Made the drive over to Butler Center on the campus of St. Catherine's University on this reasonably pleasant January Saturday afternoon to take in this important MIAC Women's Basketball clash between visiting GAC and host St. Kate's. The Gusties had put together a two-game win streak (including Wednesday night's win up at St. Scholastica) after being upset at home by Bethel back on 1-4 while the Wildcats were arguably one of the hottest teams in the conference coming into this contest with wins in three of their last four games (including a big home win over Augsburg on Wednesday night) and both GAC Head Coach Laurie Kelly and St. Kate's Head Coach Don Mulhern were looking to keep the beat going coming into this contest.
One thing that has been a big plus for the Wildcats - up to this point anyway - was coming out and trying to set the tempo from the start to have things in their favor. But it was quite apparent from the opening tip that GAC was playing with a chip on its shoulder this day and they took early control. Senior guard Anna Sanders would start things off by casually draining a cold-blooded "3" from the right top area at the 9:30 mark of the opening period and a score in the paint by sophomore forward Rachel Kawiecki at the 8:40 mark gave the Gusties a 5-2 advantage. Less than a minute later, sophomore point guard and former Maple Grove standout Kylie Baranick knocked down a jumper from the free throw line at the 8:01 mark and when senior forward Grace Benz snared an offensive rebound for a putback in transition at the 7:39 mark that stretched GAC's lead to 9-2, St. Kate's Mulhern had little choice but to call for a timeout in hopes of making some quick adjustments to stop the bleeding. But even this first stoppage in play did not get the desired results for the Wildcat faithful as the Gusties' Sanders would unleash more terror from behind the arc with her second trey of the afternoon - this one from the left top area at the 6:12 mark - that now had GAC up by ten at 12-2 and effectively forced Mulhern's hand again as a match was taken to a second timeout. This second stoppage finally got the 'Cats settled down a bit as St. Kate's started to take some bites out of this early deficit. Senior forward Bree Glynn connected with a lay-up in transition at the 6:00 mark and two free throws by freshman reserve forward Anna Jordt after she was fouled with 4:26 left got the deficit down to somewhat more manageable proportions at 12-6. Then, just a bit later with 4:01 left, the Wildcats got a big boost when freshman reserve guard Maddie Young connected with a lay-up that reduced the deficit to four and seemingly had St. Kate's right back in the thick of things. This counter move by the home team quickly got the attention of the Gusties and they went right back to work to establish more breathing space. Junior reserve guard Syd Hauger would connect with a lay-up in transition with 3:25 left that drew a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" pushed the GAC lead to seven at 15-8. With 2:40 left, Kawiecki would muscle into the paint for another score to stretch the lead to 17-8. That wouldn't have been quite so bad from a Wildcat perspective but with 1:33 left, St. Kate's fortunes took yet another tumble when fifth-year senior forward Sam Orth went down with an ankle injury and had to be helped to the bench. The Gusties' Hauger would be fouled a bit later with 1:06 left and two more free throws by the former Springfield standout got the lead to eleven at 19-8. St. Kate's would get a bit of a reprieve right before this first period ended as Glynn would connect with a short, turnaround jumper in the lane with just :00.2 left but the way this game started and with Orth's injury, you just kind of got a feeling that this was not going to be the Wildcats' day.
Undaunted, St. Kate's would make another bid to try and close the gap. Glynn; now having to carry the load for this Wildcat team, would connect with a lay-up at the 9:49 mark of the second period and when Glynn would knock down a jumper from the free throw line area at the 6:34 mark, the 'Cats were seemingly right back in the thick of things again down 20-14. But it was precisely at this point where GAC came out with both barrels blazing in the form of a 17-0 blitz that completely turned the tables in this contest for good. Willowy junior guard Emma (not evil) Kniefel started this game-changing run with a pretty three-point bomb from the left top area at the 5:44 mark and a short jumper from the left side in traffic by Kawiecki at the 5:00 mark had the lead back up to nine again at 25-14. Then Baranick would bury a "3" of her own from the right wing area with 4:00 left and when Sanders would follow suit with her third trey of the afternoon - this one from the left wing area with 3:30 left - the Gustie lead was now 31-14 and once again, St. Kate's Mulhern was clamoring for another timeout. But even this latest halt in the action did not stop the GAC Express. The crafty Sanders was at it again right after the timeout as she snared a steal near midcourt and raced the other way for a lay-up with 3:23 left and with 2:49 left, Baranick would use a burst of speed for a hard drive into traffic and finish off the glass. Hauger would cap this game-changing run with her lay-up in transition with 2:18 left that made it 37-14 before the Wildcats were finally able to stop the massive bleeding on a pair of free throws by freshman reserve guard Kaylee Miron after she was fouled with 2:05 left. Glynn would knock down a pair of freebies herself after she was fouled with :51.8 left but those would do little considering what transpired earlier in this period and GAC's Baranick would get one free throw to go down after she was fouled with :01.3 left before the buzzer as the Gusties took a sizable 38-18 lead into the locker room at the halftime break.
St. Kate's would try and start off on the right foot once the third period got underway and even though slender sophomore forward Greta Schimnowski was able to knock down a pair of charity stripe shots after getting fouled at the 9:31 mark, the Gusties would just keep finding ways to widen the gap while snuffing out Wildcat scoring opportunities to boot. Baranick would bang home her second trey of the ballgame - this one from the left wing area at the 8:28 mark and a Hauger lay-up in transition at the 6:46 mark had GAC up 43-20. The Wildcats would try and counter as junior point guard Karis Zezza would connect on a short, one-handed runner along the left baseline right at the 6:00 mark but then the Gusties would come right back with more weaponry. A Hauger lay-up at the 5:29 mark and a pretty reverse lay-up by Sanders with 3:27 left pushed the GAC lead to 47-22. Hauger would make a hard drive into the lane for a finish with 2:26 left and would add yet another lay-up in transition with 1:54 left. Kniefel would add a pair of free throws after getting fouled in a transition opportunity with 1:22 left and then junior reserve guard Riley Queensland; who missed all of last season after an ACL injury in October 2021, would snare an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback and would draw a foul in the process and her obligatory "and one" with :28.5 left put the Gusties up by a 56-22 count. St. Kate's would get a bit of solace with :00.2 left when freshman reserve forward Emme Golembiewski would connect with a jumper from near the free throw line area but for the Wildcats at this point, it was a very long way to go and a very short time to get there.
With a sizable cushion now in her back pocket, GAC's Laurie Kelly was able to give her reserves more opportunities to cash in on the smorgasboard and they were more than willing participants in the festivities with some of the main chain gang hanging on to make sure the ship steered straight. Junior reserve guard Lexi Schermann got into the books with her three-point bomb from the right corner at the 9:10 mark of the fourth period and a routine score in the paint by Benz at the 8:14 mark had the Gusties cruising again with a 61-26 lead. Baranick would add a lay-up of her own at the 7:32 mark and Kawiecki would snare an offensive rebound for a putback right at the 6:00 mark to make it 65-28. At the 5:23 mark, Schermann would strike again from behind the arc with a bomb from the top of the key to balloon the lead to 68-30 and with 1:59 left, freshman reserve guard Rylie Schnell would drain a "3" from the left corner and Schermann would bang home her third trey of this fourth period with 1:04 left. To put the finishing touches on this big day for the Gusties, freshman reserve guard Bobbie Bruns would knock down a short jumper along the left baseline with :31.3 left as GAC rocked and rolled to a resounding 76-31 victory.
I guess the thing that stood out to me more than anything else from this contest was that I had never seen a GAC team under Laurie Kelly play defense with such tenacity to the point where they just simply shut down their opponent for the most part like they did St. Kate's today. True, the Wildcats suffered a serious blow when they lost Orth to that ankle injury late in the first period but it was more than that. The Gusties completely took St. Kate's out of any offensive rhythm whether it was with their dribble and drive or perimeter game. Consider: The Wildcats were relegated to shooting 10-47 from FG range for 21.3% and were 0-14 from behind the arc. And for a team like St. Kate's that does have some very good three-point shooting in its arsenal, this was pretty much the story of the defense they were going up against on this day. Laurie Kelly mentioned to me afterward that in many ways, today's defensive effort really helped fuel what happened on the offensive end for the Gusties. Now the challenge for GAC as Laurie Kelly would tell me is can they play with a similar effort on a night-in/night-out basis? Kelly also mentioned that this is tricky stretch for her squad as even though they'll be favored in these upcoming games, they cannot afford to let their guard down one bit as they found out the hard way with Bethel shortly after the first of the year. You look at the final box score and it was just simple domination by the Gusties as they enjoyed a 30-22 edge on the rebounding front and they had a whopping 36-22 edge in points in the paint as well. Ditto for those all-important "second chance" points by a 21-8 tally and the 22 turnovers that the Wildcats were guilty of resulted in 27 points off of those turnovers by the Gusties. About the only area where St. Kate's could point to some positivity on this day was going 11-14 from the charity stripe for 78.6% but on this day, that didn't mean very much. One other item of note: GAC has two notable injuries that they're currently dealing with. Sophomore forward Morgan Kelly recently suffered a sprained ankle but the general hope is that she'll be back at it again in a couple two or three weeks. Junior forward Izzy (Izzy Izzy, you're making me dizzy) Quick, however, suffered a broken foot a while back and is lost for the rest of the season. While unfortunate, it's also given some of the reserves a chance to not only step up and get some valuable playing time and experience but an opportunity to shine as well and I think you saw that on this day with players such as Hauger, Schermann and senior reserve forward Sienna Wiebusch not only contributing but scoring as well.
And perhaps, not so surprisingly, it was Hauger's 17 points on this day that led all scorers and helped pace a potent Gustie attack. Baranick is as comfortable as ever in that point guard spot and she had a solid day on both ends of the floor as she finished with 13 points and Sanders, the always steady and capable one tallied 11 points. St. Kate's Glynn had to shoulder the load on this day - especially after Orth went down - as she led the way for the Wildcats with her 10 points.
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