Northwestern vs Augsburg 11-13-19

Made the relatively short run over to Si Melby Hall on the campus of Augsburg University on this Thursday evening to take in another UMAC/MIAC clash between visiting Northwestern and host Augsburg.  The Eagles had already dropped two games to MIAC opponents - Bethel and Hamline - coming into this contest and tonight's clash with highly-regarded Augsburg was certainly not going to be any easier for Head Coach Aaron Kahl's team.  The Auggies meanwhile were coming off a convincing win up in the Twin Ports against another UMAC team; UW-Superior, just two nights before so having the Eagles coming in to Si Melby seemed to be a perfect set-up for another easy victory.

Northwestern, however, had vastly different ideas from the outstart as they took the bull by the horns and opened up a lead.  After the Auggies had assumed a 2-0 lead on an offensive rebound and putback by senior forward Camryn Speese at the 9:05 mark of the opening period, Eagle junior forward Miranda Crenshaw would knock down two free throws after getting fouled at the 8:47 mark and less than a minute later Crenshaw; the former Eastview standout, muscled into the paint for a score at the 8:06 mark to give Northwestern a 4-2 advantage.  Sparkplug sophomore point guard Kelsea Lund would then drill a dagger "3" from the left top area at the 7:31 mark to push the Eagles lead to 7-2.  One more charity stripe shot by Crenshaw at the 6:44 mark and a short jumper by Lund from the left side at the 5:53 mark pushed Northwestern's lead to 10-4.  Junior reserve guard Courtney Schmidt's drive into the lane and finish with 3:28 left helped the Eagles maintain that six-point edge as Northwestern's offense; in a moribund state against Bethel in their opener, was now suddenly showing signs of life.  The Auggies, however, finally started showing some signs of life as well in the closing minutes of this first period.  Senior point guard Ari Jones drained a "3" from the left wing area with 2:17 left that brought Augsburg back to within a single possession down 12-9 and then junior forward Jazmyn Solseth struck like lightning with her steal and lay-up the other way with 1:52 left that also drew a foul and the ensuing "and one" now had this game tied at 12.  The Eagle though would manage to step on the gas pedal again to get the lead as senior forward Rio Landers uncorked a "3" from the left corner with 1:33 left and a score in the paint by Crenshaw with just :05 left once again had Northwestern in seemingly good shape up 17-12.  But perhaps a sign of things to come in this contest came right before the buzzer on the Auggies ensuing possession when senior guard Tamira McLemore; who struggled with her touch for most of the first period, launched a desperation "3" from the top that found nothing but cotton and now Augsburg was only looking at a two-point deficit down 17-15 going into the second period.

The Eagles were able to stretch their lead out to four points at 19-15 at the 9:50 mark of the second period when Crenshaw bullied her way into the paint for a score but things quickly unraveled for Northwestern from that point on as the Auggies unleashed a 12-0 spurt on four consecutive three-point bombs:  One by junior reserve sharp-shooting guard Nicole Zielsdorf from the top of the key at the 9:33 mark.  Another one by McLemore from the left corner at the 8:46 mark and still another one by Zielsdorf at the 7:43 mark from the left wing area now had Augsburg in the lead by a 24-19 count and the Eagles' Kahl had no choice but to call for a thirty-second halt to the action in hopes of cooling down a suddenly hot Augsburg team.  Still, Auggie sophomore reserve guard Selena Lor would drain a back-breaking "3" from the left top area at the 7:01 mark that grew the lead to 27-19 before Northwestern could finally stop some of the bleeding on an offensive rebound and putback by freshman reserve forward Hailey Paup at the 5:59 mark.  Augsburg would counter this with a 6-0 push as senior guard and three-point specialist Aiza Wilson banged home a "3" from the right corner at the 5:39 mark to make it a 30-21 ballgame.  More misfortune soon struck the Eagles as the Auggies' Speese would get fouled at the 5:16 mark.  Speese would drop the front end okay but the back end attempt went awry.  Northwestern, however, forgot to box out the Auggies' Solseth who promptly grabbed the offensive rebound for a putback and this three-point play now had Augsburg up 33-21 and Northwestern's Kahl had seen enough to know a full timeout was warranted.  The Eagles did manage to get the deficit back into single-digit range again as one free throw by Crenshaw with 3:53 left and two more by Schmidt with 3:20 left made it a 33-24 game but Augsburg wasted little time expanding their lead.  Solseth would connect with a lay-up with 3:09 left and another Wilson three-point bomb - this one from the left wing area with 2:36 left - got the Auggies a fourteen-point cushion up 38-24.  Jones would uncork a "3" as well from the right wing area with 1:01 left and although Crenshaw would get another score in the paint for Northwestern with :42 left, the Eagles were still staring at a thirteen-point deficit down 41-28 at the halftime break.  A check of the first half box score reveals some deceiving numbers.  On the one hand, the Auggies were "only" 15-40 from FG range for 37.5% but that was almost twice as many shots as Northwestern had from the same range as they were 10-22 for 45.5%.  Northwestern was 2-6 from downtown for 33.3% and while Augsburg wasn't that much better from a percentage standpoint going 9-25 for 36%, the fact that they were able to get that many more shot attempts off worked in their favor.  Another stat line that had to make Northwestern's Kahl and his staff cringe a bit during the halftime break:  The Eagles were guilty of 13 first half turnovers compared to the Auggies 6. 

Augsburg would steadily put more distance between themselves and their opponent in the opening minutes of the third period.  A score in the paint by Speese at the 9:41 mark and one McLemore freebie at the 8:54 mark made it a 44-28 ballgame.  McLemore would unleash one of her trademark three-point bombs from the left wing area at the 8:16 mark and the ever-improving Lor would drain her second "3" of the night from the left corner at the 7:00 mark that now had the Auggies up 50-32.  Northwestern would try and counter on a Landers lay-up in transition at the 6:50 mark but that was quickly wiped away by two three-point bombs by Augsburg's Wilson from the right corner - one at the 6:35 mark and another at the 5:51 mark - that now had the Auggies up by twenty at 56-36.  Northwestern sophomore reserve forward Megan Roberts would single-handedly try and come to the rescue of her team as she would drain a "3" from the right corner with 4:48 left and also connect on a lay-up in transition with 4:11 left that had the deficit down to fifteen at 56-41 but the Eagles simply were unable to come up with critical stops that might have allowed them to draw closer which allowed Augsburg to calmly right the ship again.  Lor would uncork her third trey of this night - this one from the right top area with 3:59 left and another Wilson "3" - this one from the right top area as well - put the lead back to nineteen points at 62-43.  The Eagles would make another bid to try and draw closer as two Schmidt free throws with 2:39 left and an offensive rebound and putback by Landers with 2:03 left had the deficit down to fifteen again at 62-47 but getting any closer than that was proving to be a tough proposition as the Auggies kept firing away.  Solseth unleashed a "3" from the top of the key with 1:40 left and two more McLemore free throws with :23.4 left got the Augsburg lead back to twenty at 67-47.  Although the Eagles' Lund would bang home a "3" from the left top area with just :10.3 left in the third period, Northwestern's chances of bringing this one all the way back were dim indeed. 

And the Auggies wasted little time once the fourth period got underway to put this one out of reach for good.  McLemore would drain a "3" from the left top area at the 8:54 mark to get the lead back to twenty points again at 70-50 and a Speese lay-up at the 7:59 mark maintained the twenty-point edge at 72-52.  Northwestern would desperately try to make another bid as junior guard Jordan Sauve drilled a "3" from the top of the key at the 7:43 mark and two Schmidt free throws at the 7:02 mark along with a Crenshaw lay-up at the 6:21 mark had the deficit down to seventeen points at 75-58 but bringing this one back by now was out of the question as Augsburg would apply the finishing touches to this one.  Another McLemore "3" from the left corner at the 5:10 mark got the lead back to twenty again and freshman reserve forward Jaley Coplin would drain a "3" from the left corner as well with 4:10 left to make it 81-60.  Speese would connect with a lay-up in transition with 3:52 left and Coplin would get one more "3" to go down - this one from the left corner again with 1:44 left as the Auggies rolled to an 86-63 win.

I think the thing that stood out most for me in this game was that you're starting to see some of the reserve players from Augsburg - particularly Lor and Zielsdorf - really step up and contribute.  I was especially impressed with Lor on this night because you can just tell how much more confident she is on the floor this year as compared to last year and that has to be a big plus for Riverso and his staff to know that he has some reserves who can provide key minutes out on the floor with significant contributions on both ends of the floor.  I think the only area of concern that I have when it comes to the Auggies right now is that they seem very reliant on the three-point shot.  Not that there's necessarily anything "wrong" with that but I think at some point they're going to have to develop a bit more inside presence once the meat of the MIAC schedule comes along.   Northwestern I thought looked much better offensively on this night but there's still a lot to shore up on the defensive end yet.  When you look at the final box score of this game, again, the Auggies did not shoot a blistering percentage from either downtown or field goal range.  Rather, they just had so many more shots than Northwestern did and the math caught up with the Eagles.  Augsburg wound up going "only" 30-70 from FG range for 42.9% and 20-48 from downtown for 41.7% while Northwestern shot 22-48 for 45.8% and 6-14 from behind the arc for 42.9%.  Turnovers on this night were likely another big concern for Northwestern's Kahl and his staff as they were guilty of 21 boo-boos compared to Augsburg's 11.  The one bright area for Northwestern on this night was on the boards where they held a 40-33 edge.  The Auggies had four players in double figures on this night as both Wilson and McLemore tallied 18 points a piece to lead the way while Speese had 13 points and Solseth had 10 points.  Crenshaw led the way for Northwestern with her 18 points while Lund added 10.