Macalester vs Bethel 1-26-19

Made the short but somewhat tricky and slow trip with the light snow that had hit the metro area on this Saturday A.M. over to Robertson Center on the campus of Bethel University for this contest between visiting Macalester and host Bethel.  This has been a rough year for the Scots and first year Head Coach Pamela Findlay and the going has been rough since the first of the year with Macalester dropping five of their last seven games.  Bethel meanwhile was finishing up the last of its three-game homestand and was coming off lopsided wins over both Hamline last Saturday and Carleton on Wednesday night; where the Royals hit the century mark beating the Knights 100-52.  On paper anyway, this one had the same ingredients as the last two games but we all know that games have to be won on the court and not on paper. 

And Bethel certainly came out firing on all cylinders early on in the opening period.  Sophomore forward Makenna Pearson got the home team on the board first with a lay-up that drew also drew a  foul and the ensuing "and one" had the Royals up 3-0.  Macalester would cut the deficit to one point on a jumper from the left wing by sophomore guard Justine Barraza but the roof would soon cave in on the Scots.  Royal junior forward enforcer Taite Anderson made a hard drive for a finish at the 9:12 mark and a pretty lay-up in transition by willowy senior post Hannah Johnson at the 7:51 mark had Bethel up 7-2.  Taite Anderson would strike again with a lay-up after a steal at the 7:40 mark to make it 9-2 and Macalester's Findlay wasted no time in calling a thirty-second timeout to try and make some quick adjustments and get her team calmed down a bit.  But the Royals were just getting started with their pressure defense and the rewards that come with it.  Two Pearson free throws at the 6:47 mark and a lay-up in transition after a steal by freshman reserve guard Tessah Anderson at the 6:32 mark made it 13-2.  An offensive rebound for a putback by sophomore reserve forward Elizabeth Schwarz at the 5:37 mark and a Taite Anderson lay-up in transition at the 5:12 mark made it 17-2.  Junior point guard Haylee Barker; like a thief in the night, snared a steal and raced the other way for an easy lay-up to make it 19-2 with 4:56 left and Macalester's Findlay was forced to take a match to a full timeout as this one was clearly getting away from her team early on.  To their credit, the Scots were able to momentarily cut some of the fat off of the early deficit as one free throw by freshman reserve guard Celine Sabbagh with 4:00 left and an offensive rebound for a putback by junior reserve guard Holly Hull with 1:52 left had the deficit down to sixeteen at 21-5 and a "3" from the left corner by slender sophomore reserve forward Katherine Podoll with 1:29 left cut it to thirteen points at 21-8 but the Royals would not let Macalester reduce their safety net too much.  Two Tessah Anderson free throws with :55.6 left and two more by sophomore reserve guard Michaela Craigan with :42.3 left got the lead back up to seventeen at 25-8 and a lay-up by freshman reserve forward Megan Boegel with just :00.6 left had Bethel up comfortably 27-9. 

Taite Anderson would not only increase the Royals' lead in the early portion of the second period but also got the spotlight to shine down on her as well.  After the former White Bear Lake standout connected with a lay-up at the 9:23 mark, she would connect with a lay-up in transition to tally her 1,000th point at Bethel and drew a foul in the process.  Bethel Head Coach Jon Herbrecthsmeyer called a timeout to let the moment be celebrated to a standing ovation at Robertson Center and Taite Anderson would complete this three-point play with the obligatory free throw to make it 32-9.  The Scots tried to stem this tidal wave as Barraza connected with a short shot at the 8:26 mark but Bethel would respond with an 8-1 push that only widened the already-large gap that much more.  Pearson would connect with a lay-up at the 8:16 mark as would Barker at the 7:49 mark that made it 36-11 and a score in the paint by Taite Anderson at the 7:10 mark made it 38-12.  Johnson; with her long reach, snared an offensive rebound for a putback of her own miss at the 6:06 mark to make it 40-12 before the Scots could get some more points on the board as strong junior forward Caitlyn Burmester snared an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback at the 5:28 mark.  Podoll would add another three-point bomb - this one coming from the right wing area with 4:37 left - but again, trying to bring this one back was out of the question with Macalester down 42-17.  Taite Anderson would retaliate for the Royals as she drained a "3" from the right top area with 4:25 left and would also connect with a lay-up in transition from the right top area with 4:25 left to make it 47-17.  To their credit, the Scots continued to focus on the fight and not the score as they mounted a 7-0 push.  Junior guard Tyana Loiselle connected with a jumper in the lane with 3:28 left and Sabbagh connected with a lay-up with 3:02 left.  Then it was Barraza finding the range from three-point land as she buried a bomb from the right top area with 2:22 left that had the deficit down to twenty-three points at 47-24.  Another 6-0 push by Bethel widened that gap again as Taite Anderson was able to snare an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback and drew a foul in the process and her obligatory free throw with 2:01 left made it 50-24.  Pearson would connect with a lay-up in transition with 1:25 left and Taite Anderson would get an easy lay-up off of a steal with 1:11 left to make it 54-24.  Macalester's Hull would add a short jumper from the left side with :33 left but the Scots were still on the wrong end of a 54-26 score as both teams headed to the locker room for the halftime break.  The Scots' Findlay could like only be staring at the first half box score with her jaw hitting the floor.  Forget that the fact that the Royals were shooting 22-41 from FG range for 53.7%.  Forget the fact that Bethel also had a sizable advantage on the boards as well at 26-18.  Macalester was already guilty of 14 turnovers and the Royals had ten first half steals to boot.  Throw in the fact that the Scots shot only 10-37 from FG range for 27% was more than enough to know that Findlay and her staff were looking at trying to build a bridge over the wide part of Lake Superior in hopes of getting back in this one.

Like he did a week before against Hamline, Bethel's Herbrechtsmeyer switched up things on defense at the start of the third period by going to a 2-3 "match-up" zone to work on that with a sizable lead at his disposal.  And that only added to the Scots already sizable woes as the Royals widened the gap more with a 7-0 push.  Pearson drained a "3' from the right corner at the 9:50 mark and a Johnson lay-up at the 9:11 mark made it 59-26.  Johnson would also add two charity stripe shots after getting fouled at the 8:31 mark before Macalester could cut into things a bit as Burmester would connect with a lay-up at the 8:24 mark and sophomore reserve guard Luci Swift added two free throws at the 7:56 mark.  But Macalester was simply dealing with too many Royal runs on this afternoon.  Tessah Anderson connected with a jumper in the lane off of an inbounds pass at the 7:36 mark and Pearson connected with a lay-up after another Bethel steal at the 6:18 mark to make it 66-30.  Taite Anderson connected with a short, turnaround jumper at the 5:53 mark and Tessah Anderson snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 5:01 mark to make it 70-31.  Again, the Scots never quit and got two nice retaliatory strikes.  Sophomore forward Kayla Togneri connected with a short, one-handed shot in the lane with 3:57 left and Barraza got to the charity stripe after getting fouled behind the arc with 3:22 left and she knocked down all three free throw attempts.  But still, another push by Bethel.  Craigan drained a "3" from the right corner with 3:13 left and Tessah Anderson would do the same from the left wing area with 2:43 left that made it 76-36.  Craigan would get a lay-up in transition as well with 1:45 left to make it 78-37 before the Scots could respond with a flurry of scores.  Loiselle connected with a jumper from the right top area just inside the arc with 1:20 left and then Sabbagh made a hard drive for a finish and drew a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" with 1:02 left reduced the sizable deficit a bit at 78-42.  Sabbagh would add one more free throw after getting fouled with :42.5 left but the Royals would make it an 80-43 ballgame when Boegel connected with a lay-up in transition with just :14 left in the third period.

Bethel's Herbrechtsmeyer had already been rotating in his second line of players during the third period but he let his starters get in a few more good minutes in the early moments of the fourth period before calling it a day for them.  Barker connected with a lay-up in transition at the 9:11 mark and Johnson connected with a lay-up of her own at the 8:37 mark to make it 84-43.  One Taite Anderson freebie at the 8:02 mark increased the lead to 85-45 and perhaps the only down point of the day for the Royals came a bit later at the 7:16 mark when Tessah Anderson went down with an apparent back injury.  After a lengthy delay, she was helped off the court and action resumed with reserves in action.  Schwarz connected with a lay-up at the 6:53 mark and two free throws by freshman reserve guard Sydney Blandin at the 6:15 mark made it 89-48.  Schwarz would snare an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback with 4:56 left to make it 91-48 before Macalester could respond with two scores as sophomore reserve forward Rose Lutz got into the paint for a score with 3:24 left as did Togneri with 3:03 left.  But the Royals' young reserves had a blast coming down the home stretch.  Freshman reserve guard Erin Tupy drilled a "3" from the right wing area with 2:48 left and a Boegel lay-up in transition with 2:20 left had Bethel up 98-53.  The crowd inside Robertson Center erupted when freshman reserve guard Jennifer Hicks banged home a "3" from the right wing area with 1:45 left to put the Royals over the century mark at 101-55.  Sophomore reserve guard Mackenzie Novak also drained a "3" of her own from the left wing area with :47 left as Bethel ran away with this one by a final count of 104-59.

As disappointed as Macalester's Findlay had to be on this afternoon, I had to give her and her squad a lot of credit for staying in the fight and never quitting despite the lopsided score.  This is an incredibly young team that Findlay has and they don't have a lot of size to boot either.  But they do play hard and they've already got some surprising wins in their pocket so far and they're going to be a dangerous foe for opponents down the road.  I managed to catch up with Bethel's Herbrechtsmeyer who was caught up afterward talking to some potential recruits after the game and he admitted that his squad was playing at a very high level right now and he's hopeful that they can continue to play at this level with road games this week at both CSB and St. Kate's in the offing.  I had to ask him about Tessah Anderson who got injured in the fourth period and he admitted that she's had some back issues.  Fortunately, the athletic department's chiropractor was on hand that day to give her some treatment afterward and Herbrechtsmeyer was hopeful that she'll be feeling better in a few days so that's definitely good news.  It was indeed a fabulous day for the Royals as they had four players in double figures for scoring.  Not surprisingly, it was Taite Anderson who had a monster day with her 26 points to easily lead all scorers and Pearson finished with 16 points.  Another solid, solid day for Johnson as she had a "double-double" with 12 points and 11 rebounds; a seemingly common occurrence for her anymore and Tessah Anderson finished with 11 points despite the injury and she is without question a big spark for Bethel coming off the bench.  Barraza's 12 points led the way for Macalester on this day while Podoll finished with 10 points.  The Royals set a school record with their 18 steals on this day; a credit to their awesome defense and also had a 42-33 edge in the rebounding department.  One thing Findlay and her staff at Macalester have to do a better job of down the road is protecting the rock as they were guilty of 28 turnovers on this day.  Yikes.