Some excellent games on this last Wednesday night at the Midtown YWCA Women's College Summer League that were incredibly fun to watch:
6:00 P.M. Games
Macalester - 43
Hamline - 40
GAC Black - 42
Augsburg - 39
6:50 P.M. Games
Northwestern - 39
St. Kate's - 38
Bethel - 40
UW-River Falls - 32
7:45 P.M. Games
GAC Alumni - 49
GAC Gold - 48
St. Olaf - 47
Java - 44
Certainly not the night for the faint of heart in any of these time slots. Over on Court 1 in the 6:00 P.M. slot, an entertaining game was going on between the Macalester team and the Hamline team (I've seen enough of their regular season games over the years to know what I'm talking about :) ). While the scoring itself would come at something of a premium early on with things knotted at 2 a piece at the 18:00 mark of the first half and at 4-all by the 14:42 mark, the Macalester team would slowly manage to grab the upper hand; taking a 6-5 advantage by the 11:45 mark and upping to it to 8-5 just thirty seconds later at the 11:15 mark. By the midway point of the first half, the Macalester team would hold a 12-7 advantage and they would maintain that five-point edge up 14-9 with 4:00 left. A short time later, the Macalester team unleashed two three-point bombs - one with 3:20 left and another with 2:30 left - that extended their lead to 20-12 and the Macalester team appeared to be in very good shape. But a gamey Hamline team showed it had no intentions of going quietly into the night as they ripped off a 6-0 run to tighten things up down just 20-18 by the halftime break. The Hamline team would manage to get this one tied at 21-all by the 17:30 mark of the second half and another push by this Hamline team had them up 29-24 at the 12:17 mark. But the Macalester team would manage to turn the table down the stretch as they would come back to grab a 34-31 lead with 6:04 left and although the Hamline team would get things leveled again at 34 a piece and take a brief 39-37 lead with 2:20 left, the Macalester team got a big boost with another three-point bomb that would put them up 40-39 with 1:35 left as the Macalester team would hang on for the tough victory. Another good game was also brewing over on Court 2 between the GAC Black team and the Augsburg team with the latter holding a 7-5 advantage at the 16:25 mark of the first half. The GAC Black team would come right back, however, as two scores by junior-to-be Maddy Rice had them up 11-9 a short time later. The GAC Black would enjoy a 13-10 advantage at the 11:00 mark but the Augsburg team would take its cue and uncork two three-point bombs to grab a 16-13 advantage with 9:00 left. The Augsburg team would stretch its lead to nine at 26-17 with 2:50 left before the GAC Black team finally got settled down a bit and managed to tighten things up down 26-22 by the halftime break. The GAC Black team would get the game tied at 28 a piece when freshman newcomer Morgan Kelly got a tough score in the paint at the 14:37 mark but the Augsburg team would come right back to take the upper hand and hold a 36-30 lead with 7:40 left. Things looked quite iffy for the GAC Black team by this point but they managed to turn things around coming down the stretch and held on for a tough 42-39 win.
And things certainly didn't slow down one bit once the 6:50 P.M. games got going. Over on Court 1, a real barnburner was ensuing between the St. Kate's team and the Northwestern team. Senior-to-be Katie Benjamin would get a score in the paint and draw a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" had the St. Kate's team up 4-2 at the 15:44 mark of the first half but the Northwestern team would answer this with a 10-0 run to put them up 12-4 by the 11:00 mark. The St. Kate's team certainly didn't take this lying down and they slyly whittled away at the deficit. One three-point bomb had the deficit cut down to four points at 15-11 with 8:45 left and with 4:00 left, the St. Kate's team was back to within a single possession down 17-14. With just two minutes left, the St. Kate's team would be down by just one at 19-18 and a short time later with just 1:00 left, the St. Kate's team finally poked its nose back out in front again by a 20-19 count. Still, the Northwestern team would counter right before the halftime break with a "3" of their own to take a 22-20 lead at the halftime break. The Northwestern team would hold a 24-21 lead early on in the second half but the St. Kate's team would soon have things knotted at 24 a piece. The Northwestern team, however, would get a big boost from senior-to-be Brooklyn DeKam as she would bury two three-point bombs that would put them up 30-24 by the 13:10 mark. Undeterred by it all, the St. Kate's team would once again battle its way back and have this game leveled at 30 a piece with 8:00 left. Things would stay tight down the stretch with the Northwestern team holding a 35-34 lead with 4:00 left and with 1:15 left, the Northwestern team was holding a tenuous 39-36 advantage. The St. Kate's team would cut the deficit to one on a score by junior-to-be Bree Glynn with :30 left but the Northwestern team would manage to hold on for a thrilling one-point win in a very well-played and fun game by both teams. While all this was going on, another good one was taking place over on Court 2 between the UW-River Falls team and the Bethel team. Very little separation between these two early on as things would be tied at 4-all at the 17:20 mark of the first half and tied again at 6-all by the 13:17 mark. With 8:37 left, the UW-River Falls team would have this game tied again at 9 a piece on a three-point bomb. The Bethel team would again forge a three-point advantage at 14-11 but, just as before, a hot-shooting UW-River Falls team would uncork another "3" to level the contest at 14 with 3:00 left and by the halftime break, the UW-River Falls team probably had to be feeling pretty good about itself holding a 16-14 advantage. The UW-River Falls team would still hold a one-point edge at 18-17 at the 15:50 mark of the second half but the Bethel team would soon get a big boost from senior Makenna Pearson with a score along with an "and one" that would help get the Bethel team out in front 24-21 by the 13:10 mark. With 8:00 left, the Bethel team's lead had grown to six at 32-26 and the Bethel team was able to stretch that lead to eight at 38-30 with 2:27 left as they would claim a hard-earned victory on this night.
Without question, however, the game of the night took place over on Court 1 in the 7:45 P.M. slot between the GAC Gold team and the Cardiac Kids of this year's Summer League, the GAC Alumni team. And, as they have shown so often thus far, the GAC Alumni team certainly has a flair for dramatics and this game against the younger GAC Gold team would certainly be no exception. The GAC Alumni team would start fast in this one; getting out to a 6-0 lead but the GAC Gold team would soon close the gap to one point at 6-5 by the 16:30 mark of the first half. The GAC Alumni team would again try and create some separation; getting a 12-7 lead by the 13:47 mark and holding a 16-12 lead by the 11:20 mark. But the GAC Gold team didn't appeared to be fazed one bit by their more-experienced elders and they would have this contest leveled at 16 a piece at the midway point of the first half thanks to scores by junior-to-be Maddy Rice and newcomer freshman Morgan Kelly. The GAC Alumni team would find another burst of energy to get a 24-19 lead with 8:00 left but again the GAC Gold team wouldn't go anywhere and had closed to one down 26-25 with 4:15 left and the GAC Alumni team would maintain that one-point lead up 29-28 with 1:30 left and a tough Miranda Rice (GAC '18) score in the paint had the GAC Alumni team up 31-29 by the halftime break. But this young GAC Gold team had every intention of trying to steal the spotlight on this night and they would hold a 34-33 lead early on in the second half and a "3" would expand that lead to 37-33 by the 14:50 mark. The GAC Alumni team didn't panic, however, and would get this one tied at 37-all a short time later at the 13:30 mark. The GAC Alumni team would open up a four-point lead at 43-39 by the 11:00 mark and they would seem to have the edge coming down the stretch. But you also knew that this GAC Gold team was going to throw everything they had at them and with 2:00 left, the GAC Alumni lead had shrunk to two points at 45-43 and the GAC Gold's Morgan Kelly would connect on a tough score to keep the GAC Gold team close down 47-45 with just under a minute left. With just under :20 left, the GAC Gold team would get this one tied at 47 a piece and although the GAC Alumni team had one last chance to win in regulation, they were unable to convert on their last possession so off to overtime we went. The GAC Gold team would grab a 48-47 lead on one free throw with :31 left in the extra session but this GAC Alumni team would save the best for last as they would score on its ensuing possession to claim an absolutely fun and thrilling 49-48 overtime victory. To be sure, another very good contest was taking place next door over on Court 2 between the Java team and the St. Olaf team. Although overshadowed by the game taking place over on Court 1, this one proved to be a good one as well as the St. Olaf team would hold a 4-2 lead by the 15:10 mark of the first half but things would be knotted up at 12 a piece by the midway point of the first half. The Java team would then get the upper hand; grabbing a 19-14 lead with 4:00 left and holding a 22-18 advantage by the halftime break. The Java team would open up the second half with a 6-0 spurt to hold a 28-18 lead and although it appeared in a bit of trouble by this point, the St. Olaf team quickly responded and by the midway point of the second half, this one would be tied at 35 a piece. The St. Olaf team would cling to a 39-38 advantage with 6:45 left and would get a bit more breathing room up 46-43 with 4:20 left. The St. Olaf team was still holding the three-point advantage at 47-44 with 2:00 left and although they certainly weren't out of the woods by any stretch by that point, they managed to keep the Java team scoreless in those last two minutes to claim the tough victory.
Had to skeedaddle home to get my rest before the 8:40 game took place but another night of action coming up this next Wednesday night over at the Midtown YWCA Women's College Summer League so get on down!
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