UW-Eau Claire vs St. Kate's 12-14-19

Made the run over to the St Paul side of town on this early Saturday afternoon to Butler Center on the campus of St. Catherine University to take in this interesting WIAC-MIAC match-up between visiting UW-Eau Claire and host St. Kate's.  The Blugolds were coming into this contest on a so-so note; sporting a 3-4 record but one of those wins was over another MIAC opponent - Carleton.  It was a similar story for the Wildcats as they were coming into this game with a somewhat disappointing 3-5 record and despite an exciting overtime win recently down in Winona against SMU, the 'Cats were coming in on a two-game losing streak as they had lost tough games on the road at St. Olaf and at home to conference powerhouse Bethel.  So this game; while not having any impact on conference standings, was certainly an opportunity for these teams to go into finals and the holiday break with a little bit of momentum.

Both teams struggled from the outset with poor shooting and turnovers galore.  UW-Eau Claire senior guard Hallee Hoeppner finally broke the ice at the 7:26 mark of the opening period with her short jumper along the right baseline but the Wildcats would strike back to claim a 4-2 advantage as freshman guard Bree Glynn made a hard drive along the right baseline for a finish off the glass at the 6:16 mark and athletic senior guard Danica Cambrice connected with a short, turnaround jumper off of an inbounds pass at the 5:36 mark.  Both teams came out in man-to-man defense and whether or not that was the reason for both teams going ice-cold over the next four minutes or so may not be known.  Finally, with 1:53 left, the Blugolds' Hoeppner was able to snare an offensive rebound for a putback to tie the game and the highlight of this otherwise uneventful first period came with 1:15 left when Hoeppner connected with a lay-up in transition that not only pushed UW-Eau Claire back into the lead but Blugolds Head Coach Tonja Englund called a thirty-second timeout as the team had a quick celebration to note Hoeppner's 1,000-career point at UW-Eau Claire.

With the struggles of the first period seemingly forgotten, both teams finally started showing some signs of life once the second period got underway.  St. Kate's got the upper hand early on as Cambrice would drain a "3" from the right wing area at the 9:41 mark and an offensive rebound and putback by freshman reserve forward Mary-Claire Francois at the 9:08 mark had the Wildcats back out in front by a 9-6 count.  UW-Eau Claire would come right back, however, as senior forward Anna Graaskamp banged home a "3" from the right top area at the 8:24 mark to knot this one at 9-all but then the 'Cats were able to embark on a key 12-4 push to get some separation over the next five minutes.  Cambrice started this run with a short jumper in the lane as the shot clock was winding down and a lay-up in transition by Glynn at the 6:53 mark gave St. Kate's a 13-9 advantage.  At the 5:07 mark, Glynn; the former Totino-Grace standout, would strike again with a three-point bomb from the left wing area to up the Wildcats lead to five at 16-11.  Another three-point bomb - this one from sophomore reserve guard Mackenzie Kurczek from the left top area with 4:11 left - increased the lead to six at 19-13 and then freshman reserve post Maggie Trnka muscled into the paint for a score to up the lead to eight points at 21-13.  UW-Eau Claire would reduce the lead to six as freshman reserve forward Megan Baer made a hard drive into the lane for a finish with 3:16 left but the 'Cats would have the upper hand down the home stretch before the halftime break.  Trnka would connect with a lay-up with 2:50 left to get the lead back to eight points at 23-15 and then senior guard Jackie Radford would make a drive into the lane and finish with an almost impossible reverse lay-up that almost looked as if she just deftly put the ball up over her head while facing the other way.  Glynn would add a score in the paint with :14 left to maintain the ten-point lead at 27-17 and although the Blugolds would get a late score on a score in the paint by junior guard Maizie Deihl with just :04 left, St. Kate's definitely looked sharper as both teams retreated to the locker room for the halftime break.  While rebounds were nearly even thus far, the fact that UW-Eau Claire shot only 25% in that dreadful first period didn't help nor did the 13 first half turnovers they were guilty of either.

While things were certainly still in doubt once the third period got underway, the Wildcats set out to erase any of those doubts from the outset.  Sophomore post Katie Benjamin; who was held scoreless in the first half, finally got untracked in the opening minutes of this third period.  The Walker, Minnesota native got into the paint for once score at the 9:11 mark and followed that up a little more than a minute later with a short, turnaround jumper in the lane off the glass as the shot clock was expiring at the 7:51 mark for a 31-19 St. Kate's lead.  Glynn would connect with a lay-up at the 7:22 mark and one free throw by Radford at the 6:25 mark pushed the Wildcat lead to 34-20.  Then freshman reserve forward Sarah Lavell let loose with the biggest dagger in this 12-1 tear by St. Kate's with her three-point bomb from the left corner with 4:34 left to make it a 37-20 ballgame.  Trnka's two freebies with 4:18 capped this game-changing run before UW-Eau Claire finally got something going again.  Graaskamp would drop one free throw after getting fouled with 4:12 left and would add a score in the paint with 3:56 left but the Blugolds needed to get some stops more than ever now and St. Kate's kept on with their offensive.  Glynn would connect with a lay-up in transition with 3:17 left and then Cambrice would inflict more damage as the former St. Croix Lutheran standout knocked down two charity stripe shots after getting fouled with 2:47 left and would also get a short, turnaround jumper to go down as well as the shot clock was expiring with 1:37 left to make it 45-23.  With just :00.2 left in this third period, Glynn would inflict the final blow in the form of a lay-up in transition as the Wildcats took a sizable 47-24 lead going into the fourth period.

UW-Eau Claire tried desperately to make some inroads on this deficit once the fourth period got underway as Hoeppner would connect with a lay-up in transition at the 9:22 mark and junior reserve guard Katelyn Morgan would drop one freebie after getting fouled in a transition opportunity at the 9:06 mark that had the deficit down to twenty at 47-27.  Hoeppner would add two more scores as she would finish in the paint at the 5:55 mark and would also connect with a lay-up at the 5:00 mark to keep the deficit at twenty down 51-31.  Graaskamp would bury a "3" from the right top area with 4:30 left that reduced the deficit to nineteen points at 53-34 and a drive and finish by junior reserve post Katie Essen with 3:20 left got the deficit down to seventeen at 53-36 but some of the frustrations that the Blugolds were feeling on this day spilled over with 3:02 left when both Hoeppner and St. Kate's Cambrice were called for dual technical fouls and UW-Eau Claire could never get closer than fourteen points down the stretch.  The Blugolds' Essen got one free throw to go down after getting fouled with 1:51 left and would get two more to go down with 1:16 left to cut the deficit to fourteen at 55-41 but the Wildcats would put the finishing touches on this game as junior reserve guard Brooke Torvik dropped two insurance free throws with :47.1 left and freshman guard Cierra Ahlf would drop two more for good measure as St. Kate's scored a big non-conference win with a 59-43 victory. 

A check of the final box score in this day shows that it was indeed a horrific day of shooting for this UW-Eau Claire squad.  Going 15-41 for 36.6% from FG range and an icy 2-13 from downtown is just not going to win you a lot of games.  Throw in 23 total turnovers and getting beat on the glass by a 30-23 count only adds to the misery for Englund and her staff.  At the same time, I think you have to give St. Kate's Head Coach Don Mulhern and his staff a lot of credit for the great defensive effort his squad showed on this day.  They really made things tough on the Blugolds in the half court and were able to get 19 points off of those turnovers they created on this afternoon.  Another stat that stands out on this day was the fact that the Wildcats had a 28-20 edge in points in the paint and considering that St. Kate's now has to rely heavily on both Benjamin and Trnka for production down low with sophomore forward Sam Orth out with an ACL injury, that shows you how far both Benjamin and Trnka have improved in a relatively short time.  Glynn's 16 points paced St. Kate's on this day while Cambrice wasn't far behind with her 13 points.  UW-Eau Claire's Hoeppner led all scorers with 18 points but she was the only Blugolds player in double figures scoring-wise on this day.