Another wild night at the Midtown YWCA Women's College Summer League this last Wednesday night and here's the results of the games I was able to cover:
6:15 P.M. Games
Augsburg - 49
GAC Gold - 46
CSB - 57
The Melting Pots - 30
Hamline - 45
Carleton - 42 2OTs
7:00 P.M. Games
GAC Alumni - 45
UW-River Falls - 43
Old But Not That Old - 50
Midwest Basketball - 49
St. Kate's - 62
Macalester - 53
If the word "nuthouse" and "basketball" could be used in the same breath, that would aptly describe much of the action I got to cover on this Wednesday night and there were a handful of entertaining games to say the least. It all started over on Court 1 in the 6:15 P.M. slot that saw the GAC Gold team taking on the Augsburg team in something of another rematch of this last season's MIAC Championship Game. As you might expect, this one would be tight at the outset with the Augsburg team holding a 3-2 advantage at the 8:35 mark of the opening period and the game would be leveled at 6 a piece with 2:30 left in the first period. Fittingly, things would still be deadlocked at nine by the end of the first period as well. The Augsburg team would take the initiative once the second period got underway; grabbing a 16-14 advantage and a "3" would push that lead to 19-14 near the midway point of the second period. Curiously, the GAC Gold team would struggle offensively and that allowed the Augsburg team to establish some breathing room; getting a 26-16 lead late in the second period and enjoying a 28-19 advantage by the halftime break. But somehow you knew that the GAC Gold team wouldn't be held down for long and they started clawing their way back into the thick of things once the third period got underway; cutting the deficit to seven at 31-24 early on in the third period and closing to four points down 34-30 midway through the third period. The Augsburg team was still clinging to that four-point advantage up 36-32 late in the third period but by the end of the third period, the GAC Gold team made it a one-possession game down 38-36. The Augsburg team again tried to open up a bit more breathing space once the fourth period got underway; getting a 40-37 advantage early on but this GAC Gold team was not going anywhere as they would eventually get this one leveled and get on a push that had them in the driver's seat with a 46-42 advantage. But just when you thought that the GAC Gold team had control of things, the Augsburg team said, "Not so fast". A jumper by junior-to-be Kalena Myers reduced the deficit to one at 46-45 with 1:45 left. Another score by the Augsburg team suddenly propelled them back out in front at 47-46 and senior-to-be Jaley Coplin would add an insurance lay-up with :25 left that helped give the Augsburg team a dramatic 49-46 victory and exacted a bit of revenge for what took place back in late February...... Sandwiching the two wild games in this time slot was the contest over on Court 2 between the CSB team and The Melting Pots team. Though the CSB team would start out a bit slow; taking an early 3-0 lead in the opening minutes of the first period and growing that to 6-0 by the midway point of the first period, the floodgates would soon open up as the CSB team would close out this opening period on a 10-1 run to hold a 16-1 lead by the end of the first period. By the midway point of the second period, the CSB team was rolling; up 24-7 before The Melting Pots team finally found some semblance of offense and cut the CSB team's lead down to 26-14 by the halftime break. But a quick 6-2 push by the CSB team at the start of the third period put to rest any notion of The Melting Pots team making serious inroads on this one with the CSB team up 32-16. By the end of the third period, things were pretty much academic on this one with the CSB team up comfortably at 43-19 and by the midway point, it was all over but the crying as the CSB team was cruising up 48-26 as they cruised to an easy win...... The other wild game going on during this time slot was ensuing over on Court 3 as two old MIAC rivals; the Carleton team and the Hamline team, were going at it and using the term "wild" may not have done this contest justice. In any event, scoring would come at something of a premium when this one got underway with the Carleton team clinging to a 2-1 lead by the midway point of the first period but then the Hamline team got untracked and got on a scoring spree to hold an 11-4 lead by the end of the first period. That got the attention of the Carleton team as they quickly woke up and got the deficit cut to two point at 16-14 early on in the second period and they would eventually get this one leveled at 16 just beyond the midway point of the second period. Both teams would hunker down defensively and this one would be knotted at 18 a piece by the halftime break. The Hamline team would poke its nose out in front by a 22-21 count early on in the third period and a "3" would give them a little breathing space with a 25-21 advantage by the 6:45 mark of the third period. The Hamline team would hold a 29-25 lead late in the third period and by the end of the third period they had re-established that five point lead at 32-27. But counting this Carleton team out has proven to be a dangerous proposition before and they closed the gap to two points at 34-32 by the 6:00 mark of the fourth period and the Hamline team was still trying to nurse that two-point advantage with 4:00 left in regulation up 36-34. The Carleton team would finally get this one tied up at 36 with 3:35 left and with 2:00 left the game would still be tied at 39 a piece as the tension mounted. With 1:00 left in regulation, the Carleton team would poke its nose out in front by a 41-39 count but the Hamline team would come right back to get this one leveled at 41 with :25 left in regulation. The Carleton team would gain a one-point edge at 42-41 on one free throw with :15 left but the Hamline team came back on their next possession and managed to get one freebie to go down after a foul with :06 left in regulation to tie this one at 42 so off we went to overtime. Both teams had several chances to win the game in the first two minute extra session but neither team could get anything to fall so this one would have to be somehow settled in the second extra 1:00 session. It was here toward the end where senior-to-be Chan'el Anderson-Manning showed her stuff for the Hamline team as she would wheel and deal with the clock ticking down and drive into traffic and connect on a lay-up that also drew a foul and her "and one" finally sealed the deal for the Hamline team in easily the most thrilling game thus far.
You'd have to figure that after that wild 6:15 P.M. slot that anything after that would be anticlimactic. But the 7:00 P.M. slot did everything it could to say "Hold my beer" as some more fun games unfolded. On Court 1, the UW-River Falls team was taking on the GAC Alumni team and the former got off to a good start in this one; getting up 6-2 midway through the first period although the GAC Alumni team would tighten things up by the end of the first period that saw them down only 10-9. This one would stay tight throughout the second period as the UW-River Falls team would hold a 19-17 lead midway through the second period but by the halftime break, the GAC Alumni team would have this one leveled at 25 a piece. The GAC Alumni team wound find a second wind once the third period got going as they would forge a 36-32 lead midway through the third period and they would increase the lead to five at 39-34 by the time the third period ended. The GAC Alumni team maintained that five-point cushion in the early part of the fourth period and by the midway point of the fourth period they still enjoyed a 41-36 advantage. Whether or not the GAC Alumni team started running out of gas down the stretch is up for debate but the UW-River Falls team was able to craftily work its way back into this one down the stretch and with a minute left in regulation, the GAC Alumni team was clinging to a precarious one-point 44-43 advantage. They would manage to get that lead up to 45-43 after a free throw with :04.2 left but the UW-River Falls team had one chance left on their next possession. With time winding down, a good look was had but the shot wouldn't cooperate and the GAC Alumni team escaped with the narrow victory......Another fun one was taking place over on Court 2 that had the Midwest Basketball team taking on the Old But Not That Old team. Things would be close in this one from the get-go and by the end of the first period, the Midwest Basketball team had the upper hand with a 15-13 advantage. The Old But Not That Old team would take the initiative once the second period got underway and usurp the advantage with a 21-17 lead early on in the second period and they would get a bit more breathing room with a 26-21 advantage midway through the second period. But right back came the Midwest Basketball team as they would get this one tied at 28 with 3:00 left in the second period and by the halftime break the Midwest Basketball team had snared the lead back at 32-28. The Old But Not That Old team would keep this one close, however, and would trail by just one at 34-33 early on in the third period and they would eventually get this one tied again at 37 a piece at the midway point of the third period. Down the stretch of this third period, the Old But Not That Old team would retake the lead and by the end of the third period, it definitely looked like things were trending their way with a 45-40 advantage. Both teams would go into a bit of a funk scoring-wise once the fourth period got underway and the Old But Not That Old team would still cling to basically the same advantage with a 45-41 lead midway through but the Midwest Basketball team would soon catch a second wind and take a 49-47 lead with 2:40 left. The Old But Not That Old team would regain the lead at 50-49 with 1:30 left and the Midwest Basketball team had several opportunities in their last few possessions to try and steal this one but couldn't get their shots to cooperate when they need it most as the Old But Not That Old team sneaked away with a narrow victory.......Another good one was brewing over on Court 3 that saw two geographically close MIAC rivals facing off against each other with the St. Kate's team taking on the Macalester team. The Macalester team would hold the upper hand in this one in the early minutes of the first period and hold a 6-2 lead midway through the first period but the St. Kate's team would shake off the early cobwebs and get the deficit shaved down to one down 7-6 late in the first period and the Macalester team would still be clinging to that one-point edge at 9-8 by the end of the first period. The Macalester team would manage to create some space once the second period got going and would hold a 17-13 advantage midway through the second period but the St. Kate's team was staying right in the thick of things as they would close to two points down 20-18 in the latter stages of the second period and down only 29-27 at the halftime break. The St. Kate's team would snare the advantage away once the third period got going and they would hold a 37-33 advantage midway through the third period although the Macalester team would stay within a single possession down 44-41 by the end of the third period. The Macalester team would stay within striking distance down 46-43 early on in the fourth period and this one seemed to hang on the balance for quite some time. The St. Kate's team would hold a tenous 54-53 lead with :57 left and two free throws by senior-to-be Bree Glynn would get the lead to 56-53. Still plenty of time for the Macalester team to counter but they would fire blanks in the last minute of play. Glynn would be fouled again with :43.2 left and two more free throws by the former Totino-Grace standout gave the St. Kate's team some more breathing room up 58-53. Junior-to-be Karis Zezza would get fouled with :31.7 left and the former STMA standout got two free throws to go down to make it 60-53. The St. Kate's team would add one last score for insurance purposes and got a hard-earned win.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July holiday weekend. And yes, I'm PUMPED about my UCLA Bruins (and our crosstown rival) coming to the B1G. See you this next Wednesday night at the Midtown YWCA Women's College Summer League!
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