single point at 46-45 with a mountain of time left.  The Cougars didn't panic, however, and craftily got their ship sailing in the right direction again with a 5-0 spurt.  Junior guard Becca Holland dropped one free throw after getting fouled with 4:33 left and two more by freshman guard Lexus Eagle Chasing with 2:51 left pushed UM-Morris' lead up to 49-45.  After a foiled Scot possession, Van Kempen came up big for the Cougars with her lay-up with 1:58 left that now made it a 51-45 ballgame.  Two more Holland free throws with 1:27 left got the UM-Morris lead to seven at 53-46 before the Scots could make one last gasp.  And a big part of that last gasp was aided when the Cougars' Van Kempen; who snared a defensive rebound, inadvertently got Macalester's Burmester with an elbow with :34.6 left and, after much discussion by the officials and coaches, Van Kempen was slapped with a technical foul.  That got Scot sophomore reserve forward Rose Lutz to the charity stripe where she sank one free throw and on the subsequent Macalester possession, Podoll uncorked a rare "3" from the right corner off of an inbounds pass with :32 left that suddenly narrowed the gap to a mere three points at 53-50.  But that would be as close as Macalester could get despite the unusual swing of good fortune their way.  Although Cougar nerves were a bit jittery when Stevenson missed both free throw attempts with :30.7 left. UM-Morris was able to thwart the subsequent Scot possession and Eagle Chasing got sent to the charity stripe for two insurance free throws with :20.3 left and Stevenson would add one more with :12.5 left as the Cougars escaped Leonard Center with a harrowing 56-50 victory.

After a bit of a delay, I was finally able to introduce myself to Macalester's Findlay and get her thoughts about this contest.  She was pleased with the effort her team gave on this night; particularly in that third period but lamented that "We just made too many mental mistakes tonight."  She seemed hopeful, however, that Burmester's being on the wrong end of an inadvertent elbow wouldn't be a serious injury despite some concussion issues that Burmester has had in the past.  UM-Morris' Rath led all scorers on this night with her 17 points and narrowly missed a "double-double" with nine rebounds to boot.  Van Kempen, however, did get that ubiquitous "double-double" on this night though with her 15 points and 10 rebounds.  Stevenson was also able to add 10 points of her own to UM-Morris' total as well.  Macalester's Barraza; who was held scoreless in the first half, came alive in the second half as she was the only Scot player in double-figures with her 11 points.  Rebounding was surprisingly close on this night with UM-Morris holding a 41-40 edge but Macalester's big downfall on this night was turnovers as they committed 22 compared to UM-Morris' 12.  Throw in the fact that the Scots shot only 19-57 from FG range for 33.3% and 7-19 from behind the arc for 36.8% only added to their woes. One more stat to point out - UM-Morris got 18 points off of those Macalester turnovers as well.