Made the trip over to Arden Hills and Robertson Center on the campus of Bethel University on this bitterly cold Wednesday night to take in the huge contest between visiting Hamline which wandered up Snelling Avenue and host Bethel. The Pipers had righted the ship this last weekend knocking off St. Kate's on the road while the Royals were riding an eight-game win streak coming into this contest and they were arguably looking like their old selves again. Given that Bethel finally appeared to be at full strength (or close to that) again for this contest, my money was on the Royals on this night.
Bethel would grab a 4-2 advantage early on in the opening period; trying to set the tone with its defense as freshman guard Courtney Nuest would connect on lay-up in transition off of a steal at the 9:42 mark along with two free throws by fifth-year senior Bella Williams after she was fouled at the 9:13 mark. But the Pipers would take their cue as one score in the paint by junior forward Tess Hauer at the 9:00 mark and a lay-up by flashy sophomore forward Lydia Lecher at the 8:34 mark had Hamline up 6-4. That lead would increase to 8-4 when fellow sophomore guard Larisa O'Neil buried a jumper from the right wing area at the 7:29 mark and a lay-up by junior reserve guard Chan'el Anderson-Manning at the 5:23 mark maintained that four-point edge at 10-6. Bethel would bite a chunk out of that cushion with 3:54 left when fifth-year senior forward Makenna Pearson banged home a "3" from the top of the key and a lay-up by sophomore guard Anna Garfield with 2:50 left kept the Royals in that one-point range down 12-11. Bethel would finally regain the lead at 13-12 when freshman forward Hayden Glander muscled into the paint for a score with 1:51 left. The Pipers would retake the lead at 14-13 when senior guard Gabby Robinson knocked down a short jumper in the lane with :20 left and up to this point anyway, the only fly in the ointment for Hamline was that Lecher had collected her second foul of the contest late in the first period and Pipers Head Coach Alex Focke wasn't taking any chances in getting one of his top players in foul trouble early on.
Bethel would grab a slight advantage once the second period got underway. Glander would snare an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback at the 9:23 mark to nudge the Royals back out in front 15-14 and two more Glander scores - a lay-up at the 8:34 mark and a score in the paint at the 7:49 mark - would up the lead to three at 19-16. Senior reserve forward Megan Boegel would get a score in the paint as well at the 5:35 mark to keep the lead at three at 21-18 but this Hamline team wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Senior guard Sophie Findell connected with a lay-up at the 5:21 mark to close the gap to one and two Findell free throws after she was fouled with 4:50 left put the Pipers back out in front 22-21. Both teams would trade one-point leads over the next two minutes and with Bethel holding a 25-24 advantage, Hamline would make a late move. Robinson would get one free throw to go down with 2:45 left after getting fouled that got this game deadlocked at 25 and then sophomore reserve guard Michaela Stamer would drill a "3" with 1:50 left to give the Pipers a 28-25 advantage. Both teams would miss out on opportunities in the waning minute as Hamline took that three-point lead into the locker room at the half. Certainly not an insurmountable lead by any means from a Bethel standpoint but one bothersome aspect of this contest so far for Bethel was that they just weren't "clicking" on offense like they normally do and already there had been several easy missed opportunities.
That trend would continue once the third period got started as Hamline managed to establish a bit more breathing room. Lecher would connect with a lay-up in transition at the 8:46 mark to make it 30-25 and one Findell free throw at the 7:08 mark after she was fouled had the Pipers up 31-27. To their credit, Bethel would manage to get this one leveled agaiin. Garfield would bury a "3" from the left wing area at the 6:55 mark and Garfield would follow that up with one free throw after getting fouled at the 5:49 mark that had this game tied at 31. The Royals had a chance to poke their nose out in front when junior reserve guard Kat Brown-Erdal; back after being out on concussion protocol, got sent to the charity stripe after getting fouled at the 5:45 mark but the former Jordan standout was unable to connect on either attempt. That effectively left the door open for Hamline to take control again and they responded. O'Neil would unleash a three-point bomb from the right corner off of an inbounds pass with 4:39 left to give the Pipers a 34-31 lead and a pretty drive and finish by Anderson-Manning with 3:51 left maintained the three-point edge at 36-33. Perhaps one of the most telling points of this ballgame came shortly after when Bethel had not one but two chances to at least get this game leveled or even take the lead but pairs of missed free throws by Glander - with 3:39 left and with 3:37 left - would prove costly for the Royals. Hamline's Anderson-Manning would get fouled in a transition opportunity with 2:56 left to widen the gap to five at 38-33 and two more free throws by Findell with just :01.7 left increased the lead to seven at 40-33 and arguably put Bethel in a very bad spot considering how their shooting night was going thus far.
The Royals certainly were not going to go down without a fight in this one as they managed to close within a single possession once the fourth period got underway. Nuest; the former Becker standout, snared a steal like a thief in the night and raced the other way for a lay-up at the 9:45 mark to cut the deficit to five at 40-35 and two Glander free throws after she was fouled at the 9:01 mark had the Royals right back in the thick of things down 40-37. But one of the big components of this Bethel team; Pearson, would get tagged with her fourth foul of the evening at the 8:59 mark and Royals Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer had no choice but to yank the former Blaine standout for a spell. Still, Bethel would manage to keep this one tantalizingly close. Down 42-37, Boegel would slither into the paint for a score at the 6:17 mark to draw the Royals back to within a single possession again down 42-39 and with 4:48 left, Pearson - now back on the floor with those four fouls - would knock down a short jumper in the lane to keep Bethel in striking distance down 44-41 with a ton of time left. But the Royals would never see those three points and things would start going south at this juncture. Hamline would get into the bonus with 4:17 left when junior forward Iyanna Wieland was fouled by none other than Bethel's Pearson and her two free throws not only put the Pipers up 46-41 but sent Pearson to the pine for the rest of the night. Hauer would add one free throw with 3:12 left after getting fouled but there was still a chance for the Royals down just 47-43. The killer came with 2:49 left when Hamline's Findell unleashed a dagger "3" from the right corner off of an inbounds pass that now made it a 50-43 ballgame. Bethel would make one last gasp bid as Brown-Erdal would nail a "3" from the right corner with 2:35 left to reduce the deficit to four at 50-46 and Brown-Erdal would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled with 2:03 left that had the Royals back to within a single possession again down 50-47. But again, those three points would prove to be too much to overcome on this night as Hamline applied the finishing touches on this one. Hauer would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled with :42.5 left and Robinson would connect with a lay-up in transition with 25.5 left that made it 53-47. Two Findell free throws with :09.5 left upped the lead to 55-47. Bethel's Garfield would connect with a drive and finish with :01.8 left but it was way too little, way too late as the Pipers earned a cherished 55-49 road victory.
I was able to catch up with Bethel's Herbrechtsmeyer afterward and I mentioned to him that I had figured that a relatively low-scoring game such as this one would have gone in favor of the Royals. But Herbrechtsmeyer pointed out that "they were more aggressive than we were and we couldn't put the ball in the hole." Indeed, he grimaced when he check the final box score on this night that showed that the Royals shot 20-62 from FG range for 32.3% and was an icy 3-21 from downtown for 14.3%. The real shocker, however, was from the charity stripe where the Royals were 6-18 for 33.3%. Let that figure sink in for a moment. You just don't see many teams shooting as poorly as the Royals did on this night from the free throw line and in a close game like this one was, it was incredibly costly. The odd thing was that Bethel owned the boards on this night by a hefty 42-30 count but that advantage was practically wiped away by the bad shooting on this night. Also, Bethel did have a 34-26 advantage in points in the paint - another figure effectively nullified. One big stat that does stand out: Hamline had a 23-16 advantage in points off turnovers. One more item about this Hamline team that stands out to me: In all the years I've watched MIAC women's basketball and Hamline in particular, I've never seen a Piper team that's this deep. That depth is one of the reasons that Focke has been able to take Hamline into the upper echelon of the conference and with the bad bout of COVID presumably behind them now, this team can do a lot of damage - not only in the regular season but the MIAC Playoffs as well.
A big night indeed for Hamline's Findell as her 16 points led all scorers and she was pretty solid from the charity stripe on this night as well going 9-12. But there were also a lot of other contributors on this night for the Pipers as well - Robinson (perhaps one of the more under-appreciated players in this conference), Hauer, O'Neil and, of course, Lecher who arguably had to walk something of a tightrope on this night when she got into foul trouble. This is a fun team to watch and you should definitely get out there and catch them in action. Both Garfield and Glander led the Bethel attack with their ten points and Glander had a "double-double" with her 12 rebounds.
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