Made the short run over to Arden Hills on this overcast but considerably much nicer early January Saturday afternoon to get into Robertson Center on the campus of Bethel University as host Bethel was getting set to take on visiting St. Olaf. After a rocky start with so many different players out with a variety of ailments, the Royals struggled mightily from the start. In December, however, Bethel finally started getting things turned around and was coming into this game with four straight victories under their belt. Meanwhile, the Oles have been in a tailspin as of late as they've been riding a four-game losing streak coming into this contest on this day and, to make matters worse, St. Olaf would be without their leading scorer today in junior forward Rachel Kelly who did not make the trip up to the Twin Cities for this game.
Somewhat predictably, Bethel would quickly gain the upper hand once this contest got underway; building a 7-2 lead early on in the opening period. Freshman forward Hayden Glander would start things off with an offensive rebound and putback at the 9:16 mark and a crafty steal by fifth-year senior forward Makenna Pearson of an Ole inbounds pass and subsequent lay-up at the 8:34 mark followed by sophomore guard Anna Garfield's lay-up at the 8:03 mark that drew a foul that resulted in the obligatory "and one" had the Royals looking good. Surprisingly, however, St. Olaf would come right back and take a one-point lead on two three-point bombs - one by senior guard K'Lynn Lewis from the right wing area at the 7:43 mark and another one by freshman guard Sarah Tangen at the 7:01 mark from the same right wing area - pushed the Oles out in front 8-7. That was probably the lone bright moment in an otherwise dreadful day for St. Olaf as the Royals quickly answered with a 14-0 run to put them back out in front for good. Freshman guard and former Becker standout Courtney Nuest would start this run with her offensive rebound and putback at the 6:46 mark and a Pearson lay-up in transition at the 6:17 mark had Bethel up 11-8. A bit later, Pearson would strike again at the 5:55 mark with a lay-up that drew a foul and the former Blaine standout's "and one" made it 14-8. Garfield would connect with a short shot off the glass at the 5:14 mark and when freshman reserve guard Kendal Cox connected with a lay-up with 4:51 left to make it 18-8, St. Olaf Head Coach Kelly Mahlum had seen enough to know that a full timeout was warranted in hopes of finding some solution to the Bethel defense that was causing so many problems for her squad. Still, the Royals would finish up this first major run as junior reserve forward Emma Schultz would knock down one freebie after getting fouled with 4:12 left and Pearson would connect with a lay-up off of an inbounds pass with 2:52 left to make it 21-8 before the Oles finally found some semblance of offense. Tangen would connect with a lay-up with 2:21 left and Lewis would make a hard drive for a pretty finish with 1:56 left but Bethel would land two more blows before this first period went into the books. Glander would bang home a "3" from the left top area with :43.6 left and with just :00.3 left, Pearson would get sent to the charity stripe after she was fouled behind the arc and knocked down all three free throws as Bethel carried a 29-12 lead going into the second period.
A quick 7-0 spurt by the Royals widened this gap even more once the second period got underway. Glander would score in the paint at the 9:15 mark and Pearson would uncork a "3" from the top of the key at the 8:45 mark to make it 34-12. Less than a minute later, Pearson would strike again; knocking down a short jumper from the right side in transition to make it 36-12 and once again St. Olaf's Mahlum had to take a match to a timeout to try and slow down this Bethel onslaught. To their credit, the Oles were able to respond as Lewis made a nifty drive for a finish off the glass at the 7:51 mark and junior reserve forward Sarah Howdeshell snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 6:36 mark. Lewis would connect with a short jumper in the lane at the 5:08 mark and would also snare an offensive rebound for a putback with 4:31 left. Freshman forward Sophia Kormann would add a pair of free throws after getting fouled with 3:00 left as well but the trouble was, they just weren't getting enough of these opportunities that might've reasonably closed the gap some. And Bethel's defense had a lot to do with that and they showed no signs of slowing up either. Holding a 42-22 lead, the Royals went back to work as Nuest would connect with a short, one-handed shot in the lane with 2:48 left and one free throw by Garfield with 2:27 left pushed the lead to 45-22. Just before the halftime break, Nuest would strike twice - first, snaring a steal and dashing the other way for a lay-up with 1:04 left and also getting a score in the paint with :24 left as Bethel took a sizable 49-23 lead into the locker room at intermission. A quick glance of the first half box score tells you pretty much everything you need to know on the how/what/why of this game up to this point. The Oles committed 15 turnovers to the Royals six and Bethel had 13 steals to just two for St. Olaf. Going 9-28 from FG range as St. Olaf did in the first half along with just 3-9 from the charity stripe didn't help their cause either. Compare that with Bethel's 18-39 from FG range for 46.2% and and 11-13 from the free throw stripe for 84.6%.
And in case anyone thought that the Royals didn't mean business in this one, that notion was quickly put to rest once the third period got going as Bethel launched a 12-2 run. Nuest would start it off with a lay-up in transition at the 9:26 mark and the former Becker standout would add another lay-up at the 9:05 mark to make it a thirty-point cushion at 53-23. Glander would get a score in the paint at the 8:27 mark and then Pearson would heat up from behind the arc - dropping one three-point bomb from the right corner at the 7:32 mark and banging home another "3" from the right top area at the 7:04 mark - that would up the Royals lead to 61-25. The answers from St. Olaf were coming too few and far between although Lewis; enroute to a solid afternoon on this day, would connect with a lay-up at the 6:43 mark as would Howdeshell at the 5:16 mark. But already down 65-29, the Oles were going to need a lot more than that and it just wasn't happening on this day. Bethel's Cox would knock down a short jumper with 4:55 left and a Nuest "3" from the right wing area with 4:28 left made it 70-29 and a Nuest lay-up in transition with 2:57 left pushed the lead to 72-29. Junior reserve forward Emma Schultz would get a score in the paint with 2:11 left as would Glander with 1:42 left to make it 76-33. Freshman reserve guard/forward Lauren Johnson would be fouled with 1:14 left and would get the first free throw attempt to cooperate but the back-end attempt missed its mark. No big deal for the Royals as Glander would be there for the offensive rebound and putback to push the lead to 79-33. Fifth year senior guard Bella Williams would connect with a lay-up in transition with :46 left and Garfield's lay-up with just :10 left gave Bethel an insurmountable fifty-point cushion up 83-33 going into the fourth period.
The Royals showed no signs of letting their collective foot off the gas pedal anytime soon once the fourth period got under way going on an 8-2 push. Glander would get a score in the paint off of an inbounds pass with 9:33 left and Pearson would snare an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback at the 9:00 mark to make it 87-33. Nuest would add a lay-up in transition at the 7:50 mark as would Glander at the 7:16 mark to make it 91-35 before St. Olaf's Lewis would drain a "3" at the 6:31 mark to make a dent in this already mountain of a deficit. Lewis would uncork another "3" from the left wing area at the 5:32 mark and Tangen's drive and finish with 4:57 left helped make a few more dents but nothing was stopping this Bethel Royal steamroller on this day as they put the finishing touches on this one down the stretch. Cox would make a pretty drive and finish with 4:34 left and two free throws by junior reserve guard Lindsey Tschetter with 3:37 left along with a Tschetter jumper from the left wing area with 2:57 left got the Royals to the century mark with a 100-43 lead. Freshman reserve forward Jenny Wibholm got into the paint for a score with 1:12 left and although St. Olaf's Tangen would get the last points on this afternoon with her jumper from the right wing area with :11.7 left, Bethel would get the blowout victory by a final count of 102-47.
I was able to catch up with Bethel Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer afterward and although this game was more or less a forgone conclusion, I asked him about what getting this victory today meant for this team going forward. He was very pleased with his team's defensive effort on this day and added "We finally look like we're playing Bethel basketball." He added that they've been able to get things turned around with the consistency on defense and getting some of their injured players - notably Garfield - back but he has had some of his younger players step up for him as well (personally, I think Nuest has made huge strides as a freshman and adjusting to a new system - not an easy thing for a first-year player to do) and he really likes how Cox is coming along as well. "She's a very crafty left-handed player and she's going to be a very good defender as well" added Herbrechtsmeyer. To be sure, Bethel is still without junior guard Kat Brown-Erdal and freshman guard Autumn Earney and although Herbrechtsmeyer wouldn't delve into specifics, getting them back - whenever that is - will be huge. Although only sporting a 6-5 overall record right now and 5-3 in the MIAC, it's becoming clearer and clearer that the Royals will undoubtedly be a factor in the conference race if they can keep performing at a high level as they did today. Balance would be the key word when you look at the final box score on this one for Bethel. Pearson's 25 points led all scorers on this day and Glander wasn't behind with her 21 points. Nuest tallied 19 points and Garfield finished with 12 points. Despite the lopsided loss, St. Olaf's Lewis had a solid day with her 19 points and Tangen finished with 11 points. Undoubtedly, St. Olaf's Mahlum might need a couple of Tylenol PMs on this Saturday night as her squad was guilty of 30 turnovers on this afternoon which led to 34 points for Bethel. The Royals also enjoyed a whopping 66-24 advantage in points in the paint and although the rebounding margin wasn't that big of a factor on this day with Bethel holding a 35-28 advantage, the Royals did enjoy a 33-4 edge in fast break points.
No comments:
Post a Comment