With three games on the NSIC slate tonight that wound up getting wiped out by cancellations, it narrowed my choices of games to follow online but eventually I decided on the Mary - St Cloud State tilt up in St Cloud on this Friday night as I hadn't seen these two teams play before so it seemed like a good choice.
The Maruders; who saw their planned opening weekend vs Sioux Falls spoiled by cancellations, certainly came out of the gate in the opening minutes of the first period ready to go as they put together a string of scores to build a somewhat surprising 9-2 lead thanks largely in part to two scores by sophomore guard Megan Voit - a "3" to start things off at the 8:54 mark and a jumper a bit later at the 7:32 mark. But as good as things looked for Mary in these first few minutes, it sure didn't take long for the wheels to start coming off as the Huskies awoke from their early slumber and went on an 18-0 tear to end this first period. A "3" by senior guard Tori Wortz with 4:44 left not only cut the deficit down to one point but was an important spark for this St Cloud State team that got off to a slow start. But the Maruders arguably contributed to their own demise during this run by the home team as their shot selection at times was questionable and trailing 20-9 by the end of this first period was definitely a splash of cold water on their collective faces.
Mary finally ended its extended scoring drought at the 8:36 mark of the second period on two free throws by senior guard Lauren Rotunda and a jumper by fellow senior guard Macy Williams at the 7:56 mark had the Maruders back in single-digit range again down 21-13. But St Cloud State started clamping down on defense; forcing Mary to settle for tough, contested jumpers while the Huskies were finding openings in the leaky Maruder defense; often getting easy scores. And compounding Mary's already worsening position was when lanky 6'3" junior post Lexie Schneider was tagged with her second foul of the evening at the 6:29 mark. Schneider's retreat to the bench effectively opened up the floodgates as the Huskies went on a 12-0 burst to open up a sizable 33-13 lead and although Mary's Williams would knock down a couple of jumpers to help boost the Maruders offense, Mary was still on the wrong end of a 43-19 score by the halftime break.
To their credit, the Maruders made a concerted effort to attack the rim once the third period got underway with Schneider back in the lineup. Schneider would knock down a pair of free throws at the 9:11 mark as would freshman forward Emma Passa at the 6:57 mark. Junior guard Carly Kottsick would drain a "3" from the right top area as well at the 6:31 mark that at least provided signs of life for this Mary team. But trying to make up a lot of lost ground was another matter entirely as the Huskies still enjoyed a 50-29 advantage at this point and were getting far too many uncontested jumpers and lay-ups as St Cloud State found themselves safely up 67-39 to begin the final period.
Former Sauk Centre standout and junior guard Kelsey Peschel helped keep the beat going for this Husky team early on in the fourth period with a lay-up at the 9:01 mark and a "3" at the 8:00 mark to give St Cloud State a 74-42 lead and former Maple Grove standout and junior forward Katrina Theis would bang home a "3" of her own at the 6:18 mark for a 79-44 lead. Another Sauk Centre - and Peschel sister; Tori - would connect with a pretty lay-up with 4:49 left and would cap this game with another lay-up with just :42 left as St Cloud State rolled to a 90-54 victory.
St Cloud State had an incredibly balanced scoring effort on this night with four players in double figures scoring-wise on this night. Both Wortz and fellow senior forward Nikki Kilboten finished with 15 points and junior guard Brehna Evans poured in 13 points while Theis added 12 points. Mary was led by Rotunda's 12 points while Williams finished with 10 points. St Cloud State pounded Mary on the boards by a 42-24 count as well.
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