St. Scholastica vs Northwestern Synopsis 1-5-19

After leaving Bethel's Robertson Center, I made the short run over to University of Northwestern's Ericksen Center for a big UMAC tilt between visiting St. Scholastica and host Northwestern.  I got settled into Ericksen Center with just :45.8 left in the opening period with the Northwestern leading 17-14.

Despite being only ahead by one possession, the Eagles set out to increase their lead once the second period got underway and a "3" from the right wing area by freshman point guard Kelsea Lund at the 9:24 mark was certainly a step in the right direction as it increased Northwestern's lead to 20-14.  The Saints would cut the deficit to four points on a lay-up by senior guard Michala Walther at the 9:10 mark but two Eagle scores - a lay-up in transition by  junior forward Rio Landers at the 8:21 mark and two free throws by freshman reserve guard Brooklyn DeKam at the 7:40 mark - increased Northwestern's lead to eight at 24-16.  St. Scholastica would try to counter as a jumper from the right wing area by sophomore guard Kaylee Kennedy with 4:17 left got the deficit back to six at 24-18 but then the Eagles would respond as sophomore guard Jordan Sauve drained a "3" from the right corner with 3:49 left to get the home team's lead to nine at 27-18.  The Saints would reduce the deficit to six points again as Walther banged home a "3" from the right wing area with 3:29 left but then Northwestern would get their first double-digit lead of the afternoon as sophomore forward Miranda Crenshaw connected with a lay-up with 2:07 left and a short jumper by Landers with 1:23 left made it a 31-21 ballgame.  The Saints would manage to crawl back into single digits when senior forward Mariah Pearson connected with a lay-up with :39 left but St. Scholastica was still staring at an eight-point deficit of 31-23 as both teams headed to the locker room for the halftime break.  A check of the first half box score reveals that Saints Head Coach Stacy Deadrick likely had a lot of concerns on her mind as her team shot only 10-35 from FG range for 28.6% and was a woeful 2-16 from downtown for 12.5%.  Northwestern was somewhat better as they went 11-27 from FG range for 40.7% and perhaps just as important were 7-8 from the charity stripe so far for 87.5%.  And the Eagles also had the advantage on the boards by a 23-18 count. 

Any hopes of the St. Scholastica faithful in attendance on this day of getting close again were quickly dashed in the opening minutes of the third period as the Eagles quickly padded their lead.  A lay-up in transition by Landers at the 9:39 mark and a "3" by Lund from the right top area at the 9:01 mark suddenly made it a 36-23 ballgame and the Saints' Deadrick was clamoring for a thirty-second timeout to try and fix the leaks.  St. Scholastica senior guard Danielle Cieluch did drop one free throw after getting fouled at the 8:36 mark but the wheels kept coming off for the Saints as Northwestern kept growing the lead.  Lund would uncork another three-point dagger; this one from the right wing area at the 7:52 mark and DeKam would unleash a three-point bomb of her own from the left corner to make it 42-24 Eagles and St. Scholastica's Deadrick was soon calling for another thirty-second timeout in hopes of some quick patchwork.  But a 7-2 Eagle push only widened the gap.  DeKam would drop one free throw at the 5:38 mark and then Landers maneuvered into the paint for a score that also drew a foul and her ensuing "and one" grew the lead to 46-24.  Sophomore reserve guard Courtney Schmidt then drained a "3" from the left wing area with 3:59 left to make it a 49-26 game.  The Saints tried desperately to close this gap as Walther  would get two free throws to go down with with 3:55 left and Pearson was able to get into the paint for a score off of an inbounds pass with 3:10 left.  Junior forward Taylor Nowling would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled with 1:12 left and would also knock down a jumper from the left elbow area off of an inbounds pass with :47 left in the third period but down 51-33, any hopes of a real comeback were quickly going out the window and a steal and lay-up the other way by Northwestern's Sauve with just :10 left only fed that notion with the Eagles holding a cozy 53-33 lead going into the fourth period. 

A 14-2 Eagle run over the first five and a half minutes of the fourth period effectively put the daisy on this game.  Senior guard Amy Berglund knocked down a jumper from the right wing area at the 9:07 mark and one free throw by Landers at the 8:00 mark made it 56-33.  Lund would drain another trey - this one coming from the left corner at the 7:16 mark - that bulged the lead to 59-35.  Crenshaw got into the paint for a score at the 6:55 mark and then Lund would uncork another back-breaking "3" - this one from the right top area at the 5:04 mark - to make it 64-35 and then Landers would connect with a short turnaround jumper and drew a foul in the process and her obligatory free throw with 4:30 left now gave Northwestern an insurmountable 67-35 advantage.  This gave Eagle Head Coach Aaron Kahl a chance to unload his bench to give his reserves some valuable game experience and it also gave St. Scholastica a chance to bite into this sizable cushion down the stretch as well.  Kennedy would get two free throws to go down with 4:08 left and an offensive rebound and putback by freshman forward Emma Schmidt with 3:47 left got the deficit down a bit at 67-39.  Kennedy would get two more free throws to go down with 3:06 left and Cieluch would connect with a lay-up with 1:37 left.  Emma Schmidt would also bang home a "3" from the left corner with :23 left but Northwestern still had a resounding 69-46 victory at the end. 

I managed to catch up a bit with Northwestern's Kahl afterward who was feeling good after this latest win and rightfully so.  The Eagles have now won six of their last seven games and I think Kahl believes that his squad is finally beginning to figure a few things out; particularly with being able to get a split on their trip to California right before Christmas break.  A big test awaits the Eagles, however, as they must travel up to UW-Superior on Wednesday to take on the Yellowjackets who are no doubt smarting after absorbing their first conference loss to Bethany Lutheran yesterday.  Maybe Northwestern's only 7-7 overall but more importantly they're currently 4-1 in UMAC play.  It was a solid day for Landers as she led the Northwestern attack with 23 points and 16 points for a "double-double" and Lund was lights out from behind the arc and she finished with 15 points.  Emma Schmidt was the only Saint in double figures scoring-wise with her 11 points.  Turnovers evened themselves out on this day as both teams were guilty of 15 but St. Scholastica's Deadrick and her staff could likely only wince when they saw the numbers on the final box score - 16-61 from FG range for 26.2% and a dismal 3-24 from three-point land for 12.5%.  And given that they had to face that trademark 2-3 "match-up" zone defense of the Eagles, that's likely one area where Deadrick had counted on to stay competitive in this game and it didn't happen for them.