UW-Superior vs UST 11-20-19

Made the trip over to Anderson Athletic Center and Schoenecker Arena on this Wednesday evening of Beat SC week to take in another interesting UMAC-MIAC clash; this one involving visiting UW-Superior and host UST.  The Yellowjackets had split their first four games of the season but were coming in with a little bit of momentum after winning the Max Ziel Tournament out at Oswego, NY the previous weekend.  The Tommies meanwhile had two tough games down in San Antonio, TX earlier in the month so having nearly a week and a half off before this contest probably gave UST Head Coach Ruth Sinn and her staff time to work on some things and iron out some early wrinkles.  Additionally, this was a new-look Tommie team with several new young faces and names that would take some getting used to.  Also on this night, I was lucky to have former Centennial Head Coach Jill Becken join me and getting her insight on what was happening out on the floor on this night was simply invaluable.   

The Tommies would bolt out to a 4-0 lead in the opening minutes of the first period as one score in the paint by junior forward/post Kaia Porter at the 9:05 mark and another by sophomore post Brynne Rolland at the 8:24 mark had UST up early.  The Yellowjackets would cut the deficit to one point when senior point guard Emily Carpenter swished a "3" from the left top area at the 8:07 mark but UST would then embark on a 14-1 burst.  Sophomore guard Amber Darge first connected with a lay-up at the 7:45 mark and Rolland would do the same at the 7:35 mark after the Tommies forced a turnover.  Freshman reserve guard Abby Mackenthun would also connected a lay-up of her own at the 6:45 mark to make it a 10-3 ballgame.  Sophomore reserve post Allie Spaulding would connect with a lay-up at the 5:33 mark and drew a foul in the process and her obligatory free throw pushed the lead to 13-4.  Then junior point guard Macy Hatlestad made a drive into the lane and got a one-handed shot to go down to make it 15-4 and UW-Superior Head Coach Zach Otto-Fisher had seen enough to know that a full timeout was warranted to get his team settled down.  Still, the Tommies' Hatlestad would finish off this early run with a three-point bomb from the left corner with 4:26 left before the Yellowjackets could stop some of the bleeding.  Senior forward Eva Reinertsen would connect with a lay-up with 2:48 left and draw a foul in the process and her ensuing freebie reduced the deficit to eleven points at 18-7.  One of the changes that UW-Superior's Otto-Fisher made during that timeout was going to a 1-2-2 "matchup" zone defense that slowed the Tommies' drive a bit but UST would get two more score before the end of the opening period on a Rolland lay-up with 1:55 left and a lay-up in transition by freshman reserve guard Madi Schirmer with 1:29 left.  The Yellowjackets were able to get senior reserve guard Mackenzie Kmecik to the charity stripe with just :01.8 left in this opening period and the Superior, Wisconsin native dropped both free throw attempts but UW-Superior was still staring at a thirteen-point deficit down 22-9.

Although the Yellowjackets had to absorb some punches in that opening period, the 1-2-2 "matchup" zone defense that they were now employing was beginning to have the desired effect as it forced some uncharacteristic turnovers by UST and also allowed UW-Superior to gradually get back into this contest in the second period.  Junior forward Pashia Scott would snare an offensive rebound for a putback at the 9:44 mark and a lay-up in transition by senior guard Marissa Ruiz at the 8:27 mark had the Yellowjackets back within single-digits again down 22-13.  A Reinertsen score in the paint at the 7:53 mark kept UW-Superior in that nine-point range down 24-15 and another offensive rebound for a putback by Scott at the 7:24 mark that also drew a foul and resulted in an "and one" suddenly reduced the deficit to six points at 24-18 and had the Yellowjackets - at least momentarily anyway - in very good shape.  An alarmed UST team responded to this like the ninth-ranked team in the country would - with a push of their own.  Darge; the Eau Claire, Wisconsin native, tried to take matters into her own hands as she first got into the paint for a score at the 6:45 mark and then launched a three-point bomb less than a minute later at the 6:16 mark from the left corner that had the Tommie lead back in double-digit range again at 29-18.  Freshman reserve guard Jordyn Glynn drained a "3" of her own from that same left corner area at the 5:21 mark and a Spaulding lay-up in transition with 4:54 left gave UST  a somewhat cozy 34-20 advantage.  But before the Tommies could get too comfortable again this pesky UW-Superior team managed to battle its way back.  One free throw by freshman reserve guard Kaelyn Christian with 4:34 left and  steal and lay-up the other way by Ruiz had the deficit down to eleven points at 34-23.  Fellow freshman reserve forward Kaija Davies would snare an offensive rebound for a putback with 3:26 left to keep the Yellowjackets in that eleven-point range down 36-25 before UST could stretch the lead out again.  One Schirmer free throw with 2:49 left and a short running jumper from the left baseline by Darge with 2:38 left got the lead back up to fourteen again at 39-25 and sophomore reserve guard/forward Shayla Wallin would drop a free throw of her own after getting fouled with 1:42 left that made it 40-25.  UW-Superior would get one last push before the halftime break thanks to Carpenter; the St. Peter native.  She would slither in for a lay-up with 1:30 left and then would drain a "3" just before the buzzer with just :00.6 left that reduced the deficit down to ten points at 40-30 and, considering the bad start that the Yellowjackets got off to in this one, Otto-Fisher likely felt good about where he his team was at on the road against the ninth-ranked team in the country.  Just to give you an idea of how well UST was shooting in this first half, the Tommies shot a blistering 10-14 for 71.43% from FG range in the first period and bettered that in the second period going 5-6 for 83.33%. 

So being down by ten at the halftime break really wasn't all that bad of a propsition from a UW-Superior standpoint but getting into a big hole again would almost certainly spell impending doom and that's exactly what happened to the Yellowjackets as UST opened up the third period on a game-changing 10-0 run that pretty much ended any doubt as to how this one was going to turn out.  Rolland started this run with a short, turnaround jumper off the glass at the 9:36 mark and an offensive rebound and putback by Wallin at the 9:05 mark grew the lead to 44-30.  Then Porter would bang home a "3" from the right top area at the 8:31 mark and Darge would follow that up with a three-point bomb of her own to give the Tommies a twenty-point cushion at 50-30 and UW-Superior's Otto-Fisher had seen enough to know that a halt to the action was warranted.  Still, UST would get more separation as Hatlestad drained a "3" from the right top area at the 6:51 mark and a Rolland lay-up at the 6:17 mark made it a 55-32 ballgame before the Yellowjackets could begin the arduous process of trying to cut into the cushion.  A short, turnaround jumper by Reinertsen at the 5:57 mark and another Carpenter three-point bomb - this one from the left wing area with 4:38 left - had the deficit down to eighteen points at 55-37.  Reinertsen would then connect with a lay-up off of an inbounds pass with 3:53 left and freshman reserve forward Destiny Haldeman would sink one free throw after getting fouled with 3:19 left to complete this 8-0 push.  UST's Hatlestad had also collected her fourth foul of the evening, too, which forced the Tommies' Sinn to sit her for a spell.  Still, UST had a double-digit advantage at 55-40 and they quickly went to work to build that lead up again.  Rolland would connect with a lay-up with 2:17 left and a Wallin "3" from the left corner with 1:23 left quickly got the lead back up to twenty again at 60-40.  Darge would unleash a "3" of her own from the left top area with :24 left in the third period and although the Yellowjackets would get the deficit trimmed a bit on a Reinertsen lay-up with :07 left, they were still on the wrong end of a 63-44 score once the fourth period got underway. 

UW-Superior would again try and make a bid to get this one reasonably close again once the fourth period got underway.  Scott would connect with a short, turnaround jumper off of an inbounds pass at the 9:44 mark and two Reinertsen scores in the paint - one at the 8:45 mark and another one at the 8:17 mark - had the deficit down to sixteen points at 66-50 but the Tommies would soon close the door for good on this attempted comeback.  Spaulding connected with a lay-up at the 7:02 mark and a jumper by Darge just inside the arc from the left wing area at the 5:21 mark had the lead back up to twenty again at 70-50.  A Spaulding lay-up with 4:45 left and a short one-handed jumper by Wallin with 3:42 left upped the lead to 74-52 and two free throws by Glynn with 2:09 left maintained the twenty-two-point cushion at 76-54.  The Yellowjackets would get late scores as a score in the paint by Haldeman with 1:56 left and two Christian free throws brought UW-Superior back within twenty down 76-58 and Haldeman would get two free throws to go down with :19.8 left but UST still got the comfortable win by a 78-60 margin. 

In retrospect, I was impressed with how hard this UW-Superior team played on this night and they were arguably playing a bit short-handed with one player out with an injury and another player out sick but it's easy to see this team will have to be reckoned with once UMAC play gets underway here soon.  Meanwhile for UST, it's easy to see this team is still very, very good but it's also a team that's still very much in the process of carving a new identity for itself with all the new young faces and names that abound.  And Sinn will probably be in the process of tinkering with all the moving pieces that she has at her disposal to find the best "mix" that will work together best.  I still think it's a stretch to believe that this team can dominate the way previous teams have in the MIAC but they'll still be very, very good and certainly in the title mix.  The Tommies had four players in double figures scoring-wise on this night with Darge leading the way with her 20 points and Rolland not far behind with her 17 points.  Spaulding had a solid night with her 11 points and Wallin, too, had a nice night with her 10 points.  Reinertsen led the way for UW-Superior on this night with her 15 points and Scott tallied 13 points while Carpenter finished with 11 points.  I had expected the Tommies to have a sizable advantage on the glass but that wasn't the case on this night as both teams finished with 23 rebounds.  But what probably bother UST's Sinn more was the fact that her squad was guilty of an un-Tommie-like 17 boo-boos and that's something that UST will undoubtedly have to clean up as the season progresses along.  On the bright side however, UST still shot 30-45 from FG range for 66.7% compared to UW-Superior's 22-47 for 46.8%.  That early third period run by UST obviously killed the Yellowjackets' chances but going 3-14 from behind the arc for 21.4% didn't help either.