Augsburg vs St. Kate's 11-26-19

Made the journey over to the St Paul side of town on this Tuesday evening even as Winter Storm Dorothy had the Twin Cities in her sights to take in early-season MIAC clash over at Butler Center on the campus of St. Catherine's University as visiting Augsburg prepared to take on host St. Kate's.  The Auggies were coming into this contest 4-0 with the latest win coming up in Moorhead last Saturday against Concordia.  The Wildcats meanwhile were 2-2 coming into this game and had come out on the short end of the stick against UST last Saturday so facing another top MIAC team was not going to be an easy chore for St. Kate's.

Wildcats Head Coach Don Mulhern probably couldn't have asked for a better start by his team as they bolted out to a quick 6-0 lead.  Sophomore post Katie Benjamin got into the paint for a finish at the 9:36 mark of the opening period and a pretty lay-up by senior guard Danica Cambrice off of an inbounds pass at the 8:59 mark made it 4-0.  Benjamin would finish off this opening burst with a lay-up at the 8:44 mark and things were certainly looking good for the home team at the moment.  The thing of it was, despite the sluggish start by Augsburg, they responded to this early hole by going on a 15-0 tear.  Senior forward Camryn Speese started this eye-opening run with a score in the paint at the 8:25 mark and would follow that up a few seconds later with a lay-up in transition after a Wildcat turnover at the 8:01 mark.  Fellow senior guard Aiza Wilson then drained one of her trademark three-point bombs - this one coming from the right corner - at the 7:24 mark to put the Auggies out in front 7-6 and a hard drive into the lane and finish off the glass by junior forward Jazmyn Solseth at the 6:38 mark got the lead to three points at 9-6.  Speese would strike again at the 5:57 mark with a burst that ended in a lay-up and a Solseth jumper along the right baseline at the 5:25 mark now made it 13-6 and St. Kate's Mulhern decided that it was time for a halt to the action to try and get his troops reorganized.  Still, Speese would cap this opening Auggie run with a lay-up with 4:15 left to get the lead to 15-6 before the Wildcats could finally dust off the cobwebs forming on their basket on 2 free throws by sophomore guard Mackenzie Kurczek with 3:49 left.  Augsburg would keep padding their lead, however, as senior guard Tamira McLemore drilled a "3" from the left corner with 3:40 left to make it a ten-point game at 18-8 and a lay-up by sophomore reserve forward Jen Masello with 3:06 left maintained the ten-point edge at 20-10.  Then McLemore would unleash another three-point bomb - this one from the right corner with 2:12 left - that made it 23-10.  Pairs of free throws by McLemore with 1:48 left and by senior reserve guard K'aezha Wubben with 1:22 left made it 27-10 and although the Wildcats' Cambrice would finish off this first period with a pretty spin and lay-up finish with :56 left, the early advantage that St. Kate's opened up with had long vanished into thin air.

Nothing seemed to change too much once the second period got underway as the Auggies continued to look sharp.  Speese whizzed downcourt for a lay-up in transition at the 9:02 mark and McLemore would finish off a transition opportunity with a short jumper at the 7:15 mark that gave Augsburg a somewhat cozy 31-14 advantage.  The 'Cats, however, finally started to figure out a few things and would slowly close the gap.  Senior guard Jackie Radford would bang home a "3" from the left top area at the 6:36 mark and one Benjamin freebie after she was fouled at the 6:10 mark had the deficit down to thirteen at 31-18.  Cambrice would then connect with a lay-up with 4:38 left and then Radford unleashed her second trey of this ballgame from the left top area with 4:04 left that reduced the deficit even more to eleven points at 34-23.  A somewhat alarmed Augsburg team quickly went back to work to pad their safety net.  McLemore would split a double-team and connect with a lay-up with 3:23 left and an offensive rebound and putback by the athletic Speese with 2:03 left had the lead back up to fifteen points again at 38-23.  One more McLemore free throw with 1:34 left increased the lead to 39-23 before St. Kate's could cut into that deficit again as Benjamin would sink two free throws after getting fouled with 1:17 left and one more by freshman reserve guard Cierra Ahlf with :42.1 left allowed the Wildcats to get the deficit down to thirteen points again down 39-26 as both teams retreated to the locker room for the halftime break. 

St. Kate's would make an early bid to crawl back into single-digit range in the early moments of the third period.  Two scores by Benjamin - a lay-up at the 9:17 mark and a score in the paint at the 8:44 mark - coupled with a lay-up by freshman forward Bree Glynn at the 6:27 mark gave some hope to the Wildcat faithful as they had now cut the deficit to nine points at 41-32.  But Augsburg quickly dashed these hopes as they proceeded to go on a 9-0 run to widen the margin again.  Solseth would first get one free throw to go down after getting fouled at the 6:08 mark and then freshman reserve forward Jayley Coplin would bang home a killer "3" from the right wing area at the 5:57 mark that had the Auggie lead up to thirteen again at 45-32.  Speese; like a thief in the night, would then snare a steal and whiz downcourt for a lay-up at the 5:22 mark and a strong drive and finish by McLemore with 3:48 left made it 49-32 and once again the Wildcats' Mulhern was clamoring for a timeout.  Masello would cap this important third period run with one freebie after getting fouled with 3:11 left before St. Kate's was able to pull itself up off the floor and respond with an 11-2 run that restored some faith among the partisan home crowd.  Cambrice would make a drive into trafiic and finish with a short jumper off the glass with 2:55 left to get things going and a Benjamin lay-up with 2:05 left had the deficit down to fourteen points at 50-36.  Two free throws by junior reserve guard Brooke Torvik with 1:34 left and a lay-up by freshman reserve forward Mary-Claire Francois with 1:03 left now had the deficit reduced to ten points at 50-40.  The Auggies seemed to get their safety net built back up when Masello snared an offensive rebound for a putback with just :06 left but on the 'Cats ensuing possession, Masello would foul Cambrice behind the arc which allowed the former St. Croix Lutheran standout to get three free throws to go down with just :00.2 left.  Granted, St. Kate's had done it the hard way but the Wildcats were back in single-digit range again down 52-43 heading into the fourth period. 

Augsburg hoped to quash this comeback attempt for good in the early minutes of the fourth period as a Speese lay-up at the 8:22 mark had the Auggies back up by eleven at 54-43 and hurting the Wildcats' hopes at this juncture was that Glynn had picked up her fourth foul of the evening as well.  But this gritty and never-say-die St. Kate's team showed a lot of spunk and brought themselves back from the brink.  Ahlf would connect with a lay-up at the 7:13 mark to get the 'Cats back to within single-digit range again down 54-45 and then Kurczek would drain a "3" from the left corner at the 6:16 mark that suddenly reduced the lead to six at 54-48 and Augsburg Head Coach Ted Riverso; now genuinely concerned about how his team's lead was quickly shrinking, called a timeout in hopes off cooling off this hot Wildcat team.  But not only were the Auggies now finding themselves in a battle, the hot shooting they were enjoying not so long ago had now seemingly betrayed them as St. Kate's started to draw dangerously close.  Benjamin muscled into the paint for a score at the 5:14 mark to reduce the deficit to a tantalizing four points at 54-50 and making matters worse for Riverseo and the Auggies was that Speese had collected her fourth foul of the night with 4:28 left.  With 4:17 left, Butler Center practically exploded when Ahlf snared a steal in the backcourt and got the ball to Radford who connected with a lay-up with 4:17 left that now had St. Kate's back to within a single possession down 54-52 with a mountain of time left.  Things arguably could have gone totally kablooey for Augsburg right then and there.  Riverso, however, called another timeout to try and get his squad calmed down and they came out of the stoppage in play cool and collected and righted the ship in this storm.  With 2:55 left, McLemore got an open look from behind the arc from the left top area and drained a cold-blooded "3" to get the lead back to five at 57-52 and a little more than a minute later, Wilson would unleash a back-breaking "3" of her own from the right wing area with 1:53 left to make it a 60-52 game that seemed to take a lot of the air out of Butler Center.  Still, an undaunted Wildcat team would make one last push to try and bring this one back.  Benjamin would bang home a "3" from the left top area with 1:22 left and after St. Kate's Mulhern called a timeout, Cambrice would snare an offensive rebound for a putback with just :25 left that drew the Wildcats back to within a single possession one more time down 60-57.  Mulhern would call another timeout to set up strategy but on the Auggies' ensuing possession, Solseth would get free on a fast break lay-up with :17 left to increase the lead to five at 62-57 and Cambrice would misfire from behind the arc on St. Kate's ensuing possession as Augsburg escaped Butler Center with a hard-earned and cherished road win. 

When I look back on this, I thought the one thing that stood out to me more than anything was how the Auggies showed a lot of character and resolve when things weren't going their way in that fourth period.  Instead of panicking, their seniors stayed calm and got the big shots from both McLemore and Wilson when they needed them.  On the other side of the coin, you can't help but admire how St. Kate's kept battling back when all hope seemed to be gone.  Early on in the contest, it was basically Cambrice and Benjamin shouldering the load but as the game progressed, you saw other players stepping up and contributing which is a good sign for this young team.  The next step obviously is finding a way to snatch the "W" in these types of games.  One downer, however, is that sophomore forward Sam Orth is lost for the season with an ACL injury and not having her on the floor takes away an important piece of the puzzle for Mulhern and his staff and he'll need others to continue to step up.  Certainly a big night for Augsburg's McLemore as she led all scorers with 21 points; the biggest being that last three-point bomb that she sunk.  Speese, too, had a solid night with her 16 points.  On the St. Kate's side, Benjamin was seemingly the go-to player down low and she led the Wildcat effort with her 20 points while Cambrice tallied 15 points.  Again, I've mentioned before how Augsburg relies heavily on their three-point shooting and they weren't great at it on this night going only 6-22 for 27.3% but perhaps more alarming for Riverso and his staff was the fact that the Auggies were beaten decisively on the glass this night by a 39-27 count and they've got to do a better job on the rebounding front going forward.  On the plus side for Augsburg, they suffered only 12 turnovers to St. Kate's 17.  Free throw shooting was another iffy area for the Auggies as they were only 8-16 from the charity stripe while the Wildcats did a much better job going 11-13 for 84.6%.  Two big numbers that likely played a big part in Augsburg's escape on this night was that they had 32 points in the paint compared to St. Kate's 26 and had 18 points off of turnovers compared to the Wildcats 12.