Made my way over to the St. Paul side of town on this sunny but very cold Saturday to venerable Hutton Arena on the campus of Hamline University to take in this important game between visiting St. Kate's and host Hamline. The Wildcats were coming into this contest off of two important wins at home recently - over both St. Scholastica last Saturday and then SMU on Wednesday night. The Pipers meanwhile had seemingly righted the ship this last Wednesday evening with a big home win against Macalester after being upended by St. Olaf last week Saturday. So with playoff positioning now becoming an important item as we get into the last half of the regular season, this contest was obviously important for both teams.
Hamline came out of the gate struggling on offense and not that the 'Cats were much better but they at least made the most out of the few opportunities they had. Fifth-year senior Sam Orth would first knock down one free throw after getting fouled at the 9:28 mark of the opening period and would follow that up with a lay-up in transition at the 7:35 mark to give St. Kate's a 3-0 lead. That lead would grow to 4-0 when senior forward Bree Glynn got one free throw to go down at the 5:55 mark. Now, it wasn't like the Pipers weren't getting opportunities to get on the board early on - they most definitely were. But they just simply could not get anything to go down early on. That all changed with 4:00 left when sophomore reserve guard Kate Trachsel nailed a "3" from the left corner to cut the deficit to one point and less than thirty seconds later with 3:34 left, Hamline took their first lead of this contest when freshman reserve guard Sophie Stork drilled a "3" of her own from that same left corner to make it a 6-4 ballgame which prompted Wildcats Head Coach Don Mulhern to call for a thirty-second timeout to try and make some quick adjustments to stop all that. That short stoppage in play seemed to have the desired effect at first as Orth would connect with a lay-up in transition again with 3:20 left to level the contest at six a piece and St. Kate's would poke its nose back out in front by one when slender sophomore reserve forward Sydney Elliott got one free throw to go down after getting fouled with 2:44 left. Two more free throws by Glynn with 1:11 left after she was fouled kept the 'Cats up by one at 9-8 and it looked as if St. Kate's might take that slim lead going into the second period. However, in what was becoming the theme of this Saturday inside Hutton Arena, the Pipers found one last bit of magic from the land of plenty just before the first period buzzer sounded as junior guard and former Rosemount standout Larisa O'Neil buried a cold-blooded "3" from the left wing off of an inbounds pass with just :00.8 left that now had Hamline back out in front 11-9.
Still, there seemed to be no sense of panic on the Wildcat side and lanky sophomore forward Greta Schimnowski would get this game leveled again at 11 when she made a hard drive and got a finish off the glass at the 9:44 mark of the second period but Hamline was just starting to get settled in on the offensive end. Senior guard Chan'el Anderson-Manning would get into the paint for a tough score at the 9:27 mark to put Hamline back out in front 13-11 and then O'Neil would unleash more terror from behind the arc with a bomb from the left wing area where she seemed to be camping out by this point to push the Piper lead to 16-12. Still, St. Kate's would get the contest tied up again as Glynn would snare an offensive rebound for a putback at the 7:10 mark and freshman reserve guard Kaylee Miron would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled at the 5:48 mark to get this contest on even terms again. But with 4:07 left, things started to really go awry for the Wildcats as Orth would take an awkward tumble in a chase for a loose ball and not only tweaked her ankle that she had sprained not long ago but also got an inadvertent cut on her left arm that had to be bandaged up as well. The slight stoppage in play seemed to be deflating for St. Kate's and also seemed to open up the door for Hamline to take full advantage of this latest misfortune for the visitors which they did. Slender sophomore reserve forward Faith Johnson would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled with 2:54 left to push the Pipers out in front again at 17-16 and then it was more magic from behind the arc by - guess who - O'Neil; who casually buried her third three point bomb on this Saturday afternoon from that left wing area again with 2:04 left that now made it 20-16. With 1:09 left, Anderson-Manning would knock down a pair of freebies after getting fouled that not only increased Hamline's lead to six at 22-16 but the Pipers were also now in the bonus as well. Right after that, the 'Cats promptly turned the ball over and senior guard Alyssa Williamson got an easy lay-up off of that that now pushed Hamline's lead up to eight at 24-16. St. Kate's Mulhern wasted little time taking a match to a full timeout and even though the Wildcats held the Pipers scoreless in the last minute, the damage had been done and St. Kate's was now staring at an eight point deficit as both teams headed for the locker room for the intermission.
The Wildcats would try and make a concerted effort to draw closer once the third period got underway but the effort itself was akin to bailing water from a boat that was surely sinking in the middle of Lake Superior. Orth would connect with a lay-up at the 8:31 mark to cut the deficit to six at 24-18 but right back came Hamline and O'Neil; breaking more hearts with yet another three-point bomb from that left wing area again at the 7:57 mark to make it a 27-18 game. St. Kate's would come right back as sophomore forward Rachel Randleman connected with a lay-up that drew a foul and her ensuing "and one" had the deficit cut to six again at 27-21. But right back came the Pipers as electric junior forward Lydia Lecher; quiet from a scoring standpoint in the first half, made a hard drive into the lane for a pretty finish at the 7:27 mark and then Williamson made her presence felt on the defensive end as she snared a steal and raced the other way for an easy lay-up at the 7:11 mark that now made it a ten-point game at 31-21 and the Wildcats' Mulhern wasted little time in calling for a timeout as he saw this one getting away from his team. St. Kate's would climb back into single-digit range again briefly as Orth got a tough score in the paint at the 6:54 mark but then the Pipers inflicted more damage as Anderson-Manning snared a defensive rebound and raced coast-to-coast for an uncontested drive into the lane and finish at the other end at the 6:15 mark and then it was - yep - O'Neil again raining down another bomb - this one from the right wing area at the 5:59 mark that made it a 36-23 ballgame and then junior reserve guard Michaela Stamer would up the lead to 38-23 when she connected with a lay-up in transition with 4:52 left. Undaunted, the Wildcats would make a bid down the stretch of this third period to narrow the gap again. The always-reliable Glynn would maneuver into the paint for a tough score with 3:58 left and would also add one free throw after getting fouled with 2:59 left that had the deficit down to fourteen at 40-26. Then Miron would connect on a short, one-handed floater from the left side with 1:40 left that reduced the deficit to twelve at 40-28. Less than thirty seconds later, Glynn again would come through for St. Kate's with a lay-up with 1:15 left that had things looking somewhat better with a ten-point deficit. Hamline's O'Neil would then be up to her old tricks again as she buried yet another three-point bomb - this one from the left wing area again with :42.3 left but the Wildcats would at least get one free throw each from both Glynn and Orth after they were fouled with :20.1 and :00.5, respectively that at least had the deficit down to eleven at 43-32 as this game headed to the fourth period.
So, an eleven-point deficit didn't seem like such an outlandish proposition to overcome but any hopes that St. Kate's had of pulling that off were quickly doused in the early moments of the fourth period when the Pipers unleashed an 11-2 run that effectively ended any doubts as to how this one was going to turn out. Lecher would start things off with one of her left three-point bombs from the left top area at the 9:39 mark and a score in the paint by Johnson at the 8:08 mark stretched the Hamline lead to 48-34. Not long afterward, Lecher would again unleash terror from behind the arc - this bomb from the left wing area at the 7:40 mark and at the 5:02 mark, freshman reserve guard and former Centennial standout Camille Cummings would drain a "3" of her own from the right wing area that ballooned the lead to twenty and the Wildcats' Mulhern was clamoring for another timeout - perhaps more to give his team a breather from the aerial assaults they were absorbing from downtown rather than hopes of forging a comeback which by now were largely out the window. To their credit, St. Kate's did not throw in the towel as Miron unleashed a "3" from the right top area with 4:31 left but bringing this one back was now out of the picture as the Pipers got another big boost as Stork connected with a lay-up with 4:02 left and sophomore reserve guard Kate Trachsel got her moment to shine on this day when she uncorked a "3" from the right wing area with 3:23 left that made it 59-37. Even with the game out of reach, St. Kate's would make a valiant effort to close the gap some before the final buzzer sounded. Miron would connect with a lay-up with 2:47 left and Glynn would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled with 2:39 left. Elliott would connect with a short shot from the left side with 2:11 left and would also add one free throw after getting fouled with 1:11 left. Orth would also add a pair of free throws with :24.2 left but too much damage had been done on the other end as the Pipers would claim an important 61-46 victory to solidify their playoff positioning.
Yours truly made a valiant effort to try and offer up some dry humor to St. Kate's Mulhern afterward as I remarked "Well, that was a rough day at the office." Mulhern could only look glum and utter, "You can't turn the ball over like that" and it was obvious that not much was going to cheer him up on this late Saturday afternoon. You look at the final box score of this one and it's easy to see why Mulhern and his staff may be reaching for the Tylenol PM in addition to the Rolaids. St. Kate's suffered 25 turnovers on this day; way too many overcome on this day the way this contest was going. The wild thing about it all is that the Pipers were guilty of 23 turnovers on their own on this day. The difference? Hamline got 27 points off of those turnovers compared to just 16 for St. Kate's. The Wildcats did have an advantage in points in the paint at 22-18 but when you consider that St. Kate's went 14-55 for 25.5% from FG range and was a paltry 1-20 (yikes) from behind the arc for only 5%, you don't have to be a basketball purist to know that that just isn't going to get the job done. Meanwhile for Hamline, it's clear that their frenetic style of play that includes the three-point shot, is quite effective when it's all clicking but I do think they have become a bit too reliant on the three-point shooting aspect. Then again, that may well be in part to senior forward Tess Hauer being out for the year with an injury. But I would also like to mention another player who I also believes in the under-appreciated department in MIAC Women's Basketball and that's Hamline's Williamson who is just so solid in the backcourt. She may not be one of the top scorers on the team as her 7.1 ppg a clip would suggest but the other things she does with her leadership on the floor and her ability to get her teammates involved on the offensive end are the kinds of things that don't show up on the stat sheet at the end of the game. I notice that and I'm sure that Hamline Head Coach Alex Focke notices that as well.
What a day it was for Hamline's O'Neil as her 18 points (all three-pointers) led all scorers on this day while Glynn and Orth were just fantastic for St. Kate's as they both finished with 14 points and Glynn had a "double-double" on this day as well with her 12 rebounds and Orth just missed out on doing that as well as she finished with nine rebounds.
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