Upper Iowa vs Concordia St. Paul 12-14-18

This mid-December Friday evening saw me making the trip over to the St. Paul side of town and over to Gangelhoff Center on the campus of Concordia St. Paul University for this important early season NSIC clash between visiting Upper Iowa and host Concordia St. Paul.  The Peacocks have been struggling thus far and were coming in with an 0-3 conference record and 3-7 overall while the Golden Bears were looking to steady the ship as they had a 1-2 conference record and were 5-3 overall.  The fact that the Golden Bears were also coming off a big road victory over Southwest Minnesota State the previous weekend was a positive sign and certainly third-year Head Coach and former Golden Bear standout Amanda Johnson was hoping that would prove to be a launching pad for her team.

Upper Iowa started the contest in a 2-3 "match-up" zone defense but the Golden Bears would not be fazed by it and they found the quickest way to dismantle it - with three-point bombs.  After senior post Lindsay Dorr put Concordia St. Paul out in front 1-0 with a free throw at the 9:07 mark of the opening period, fellow senior point guard Anna Schmitt drained her first trey of the evening from the left top area at the 8:45 mark to make it 4-0 and less than a minute later, fellow senior guard Lexi Lee found her groove from three-point land as her bomb from the left corner at the 8:18 mark pushed the lead to a touchdown at 7-0.  Then Lee struck gold again from the right corner with a "3" off of an inbounds pass at the 6:52 mark to make it 10-0 and Peacock Head Coach Micha Thompson had no choice but to call for a timeout to try and stop the bleeding.  Upper Iowa finally got on the scoreboard on one free throw by senior reserve guard Casey Miles at the 6:35 mark but the Golden Bears still managed to stretch their lead.  Schmitt unleashed her second trey of the evening - this one from the right wing area at the 5:01 mark and sophomore reserve guard Ellie Gess drained a "3" of her own from the left wing area with 4:20 left to give Concordia St. Paul a 16-1 advantage before the Peacocks could finally start carving into the cushion a bit.  Junior reserve forward Bekka Pierson dropped one free throw with 4:06 left after getting fouled and senior guard Haley Martin dropped two more after she was sent to the charity stripe with 3:30 left.  Martin also got Upper Iowa's first FG of the evening with her short shot off the glass with 2:54 left to cut the deficit down to eleven points at 17-6 but the Golden Bears stretched things out again before the first period was over.  Lee would drop two free throws after getting fouled with 2:40 left as would Gess when she was fouled in a transition opportunity with 1:17 left.  So down 21-6, Upper Iowa already had its work cut out for them.

The Golden Bears upped the lead to 23-6 on a short jumper from the left side by sophomore reserve forward Riley Wheatcraft at the 9:17 mark of the second period before Upper Iowa could start the arduous process of trying to cut into the cushion.  Sophomore reserve post Ally Fink got into the paint for one score at the 9:04 mark and a "3" from the left corner by fellow sophomore guard Natalie Dinius at the 7:44 mark reduced the deficit to twelve points at 23-11.  However, a 13-3 Concordia St. Paul run widened things out even more.  One Dorr free throw at the 6:21 mark and a short shot by the former Rogers standout at the 5:46 mark got the lead to 26-11 and two Schmitt freebies at the 5:20 mark made it 28-11.  Schmitt would follow with two more free throws with 3:45 left and then Schmitt; the former Waconia standout, unleashed her third trey of the evening; this one coming from the right wing area with 1:06 left to get the lead to twenty at 33-13.  Gess got her second three-pointer of the night from that same right wing area with :40 left before the Peacocks could finally stop some of the bleeding on a lay-up by Martin with :25 left.  Still, the Golden Bears would get one more score on a drive and finish by senior reserve guard Hanna Vidlund with just :03 left as Concordia St. Paul took a commanding 38-16 lead into the locker room at the half.  A check of the first half box score shows total domination by the Golden Bears in virtually every category.  An advantage on the boards by 25-16 count, only five turnovers compared to Upper Iowa's 10, 11-15 from the charity stripe for 73.3% compared to the Peacocks 5-13 for 38.5% not to mention the fact that Upper Iowa shot a measly 5-21 from FG range for 23.8%.

The Peacocks tried desperately to cut into this sizable cushion at the beginning of the third period as sophomore post Savannah Domeyer got into the paint for a score at the 9:47 mark and would also drop two free throws at the 9:06 mark to get the deficit down to twenty at 40-20.  But getting this cushion cut down to more manageable fashion would prove to be a hard row to hoe on this night as Concordia St. Paul kept widening the gap.  Two lay-ups by Dorr - one at the 8:43 mark and another at the 7:58 mark - had the lead up to twenty-four at 44-20.  Upper Iowa tried to cut into it again with one "3" from the left wing area by Dinius at the 7:36 mark and another "3" from the left wing area by sophomore guard Emma Gaber at the 6:08 mark.  Two Dinius free throws with 4:15 left helped as well but again, trying to bring this one back to where the Peacocks could seriously threaten was another matter.  Concordia St. Paul steadied the ship as Gess dropped two free throws after getting fouled with 3:09 left for a 50-31 Golden Bear lead and two more freebies by Schmitt with 2:02 left upped the lead to 52-31.  Dorr would connect with a lay-up with 1:22 left and senior guard/forward and former Anoka standout Kyrah Fredenburg drained a "3' from the left corner with :57 left to get the lead to 57-34 and Schmitt would cap this third period with one free throw with just :10.5 left to make it a 58-34 ballgame.

Upper Iowa would try again early on in the fourth period to try and make a dent into this sizable deficit as one free throw by senior reserve post Erica Armstrong at the 9:25 mark and a lay-up by Fink at the 8:52 made dents but nothing that was going to change the outcome of this one.  The Golden Bears' Dorr dropped one free throw after getting fouled at the 8:38 mark and Dorr would also maneuver into the paint for another score at the 7:58 mark to give Concordia St. Paul a big safety net with a 63-37 advantage and Johnson started digging into her bench to give her reserves some valuable game experience.  Sophomore reserve point guard and former Park Center standout Danielle Schaub connected with a short jumper in the lane at the 7:26 mark and after a pair of Fredenburg free throws at the 6:55 and 6:05 marks, another former Park Center standout got into the act - freshman reserve guard Meghan DuBois.  She first connected with a lay-up at the 5:46 mark to give the Golden Bears a hefty 71-39 lead but then she and Schaub seemingly reconstructed their glory days at Park Center as DuBois snared a steal and dashed the other way for a lay-up at the 5:24 mark and a DuBois lay-up in transition with 4:20 left made it a 75-39 game.  Then Schaub got a lay-up in transition of her own with 3:44 left to make it 77-39 and with 3:03 left Schaub unleashed a "3" from the right wing area to make it an 80-41 ballgame.  Wheatcraft would get a "3" of her own from the right wing area with 2:24 left to push the lead to 83-41 and freshman reserve guard/forward Sydney Schultz would drop two free throws with 1:11 left as Concordia St. Paul ran away with this one for a convincing 85-43 victory. 

When you look at the final box score, it certainly was a solid night all-around for the Golden Bears.  They were 26-53 for 49.1% from FG range and were 10-22 from downtown for 45.5%.  Free throw shooting wasn't bad either as the Golden Bears were 23-29 for 79.3% although ideally you'd want that number higher obviously.  Concordia St. Paul dominated on the boards as well by a 37-23 count.  The same cannot be said for Upper Iowa which just looked out of sorts in so many different ways.  14-40 for 35% from FG range and 12-23 from the charity stripe for a dismal 52.2% is simply not going to get the job done.  I'm not one to criticize coaches very much.  I'm really not.  But, for the life of me, I cannot understand why Upper Iowa's Thompson would choose to have Miles coming off the bench as opposed to starting.  Miles is obviously the best backcourt player on the team and knows the game inside and out.  She's also endured her share of injuries and setbacks and has battled back from each one and I'm sure she has the utmost respect from her teammates.  I'm not sure what direction the Peacocks will be in going forward but Thompson and her staff would be making a big mistake not to get Miles involved in the game more.  Concordia St. Paul's Dorr led all scorers on this night with her 18 points and Schmitt was right behind with 16.  Gess had a solid night as well with her 10 points.  Both Martin and Fink led the way for Upper Iowa with their eight points.