St. Kate's vs Hamline 2-8-20

Was back over at Hutton Arena on the campus of Hamline University on this sunny but cold early February Saturday afternoon but things were definitely heating up inside as the visiting St. Kate's Wildcats were in the building to take on host Hamline.  The Wildcats were coming off a road win at Macalester earlier in the week while the Pipers were looking to recover from a disappointing loss at home to UST.  Crazy things always seem to happen in these St. Kate's - Hamline contests so I got settled in early to get myself ready.

The Pipers were looking for a solid start in this one after how they finished on Wednesday night and they certainly seemed to get that as they were able to establish a 5-2 lead in the first two minutes of the opening period.  After the 'Cats drew first blood on a lay-up by freshman forward Bree Glynn at the 9:34 mark, Hamline would respond as senior forward Reilly Geistfeld would connect with a lay-up of her own at the 9:14 mark and a jumper from the right wing area by freshman forward Lydia Lecher at the 8:23 mark put the Pipers out in front 4-2.  Sophomore guard Gabby Robinson would knock down one free throw after getting fouled in a transition opportunity to establish the aforementioned lead at the 8:02 mark and then Robinson would connect with a lay-up in transition at the 7:11 mark to maintain the three-point edge at 7-4.  But the first signs of trouble for Hamline started rearing their ugly heads shortly thereafter as the Wildcats embarked on a 10- run.  Glynn would make a pretty drive along the right baseline for a finish at the 6:34 mark and one free throw by junior reserve guard Brooke Torvik at the 5:16 mark had this game tied at 7-all.  Sophomore reserve guard Chloe Venegas would send shock wave throughout Hutton Arena with her three-point bomb from the right corner with 4:42 left to give St. Kate's a 10-7 lead and a jumper from the free throw line are by Torvik with 3:05 left pushed that lead to 12-7.  Venegas would cap this early Wildcat run with her two free throws with 2:01 left before Hamline recovered enough to get Geistfeld to the charity stripe where the St. James native dropped two freebies of her own after getting fouled with 1:15 left.  St. Kate's was far from finished in this first period as senior guard Danica Cambrice knocked down a short jumper in the lane with :50 left and although the Pipers would draw back to four points when Geistfeld drained a "3" from the left wing with :37 left, the Wildcats stretched their lead back to six when junior post Kassidy Jenkins connected with a jumper from the right elbow area with just :10 left as St. Kate's held a surprising 18-12 advantage going into the second period.

From a Hamline standpoint, being down by six at this point probably shouldn't have been that big of a deal but the Pipers curiously looked out of sync offensively thus far.  Senior reserve guard Morgan Coleman would briefly have the home team feeling a bit better about itself with her drive into the lane and finish at the 9:34 mark of the second period but then St. Kate's was able to make a key 8-0 run that widened the gap even further.  Two scores by Cambrice - one in the paint at the 9:22 mark and a lay-up at the 8:50 mark - had the Wildcats up 22-14 and then Torvik would connect with a lay-up off of an inbounds pass at the 6:44 mark to give St. Kate's their first double-digit lead at 24-14.  Torvik would strike again at the 6:27 mark with her steal and lay-up the other way to make it 26-14 and Hamline Head Coach Alex Focke clearly realized a timeout was needed to stop some of the bleeding his squad was experiencing.  Curiously, both team would go into a scoring funk after the stoppage in play but this clearly hurt the Pipers much more than it ever affected St. Kate's.  The 'Cats would end this prolonged drought when Glynn maneuvered into the paint for a score that drew a foul and her ensuing "and one" pushed the lead to 29-14.  Hamline finally dusted off the growing cobwebs on its basket when Geistfeld was sent to the charity stripe with 1:05 left where she got one freebie to go down but the Wildcats would put an exclamation point on this second period as freshman guard Cierra Ahlf drained a "3" from the left corner with :44 left as St. Kate's held a sizable 32-15 lead at the halftime break.  The fact that the normally explosive Pipers had been held to just one field goal and one free throw in this second period had yours truly (and I'm sure several others inside Hutton Arena) totally amazed.  The first half box score likely had to have Focke and his staff reaching for the Rolaids as the ugly numbers told the whole story.  5-19 from FG range for 26.3% and 1-8 from the charity stripe (!) for a measly 12.5%.  St. Kate's was also outrebounding the Pipers by a 16-10 count and 13 first half turnovers couldn't have made Focke feel any better.  Perhaps the only bright spot from a Hamline standpoint was the fact that they were 4-6 from downtown for a respectable 66.7%.  St. Kate's Head Coach Don Mulhern on the other hand had to feel good about what his team was doing thus far as they shot 13-25 from FG range for 52% and 4-5 from downtown for 80%.

And the Pipers would find themselves in an even bigger hold once the third period got going.  Cambrice would make a drive and finish at the 9:41 mark and a coast-to-coast lay-up by fellow senior guard Jackie Radford at the 9:08 mark now had St. Kate's up 36-15.  Hamline finally started showing some signs of offensive life as sophomore guard Chan'el Anderson-Manning knocked down a jumper along the left baseline at the 8:41 mark and then Anderson-Manning would show her defensive prowess as she snared a steal and raced the other way for an easy lay-up at the 8:21 mark.  Lecher would knock down a jumper in the lane at the 7:49 mark to reduce the deficit to fifteen at 36-21.  Geistfeld would add a free throw after getting fouled at the 7:14 mark and Coleman would sneak into the paint for a score at the 6:50 mark.  Senior guard Kaeli Stayer would get into the paint for one score at the 5:32 mark and would also drain a "3" from the right corner with 4:36 left to reduce the deficit to thirteen at 42-29.  Strong sophomore reserve forward Sarah Loken would bully her way into the paint for a score as well to keep the Pipers in that thirteen-point range down 44-31 but as quickly as Hamline was able to show some spark in this third period, it fizzled out the same way as the Wildcats settled down and got things going their way again.  Jenkins would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled with 2:13 left and Ahlf would bury her second trey of this game with a bomb from the top of the key off of the glass with :18 left as St. Kate's took a 49-31 lead going into the fourth period.

Any doubt about how this game was going to turn out was pretty much erased in the opening minutes of the fourth period as St. Kate's effectively its thumbs to its opponent's windpipe.  Two Ahlf freebies at the 9:20 mark coupled with a Radford drive and lay-up at the 8:41 mark to make it 53-31.  Venegas would drop two free throws of her own after getting fouled at the 7:11 mark and an Ahlf lay-up in transition with 4:53 left now had the 'Cats up 57-33.  Hamline finally got its first field goal of the fourth period when freshman reserve forward Tess Hauer connected with a lay-up with 4:29 left that drew a foul that resulted in the obligatory "and one".  But that was of no consequence for this Wildcat team as they closed this one out.  Glynn would knock down two free throws after getting fouled with 2:45 left as would Torvik with 1:30 left to make it 61-38.  Torvik would add one more for insurance and the Wildcats walked out of Hutton Arena with a shocking 62-40 victory. 

When I was able to catch up with Hamline's Focke after this game, I couldn't help but bring up that critical second period when they were held to three points.  He didn't mince any words in his response.  "They beat our ass today" he replied.  "We'll get back at it on Monday" he added but you could sense the shock and disappointment in his voice on what transpired today.  One could argue, I suppose, that the Pipers likely had a huge emotional letdown after the loss to UST on Wednesday night and it carried over to this game.  I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that.  On the other hand, I've been watching MIAC women's hoops for a long time; St. Kate's in particular, and I've NEVER seen any Wildcat team play defense like this today.  They basically shut down a team that averages 65.7 points per game and what they did in that second period; limiting the Pipers to just THREE points (one field goal and one free throw) is just utterly amazing.  I couldn't help but rib St. Kate's Head Coach Don Mulhern afterward if he had been showing his team the highlights on NFL Films of my 1979 Los Angeles Rams that had held Seattle in a particular game to an NFL record of -7 yards of total offense.  What made this win even more special I think from a St. Kate's standpoint is that this dub came at Hutton Arena; a venue that historically hasn't been kind to the Wildcats.  But they were amazing on this day.  And the final box score pretty much tells the whole story.  Hamline wound up shooting 14-42 from FG range for 33.3% and was 2-14 from behind the arc for 14.3%.  Free throw shooting wasn't any better either for the Pipers as they were 10-17 from the charity stripe for 58.8%.  Yikes.  Then you throw in the fact that St. Kate's outrebounded Hamline by a 36-19 count and that the Wildcats enjoyed a 32-20 edge in points in the paint only underscores how ugly things got for the Pipers on this day.  And here's another stat:  St. Kate's held an 8-1 edge in those all-important "second-chance" points - that's right - 8-1.  And here's the other big positive that St. Kate's can take from this game:  Despite the fact that the Wildcats have been injury-prone this season (sophomore post Katie Benjamin being the latest victim with a possible ACL injury) and normally lean heavily on Cambrice for offensive output, they had a very, very balanced scoring attack on this day with several players contributing.  On this day, it was Ahlf's 12 points leading the way while Glynn was right behind with 11 and Torvik finished with 10 points.  That's huge for this team and if they continue to play like they did on this day, the rest of the MIAC had bloody well better watch out.  Geistfeld paced Hamline with her nine points on this day.