Made the short drive over to Robertson Center on the campus of Bethel University on this Tuesday evening to take in this important early season clash between visiting Augsburg and host Bethel. The Auggies opened up this new 2022-23 season on a solid note with two wins - one at home vs UW-River Falls a week ago and then this last Saturday at Macalester. The Royals on the other hand had to absorb two "Ls" on opening weekend over at Eau Claire, WI - 78-71 defeat to UW-Oshkosh and a 55-52 setback to host UW-Eau Claire - two teams that will undoubtedly be in the forefront in the WIAC. Bethel got the ship righted last week Wednesday with a tough win at Carleton and hoped to carry that momentum into tonight's contest.
Both squads had to feel each other out in the first few possessions of the opening period but Augsburg was finally able to assume a 4-0 advantage as a lay-up in transition by junior guard Katie Manecke at the 8:48 mark and a lay-up by sophomore sensation forward Anja Smith a bit later at the 8:15 mark seemed to have the Auggies loosened up a bit. Despite some sluggishness initially, Bethel managed to shake off the early cobwebs and get the contest knotted at four a piece as sophomore guard Kendal Cox made a tough drive for a finish off the glass at the 7:14 mark and a score in the paint by senior forward Emma Schultz at the 6:26 mark had this game back on even terms again. The Auggies would again poke their nose out in front as a three-point bomb by Manecke from the right corner at the 5:49 mark and a Manecke free throw after she was fouled with 4:30 left helped give Augsburg an 8-6 advantage. It was here where the Royals made their first significant move of the night in the form of a 6-0 push. Cox would start this push with her lay-up with 3:31 left and then freshman reserve guard Colette Duininck would connect with a lay-up in transition with 3:05 left to push Bethel out in front for the first time in the evening at 10-8. Junior guard Anna Garfield would maneuver into the paint for another score that now had the Royals up 12-8. Perhaps somewhat alarmed at this development, Augsburg got back to work with Smith carrying the load as she would drop one free throw after getting fouled with 1:08 left and then would connect on a graceful lay-up in transition with :47.6 left that cut the deficit down to one at 12-11. But Bethel would get more breathing room as sophomore reserve forward Lydia Hagstrom would snare an offensive rebound for a putback that drew a foul in the process with just :05.6 left and her ensuing "and one" allowed the Royals to take a 15-11 lead into the second period.
The Auggies would get this game knotted in the first few minutes of the second period as speedy junior guard Kalena Myers connected with a lay-up at the 9:35 mark and two free throws by senior reserve guard Samaiya Buchanan at the 7:16 mark after she was fouled leveled this game at 15. But Augsburg would go into a bit of a funk offensively after that and that was largely in part due to the trademark stingy defense that the Royals employ. Bethel would retake the lead on a brazen coast-to-coast lay-up by Duininck at the 6:11 mark and a "3" from the left wing area by sophomore reserve guard Autumn Earney with 4:43 left suddenly had the Royals up by five at 20-15. The Auggies would momentarily get back to within a single possession on a pretty drive and finish off the glass by Samaiya Buchanan with 4:20 left but Bethel re-established the five-point lead on a drive and finish by Duininck with 3:55 left and a short shot from the left side by Schultz with 2:10 left stretch the Royals lead to seven at 24-17. Augsburg's Smith would take matters into her own hands at this point as she would drain a "3" from the right wing area with 1:51 left that cut the deficit down to four at 24-20 and two Smith free throws after she was fouled kept the Auggies in that four-point range down 26-22. Bethel would stretch its lead to seven once again when Earney banged home a "3" from the right corner with :53 left but Augsburg got a bit of a reprieve when slender freshman reserve forward Alli Born drained a "3" of her own with :36 left that kept the Auggies in that four-point range again at 29-25 as both teams retreated to their respective locker rooms for the halftime break. A check of the first half box score revealed some worries for Augsburg Head Coach Ted Riverso and his staff as Bethel enjoyed a 17-10 edge in the rebounding department and while turnovers were basically even, the Auggies shot only 3-7 from downtown for 42.9%. And Smith was having to shoulder a large share of the burden up to this point.
Bethel would hold the upper hand once the third period got going as an offensive rebound and putback by Schultz at the 9:38 mark pushed the lead to six at 31-25 and two Schultz free throws after she was fouled at the 7:26 mark maintained the six-point edge at 33-27. One free throw by the youngster, Duininck, after she was fouled at the 6:13 mark upped that lead to 34-27 before the Auggies finally got untracked offensively. Senior sharpshooting guard Jaley Coplin finally got into the books with her short, turnaround jumper at the 5:29 mark and a lay-up in transition by Myers with 4:02 left finally had Augsburg back to within a single possession again down 34-31. With 3:38 left, Myers would get Augsburg closer with one free throw after she was fouled that trimmed the deficit down to two at 34-32 and there was every reason to the think the Auggies could get this one turned around. But Bethel had vastly different plans as a 7-1 run down the home stretch of this third period showed. Freshman reserve guard/forward Rosalie Penke would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled with 3:19 left and then Schultz would use her muscle in traffic to snare an offensive rebound for a putback that drew a foul and her obligatory "and one" had the Royals up 39-32. With 1:46 left Hagstrom would muscle into the paint for a score that now had the Royals up by eight at 41-33 and the previous momentum that Augsburg had seemed to vanish into thin air.
The Auggies prospects became even more dire in the early moments of the fourth period as Bethel established its first double-digit lead of the even at 43-33 when Garfield would make a hard drive along the right baseline and connect with a finish at the 9:19 mark and although Augsburg's Coplin would drain one of her trademark three-point bombs - this one from the right wing area at the 8:54 mark - the math was starting to work against the Auggies as they were unable to string together a series of scores that would have them back within striking distance again. Bethel's Schultz would knock down a pair of freebies after getting fouled at the 8:28 mark as would Garfield at the 8:03 mark to make it 47-38. But now making matters even worse for the Auggies was that Smith had now picked up her fourth foul of the night and Augsburg's Riverso decided to roll the dice and keep his star player in. To her credit, Smith was still being aggressive (but careful at the same time) and she would connect with a lay-up at the 7:39 mark that cut the deficit to seven at 47-40. But again, not being able to get stops and put together a string of scores would doom the Auggies on this night. The Royals would extend their lead to ten again when Garfield unleashed a "3" from the left top area at the 6:14 mark to make it 50-40 and an Earney three-point bomb with 3:14 left now had Bethel up 53-42. Augsburg would make one last bid to try to get back into this one as Coplin banged home a "3" from the right wing area with 2:37 left but after a subsequent timeout by the Auggies' Riverso, Augsburg's hopes were dashed when Smith fouled out with 2:28 left. Still, Augsburg tried to throw one last scare into the home team when Myers slyly snared a steal and raced the other way for a lay-up with 1:46 left that had the deficit down to five at 53-48. But that's as close as the Auggies would come and Bethel was now in prime position to put this one on ice. Garfield would drop a pair of free throws with 1:41 left and Cox would get one more after getting fouled with 1:33 left to make it 56-48. Sophomore guard Courtney Nuest would slither into the paint for an insurance bucket with 1:01 left and the Royals secured an important 58-52 victory.
When I was able to catch up with Bethel Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer afterward, I termed this a "gritty win" for this club and Herbrechtsmeyer concurred with notion. I mentioned to Herbrechtsmeyer that I thought that a big key to his squad's win on this evening was that they pretty much controlled the tempo of the game to their style; i.e., they limited Augsburg to very few fast break opportunities (their strong suit). Herbrechtsmeyer also pointed out that his squad's defense also took away a lot of things that the Auggies like to do in their half-court offense as well. I mentioned to Herbrechtsmeyer that this team of his is a very young team; dominated by freshmen and sophomores and, to be sure, there were some freshman/sophomore mistakes mixed in from time to time. Herbrechtsmeyer could only laugh and remark "Really? Ya think?!" In all seriousness, however, Herbrechtsmeyer is very high on this young group and he knows full and well that there has to be a little baptism by fire, so to speak. At the same time, while there is arguably some work in progress for this young group, he's hopeful that they'll have made some big strides once January rolls around. And he's also hopeful that sophomore forward Hayden Glander, who had to sit out this game with an unspecified injury, will be back in action again soon. Meanwhile, a tough loss for Augsburg's Riverso and his staff to absorb and there's little doubt that Riverso had to wince a little when he saw the final box score that revealed that the Auggies got pounded on the boards (again) on this night by a 38-23 count (ouch) and though they were better than Bethel in the turnover department, Augsburg was only able to get 17 points off of those turnovers. Another area where Bethel dominated was in points in the paint - another indicator of how they controlled the tempo of the game - by a sizable 30-22 margin. Still another area where Bethel dominated on this night was in those all-important "second chance" points by a 14-4 margin.
Bethel did have a pretty balanced attack on this night as they were paced by Schultz's 13 points and Garfield wasn't far behind with her 11 points. Smith was the workhorse for Augsburg on this night as she led all scorers with her 17 points. It took longer than she would have liked but Coplin did start heating up in the second half and finished with 10 points.
