Had originally planned to cover the GAC vs Macalester game today but upon arriving at Leonard Center, I saw that Macalester currently has a "no spectators" policy. That forced me to go up Snelling Avenue and head over to Robertson Center on the campus of Bethel University for the 1:00 P.M. tilt between visiting St. Kate's and host Bethel. It's been a mixed bag for the Royals as of late and they were coming into this contest on the heels of a tough ten-point loss at league-leading Augsburg on Wednesday night. The Wildcats meanwhile have been trending downard as of late as their three-game losing streak would suggest and trying to steal one at Robertson Center would arguably a very tough task for Head Coach Don Mulhern and his staff.
The Royals would draw first blood in this contest as fifth-year senior Bella Williams would connect with a lay-up at the 9:25 mark of the opening period but right back came St. Kate's as senior forward Sam Orth would go coast-to-coast for a lay-up of her own at the 8:56 mark to get this game leveled. But things would soon sour for the 'Cats as junior guard Mackenzie Kurczek went down with an apparent knee injury and that seemed to take some of the wind out of the sail for the Wildcats as Bethel would establish a lead. Freshman forward Hayden Glander would connect with a short shot off the glass at the 8:37 mark and would also get a pair of free throws to go down at the 6:57 mark after getting fouled to make it a 6-2 ballgame. Senior reserve forward Megan Boegel would snare an offensive rebound and get a putback of her own miss at the 5:45 mark and would also knock down a pair of free throws to go down after getting fouled with 4:02 left to make it 10-3. Sophomore guard Anna Garfield would then connect with a lay-up in transition with 3:45 left to make it 12-3 before St. Kate's finally shook off its shooting struggles on a lay-up by senior reserve post Katie Benjamin with 3:26 left. Still, the Royals were able to expand their lead even more as freshman guard Courtney Nuest would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled with 2:56 left and then Glander would unleash a "3" from the left top area with 2:48 left to make it 16-5 before the 'Cats could finally take a bite out of the deficit on a score in the paint by freshman reserve forward Rachel Randleman with 1:45 left. Bethel would at least establish a ten-point cushion before this first period was over as Nuest would make a hard drive for a finish with 1:35 left and one free throw by Garfield after she was fouled with 1:12 left would make it 19-7. Even though St. Kate's would get the last score of this first period on a jumper from the left wing off the glass by freshman forward Greta Schimnowski with just :08.3 left, the pressure defense by the Royals was already paying big dividends.
St. Kate's would get the deficit trimmed to eight points at 19-11 when senior forward Sam Orth connected on a lay-up at the 9:40 mark of the second period but staying in that single-digit range would be another matter entirely as the Royals would quickly grow the lead again. Fifth-year senior forward Makenna Pearson would bang home a "3" from the left wing area at the 8:29 mark and a score in the paint by Nuest would keep the lead at eleven at 24-13 at the 7:30 mark. A lay-up by Boegel at the 6:31 mark made it 26-14 before the Wildcats finally started showing some semblance of offense again. Orth would connect with a lay-up at the 5:57 mark to get the deficit down to ten at 26-16 and free throws by senior reserve guard Brooke Torvik - one with 4:21 left and another with 2:43 left - helped keep St. Kate's in that ten-point range down 28-18 and there was additional hope now that the 'Cats were in the bonus as well. Torvik would soon exit the contest as she apparently tweaked the knee she currently wears a brace on and had to retreat to the bench. Still, Orth would keep hope alive for the St. Kate's faithful with her score in the paint with :44 left as the Wildcats were still in that ten-point range down 30-20 at the halftime break.
Given all the struggles that the Wildcats had during the first half, the fact that they were down by only ten going into the third period was probably no small miracle and if they could just somehow start slicing and dicing away at the deficit, they could easily get themselves right back into the thick of things. But those hopes soon went up in smoke as Bethel unleashed a game-changing 10-1 spurt to start this third period. Glander would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled at the 8:35 mark and then Pearson would bang home two back-breaking three-point bombs from the left top area - one at the 8:11 mark and then again at the 7:42 mark - that suddenly upped the lead to seventeen at 38-21. Pearson would cap this run as well with her short, turnaround jumper in the lane at the 7:21 mark to make it 40-21 and St. Kate's Mulhern had seen enough bleeding by his team and called a timeout in hopes of reversing the trend. To their credit, the Wildcats recovered somewhat and launched their own 11-4 push to narrow the gap. Orth would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled at the 6:51 mark and a pretty jumper by Benjamin from the free throw line at the 6:11 mark had the deficit down to fifteen at 40-25. A drive and tough finish by freshman reserve forward Sydney Elliot with 4:33 left along with one free throw by junior Bree Glynn after she was fouled with 3:39 left got the deficit down to twelve at 40-28. Elliot would strike again with 2:21 left with a tough score in the paint to keep the deficit at twelve at 42-30 and Glynn would add a lay-up with 1:53 left that would make it a twelve-point deficit again down 44-32 and it seemed like maybe St. Kate's might have another run in them that would allow them to get back to within striking distance. But things quickly went south again for the 'Cats as Bethel's Glander personally left her stamp on this contest. Dagger three-point bombs by the former Norwood-Young America standout - one from the right wing area with 1:32 left and another from the top of the key off of an inbounds pass with :37 left - suddenly stretched the lead to eighteen at 50-32 and the Wildcats' hopes effectively went up in smoke.
And Glander wasn't anywhere near finished with her own personal run that helped put this game away for good. She would start this fourth period with a score in the paint at the 9:49 mark and follow it up a bit later with a lay-up at the 9:16 mark to make it 54-32. The cherry on top for Glander would come for Glander at the 8:34 mark when she unleashed more terror from three-point land with a bomb from the left top area that stretched the lead to 57-32. Orth would finally come to the rescue for St. Kate's at the 7:46 mark with her offensive rebound and putback at the 7:46 mark but by now any thought of a comeback was totally out of the window. The Royals would balloon the lead to thirty-two with a 10-1 run. Garfield would knock down a short jumper at the 7:25 mark and Nuest would add a lay-up in transition at the 7:04 mark to make it 61-34. Garfield would drain a "3" from the right wing area at the 6:23 mark while Nuest would add yet another lay-up in transition at the 5:12 mark to make it 66-35. Freshman reserve guard Olivia Williams would cap this run with a free throw after getting fouled with 4:42 left and St. Kate's could only make small dents down the stretch. Freshman reserve guard Marissa Fronk would make a drive and finish with 4:31 left and Schimnowski would drill a "3" from the right wing area with 3:10 left but again, nothing more than dents that weren't going to make any difference in the final outcome. Bethel Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer would get more of his reserve players into the game down the stretch to finish things off. Junior reserve guard Lindsey Tschetter would get sent to the charity stripe after getting fouled with 2:58 left to knock down a pair of free throws and Boegel would connect with a short, turnaround jumper off the glass with 2:26 left to make it 71-40. Freshman reserve guard Autumn Earney would connect with a jumper from the left wing area off of an inbounds pass with 1:20 left and freshman reserve forward Jenny Wibholm would get one free throw to go down with :57 left after getting fouled as well. St. Kate's freshman guard Kylie Wood would collect the last points of the day on her drive and finish with :32.2 left but it would be way too little and way too late for the Wildcats as Bethel recorded a convincing 74-42 victory.
I was able to catch up with Bethel's Herbrechtsmeyer shortly afterward and mentioned to him that this game today probably made him feel much better about his squad considering what happened Wednesday night over at Augsburg. "I wasn't that disappointed in the how they played.....I was more disappointed that we didn't execute our game plan." He specifically pointed out how the plan was to limit the opportunities that both Jen Masello and Anja Smith had and they simply were unable to execute that. But today, they looked much more efficient offensively and certainly shot the ball much better than they did on Wednesday night and one would have to believe that Herbrechtsmeyer feels infinitely better on that front after today. A look ahead at the home stretch of the regular season looks very favorable - at least on paper anyway - and if they can take care of business down this stretch as they should, they should secure a favorable seed in the MIAC Playoffs. Meanwhile, another painful loss for the Wildcats and the road ahead for St. Kate's is full of tough opponents down the stretch as well with both Augsburg and GAC looming early this next week alone. Mulhern commented afterward how Bethel's defense can just mentally wear on you and that was evident at several times today. And let's hope that both Kurczek and Torvik will get healed up soon and be ready to go again.
A check of the final box score does show one surprise - the fact that the Wildcats had a decided edge on the boards by a 36-29 count. But not much else went right for St. Kate's on this day as the 'Cats suffered 28 turnovers on this day; largely in part due to that darn Bethel defense which can get on you like those raptors from the Jurassic Park movies. That defense, too, forced just a horrible day shooting-wise for St. Kate's as well as they were 16-56 from FG range for 28.6% and just 1-13 from downtown for 7.7%. Even more astounding, the 'Cats shot only 9-21 from the charity stripe and you don't have to be a basketball analyst to know that those numbers simply won't get the job done in any game. Throw in the 32-26 edge that Bethel had in points in the paint and the 26-11 edge they had in points off of turnovers and it's easy to see how this one went. What an outstanding day for Bethel's Glander as she finished with 24 points to lead all scorers and she was 4-5 from downtown as well. Both Nuest and Pearson tallied 11 points and Garfield had a solid day with her 10 points. St. Kate's had to rely heavily on the efforts by Orth today and she certainly didn't disappoint; getting a "double-double" with her 15 points and 10 rebounds. But Orth can't do it alone and the Wildcats need others to step up if they're going to reverse this losing streak that they're currently on.
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