Augsburg vs Macalester 2-15-20

Ventured over to Leonard Center on the campus of Macalester College on this sunny and pleasant day after Valentine's Day Saturday for the matchup between visiting Augsburg and host Macalester.  The Auggies were arguably on a roll coming into this contest; winners of seven straight and sporting a 19-3 overall record and 15-2 in conference play and were looking to add another win to build up their NCAA Tournament resume.  Macalester on the other hand was on the other end of the spectrum; coming into this game with a 1-21 overall record and winless in conference play but those numbers have never daunted the Scots as they have always played hard no matter who the opponent. 

The Auggies would have the upper hand from the get-go in this but Macalester managed to keep things close in the first couple of minutes in the first period.  Augsburg senior sharp-shooting guard Aiza Wilson would first connect with a short, one-handed jumper from the left side at the 9:16 mark and would soon connect with a three-point bomb from the right wing area at the 8:16 mark to up the Auggie lead to 5-2.  The Scots would close to one point when speedy junior guard Justine Barraza made a hard drive into the lane for a finish at the 7:48 mark but it was here where Augsburg made their first significant move in separation.  A "3" from the left top area by ever-improving forward Jazmyn Solseth at the 7:15 mark sparked a 10-0 Auggie run.  Senior guard Tamira McLemore would connect with a lay-up at the 6:43 mark as would Solseth at the 6:16 mark to make it a 12-4 ballgame.  Then Wilson would unleash her second trey of the afternoon - this one coming from the left wing area at the 5:48 mark - to make it 15-4 before Macalester could stop some of the bleeding on a "3" by sophomore guard Celine Sabbagh at the 5:28 mark.  But the Auggies' Solseth would strike again with a lay-up at the 5:07 mark and that prompted Scots Head Coach Katie Kollar to call a thirty-second timeout to see if she could come up with a quick solution for this high-octaine Auggie attack.  As it turned out, there weren't many solutions in sight as Augsburg would unleash a 14-4 push.  Senior reserve guard K'aezha Wubben dropped one freebie after getting fouled in transition with 4:35 left and a Solseth score in the paint made it 20-7.  McLemore would snare an offensive rebound for a putback with 3:08 left and two Wubben free throws pushed the Auggie lead to 24-9.  With 2:20 left, Wubben would get sent to the foul line again where the former Hopkins standout knocked down two more free throws to make it 26-10 and sophomore reserve forward Jen Masello would push the Augsburg lead to 28-10 with her pretty left-handed lay-up with 1:32 left.  Then freshman reserve forward Jaley Coplin put the feather in the cap of this latest run with a cold-blooded "3" from the left corner with 1:06 left to push the Auggie lead to 31-11 before Macalester found some life just before the end of this first period on a coast-to-coast lay-up by Barraza with just :01 left.

Augsburg freshman reserve forward Jaley Coplin would expand the lead to 34-13 with her three-point bomb from the right wing area off of an inbounds pass at the 9:33 mark of the second period before the Scots could find some more signs of offensive life.  Junior forward Katherine Podoll snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 9:11 mark and Sabbagh would do her part to keep this offensive surge going.  Sabbagh would first complete a three-point play the old-fashioned way with a drive and finish that drew a foul with the resulting "and one" at the 8:06 mark and the Eau Claire, Wisconsin native would get two more free throws to go down after getting fouled at the 7:39 mark.  Sabbagh would get one more freebie to go down at the 6:45 mark after getting fouled but Macalester still had a lot of ground to make up down 38-21 and the Auggies had no intentions of letting that space diminish anytime soon.  Sophomore reserve forward Jen Masello would knock down two free throws after getting fouled at the 6:28 mark and Wilson would unleash her third trey of this ballgame at the 5:58 mark - this one coming from the left top area to give Augsburg a twenty-point cushion at 43-23.  Then Masello; the Darien, Illinois native, got into even more of a groove.  She would first connect with a lay-up in transition at the 5:35 mark and also drop two free throws after getting fouled at the 5:06 mark to make it 47-25.  Masello would also connect with a lay-up with 4:28 left to make it 49-25 before the Scots could trim some of the fat off of the deficit as freshman reserve forward Emma LaFrenz connected with a lay-up that drew a foul with the obligatory "and one" with 4:16 left.  Barraza would drain a "3" from the right wing area with 2:54 left but again it was a matter of a lot of ground to make up and Augsburg already had the big upper hand.  Auggie sophomore reserve forward Tehya Hampton knocked down one free throw after getting fouled with 2:38 left and then McLemore would connect with a lay-up with 2:11 left and would drop two free throws after getting fouled with 1:45 left to make it 56-31.  Sophomore reserve guard Selena Lor would make a hard drive and pretty finish to grow Augsburg's lead to 58-33 before the Scots could get one last offensive burst before the halftime break.  Podoll would bang home a "3" from the left top area with just :05 left and then freshman reserve guard Solana Cushing would get a steal in the backcourt and get a lay-up out of it with just :01 left on the clock so while Macalester's Kollar had to be pleased with the effort her squad was giving, making up a twenty-point deficit down 58-38 was going to be a tall order.  Even tougher when you consider that Augsburg was already shooting at a 18-32 clip for 56.3% in this first half and 6-13 from downtown for 46.2%.  Throw in 10 Macalester turnovers in the first half plus the fact that junior forward Kayla Togneri was saddled with three fouls gives you an idea of the mountain that Kollar and her staff faced in the locker room during the halftime break.

And it was easy to see that Augsburg's high-flying offensive machine showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon once the third period got underway.  Senior forward Camryn Speese got one free throw to go down at the 9:26 mark and then fellow senior point guard Ari Jones got into the books with her three-point bomb from the left top area at the 9:04 mark to make it 62-38.  McLemore would drain a "3" of her own from the top of the key at the 7:57 mark and would follow that up with a lay-up in transition at the 7:34 mark to make it 67-40.  Solseth would add a lay-up at the 7:03 mark to stretch the lead to 69-40 before the Scots could finally find a few answers.  Barraza would connect with a lay-up in transition at the 6:02 mark and Sabbagh would make a hard drive and finish with 4;13 left.  LaFrenz would connect with a lay-up in transition with 3:55 left but this latest effort seemed to fizzle out once Sabbagh collected her fourth foul of the day with 3:35 left.  As such, the Auggies continued with their artillery barrage.  Solseth would make a drive along the left baseline for a finish with 3:05 left and Wilson's fourth three-point bomb of this afternoon gave Augsburg a thirty-point cushion at 76-46.  Wubben would connect with a lay-up in transition with 1:50 left and would also snare an offensive rebound for a putback of her own miss with :59 left to make it 80-46.  Junior reserve guard Nicole Zielsdorf would drain a "3" from the left corner with :31 left and then Wubben would connect with a lay-up in transition and draw a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" with just :06 left made it 86-48 and left little doubt as to how this one was going to turn out.  The Scots would draw some blood just before the end of this third period when Sabbagh; back in the game with those four fouls, connected with a lay-up in transition with :00.6 left but it didn't do much in terms of providing hope for any kind of comeback.

Perhaps the only good thing about a game that's pretty much already been decided is that it does give a coach a chance to send in the reserves down the stretch and Augsburg Head Coach Ted Riverso would do that in this fourth period.  But the main chain gang group still had some unfinished biz as they made sure no ground would be given up beforehand.  Wubben would connect with a lay-up in transition at the 9:41 mark and Masello would add a lay-up at the 9:16 mark to make it 90-50.  Wubben would knock down two charity stripe shots after getting fouled at the 8:44 mark and Zielsdorf would bang home her second trey of this ballgame from the left corner at the 8:15 mark to make it 95-54.  Masello would get into the paint for one score at the 7:44 mark and draw a foul and drop the obligatory free throw and at the 7:02 mark, a Masello lay-up had the Auggies hitting the century-mark with a 100-58 lead.  Undeterred by it all, Macalester kept fighting.  Cushing knocked down a jumper from the right top area at the 6:43 mark and Barraza would connect with a lay-up in transition at the 6:24 mark.  Cushing would also drain a "3" from the left top area at the 5:49 mark and LaFrenz would add a score in the paint at the 5:16 mark.  With 4:11 left, Barraza; still playing with the youthful abandon despite the lopsided score, snared a steal and raced the other way for a lay-up with 4:11 left.  Of course, with the 102-69 score, that wasn't going to make much of a difference in the final outcome and the Auggies' Riverso now had his subs in for mop-up duty.  Coplin unleashed her second trey of this game from the left corner with 3:10 left and Hampton would connect with a lay-up off of an inbounds pass with 1:47 left.  Macalester would get two late scores as Barraza; like a thief in the night, snared another steal and dashed the other way for a lay-up with 1:14 left and Podoll would drain a "3" from the right corner off of an inbounds pass with :32 left but the Auggies would pocket a blowout 107-77 victory. 

When I caught up with Augsburg's Riverso afterward, I made the comment that while maybe it wasn't a totally flawless performance on this day, it sure seemed like it from a scoreboard standpoint.  Riverso countered that it was his team's great shooting on this day that helped mask some of the flaws they may have had.  Indeed, the Auggies finished this day going 37-67 from FG range for 55.2% and were 12-30 from behind the arc for a straight 40%.  Free throw shooting was good on this day as well as the Auggies finished going 21-27 from the foul line for 77.8%.  The Auggies held a 43-32 edge on the boards on this day as well so perhaps the only issue that may stand out in my mind after this game is Augsburg's defense.  When you can outscore your opponent the way you did on this day, that won't come into play but there'll be other games coming up this week where the comp will be much tougher and the Auggies are going to have to come up with some answers to fix things up on defense, IMHO.  Still, I think Riverso and his staff have to be heartened with how both Solseth and Masello are making their presence felt down low on both ends of the floor and both showed today that they score as well as getting some size down low.  Coplin, too, is another pleasant surprise on this Augsburg team and with her ability to hit that three-point shot, don't be surprised to see more of her on the floor down the road.  With Macalester, you just have to admire how they keep fighting despite all odds with the lopsided score and a short bench with junior Luci Swift out of action today.  And props to senior Holly Hull on her last game at Leonard Center.  She's probably one of the hardest working players in the conference and one of the toughest rebounders out there for someone at her position.  Thanks for the memories, Holly.  The Auggies had five players in double figures scoring-wise on this day which isn't surprising given the final score.  Masello and Wubben led the way for Augsburg on this day with their 19 points a piece and both McLemore and Wilson weren't far behind with their 16 points while Solseth finished with 13 points.  Over on the Macalester side, they had four players in double-figures scoring-wise as Barraza's 22 points led all scorers on this day despite the fact that she fouled out late in the contest.  Sabbagh had a solid day with her 15 points and LaFrenz wasn't far behind with her 14 points while Podoll finished with 11 points.