Made the run over to Robertson Center on this clear, cold February Wednesday evening to take in one of the four Quarterfinal Playoff games happening on this night - this one between visiting Carleton and host Bethel. These games were originally slated to take place on Tuesday night but Mother Nature had vastly different ideas with the latest snowstorm to hit a good portion of Minnesota on Tuesday so things got shoved to Wednesday night. In any event, the Knights were arguably the hottest and trendiest team in the MIAC coming into these MIAC Playoffs; having won seven of their eight last regular season games; the lone blemish coming in the regular season finale against this same Bethel team in this same venue. And Carleton withstood a tough challenge from Macalester on Saturday in their Play-In game to advance to this Quarterfinal round. The Royals meanwhile were entering these Playoffs on an eight-game win streak of their own which they had been doing very quietly and systematically with defense taking center stage but now another stern challenge awaited with this Carleton team that they had managed to fend off in a tough 67-63 finish in that regular season finale.
True to form, Knights Head Coach Tammy Metcalf-Filzen had her squad in their trademark 2-3 matchup zone defense and that tactic appeared to pay some dividends in the early moments of the opening period. Senior point guard Jill Yanai would sneak through for a lay-up at the 8:54 mark and a Yanai score in the paint at the 7:30 mark had Carleton up 4-2. At the 6:32 mark, Yanai; the Glendale, CA native, would strike again with a dart into the lane for a finish that gave the Knights a 6-4 edge. It was here, however, where things suddenly started going sour for Carleton as the Royals turned up the heat with their trademark defense and left the visiting Knights stifled. A "3" from the right top area at the 5:53 mark by freshman forward Hayden Glander helped spark a key 11-0 Bethel run. Fifth-year senior forward Makenna Pearson would follow that up with a lay-up at the 5:20 mark and then slender junior reserve guard Kat Brown-Erdal slithered into the paint for a score with 3:13 left that had the Royals up 11-6. Then freshman guard and former Becker standout Courtney Nuest; like a thief in the night, snared a steal and dashed the other way for a lay-up with 2:26 left to push the Bethel lead to 13-6. Glander would bookend this key run with two free throws after she was fouled with 1:24 left before the Knights finally ended their scoring drought on an offensive rebound and putback by sophomore forward Jasmine Choi (which was somewhat fascinating to watch as she was practically on her knees when she launched the putback) with :57 left. Still, the Knights would open up some more separation before the first period was in the books as Pearson would bang home a "3" from the left top area with :49 left and Nuest would connect on a lay-up with :27 left as Bethel took a 20-10 lead into the second period.
Carleton would make a bid to pull closer once the second period got underway. Junior guard Aiana Whitfield would connect with a lay-up at the 9:31 mark and would follow that up with one free throw at the 8:12 mark after she was fouled that had the Knights back in single-digit range again down 22-13. But that glimmer of hope quickly faded as Bethel launched another major offensive in the form of an 8-2 push. Brown-Erdal would get fouled at the 8:01 mark and the former Jordan standout would get both charity stripe attempts to go down and a score in the paint by Glander at the 7:12 mark had the Royals up 26-13. Glander would repeat her previous effort at the 6:38 mark as she muscled into the paint for another score and then Brown-Erdal would connect with a sleek lay-up in transition at the 6:15 mark that now had Bethel up 30-15 and the Knights' Metcalf-Filzen had seen enough to know that she had to take a match to a timeout to get her troops reorganized. Carleton's Choi would end this latest scoring drought as she connected on a lay-up at the 6:01 mark but the Knights were going to need a lot more to keep pace and they simply weren't getting it as Bethel continued to widen the gap with an 11-2 blitz to close out this second period. Senior reserve forward Megan Boegel would start off this latest run with a lay-up at the 5:51 mark and then Brown-Erdal would get bakd-to-back scores - a lay-up in transition at the 5:27 mark and a lay-up with 3:03 left - that had the Royals up 36-17. Pearson would then knock down a short jumper in the lane with 2:21 left and sophomore guard Anna Garfield would connect on a short, turnaround jumper in the lane with 1:14 left to stretch Bethel's lead to 40-19. Brown-Erdal would also add one free throw after getting fouled with :11.1 left as the Royals took a hefty 41-19 lead into the locker room at the half.
Bethel's Nuest started the scoring in the third period with a (seemingly) routine lay-up in transition at the 7:40 mark but the Knights showed a renewed sense of fight and resolve coming out of the locker room despite the sizable deficit. Choi would knock down a short jumper in the lane at the 7:23 mark and would add one free throw after getting fouled at the 6:54 mark as well. Freshman reserve post Bella Thomas would connect with a tough jumper along the left baseline just inside the arc at the 5:12 mark and a steal and lay-up the other way by sophomore reserve guard Isabelle Henry had the deficit down to seventeen at 43-26. Thomas would add two more scores for Carleton as well - a score in the paint with 3:46 left and a short jumper off the glass with 3:00 left - that got the deficit down to fifteen at 45-30. The Royals' Boegel would try and restore some order to this contest with her offensive rebound for a putback with 2:38 left and then Brown-Erdal would restore Bethel's safety net as she would connect on another sleek lay-up in transition with 2:19 left that also drew a foul and Brown-Erdal would get the obligatory "and one" to go down as well to make it a 50-30 ballgame once again. But Royals Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer may have been a bit concerned as his squad seemed to stagnate on the offensive end during this third period and Carleton as a Yanai lay-up with 1:29 left and a score in the paint by sophomore guard Emma Henry with just :04.5 left in this third period allowed the Knights to creep back to within nineteen down 53-34 as the game morphed into the fourth period.
And a partisan Bethel crowd inside Robertson Center had to be a bit concerned as well as the Knights continued to make inroads on this sizable Bethel cushion with an 8-2 push to start this fourth period. Choi would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled at the 9:34 mark and a Yanai score in the paint at the 8:44 mark had the deficit down to fifteen at 53-38. Choi would get fouled again at the 8:22 mark and two more free throws by the former Osseo standout now had that deficit slimmed down to thirteen at 53-40. Isabelle Henry would also get fouled at the 7:39 mark and her two free throws kept Carleton in that thirteen-point range down 55-42 and provided some gleam of hope for the Northfield gang. But the Knights would take a bit of a hit shortly thereafter as Whitfield collected her fourth foul of the evening at the 7:09 mark and that little hit seemed to spark Bethel as they were able to catch their collective breaths and get some semblance of offense going again. Brown-Erdal would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled at the 6:46 mark and Glander would drain a huge "3" from the right wing area at the 5:00 mark to get the lead to fifteen at 59-44 which seemed to have order restored again at Robertson Center. But this tricky Carleton team refused to break out the white flag as they would embark on one more bid to try and get this one close again. Thomas would connect with a jumper along the right baseline with 4:44 left and two free throws by Whitfield after she was fouled with 3:14 left and two more by Yanai with 2:36 left seemed to give the Knights another spark. Bethel's Glander would try to add some insurance on this one with her score in the paint with 1:59 left to make it a 67-50 game but Carleton still refused to fold. Emma Henry would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled with 1:50 left and Whitfield would add a pair after she was fouled with 1:37 left to get the deficit down to fourteen at 67-53. A bit later, Whitfield would strike again with a steal and lay-up the other way with 1:10 left that now had the deficit down to twelve at 67-55. The Knights' Metcalf-Filzen would then call a timeout to try and find some more magic in a short timespan and, to their credit, Carleton would get the deficit down to ten when Choi connected with a lay-up in transition with :58.9 left that now had the deficit down to ten at 67-57. That's where the Royals would put their foot down and say "No more" as Boegel would connect with a lay-up with :38.9 left and Brown-Erdal would knock down a pair of free throws for insurance after she was fouled with :25.7 left. Carleton's Isabelle Henry would connect on a pretty reverse lay-up with :05 left but the Knights ran out of time as Bethel would advance to the MIAC Playoff Semifinals with a 71-59 victory.
This was only the second time I was able to catch Carleton this season and, despite the loss, they definitely did seem like a team that had improved dramatically since they got ran out of Si Melby Hall by Augsburg back in early December. You watch this Carleton team play and it's interesting to see how this group works. It's almost like their mantra; nee, their modus operandi, is try and beat you by the "Death by 1,000 paper cuts" approach. They play very smart and their 2-3 zone defense can be problematic for opponents to say the least and there's a reason why they won eight out of their last ten games. If there's anyone who can get the most out of their team, it's Metcalf-Filzen and she has enough MIAC Championship Game trophies from the early- and mid-2000s to prove it. At the same time, as good as this Carleton team was down the stretch, there are some inherent limitations with this current group. It was clear that Bethel was the bigger and more physical team on this night and the Knights really don't have what you would call a true "lights out" shooter. Back in the day when you had players like a Linnea Engel, an Angie Grabowski, a Renee Willette, a Megan Vig, a Kristi Colbenson or a Karissa Kramer, you had a group that could beat you from the perimeter or beat you into a pulp down low. That's not the case right now but I think Carleton and Metcalf-Filzen have this program back on the upward trend again. Just to emphasize my point here, the Knights were 0-14 from three-point land on this night and ultimately that proved to be costly for them. To their credit, the Knights were 19-22 from the charity stripe for 86.4% compared to Bethel's 12-18 for 66.7%. But you look further and you see where the Royals had a huge advantage in points in the paint by a 50-34 margin along with a 22-16 advantage in points off of turnovers and a 27-19 advantage in bench points and it becomes easier to see how and why Bethel was able to prevail despite the comeback bid(s) by Carleton.
It was a relatively balanced scoring attack by Bethel on this night as Brown-Erdal's 17 points led all scorers on this night and both Glander and Nuest chipped in with 14 points. Carleton was relatively balanced as well as Choi's 15 points paced the Knights while Yanai tallied 12 points and Thomas finished with 10 points.
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