Hamline vs Bethel 1-19-19

Made my way over to Robertson Center on the campus of Bethel University on this sunny but very cold January Saturday to take in the contest between visiting Hamline which made its way up Snelling Avenue to take on host Bethel.  The Pipers were coming into this game mired in a slump as they had dropped three of four games since the first of the year while the Royals were coming off an incredibly tough loss at UST on Wednesday night.  While this looked to be the perfect opportunity for Bethel to rebound and get an easy win, this is an improved Hamline team and the Royals could scarcely hope to just show up and win. 

The Pipers, in fact, did draw first blood in this contest when junior guard Morgan Coleman got to the charity stripe after getting fouled at the 9:27 mark of the first period and Coleman would follow that up a bit later with a drive and finish at the 8:13 mark that also drew a foul and although she wasn't able to cash in on the ensuing "and one" Hamline still held a 4-3 lead at this point.  But what Piper Head Coach Alex Focke and his staff likely couldn't have counted on was the 19-0 blitz that Bethel would respond with in this opening period.  Sophomore guard Bella Williams got this run going as she was able to snare a steal and dash the other way for an easy lay-up at the 7:48 mark and a drive and pretty lay-up by junior point guard Haylee Barker at the 7:00 mark had the Royals up 7-4.  Perhaps the only fly in the ointment for Bethel at this point was that junior forward enforcer Taite Anderson got tagged with her second foul at the 6:22 mark but that didn't seem to faze the Royals any.  Understudy sophomore reserve forward Elizabeth Schwarz came in and connected with a lay-up at the 5:41 mark and a routine score in the paint by willowy senior post Hannah Johnson with 4:41 left made it 11-4.  Then Johnson; the former Duluth East standout who has greatly improved her perimeter shooting, unleashed a three-point bomb from the left top area with 4:21 left to make it 14-4 and Hamline's Focke had seen enough to know that at least a thirty-second timeout was warranted.  Still, the Royals kept up this barrage as sophomore reserve guard Michaela Craigin connected with a lay-up with 2:06 left and then Johnson would strike again with 1:42 left when she connected with a short shot off the glass off of an inbounds pass to make it 18-4.  With :39 left Johnson would strike yet again with a lay-up and freshman reserve guard Tessah Anderson completed this big run with just :10 left in this opening period to make it 22-4.

And nothing was going to get better for the Pipers anytime soon either as Bethel started the second period with a 6-0 push to expand their already-large lead.  Schwarz was able to muscle into the paint for a score at the 9:21 mark and a nifty drive and finish by Barker at the 8:55 mark made it a 26-4 ballgame.  Then Johnson was able to score in the paint off of an inbounds pass at the 8:28 mark that made it 28-4 before Hamline was finally able to break its lengthy drought with a drive and finish by freshman guard Gabby Robinson at the 8:10 mark.  The Pipers' leading scorer; junior forward Reilly Geistfeld, held in check thus far, was able to snare an offensive rebound for a putback at the 6:38 mark and repeated the same act after one of her own misses at the 5:48 mark as well.  Trouble was that the Pipers were trailing by a 32-10 count at this juncture and badly needed stops and some semblance of a run to try and get back into this thing and that just wasn't happening.  Bethel's Johnson was able to get another score off of an inbounds pass when she lofted up a pretty, one-handed shot off the glass at the 5:16 mark and freshman reserve forward Megan Boegel connected with a lay-up with 3:57 left that made it 36-10.  The Pipers did find a bit of a scoring punch coming down the stretch as junior sharp-shooting guard Kaeli Stayer drained a three-point bomb from the left wing area with 3:36 left and Robinson banged home a "3" of her own from the right corner with 2:23 left.  Geistfeld was also able to get into the paint for a score with 1:03 left but again, Hamline was still staring at a 38-18 deficit at this juncture and Bethel would add to its pad as one free throw by Craigin with :53 left and a lay-up after a Piper turnover by Tessah Anderson with :17 left made it 41-18.  Hamline would add one more point on one free throw by freshman reserve forward Sarah Loken with :05.4 left but facing such a large deficit as both teams headed for the locker room for the halftime break, it seemed unlikely that there was much Focke and his staff could say in the locker room that would ease the sting.  A check of the first half box score shows how one-sided this affair was so far.  While the Royals had "only" a 19-16 advantage on the boards, they shot 19-32 from FG range for 59.4% and 2-6 from downtown for 33.3% compared to Hamline's 7-31 from FG range for 22.6% and 2-9 from behind the arc for 22.2%.  Throw in 13 first half turnovers by the Pipers as well and you get a pretty clear idea of the hole that Hamline found themselves in. 

The Pipers did find a ray of hope early on in the third period when Stayer drained a "3" from the right top area at the 9:12 mark.  Bethel; for whatever reason, looked a bit disjointed on both ends of the floor and although Barker was able to make a drive and lay-up at the 8:58 mark for a 43-22 lead, Royal Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer called a thirty-second timeout at the 8:30 mark to get his team regrouped and the Royals responded after the short stoppage in play with a 9-0 push.  Taite Anderson muscled into the paint for a score at the 7:23 mark and a nifty steal and lay-up the other way by Williams at the 6:15 mark gave Bethel a twenty-five point cushion at 47-22.  Johnson was able to snare an offensive rebound for a putback at the 5:57 mark made it 49-22 and the Pipers' Focke called another timeout in hopes of dousing Bethel's fire but that hope died when Royals sophomore forward Makenna Pearson buried a "3" from the left wing area at the 5:07 mark to make it a thirty-point spread at 52-22.  Hamline made another attempt to cut into this big safety net as freshman guard Chan'el Anderson-Manning connected with a lay-up with 4:47 left as did junior reserve forward Rian Lee with 4:19 left.  Lee would also snare an offensive rebound for a putback with 3:32 left and Anderson-Manning drained a "3' from the top of the key with 3:13 left but all that did was reduce the deficit to twenty-seven points at 58-31.  Stayer would add a jumper in the lane with 2:50 left and Anderson-Manning would get a "3" from the left corner to go down with 1:47 left as well but the Pipers were still staring at a sizable deficit at 60-36 and Bethel would turn up the heat before this period was over.  Pearson banged home her second trey of the afternoon with 1:30 left from the left corner and Taite Anderson would do the same from the opposite right corner with 1:09 left that made it 66-36.  Pearson would connect with a lay-up in transition with :49 left and then Barker; the former Maple Grove standout, got the spotlight on her.  She banged home a "3" from the left wing area with :30 left and with just :04 left before the end of the third period she was able to connect with a lay-up in transition after a steal and with a 73-36 lead that the Royals were enjoying, it was easy to see how this one was going to turn out. 

With such a large lead in the bag, it gave Bethel's Herbrechtsmeyer a chance to (1) experiment with a few things on defense and (2) get his seldom-used reserves gradually into the game for clean-up duty.  The Royals were using a 2-3 "match-up" zone by the start of the period that seemed almost as effective as their suffocating man-to-man defense.  Barker would connect with a lay-up at the 9:31 mark and Taite Anderson connected with a sweet reverse lay-up at the 8:46 mark that made it a 77-36 game.  Hamline, though down by plenty, wasn't giving up the ship so fast and they still made a strong effort to score when they could.  Geistfeld was able to get into the paint for a score at the 8:14 mark and got one free throw to go down after getting fouled at the 7:09 mark and would also knock down a pair after getting fouled at the 6:38 mark.  Anderson-Manning got a "3" to go down from the left top area at the 6:05 mark and sophomore reserve forward Alyssa Bryan-Jeffries would drop one free throw after getting fouled at the 5:10 mark and would also connect with a lay-up with 4:35 left.  Bethel's Herbrechtsmeyer now took his cue to start sending in the reserves as the Royals' chain-gang had done their work for the day.  Schwarz was able to snare an offensive rebound for a putback with 4:04 left and then Boegel connected with a lay-up with 2:21 left and drew a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" had Bethel up 87-47.  Freshman reserve guard Erin Tupy knocked down two free throws after getting fouled with 2:15 left and would also drain a "3" from the left top area with 1:43 left.  Freshman reserve guard Hannah Rogers snared an offensive rebound for a putback for good measure and the Royals romped to an easy 94-50 victory. 

I caught up with Herbrechtsmeyer after the game who was finishing up a small post-game meal and enjoying the big win on this day as well.  After the tough loss at UST on Wednesday night, a big win at home like this was exactly what the doctor ordered for this team to not only feel good about itself again but to restore their confidence as well.  Herbrechtsmeyer confirmed my suspicions about the 2-3 zone defense he was using in that fourth period as he pointed out that he wanted to experiment with a few things on defense with such a big lead in a game situation and I'm guessing he had to be pleased with what he saw.  This is the start of a three-game homestand for the Royals as well and, on paper anyway, they should be able to take care of business during this stretch without too much difficulty.  The big challenge is keeping everyone healthy (or as healthy as possible) for the home-run stretch leading up to the MIAC playoffs.  But I think the Bethel faithful; after seeing what they saw on this day, have a lot of reasons to feel confident about this squad's near-term future.  It's no surprise, either, that the Royals had four players in double figures scoring-wise on this day.  Pearson's 19 points led the way for Bethel and Johnson recorded a "double-double" on this day with her 18 points and 10 rebounds.  Barker finished with 12 points and surprisingly Schwarz recorded 11 points on this day.  Hamline had two players in double figures for scoring as both Geistfeld and Anderson-Manning finished with 11 points.  It was just a miserable day at the office for the Pipers as they finished the game going 17-48 from FG range for 35.4% and 6-16 from downtown for a not-much-better 37.5%.  Throw in 32 turnovers for the day into the mix and it's possible that Focke was likely looking for the Tylenol PM when nighttime rolled around.  If there was one bright spot for Hamline on this day, it was in the rebounding department as both teams finished with 34 total rebounds. Here's two more stats that jump out at me.  True, Bethel did win 94-50 but what's astounding is that the Royals had a 60-18 advantage in points in the paint and also cashed in for 46 points on all those Piper turnovers.