After catching some of the morning action of Girls HS basketball at the Breakdown Tip-Off, I made the late morning run over to Si Melby Hall on the campus of Augsburg University to take in the 1:00 P.M. game between visiting Carleton and host Augsburg. The Knights were coming off the throngs of a 76-50 loss at Gustavus on Wednesday night while the host Auggies had strung together a nice little three-game win streak; the latest being a resounding 82-55 up on the shores of Gitche Gumee in Duluth against newest MIAC member St. Scholastica. Now in the comfy confines on Si Melby Hall, the Auggies were looking to extend that win streak and stay in the heat of the upper echelon of the MIAC standings as well.
The Auggies would certainly get the start they wanted - bolting out to a 5-0 lead thanks to two of their seniors: 5'11" post Jen Masello's score in the paint at the 9:11 mark and point guard Selena Lor's three-point bomb from the right top area at the 8:36 mark. Carleton got on the board at the 7:46 mark when senior guard Jill Yanai snared an offensive rebound and got a short jumper from the right side to go down but two more scores in the paint by Augsburg's Masello - one at the 6:45 mark and another at the 6:01 mark - gave the home team a bit more breathing room up 9-4. The Knights would crawl back to within a single possession when sophomore forward Jasmine Choi knocked down a jumper from the right wing area at the 5:42 mark but then Auggie fans would start getting a glimpse of fun things to come in this contest. Sophomore guard Kalena Myers drained a "3" from the top of the key at the 5:22 mark and sophomore reserve guard Katie Manecke would follow suit with her own three-point bomb from the right corner with 2:19 left that grew Augsburg's lead to 15-6. Before things could get out of hand, Carleton would manage to trim the deficit down just a bit as junior guard Aina Whitfield connected with a jumper from the top of the key, just inside the arc with 1:39 left and a Choi lay-up in transition with :41 left had the Knights down by seven at 17-10 going into the second period. But it was become clear that Carleton would really have to make a concerted effort to shut off the many offensive weapons that the Auggies possessed if they wanted to stay reasonably close.
Augsburg gained their first double-digit advantage early on in the second period on two quick scores within the first minute. Masello; whose game has grown tremendously over her career with the Auggies, snared a steal and raced the other way for an easy lay-up at the 9:48 mark and then Myers; the deceptively quick guard out of Apple Valley, made a crafty move along the left baseline for a finish at the 9:04 mark that had Augsburg up 21-10. The Knights managed to get back into single-digit range when willowy sophomore guard Isabelle Henry snagged a steal and whizzed downcourt the other way for a lay-up that also drew a foul and her obligatory "and one" had the deficit cut down to eight at 21-13 and gave a ray of hope for the Carleton faithful. But that ray of hope quickly faded into the gloomy early winter air outside as the Auggies unleashed a 14-0 blitz that changed the complexion of this contest for good. Masello started this push with a score in the paint at the 8:09 mark and then two scores by Myers - a short jumper along the left baseline at the 7:41 mark and a three-point bomb from the top of the key at the 7:03 mark - suddenly had the lead up to fifteen at 28-13. Then slender sophomore reserve forward Anja Smith got involved in a big way for Augsburg as she would connect with a lay-up in transition to make it 30-13 and Knights Head Coach Tammy Metcalf-Filzen had seen enough to know that a thirty-second timeout was warranted. Still, Myers would cap this big run with a steal and lay-up the other way at the 6:26 mark and a "3" from the left wing area at the 6:05 mark to make it 35-13 before Carleton could finally stop the bleeding on Yanai's jumper from the left wing area with 4:40 left. But the Auggies' Smith was just getting warmed up as she would get four scores in a row to widen the gap even more. The Kewaskum, WI native got one score in the paint with 4:11 left and then would nail a cold-blooded "3" from the right corner with 3:41 left to make it 40-18. With 3:14 left, Smith would strike again with a forceful drive along the right baseline for a finish and with 2:18 left, Smith would drain another "3" - this one from the right with area that ballooned Augsburg's lead to 45-18. Although the Knights would record the last bucket of this second period on Choi's short jumper in the lane with :32 left, Carleton had to feel a bit KO'd going into the locker room at the half down 45-20 and a check of the first half box score would certainly underscore that notion. Thanks to the heroics from the triumvirate of Masello/Myers/Smith, Augsburg shot 19-30 from FG range for 63.3% and the Auggies were also 7-13 from downtown for a 53.8% clip. Carleton meanwhile went 9-28 from FG range for 32.1% and was an icy 1-12 from behind the arc for 8.3%. That pretty told the story right there. Twelve first half turnovers by the Knights did not help their cause either.
The Auggies showed no sign of letting their foot off the gas pedal anytime soon once the third period got underway either with a 9-4 burst to start things off. A Masello lay-up at the 9:51 mark and another "3" by Myers at the 9:13 mark had Augsburg up by thirty at 50-20. Another Masello lay-up at the 7:26 mark maintained the thirty-point lead at 52-22 and an offensive rebound and putback by junior forward Jaley Coplin at the 5:32 mark did likewise for a 54-24 Auggie advantage. Carleton finally started finding some semblance of offensive efficiency as freshman reserve forward Aurora Davis would connect with a jumper from the left top area just inside the arc at the 5:17 mark and a pretty drive and finish by Yanai with 4:03 left trimmed the deficit down to twenty-six at 54-28 and a short jumper by freshman reserve post Bella Thomas with 2:39 left did the same with the Knights down 56-30. But the offensive firepower of this Augsburg team would simply be too much to overcome on this afternoon as the Auggies started heating up again. Junior guard Grace Eastman would make a hard drive for a finish that also drew a foul and her ensuing "and one" got the Auggie lead to 59-30 with 2:15 left. Smith would make a drive along the left baseline for a finish with 1:30 left and Smith would cap this third period with a lay-up with :55 left as Augsburg took a commanding 63-31 lead into the fourth period.
Perhaps the only down note for the Auggies on this day came early on in the fourth period at the 8:39 mark when Masello collected her fourth foul of the afternoon and had to go to the pine but with such a sizable lead at their disposal, it had no effect on the outcome of the contest for Augsburg. The Knights meanwhile certainly weren't giving up by any means as Thomas would connect with a lay-up in transition at the 7:13 mark and Henry would drop two free throws after getting fouled at the 6:49 mark. Yanai would also connect with a lay-up at the 6:24 mark but these scores were merely dents in an already sizable deficit. This also gave Augsburg Head Coach Ted Riverso an opportunity to start inserting some of his reserve players to get them some valuable minutes on the floor. Senior reserve forward Kevin Boysen knocked down one free throw after getting fouled at the 5:44 mark and after a Smith score in the paint at the 5:06 mark and one Smith free throw with 4:28 left that made it 67-37, junior reserve guard Chloe Kintop banged home a "3" from the left wing area with 2:15 left. Freshman reserve guard Mercedes Romo would also knock down a jumper from the left top area just inside the arc with 1:21 left as the Auggies rolled to an easy 72-45 victory.
While happy with the big win afterward, the Auggies' Riverso was cautious not to get too high or too excited about the outcome. I did pose the question to Riverso if, given this performance today, if his squad could be considered a dark horse title contender. Riverso more or less downplayed the idea stating that there's likely a lot of dark horse candidates given the current wide-open nature of the MIAC at the moment. Still, you have to think that, given this performance today, the Auggies may easily be a lot better than a lot of people initially thought - including your's truly. Riverso did say that they do need to work on the consistency aspect of things which is obviously important but there's still a lot of potential with this squad if this team can stay healthy. And a big game looms for them on Wednesday (12-8) when they travel down US Highway 169 and the Mankato Sub portion of Union Pacific's "Omaha Route" mainline down to St. Peter to take on GAC which will obviously be another test for this team. For Carleton meanwhile, it's obviously back to the drawing board as the Knights' Metcalf-Filzen could only say "We gotta get better; we'll be better." What can you say about Augsburg's Smith on this day as she had something of a coming-out party; leading all scorers with 23 points. Myers was not far behind with her 18 points and Masello just missed out on a "double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds. Carleton's Henry was the only player in double figures scoring-wise with her 13 points. The box score was one-sided in Augsburg's favor as well as the Auggies were 30-51 from FG range for 58.8% and 9-19 from three-point land for 47.4% companred to Carleton's 19-55 from FG range for 34.5% and 1-16 from behind the arc for 6.3%. Ouch, indeed. Augsburg held a sizable advantage in points in the paint by a 38-24 margin and a 13-6 advantage in second-chance points. Throw in a 37-25 rebounding advantage plus the fact that Augsburg controlled the tempo for most of the game gives you an idea of how this game really went.
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