UST vs Augsburg 1-29-20

Made the relatively short drive over to Si Melby Hall on the campus of Augsburg University on this late January night to take in the rematch between visiting UST and host Augsburg.  The Auggies took the first game of this series back in December as they knocked off the Tommies for the first time in 13 years.  UST meanwhile was quietly riding a seven-game win streak coming into this contest and although none of those wins were over what you would consider powerhouse teams, the Tommies had at least positioned themselves on solid footing and were still very much in the mix.  Since dropping a tough game at GAC back on 1-19, the Auggies had recorded solid wins against both St. Olaf and Concordia so this game tonight would allow the winner to not only keep pace with first-place Bethel but hold a firm grip on the number-two playoff spot as well.

Not surprisingly, things would be nip-and-tuck in the opening minutes of the first period.  UST sophomore post Brynne Rolland would get her team on the board first at the 7:46 mark with her score in the paint and the Auggies would come up with the response in the form of a drive and finish by junior forward Jazmyn Solseth at the 6:46 mark.  Solseth would put the Auggies up 4-2 with her drive into the lane and pretty hook shot finish off of an inbounds pass at the 6:14 mark but right back came the Tommies to tie things up at 4-all on Rolland's short jumper in the lane at the 5:57 mark.  Rolland would repeat this feat with her lay-up with 4:17 left to forge a 6-all deadlock and then UST would grab a 9-6 lead when fellow sophomore guard Shayla Wallin buried a "3" from the right top area with 3:25 left.  Now it was Augsburg's turn to take the initiative as senior guard Tamira McLemore would drop two free throws after getting fouled in a transition opportunity with 2:37 left that shrunk the deficit to one point and a lay-up by fellow senior reserve guard K'aezha Wubben with 2:01 left helped the Auggies poke their nose back out in front by a 10-9 count.  Athletic senior forward Camryn Speese got Augsburg's lead to 12-9 with her lay-up after a steal with 1:44 left and two Speese free throws with :29.3 left maintained the three-point edge at 14-11.  The Tommies got things deadlocked again when sophomore guard Amber Darge banged home a "3" from the left top area with :15 left in this first period but Augsburg would take a 16-14 lead into the second period when sophomore reserve forward Jen Masello made a hard drive into the lane for a finish with just :01 left.

UST would snag the momentum early on in the second period as freshman reserve guard Abby Mackenthun drilled a "3" from the right corner at the 8:21 mark and junior point guard Macy Hatlestad would add two free throws after getting fouled at the 7:41 mark to push the Tommies into the lead by a 19-16 count.  And complicating the Auggie situation at the moment was that Speese picked up her second foul of the evening and Augsburg Head Coach Ted Riverso was not taking any chances and promptly yanked the former DeLaSalle standout for preservation purposes.  As such, UST was able to establish a bit of breathing room as a drive and finish off the glass by junior reserve guard Noelle Tomes at the 6:34 mark maintained the three-point edge at 21-18 and a score in the paint by Rolland at the 5:30 mark got the Tommie lead to 23-18.  The home team did get a bit of a lift thanks to Solseth; the former St. Croix Lutheran standout, as she would connect with a lay-up in transition with 4:26 left and would follow that up with a drive along the left baseline for a pretty finish off the glass with 2:43 left that got the deficit down to one for the Auggies at 23-22.  The Tommies would get a bit more space as a Rolland lay-up with 2:19 left made it 25-22 and two more free throws by Hatlestad with :46.9 left maintained the three-point edge at 27-24.  But Augsburg again would come up big when they had to as McLemore would bang home a "3" from the left top area with :24.1 left and both teams would head to their respective locker rooms with things deadlocked at 27.  A check of the first half box score was kind of a mixed bag for both teams.  Both teams shot similarly from FG range - the Tommies going 10-24 for 41.7% and Augsburg going 9-24 for 37.5%.  Both teams had a tough time from behind the arc:  UST was 3-13 for 23.1% and the Auggies were only 1-7 for 14.3%.  UST was a little better in the turnover department committing only five turnovers to the Auggies seven but what had to be disconcerting to Tommie Head Coach Ruth Sinn and her staff was that Augsburg held an 18-12 advantage on the boards.  So, in a way, UST was probably fortunate to be where they were at for the moment. 

The third period mirrored the second period in many ways as the Tommies appeared to have the upper hand.  A Rolland lay-up at the 9:05 mark pushed UST out in front 29-27 and another three-point bomb by Wallin - this one from the right corner at the 8:25 mark - had the Tommie lead at three points.  Darge would pick up her fourth foul of the night a bit later at the 7:26 mark and retreat to the bench but UST would still grow its lead to five points at 34-29 when Rolland bullied her way into the paint for a score at the 6:50 mark.  The Auggies would close the gap to two points on a McLemore "3" from the left wing area at the 6:31 mark but the Tommies kept their ship steady as another Rolland lay-up at the 5:28 mark got the lead back to four points at 36-32 and a Wallin score in the paint at the 5:07 mark kept the lead at that four-point margin at 38-34.  Mackenthun would come up with a big "3" from the right wing area with 3:09 left and with a 41-36 lead, it looked as if UST had the home team in a rather precarious situation.  But as they had before, Augsburg battled their way back.  Two Wubben freebies with 2:41 left got the Auggies back to within a single possession down 41-38 and up-and-coming sophomore reserve guard Selena Lor made a big splash when she unleashed a "3" from the left corner with 1:54 left to tie the game.  Augsburg would come up with some important stops down the stretch of this third period with things still very much up in the air.

The Tommies hoped to grab the momentum again in the early moments of the fourth period when Rolland connected with a lay-up to give UST  43-41 advantage but the Auggies had vastly different plans.  Freshman reserve forward Jaley Coplin wowed the partisan Augsburg crowd inside Si Melby Hall when she drained a "3" from the left corner at the 8:40 mark to push the Auggies out in front 44-43 and an offensive rebound and putback by Speese at the 7:32 mark had Augsburg up 46-45.  Then Speese would come up big again at the 6:26 mark with her drive and pretty reverse lay-up to get the lead to three points at 48-45 and then Wubben would make a steal like a thief in the night and race the other way for a lay-up at the 5:27 mark to grow the lead to 50-45 and the Tommies' Sinn had seen more than enough to know that a timeout was warranted to get her squad settled down.  Still, senior guard Aiza Wilson would complete this key 11-2 run to make it a 52-45 game before UST could stop some of the bleeding on a short jumper in the lane by Tomes with 4:37 left.  But the Tommies were still having difficulty in making up lost ground as Augsburg continued on with their attack.  Sophomore reserve forward Jen Masello connected with a lay-up with 2:52 left and then Solseth would make a drive and finish with 1:46 left to give the Auggies some breathing space up 56-50.  But you never want to count UST completely out in a situation such as this and they would make one last gasp to close this gap.  Rolland would connect with a jumper from the free throw line with 1:28 left to cut the deficit to four at 56-52 and after Augsburg's Masello could only get one of two free throw attempts to go down with 1:13 left, the Tommies got another shot of life as Rolland would make a crafty steal in the backcourt and get a lay-up out of it with :59.4 left that got UST back to within a single possession down 57-54.  After the Auggies were foiled on their subsequent possession, UST's Sinn would call a timeout with :30.6 left to set up a play and it would work to perfection as Rolland would connect with a lay-up with :22.1 left that reduced the deficit to a scant point at 57-56.  The Tommies needed to foul, however, to ensure another possession opportunity.  Augsburg's McLemore would get sent to the charity stripe with :16.5 left and the former Eagan standout showed no nerves in casually dropping both attempts for a 59-56 Auggie lead.  UST's Sinn would call another timeout in hopes of setting up a three-point shot to force and extra session but the Auggies were hovering over the perimeter on the ensuing Tommie possession to prevent just that.  With :02.4 left, UST's Hatlestad put up a jumper that missed its mark and Augsburg's Wubben was there for the rebound.  She would be fouled almost immediately with :01.4 left and got one insurance free throw to go down to seal the deal as the Auggies swept the regular season series with UST with a thrilling 60-56 victory. 

Despite the tough loss, UST's Sinn remained reasonably upbeat and proud of her team.  "We battled" she said and pointed out that she doesn't have any of the starters from last year's great squad and that they're still learning.  And I think there are some positives you can take from this game from a Tommie standpoint.  The fact that they gave themselves a fighting chance down the home stretch after falling behind by as many as five says a lot about the resiliency of this team.  There's a lot of young players on this squad and they've been hampered by the injury/illness bug that has an unholy knack for showing no mercy to any team.  When you look at the final box score, you'll see that UST did, in fact, do a much better job on the rebounding front in the second half after getting pounded in the first half.  On the downside, however, Sinn and her staff likely had to cringe when they saw that their squad was guilty of 20 turnovers on this night - a figure almost unheard of in the Tommie teams of the recent past compared to the 10 turnovers that Augsburg had.  While UST shot reasonably well from FG range going 23-43 for 53.5%, three-point shooting was another story as the Tommies were only 6-17 on this night.  Another stat that stands out:  Augsburg held a sizable 13-2 edge in those all-important "second-chance" points and in a close game, that's huge.  To be sure, Augsburg didn't shoot all that great on this night either as they finished 21-57 from FG range for 36.8% and were only 4-21 from downtown for 19%.  However, one area where they were MUCH, much better on this night was at the charity stripe where the Auggies were 14-17 for 82.4% and again, in a close game, that is huge.  It's no secret that UST leaned heavily on Rolland on this night for scoring as her 26 points easily led all scorers but she was the only Tommie player in double figures scoring wise.  Augsburg on the other hand had a relatively balanced scoring attack as McLemore led the way with 16 points and Solseth added 12 points and Speese finished with 10 points.  Another key thing for Augsburg on this night is that Speese was able to hang tough on the defensive end despite the fact that she was saddled with four fouls.