Here's the results of the games I got to cover this last Wednesday night on the last night of the Midtown YWCA Women's College Summer League:
6:00 P.M. Games
Macalester - 57
UW-River Falls - 52
GAC Gold - 66
Carleton - 62
6:50 P.M. Games
GAC Alumni - 41
Hamline - 25
GAC Black - 59
Java - 26
7:45 P.M. Games
Concordia St Paul - 53
CSB - 33
Augsburg - 53
St. Olaf - 51
Two good games in the opening 6:00 P.M. slot on this Wednesday night.....On Court 1, a MIAC/WIAC battle of sorts was taking place between the Macalester team and the UW-River Falls team. Things would be tied at two a piece at the 18:00 mark of the first half but thanks to its trademark three-point shooting prowess, the UW-River Falls team would get on a spurt and hold a 9-4 advantage by the 16:45 mark. But the Macalester team; which has looked better and better with each passing week, wasn't going anywhere anytime soon and they slyly cut into the deficit over the next three minutes as they would be down by only one at 15-14 by the 13:40 mark. The UW-River Falls team would still be clinging to that one-point edge at 20-19 by the midway point of the first half and they were still up 24-22 with 5:05 left. But the Macalester team would finally get this one tied at 26 a piece with 3:30 left and a 5-0 burst by the Macalester team suddenly had them up 31-26 with 2:11 left and by the halftime break, the Macalester team was holding a 35-31 lead. The Macalester team would up that lead to 39-31 by the 18:30 mark of the second half but again the UW-River Falls team would use some timely three-point shooting to close to within a single possession down 48-45 by the 12:15 mark. The Macalester team would use another burst to establish some more breathing room up 52-46 with 8:00 left but again the UW-River Falls team would again close back to within a single possession down 55-52 with 4:20 left. A mountain of time to work with for sure but this Macalester team would hang tough down the stretch and hold the UW-River Falls team scoreless and walk away with an impressive victory. Meanwhile, over on Court 2, the Carleton team and the GAC Gold team were going at it and the latter started out very good; holding a 4-0 lead by the 16:00 mark of the first half and expanding that lead to an impressive 12-3 count by the 13:30 mark. Despite the shaky start out of the gate, the Carleton team hunkered down and climbed their way back to within striking distance; down 12-8 by the 12:25 mark but it would be an uphill battle for them as the GAC Gold team found another burst and got their lead up to double-digits at 21-10 just beyond the midway point of the first half. The GAC Gold team would maintain this cushion; enjoying a 23-13 advantage with 5:12 left and at the halftime break the GAC Gold team would be up 31-21. The GAC Gold team looked to be running away with this one once the second half got going as they would up their lead to 38-23 at the 17:13 mark and by the 13:30 mark the GAC Gold team definitely appeared to be in a safe spot up 44-30. By this point, the Carleton team; playing with nothing to lose, started chipping away at the deficit. The GAC Gold team would still enjoy a 55-43 lead with 7:10 left and with 3:55 left they still had a ten-point cushion up 62-52. But the GAC Gold team would have to hang on for dear life in the last few minutes of this one as their once-sizable lead got chopped down to a mere four points at 66-62 before they escaped with a somewhat scary win.
In the 6:50 P.M. slot, the one game I was looking forward to on this night was the game on Court 1 between the Hamline team which had been looking very good as of late and the GAC Alumni team which saw its winning streak snapped a week ago. The Hamline team would be clinging to a 3-2 lead by the 17:12 mark of the first half but then the GAC Alumni team finally got things going with an 8-2 burst thanks to scores by both Kelsey Carpenter (GAC '17) and Miranda Rice (GAC '18) to hold a 10-5 advantage by the 13:20 mark. The GAC Alumni team would maintain that five-point edge up 15-10 just beyond the midway point of the first half and with 6:00 left, that lead would increase to 18-10. By the halftime break, the GAC Alumni team had things going their way up 25-16. The Hamline team would make a bit of a dent in this deficit; getting it down to seven at 25-18 by the 16:10 mark of the second half but they could never find that offensive burst they had been getting in their recent games. As such, the GAC Alumni team would get their lead to ten at 29-19 by the 13:10 mark and although the lead would be down to nine at 30-21 with 9:20 left, the Hamline team could never get reasonably close again. The GAC Alumni team would up up 32-23 with 4:00 left and with just 2:00 left in the contest, the GAC Alumni team was enjoying a 36-23 advantage leaving little doubt as to how this one was going to turn out. Over on Court 2, the Java team and the GAC Black team were going at it and this one would stay close - at least early on anyway. The GAC Black team would hold a 5-2 advantage at the 18:00 mark of the first half and would be up only 7-4 by the 13:30 mark. It wouldn't take long, however, for the GAC Black team to establish the tone in this game as they would stretch their lead to ten points at 16-6 just beyond the midway point of the first half and that lead would be upped to 18-6 with 6:10 left as the Java team went into a funk offensively. That opened the door for the GAC Black team to put its opponent in the rear-view mirror and they did just that as they would hold a sizable 28-10 lead by the halftime break. The GAC Black would maintain this eighteen point edge up 32-14 by the 17:15 mark of the second half and that lead would grow to 38-16 by the 12:35 mark. With 7:33 left, the GAC Black team was in cruise control; up 46-16 as they rolled to an easy victory.
And not much in the way of drama either in the 7:45 P.M. slot - at least on Court 1 anyway between the CSB team and the Concordia St Paul team. The Concordia St Paul team would get a good start out of the gate in this one; holding at 5-0 lead at the 18:40 mark of the first half and growing that lead to 12-5 by the 16:10 mark. The CSB team was still certainly still in this one by this point and with 7:40 left, there was certainly every reason for hope trailing 20-14. However, things would slowly but surely start going south for the CSB team as the Concordia St Paul team would be up 29-18 with 2:10 left and a late run saw them increase that lead to 36-18 by the halftime break. Scoring would come at something of a premium in the opening minutes of the second half but that wouldn't be nearly as damaging to the Concordia St Paul team as it would be to the CSB team. The Concordia St. Paul team would be up 38-18 by the 15:50 mark and by the 12:10 mark, the Concordia St Paul team saw its lead balloon to 40-19. With 6:25 left, the Concordia St Paul team was rolling along up 46-25 so there was little doubt as to how this one was going to turn out. The most interesting game of the night, however, took place over on Court 2 between the Augsburg team and the St. Olaf team. Things would be tight in this one starting off with the game leveled at 4-all by the 16:00 mark and although the Augsburg team managed to poke its nose out in front 6-4 by the 10:45 mark, the St. Olaf team would unleash an 8-0 run that would have them up 12-6 with 7:55 left. Unfazed, the Augsburg team would battle back and close to within a single possession down 16-14 with 4:50 left and then would launch a run of its own that had them back up by a 24-20 count with 1:45 left. The Augsburg team would get a 5-0 burst to close out this first half and with a 29-20 halftime lead, it definitely appeared that they had things going their way. But the wild up-and-down spurts of both teams would only continue once the second half got underway. The Augsburg team's lead would quickly shrink to just three points at 29-26 by the 17:55 mark of the second half and by the 17:10 mark, the lead was cut to a scant point at 29-28. The St. Olaf team would get this one knotted at 32 a piece by the 15:40 mark and the St. Olaf team appeared to have momentum on its side as they held a 37-35 advantage at the 11:30 mark. The Augsburg team, however, would get a big lift - and the lead back as well - when junior-to-be Selena Lor uncorked a "3" at the 10:40 mark to make it 38-37. This see-saw nature would continue as the St. Olaf team would come right back to hold a 41-40 lead with 7:25 left but Lor would again come to the rescue of her Augsburg team as another one of her three-point bombs put the Augsburg team up 43-41 with 6:15 left. The Augsburg team would be up 46-43 with 3:25 left but the St. Olaf team would reduce the deficit down to one at 46-45 with 3:05 left. With 2:05 left, the Augsburg team would be clinging to a 51-49 advantage but the St. Olaf team would get this one tied at 51 when Ella Skrien (St. Olaf '20) connected on a tough jumper with 1:15 left. The Augsburg team would push ahead 53-51 with :55 left but the St. Olaf team had two chances in the last minute to try and force overtime; the last possession being the best one but the Augsburg team would have none of it and they escaped with a tough, fun victory.
Had to head home before the two 8:40 P.M. games got going so I could get my beauty rest before another day of work on Thursday but want to thank all the teams, players and the Midtown YWCA staff for a very fun summer league. Let's do it again next year for sure!
