St. Kate's vs Bethel 1-5-19

Made my way over to Robertson Center on the campus of Bethel Univeristy on this sunny and unseasonably mild early January Saturday to take in this important clash between visiting St. Kat'es and host Bethel.  The Wildcats were coming into this contest with a so-so 6-6 record but had started off the New Year on the right foot by getting a convincing road win at Carleton on Wednesday night.  The Royals meanwhile were coming into this game on something of a hot streak with five straight victories; most importantly a huge 65-64 road win over #9 George Fox just before the first of the year and, like St. Kate's also got a convincing road win in Northfield as well by beating St. Olaf. 

On paper anyway, this looked like a relatively easy win for Bethel in the friendly confines of Robertson Center but it would be the 'Cats coming out and setting the tone early on in the opening period.  Senior point guard Audra Clark was able to get an easy lay-up in transition off the opening tip at the 9:55 mark for a quick 2-0 lead and although Royals senior post Hannah Johnson would tie the contest with her short jumper off of an inbounds pass at the 9:19 mark, St. Kate's would respond as junior guard Jackie Radford connected with a lay-up at the 8:57 mark and flashy fellow junior guard Danica Cambrice connected with a lay-up in transition at the 8:33 mark for a 6-2 Wildcat lead.  Bethel would cut the deficit to one point when Hannah Johnson connected with a lay-up and drew a foul in the process and the ensuing "and one" by the former Duluth East standout made it a 6-5 game.  St. Kate's freshman Taylor Johnson would come back on the subsequent 'Cat possession and drain a "3" from the left wing area at the 7:50 mark to make it a 9-5 game before the Royals could cut into the deficit again.  Junior forward Taite Anderson snared an offensive rebound and got a lay-up out of it at the 7:21 mark and sophomore forward Makenna Pearson was able to snare an offensive rebound of her own for a putback at the 6:52 mark to make it 9-all.  Taite Anderson would get a score in the paint at the 6:19 mark to get the game tied again at 11-all and sophomore reserve forward Elizabeth Schwarz got into the paint as well for a score at the 5:42 mark to give Bethel their first lead of the afternoon at 13-11.  The Wildcats would come right back and reclaim the lead when Radford made a hard drive and connected with a lay-up and drew a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" made it a 14-13 game.  The Royals would reclaim the lead at 15-14 on a score in the paint by freshman reserve guard Tessah Anderson with 4:59 left and then both teams would endure a bit of a dry spell for the next couple of minutes before a flurry of scores ended this first period.  A Cambrice lay-up with 2:46 left propelled St. Kate's back into the lead at 16-15 and the Royals took it right back on a short jumper off of an inbounds pass by Hannah Johnson.  Freshman forward Sam Orth gave the Wildcats the lead again with her lay-up with 2:13 left at 18-17 and two free throws by freshman reserve guard Mackenzie Kurczek with 1:42 left helped grow the lead to 20-17.  Bethel junior point guard Haylee Barker would drop two free throws after getting fouled with 1:29 left to cut the deficit to one point and one more free throw by Taite Anderson with 1:07 left knotted this game at 20 and that's what it looked like it would be going into the second period but the Wildcats got the last stab of this opening period when Clark; the former Kenyon-Wanamingo standout, wheeled and dealed on the last possession and snuck into the lane for a pretty turnaround jumper with :04 left that gave St. Kate's the lead back at 22-20.

Despite Clark's heroics at the end of the opening period, the Royals grabbed the upper hand in the early moments of the second period.  Barker drained a "3" from the top of the key when she was left alone at the 9:09 mark and then Taite Anderson connected with a lay-up off of an inbounds pass and drew a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" at the 8:38 mark pushed Bethel's lead to 26-22.  The Wildcats would close the gap to two points when Orth connected with a lay-up at the 7:46 mark but St. Kate's immediate hopes seemed to take a bit of a hit when Radford collected her second foul of the afternoon on a charge call and Head Coach Don Mulhern had no choice but to sit the former Cretin-Derham Hall standout.  The 'Cats would cut the deficit down to a scant point when Orth knocked down one free throw at the 6:44 mark but Bethel would make a bid to open up some more space for themselves.  Tessah Anderson got into the paint for a score at the 6:25 mark and a short, one-handed jumper along the left baseline by Pearson at the 5:40 mark gave the Royals a 30-26 lead.  Sophomore guard Bella Williams helped grow that lead to six points when she snare a long rebound and got a lay-up out of it with 4:12 left to make it 32-26.  Williams would connect with a lay-up again with 3:06 left to make it 34-27 and one free throw by sophomore reserve guard Michaela Craigan with 1:06 left got the lead to eight points at 35-27.  Then Williams would come through again for Bethel with still another lay-up with :45 left that now gave the home team their first double-digit lead at 37-27 before the Wildcats could offer up some resistance.  Freshman reserve guard Lauren Isaacson banged home a "3" from the right corner with :30 left and although the Royals' Williams would collect another score in the paint with :11 left, St. Kate's would get one last dagger before the halftime break when Cambrice nailed a jumper from the right corner just inside the arc with just a tenth of a second before the halftime buzzer as both teams retreated to the locker room for the halftime festivities.  A check of the first half box score shows that Bethel had an edge in the rebounding department by a 23-17 count and had only eight turnovers to St. Kate's 12.  Neither team was necessarily setting the world on fire with their shooting with the Royals going 16-38 for for 42.1% from FG range and the 'Cats going 12-29 for 41.4% from the same area.  Moreover, Bethel shot a woeful 1-10 from downtown so Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer and his staff had some tinkering to do during the halftime break. 

Bethel looked like they were on their way to establishing some separation in the early moments of the third period as Pearson was able to connect with a lay-up in transition after a steal at the 8:40 mark and a short shot by Barker at the 7:50 mark re-established an earlier double-digit lead at 43-32.  But the Wildcats were quick to respond as the athletic Cambrice was able to snare an offensive rebound of her own miss at the 7:32 mark for a putback and drew a foul in the process and her obligatory free throw had St. Kate's back in single-digit range down 43-35.  An Orth lay-up at the 6:51 mark cut the deficit to six points at 43-37 and a little more than a minute later Cambrice would connect with a jumper from the right corner just inside the arc at the 5:39 mark that suddenly had the deficit down to four points at 43-39 and the Royals' Herbrechtsmeyer; not liking at all how his team was playing defense, took a match to a timeout to discuss things with his team.  Bethel's Tessah Anderson established a bit more breathing room for her team with a jumper from the right wing with 4:47 left that made it 45-39 but the 'Cats showed they weren't going anywhere anytime soon as Isaacson banged home her second three-point bomb of the afternoon from the right wing area with 3:25 left to get St. Kate's back to within a single possession down 45-42 and one free throw by freshman reserve post Katie Benjamin with :32.2 left cut the deficit down to two points at 45-43 and there was definitely an unsettling feeling amongst the Bethel contingent as things headed to the fourth period.

After the Royals' Taite Anderson connected with a lay-up at the 9:18 mark of the fourth period to make it a 47-43 game, St. Kate's managed to crawl back to single-possession range again as the wily Clark was able to snare a steal and race the other way for a lay-up at the 8:48 mark to cut the deficit down to two points at 47-45 and two free throws by Orth at the 7:41 mark kept the Wildcats lurking down only 50-47.  But just when you thought that the pesky 'Cats would find a way to climb over the top at the most crucial time, a missed shot here or a small mistake there would keep them from pulling off a huge upset on this day.  Bethel's Pearson would come up huge for her team when she nailed a "3" from the right top area at the 7:30 mark to expand the lead to six points at 53-47 and one Taite Anderson freebie after she was fouled at the 5:56 mark kept the Royals up two possessions at 54-49.  St. Kate's would suffer a costly turnover and just ten seconds later Pearson would strike again from three-point land with a bomb from the left corner that now had the lead at eight points at 57-49.  The Wildcats were able to trim the deficit to six points with 4:37 left when Orth connected with a short jumper from the left side and Mulhern would subsequently call a timeout to set up strategy for down the stretch but at this juncture a comeback would simply be a bridge too far on this day.  Bethel's Taite Anderson would knock down one free throw after getting fouled with 3:27 left and with 2:02 left Hannah Johnson would deliver a fatal blow to the 'Cats when she was able to connect with a jumper in the lane off of an inbounds pass with 2:02 left that made it 60-51 and two Hannah Johnson charity stripe shots with 1:24 left maintained the nine-point edge at 62-53.  St. Kate's would get one last score with Benjamin connected with a lay-up with :58 left but another timeout called by Mulhern shortly thereafter only delayed the inevitable.  The Royals' Barker would drop two insurance free throws with :49.1 left and Bethel's win streak increased to six games with a 64-55 victory. 

Despite the loss, I thought St. Kate's did a good job with their 2-3 "match-up" zone defense on this day that Mulhern utilized and, at least in the half-court, they managed to neutralize Hannah Johnson's effectiveness.  On the other hand, where Hannah Johnson was most effective on this day was with scores off inbounds passes that the Wildcats were unable to prevent.  If you took away some missed easy shots and lay-ups; some missed free throws and a few other mistakes, I would say that you likely would have been looking at a much, much different game in the last couple of minutes.  And those are the things that the Wildcats need to get better at.  St. Kate's Mulhern was in full agreement with that assessment when I caught up with him afterward and he could only think about what might have been.  Bethel's Herbrechtsmeyer told me afterward that he knew that this was going to be a tough game for his squad today; no walk in the park for sure and when things were tight early on in the fourth period, I think the confidence they have in themselves - particularly from that big win over George Fox on the road - really showed itself down the stretch.  They made the plays they needed to make when they needed to make them.  I know that UST supporters may differ but I don't think there's a team in the MIAC that defends better than Bethel.  Everything the Royals do starts with their defense and if they can maintain this level, they'll certainly give themselves a fighting chance for bigger things down the road.  The Wildcats shooting percentage slumped in the second half and they finished going 20-55 from FG range for 36.4% and 3-9 from downtown for 33.3% but I think a lot of that can be contributed to Bethel's defense as well.  Bethel owned the boards by a 44-37 count and 22 turnovers by the 'Cats did not help their cause on this day either plus the fact that the Royals had a 17-12 edge in points off of those turnovers.  And Bethel had a 14-9 edge in those all-important "second-chance" points as well.  St. Kate's had a relatively balanced scoring attack on this day with Orth's 12 points leading the way while Cambrice followed up with 11 points.  Despite being guarded heavily down low, Bethel's Hannah Johnson still found a way to help lead her team to victory on this day and she led the way with 14 points while both Pearson and Taite Anderson were right behind with 12 points.