After spending part of the morning at the Hopkins Breakdown Tip-Off Classic, I got back on the road to get over to Robertson Center on the campus of Bethel University to take in another early regular season clash between visiting Concordia and host Bethel. The Cobbers, of course, were coming off a very tough win over St. Kate's on Wednesday night while the Royals were coming of an equally tough home loss to Hamline on that same night.
Unlike this last Wednesday night that saw Concordia arguably stumble out of the gate, the Cobbers came out strong in this opening period and showed that they meant business from the get-go; bolting out to an 8-2 lead. Strong junior forward/post Makayla Anderson wasted little time connecting with a lay-up in transition at the 9:38 mark and senior guard Emily Beseman would do likewise a bit later at the 9:25 mark after a steal to put Concordia up 4-0. Anderson would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled in a transition opportunity at the 9:07 mark and junior forward Greta Tollefson would get a pair of free throws to go down as well at the 7:58 mark after she was fouled to cap this early run. The Royals were able to stop some of the initial bleeding on a short, turnaround jumper by sophomore combo guard/forward Rosalie Penke off of an inbounds pass at the 7:39 mark but then the Cobbs would unleash more damaging artillery. Junior guard Carlie Sieben would connect with a lay-up at the 6:45 mark and when Anderson connected with a lay-up after a steal near midcourt, the Cobbers lead grew to eight at 12-4 and Bethel Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer; not at all liking how things were unfolding so far, called a timeout to get his troops reorganized. Still, Concordia would grow its lead to double digits when sharp-shooting sophomore reserve guard Molly Musland would bury a "3" from the right wing area at the 6:08 mark that made it a 15-4 ballgame. The Royals appeared to get a bit of a boost when sophomore point guard Colette Duininck unleashed a "3" of her own from the right wing area at the 5:18 mark but the Cobbers would come right back with another "3" of their own - this one from freshman reserve guard Alexa Snesrud from the right wing area at the 5:01 mark that made it 18-7 so up to this point anyway, things were not working out very well mathematically for Bethel. The Royals appeared to finally find some solid footing on consecutive scores in the paint - one by lanky sophomore reserve forward Ali Born with 4:46 left and another one by freshman reserve forward Cally Peterson with 4:12 left that had the deficit back into single digit range again down 18-11. But Concordia had no intentions of letting its opponent crawl back into this thing and they went back to work down the stretch of this first period. Two free throws by Sieben after she was fouled with 3:45 left and one more by Tollefson after she was fouled with 3:13 left not only re-established the double-digit advantage at 21-11 but now the Cobbers were also in the bonus as well. With 1:07 left, Beseman would make a hard drive along the right baseline for a finish and two charity stripe shots by lanky freshman reserve post Maci Wheeldon with :42.5 left had Concordia in very good shape up 25-13.
So, as good as things were looking for the Fargo-Moorhead faithful, there was a bit of a fly in the ointment type of deal as the Cobbers' Anderson collected her second foul at the 9:18 mark of the second perid and Head Coach Kim Wagers certainly was not going to take any chances with her primary down-low player and she quickly got Anderson yanked onto the bench. Still, Concordia had things going their way as one free throw by Jordyn Kahler after she was fouled at the 8:07 mark and a lay-up by Sieben at the 7:38 mark gave the Cobbers a thirteen-point lead at 28-15 and a lay-up by Kahler at the 6:44 mark maintained the thirteen-point cushion at 30-17. Bethel's Born would get the deficit back down to ten at 30-20 when she drained a "3" from the right top area at the 5:50 mark but Concordia was able to steady the ship as Sieben would craftily snare a steal and race the other way for a lay-up at the 5:24 mark and Beseman would drain a cold-blooded "3" from the top of the key with 4;35 left to get the lead back up to thirteen at 35-22. Diminutive senior reserve guard Maddie Guler would get one free throw to go down with 2:51 left after getting fouled and with the Cobbers now in the bonus, they had a chance to consolidate their advantage down the stretch which they did. Anderson would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled in a transition opportunity with 2:00 left and Beseman would cap off a solid first half by this Concordia with a pretty lay-up in transition with :56 left as the Cobbers carried a sizable 40-26 lead into the locker room at the half.
Concordia was able to stretch its lead to as much as sixteen early on in the third period as a Beseman lay-up in transition at the 8:04 mark and a Sieben lay-up at the 7:29 mark gave the Cobbers a cozy 44-28 advantage. But Bethel; which could have easily folded its tent and gone home for the day, finally found some spark offensively and bit into this deficit. Born would connect with a short, one-handed shot in the lane at the 5:02 mark and two scores by senior guard Anna Garfield - a lay-up with 3:46 left and a score in the paint with 3:20 left - suddenly had the deficit down to ten at 44-34. Then junior reserve combo guard/forward Lauren Johnson would snare an offensive rebound for a putback with 2:39 left that suddenly had the Royals back to within single-digit range down 44-36 and Concordia's Wagers, alarmed at this unexpected turn of events and how her team seemed to all of a sudden run out of gas, called a thirty-second timeout to hopefully get her troops re-charged again. That short stoppage in play appeared to reap benefits as Tollefson would make a hard drive for a lay-up with 2:23 left and Beseman would drain a much-needed three-point bomb from the right wing area with :55 left that seemed to have the Cobbers firmly in control again with a 49-36 lead. Tollefson would bang home a "3" from the right wing area with :16 left to maintain this thirteen-point lead at 52-39 but Bethel would not only get the last score of this third period but also complicate things for its opponent as well. Junior combo guard/forward Elly Schmitz would get fouled with :02.2 left and got both free throws to go down and that foul by the Cobbers Anderson - coupled with the one she had committed earlier with 1:17 left - left some cause for concern for the Concordia faithful - even with a 52-41 lead.
The Cobbers would do their best to calm the fears of their faithful once the fourth period got going as one free throw by Sieben after she was fouled at the 9:39 mark and one more by Musland after she was fouled at the 7:03 mark maintained the eleven-point lead at 55-43. With 4:16 left, Anderson; riding with those four fouls, connected on a short jumper in the lane with 4:16 left that upped Concordia's lead back to thirteen at 56-43. However, any possible relief and jubilation on the Cobber side was short-lived as Anderson collected her fifth and final foul of the afternoon with 3:58 left and had to retire to the bench for the day. That may have given Bethel one last jolt of energy as they went back to work to try and whittle this deficit down again. Schmitz would get a tough score in the paint with 3:55 left to get the deficit down to eleven and a lay-up by Garfield with 3:18 left kept the Royals in that eleven-point range down 58-47. Then Garfield would knock down pairs of free throws to not only get the deficit back into single-digit range but throw a scare into the opponent as well - once after getting fouled in a transition opportunity with 2:56 left and again with 2:09 left - that narrowed the Cobber lead down to 58-51 with a mountain of time still on the clock. But just when things looked dangerous enough for Concordia, the Royals comeback attempt ran out of steam. Although the Cobbers were less than stellar at the charity stripe coming down the stretch, they did just enough to get the job done. Freshman reserve forward Genevieve Gruba would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled with 1:56 left as would Beseman with 1:00 left and again with :30.5 left. Gruba would get one more free throw to go down with :26.5 left after getting fouled and Sieben would add a pair after getting fouled with :14.3 left so while it wasn't the most esthetic win you'll ever see, Concordia was able to get out of Dodge - and Robertson Center - with the 64-55 victory.
I was able to touch base with a few of the Concordia players afterward who were quick to concur that this win was not as smooth as they would have preferred but, even though Bethel was able to make things complicated for them coming down the stretch, they still found a way to close it out even if they didn't necessarily bring their "A" game to the table. Concordia's Wagers told me - half-jokingly I think - "We need more fuel!"; probably referring to the long roadie down US Highway 10 and the BNSF Staples Sub mainline to the Twin Cities on Friday and the upcoming trip down US Highway 61 and the CPKC River Sub mainline to Winona on Monday to take on SMU. One thing I wasn't aware of coming into this contest was that the Cobbers actually were seventh in the nation in free-throw percentage from what Wagers informed me of although that lofty percentage arguably took a hit on this day as they were 23-32 for 71.9%. Still, there's a big part of me that thinks that this team learned some lessons from last season that saw them drop games on the road at Bethel and at Augsburg and at home versus St. Kate's that likely kept them out of the Big Dance last season. They know that they can't afford to lose these types of games if they want to be on the big stage and they found a way to get the job done - even if things weren't as pretty as they would have liked. Meanwhile for Bethel, I was able to talk to Herbrechtsmeyer before the game and asked him about his team and he told me straight up that this is simply a different team and they're learning and working hard each day in practice. You look at this Bethel roster and you'll find only one senior - Garfield - while the rest of the team is peppered with freshmen and sophomores with a couple of juniors so one could argue that this team is at least a year or two away from getting back to where they were back in 2020. You see flashes of what they can do but they haven't been able to find that consistency that the top teams have.
A couple of positives for Bethel on this day is that they held a sizable 42-35 edge on the boards and also had a 34-24 edge in points in the paint. However, those two items were nullified by the 27 turnovers that the Royals were guilty of in this contest. And those turnovers led to 25 points by the Cobbers as well. I mentioned that Concordia arguably had an off-day from the charity stripe but Bethel didn't exactly set the world on fire either on this front as they were 8-14 for 57.1% and these are things that will hurt a young team like Bethel. So, it may take a while for the Royals to find their groove and the Bethel faithful have to be patient with this team.
Concordia had a very balanced attack on this day with Beseman's 16 points leading all scorers but she had plenty of help as well as Sieben wasn't far behind with her 13 points and both Tollefson and Anderson collected 10 points. Garfield would pace Bethel with her 14 points while both Duininck and Schmitz finished with 10 points.
No comments:
Post a Comment