GAC vs Macalester 1-25-20

Made the drive over to the St Paul side of town on this warm but overcast Saturday to Leonard Center on the campus of Macalester College to take in the contest between visiting GAC which made its way up U.S. Highway 169 and the Union Pacific's Mankato Sub mainline into town to take on host Macalester.  The Gusties had responded nicely after dropping consecutive games to both Bethel and Concordia to snare big home wins against both Augsburg and Hamline to get to 8-2 in the conference and 12-3 overall.  The Scots meanwhile were just 1-15 on the year and winless thus far in the conference but sure weren't playing like a team with that kind of record and any team playing Macalester could ill-afford to take them lightly.

 The Scots would draw first blood in this contest when junior guard Katie Sowerby connected with a lay-up off of an inbounds pass at the 9:03 mark of the opening period but GAC would respond with a 5-0 push.  Junior point guard Ava Gonsorowski would make an explosive drive into traffic for a finish and would draw a foul in the process and the ensuing "and one" by the former Esko standout put the Gusties ahead 3-2.  Fellow junior backcourt mate Alison Hinck would muscle in to grab an offensive rebound and get a pretty reverse lay-up out of it at the 7:41 mark to give GAC that 5-2 lead before Macalester got things going again.  Senior guard Holly Hull would connect with a jumper along the left baseline at the 7:23 mark and a lay-up in transition by junior forward Kayla Togneri at the 6:35 mark pushed the Scots back out in front 6-5.  A lay-up by sophomore guard Celine Sabbagh at the 6:08 mark stretched that lead to 8-5 and one free throw by junior guard Justine Barraza at the 5:29 mark maintained the three point edge at 9-6.  A score in the paint by freshman reserve forward Emma LaFrenz with 4:33 left kept the lead at three points at 11-8 before the Gusties could get this one deadlocked at 11 a piece.  Two Gonsorowski freebies after she was fouled with 4:21 left and one more by Hinck after she was fouled with 3:56 left would deadlock this game but then Macalester would get their lead back to three again when junior reserve forward Katherine Podoll uncorked a "3" from the left top area with 3:45 mark to make it 14-11.  It was here where GAC seemed to settle down and get the upper hand.  Freshman guard Maddy Rice drained a huge "3" from the left corner with 1:57 left to tie the contest and two Gonsorowski free throws with 1:34 left had the Gusties out in front 16-14.  Then junior forward/post Paige Richert would make a pretty spin move down low to get a score in the paint with :51.1 left to make it 18-14 and although the Scots' Podoll would uncork her second trey of this ballgame with :23 left, GAC would have the perfect answer when Rice would drain a dagger "3" from the left top area with just :01.5 left as the Gusties took a 21-17 lead into the second period.

A jumper along the left baseline at the 8:47 mark of the second period by Gonsorowski helped spark a push by GAC to give them some more breathing space.  Junior guard Megan Gustafson would drop one free throw after getting fouled in a transition opportunity at the 7:34 mark to make it 24-17 and a jumper from the left elbow area by freshman reserve guard Anna Sanders at the 6:22 mark maintained the seven-point edge at 26-19.  A Gustafson lay-up at the 5:08 mark inched the lead up to eight points at 28-20 and two Gonsorowski charity stripe shots with 2:26 left maintained that eight-point lead at 30-22.  But this Macalester team as we have seen before is very stubborn and being in a hole certainly doesn't faze them and they clawed their way back.  Hull would snare an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback with 2:04 left and then freshman reserve guard Solana Cushing would drill a "3" from the left wing area with 1:40 left that suddenly had the Scots back within a single possession down 30-27.  This caught the attention of the Gusties as they shifted gears to build their lead back up again.  Gonsorowski connected with a lay-up with 1:21 left as would Richert with :42 left to get the lead back to seven again at 34-27.  That seemed safe enough for the time being from a GAC standpoint but Gustie Head Coach Laurie Kelly could hardly feel good about things when Gonsorowski was tagged with her third foul of the afternoon that allowed Macalester's Barraza to sink two free throws with :21.8 left.  But, just as she had right before the end of the first period, Rice would come through for her team in a big way by banging home her third three-point bomb of this ballgame - this one from the right wing area with :06 left - as GAC took a 37-29 lead into the locker room at the half.  Though the Scots were on the wrong end of the ledger from a scoring standpoint, first-year Macalester Head Coach Katie Kollar and her staff had to be encouraged by the fact that the Scots had a sizable edge on the glass by a 26-17 count and although the Gusties shot marginally better; going 12-29 from FG range for 41.4% and 3-7 from downtown (all three by Rice) for 42.9%, Macalester was still very much in this game.

The Gusties were able to stretch their lead to twelve points in the early moments of the third period but there was a cost that came with that.  Richert was able to score inside off the glass at the 9:16 mark and a lay-up in transition by Rice after a steal gave GAC a seemingly comfy 41-29 advantage by the 8:55 mark.  The Scots though would immediately cut that back down though as Hull would snare an offensive rebound for a putback at the 8:19 mark to get the deficit down to ten and GAC's Gonsorowski would get tagged with her fourth foul of the afternoon at the 7:44 mark and Kelly didn't hesitate to yank her starting point guard to the bench for preservation purposes.  And Kelly probably became even more apprehensive when Macalester's Sabbagh made a hard drive for a finish at the 7:18 mark that shrunk the Gustie lead to single-digits at 41-33.  To their credit, however, this GAC team steadied the ship when the waters got a little choppy.  Richert would knock down a short jumper at the 6:59 mark and Gustafson would knock down two free throws after getting fouled in a transition opportunity at the 6:46 mark to give the Gusties a twelve-point advantage again at 45-33.  Richert would then proceed to knock down two charity stripe shots of her own after getting fouled at the 6:29 mark and the former Comfrey standout would add another score in the paint at the 5:59 mark to grow GAC's lead to sixteen at 49-33 and by this time things certainly looked safe for the Gustie faithful.  But the Scots responded with a flurry of three-point bombs that once again brought them back into single-digit range again.  Cushing would uncork her second trey of this game from the right top area at the 5:50 mark and Barraza would follow suit with a bomb from the left wing are with 4:57 left.  Then Sabbagh would drain one of her own "3's" from the left corner with 4:12 left and once again Macalester appeared to be threatening again down 51-42.  The Scots would stay in single-digit range when Hull made a hard drive for a finish with 3:41 left and when Cushing unloaded yet another three-point bomb - this one from the right wing area with 3:13 left - Macalester had effectively chopped the deficit to just six at 53-47.  Again, this quickly got the attention of the Gusties and they quickly went back to work to fix things up.  Hinck would connect with a lay-up with 3:01 left and freshman reserve guard Anna Sanders would make a hard drive for a finish with 1:56 left to get the GAC safety net back up to ten points at 57-47.  Richert would add a free throw with 1:16 left and then junior reserve guard Rachel Skyberg slithered into traffic to connect with a lay-up with :40.5 left to up the lead to thirteen at 60-47.  Still, Macalester was able to cut into this cushion before the third period concluded as Podoll would connect with a lay-up in transition and draw a foul in the process and the ensuing "and one" by the San Geronimo, California native had the deficit down to ten at 60-50.  Hull would add a score in the paint with just :00.4 left on the clock so while the Gusties took a 62-52 lead into the fourth period, they were by no means out of the woods just yet. 

The impressive thing about GAC on this day is that every time they were challenged, they always seemed to have an answer to counter and they did this again once the fourth period got underway.  Sophomore reserve guard Abby Goodno would start things off at the 9:34 mark with two free throws after she was fouled to get the lead to twelve at 64-52 and a short, one-handed shot in the lane off of an inbounds pass at the 8:21 mark by Gustafson maintained this twelve-point lead at 66-54.  Richert would get into the paint for another score at the 8:02 mark and then a "3" from the right corner by Gustafson at the 6:58 mark completed this key 9-2 push to make it 71-54 and the Scots' Kollar clearly saw this one slipping away for good and called for a halt to the action in hopes of stopping it.  But the Gusties had no intentions of letting this one slip away and now went to work to close the deal.  Gustafson would make a pretty drive for a finish with 4:51 left and one Richert freebie with 4:32 left had the GAC lead at 74-56.  Gonsorowski; riding those four fouls would sink two free throws of her own with 3:58 left and another Gustafson drive into the lane for a finish with 3:25 left made things pretty much academic at this point with the Gusties enjoying a 78-56 advantage.  Two Gonsorowski insurance lay-ups - one with 2:32 left and another with 2:05 left - gave GAC an 82-61 advantage and although Macalester would get late scores as Hull would make a drive and finish with 1:51 left and get fouled in the process and add the obligatory free throw and Barraza would add one free throw as well with 1:19 left, the Gusties pocketed an impressive 82-65 road victory to take back to St. Peter with them.

When I look back on this game, I think the thing that impressed me the most is that Kelly and her staff made things work - and work reasonably well - with a lot of different moving pieces.  This was necessitated when freshman sensation forward Caitlin Rorman was sidelined today with an injured shoulder.  You had a number of players stepping up today both in the starting lineup and off the bench.  Gustafson; who was huge in the previous wins against both Augsburg and Hamline, really brought her game in this second half and I have to plead guilty here simply because I wasn't so sure at the beginning of the year how effective she would be or how much she could actually bring to the table.  Well, she's convinced me that she's got what it takes to be a big scorer for this squad.  Gonsorowski, too, keeps displaying not only solid play on both ends of the floor but great leadership as well and this was on display today when she picked up her fourth foul relatively early in the third period.  But there were others as well.  Richert had a solid second half and Rice came up with some big three point bombs when the Gusties needed them.  Then you saw players such as Hinck, Skyberg and Goodno all contributing in some form or fashion on this day.  I had said earlier in my blog a few weeks ago that I felt that I needed to see more from the Gusties to be convinced that they're a legit title contender.  Well now, I'm convinced.  Other than the rebounding facet (more on that later), Kelly and her staff had to pleased with a lot of the numbers.  The Gusties were guilty of only nine turnovers on this day compared to 17 for Macalester and got 25 points off of those turnovers as well.  Just as impressive is that GAC had a whopping 48-30 advantage in points in the paint as well.  The Gusties also shot pretty decently on this day going 29-56 from FG range for 51.8% and 20-27 from the charity stripe for 74.1%.  Meanwhile, another disappointing setback for the Scots but Kollar and her staff can continue to take heart that this is a team that never quits or gives up despite the odds facing them.  One stat that Kollar can take some heart in is the rebounding front where the Scots held 38-33 edge and Macalester's Hull was a royal PITA for the Gusties on this day with her ability to get into the paint against bigger players to grab offensive rebounds.  GAC had an incredibly balanced scoring attack on this day with Gonsorowski leading all scorers with her 21 points and Gustafson wasn't far behind with her 18 points.  Richert finished with 16 points and Rice tallied 13 points.  Hull led Macalester on this day with her 18 points while Barraza finished with 11 points and Sabbagh added 10 points.