Made the run over to the St Paul side of town on this dreary, drizzly early December day to Butler Center on the campus of St. Catherine's University for this upcoming clash between visiting GAC and host St. Kate's. The Gusties were coming into this contest with not only a national ranking of number eight in the country but with a perfect 6-0 record as well; their latest victim being Macalester on Wednesday night. The Wildcats were coming in with a so-so 4-3 record but recorded a nice bounce-back win over Bethel on Wednesday night and were hoping to carry that momentum into this contest against the nationally-ranked Gusties.
But to the dismay of the home crowd, GAC made it quite clear that they were not going to be friendly guests on this Saturday afternoon and they started this game with both barrels a' blazing. One their very first possession of the opening period, willowy senior forward Emma (not evil) Kniefel sliced through traffic for an easy lay-up at the 9:47 mark and fellow senior forward Izzy (Izzy Izzy, you're making me dizzy) Quick would get fouled in a transition opportunity at the 9:19 mark and the former Champlin Park standout would get two free throws out of it to give the Gusties a 4-0 lead. That lead would expand to 6-0 when strong junior forward/post Rachel Kawiecki connected with a short, turnaround jumper at the 8:51 mark before St. Kate's finally showed some life on offense. Senior point guard Karis Zezza would connect with a lay-up at the 8:28 mark and slender junior forward Greta Schimnowski would drain a "3" from the left wing area at the 7:52 mark that had the Wildcats back to within a single possession down 8-5 but GAC would then unleash a 6-0 burst. Two free throws by Kawiecki after she was fouled at the 7:43 mark along with a lay-up by junior point guard Kylie Baranick at the 7:09 mark along with a lay-up in transition by senior guard Syd Hauger at the 6:37 mark got the Gustie lead to 14-5. The 'Cats would try and counter with another Schimnowski three-point bomb at the 6:21 mark from the right corner and two free throws by surprise freshman guard Hattie Fox after she was fouled at the 5:49 mark got the deficit back down to five at 15-10 but then GAC unleashed a back-breaking 10-0 run that pretty much punctuated how this game was going to go. Hauger would get a tough score in the paint at the 5:33 mark and then consecutive scores in the paint by lanky junior reserve forward Morgan Kelly - one with 4:45 left and again with 4:10 left - had the Gusties up 21-10 and then Kawiecki would connect with a short jumper in the lane with 3:23 left to make it 23-10. Kniefel would cap this latest push with a pretty lay-up in transition after a steal with 2:29 left before the Wildcats could start patching up some of the massive bleeding they were incurring. One free throw by lanky sophomore forward Emme Golembiewski with 2:13 left and one more by fellow sophomore reserve guard Kaylee Miron with 1:43 left took some nibbles out of the deficit but that would quickly grow again as the Gustie senior reserve guard Lexi Schermann buried a heart-breaking "3" from the right wing area with 1:26 left and Kawiecki would finish up a transition opportunity with a lay-up with :42.3 left to push the GAC lead to 32-12. St. Kate's would get a bit of a reprieve when Schimnowski drained a "3" with :02.3 left but trailing 32-15 at this point was something that Wildcats Head Coach Don Mulhern had hoped he could avoid at all costs.
GAC would build things up again in the early moments of the second period thanks to senior reserve guard Riley Queensland as she would start things off by banging home a "3" from the left wing area as the shot clock was expiring at the 8:58 mark and would add a pair of freebies after getting fouled at the 8:11 mark to push the Gustie lead to 37-15. St. Kate's would again attempt to shave some of the excess fat off of this deficit as the wily Zezza darted into the lane with one of her patented drives for a finish at the 6:29 mark and sophomore reserve post Maddie Rosen would connect with a lay-up at the 5:49 mark but getting this gap closed was quickly proving to be a bridge too far as GAC would unleash an unmerciful 13-3 run thanks to its smothering defense to close out this first half. Baranick would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled in a transition opportunity at the 5:20 mark and Kniefel would connect on a routine lay-up at the 5:10 mark that gave the Gusties a 41-19 lead. Kawiecki would add a pair of free throws after getting fouled with 4:29 left and the former Holy Angels standout would add a jumper from the left top area just inside the arc with 2:48 left to make it 45-19. With 2:10 left, Kawiecki would strike again; this time in a more conventional mode with a tough score in the paint and to punctuate what an incredible first half this was for GAC, freshman reserve guard Emy Wolkow would bury a "3" from the right top area with :25.5 left as Gustie Head Coach Laurie Kelly and crew took an almost insurmountable 50-22 lead into the locker room at the half.
GAC certainly didn't let its foot off the accelerator once the third period got going either. Kawiecki would get a short, turnaround jumper from the right side to go down at the 9:36 mark to make it 52-22 before the Wildcats could take some more nibbles off of this already-sizable deficit. Golembiewski would use her 5'11" frame to slither into the paint for one score and free throws - one by junior forward Rachel Randleman at the 8:02 mark and another one by Fox at the 8:02 mark - did just that - take some nibbles off but trailing 52-26 made things seem like an almost forgone conclusion as the Gusties would soon show. Kawiecki would get fouled at the 7:36 mark and although she couldn't cash in on either free throw attempt, she was able to snare the long offensive rebound and would soon find Hauger - who always seems to be in the right place at the right time - camping out behind the arc and the former Springfield standout didn't disappoint as she buried a casually cruel three-point bomb at the 7:10 mark. On the Wildcats ensuing possession, Hauger would strike again near the midcourt area by snaring a steal and then getting a lay-up out of it at the 6:53 mark to make it 57-26 and with St. Kate's now seemingly buried under an avalanche and with the wheels falling off, the Wildcats' Mulhern had no choice but to take a timeout in hopes of making quick repairs. But no quick fixes to this onslaught were in sight as the Gusties continued to pour it on. Hauger would again make a big presence by snaring an offensive rebound for a putback at the 5:59 mark and one free throw by Kelly with 4:57 left made it 60-26. Baranick; not one to hide her light behind a bushel either, would snare a steal and race the other way for a lay-up with 4:43 left to make it 62-26. Kelly would connect with a jumper from the left wing area with 3:52 left and Baranick; the former Maple Grove standout, would drain a "3" from the right wing area with 3:10 left to up the GAC lead to 67-28. Not too much later, the lithe and explosive Quick would add two scores of her own - a lay-up in transition with 2:48 left and a steal and a lay-up the other way with 1:45 left that put an exclamation point on this latest 14-2 burst by the Gusties that left little doubt as to how things were going to end up with a 71-28 lead.
St. Kate's was not willing to break out the white flag once the fourth period got going as Miron connected with a jumper along the right baseline at the 9:32 mark but the buzzsaw that the Wildcats ran into on this day was just simply too much to overcome. GAC's Schermann would get a pair of charity stripe shots to go down after getting fouled at the 9:23 mark and the former Mayer Lutheran standout would follow that up with a three-point bomb from the right wing area at the 8:27 mark to make it 75-30. St. Kate's would again take a couple of nibbles off of this massive cushion its opponent had as slender junior reserve forward Sydney Elliot would get a pair of free throws to go down after getting fouled at the 7:36 mark and sophomore reserve guard Maddie Young would get a tough score in the paint at the 6:44 mark but nothing was going to overcome the avalanche of black and gold the 'Cats ran into today. Up 75-34, the Gusties' Laurie Kelly was able to start inserting her reserves and get her main chain gang off the floor for a well-deserved rest. After Quick would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled at the 6:30 mark and then freshman reserve guard Emily Bowron would bury a "3" from the right corner at the 5:15 mark to stretch the lead to 79-35. Fellow freshman reserve guard Kaitlyn Schaefer would knock down a pair of freebies after getting fouled with 3:33 left and lanky freshman reserve forward Whitley Ronn would connect with a lay-up with 2:53 left. Freshman reserve guard Peyton Stevermer would get the front-end of two free throw attempts to go down after getting fouled with 2:34 left and although she couldn't cash in on the back-end attempt, GAC's Schaefer would snare the offensive rebound and get the putback attempt to go down and drew a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" not only ballooned the Gustie lead to 87-37 but got a roar of approval from the starters on the bench as well. Ronn would add a pair of free throws herself with 1:42 left as GAC not only booked a convincing 89-39 win but sent a clear message to the D3 Hoops world that they intend to be around when it counts.
There really isn't too much you can say other than what an incredibly dominating performance it was by the Gusties on this day. And if the final score wasn't enough of an indication, take a look at the box score then. Every important category was dominated by GAC on this day and then some: 40-14 in points in the paint, 38-6 on points off of turnovers, 27-5 in second-chance points, 39-17 on the boards, and 35-14 in bench points. I mean, take your pick here. Then consider that the normally hot-shooting Wildcats were relegated to going 11-39 from FG range for 28.2% and 3-8 from downtown for 37.5%. As GAC's Laurie Kelly told me afterward, "Our defense was really good today" is all you need to know. I told Laurie Kelly when I caught up with her afterward that if they continue to play like this, they'll win a national championship. As much as she probably loved the accolades, she half-jokingly didn't want me to get too carried away either. We all know that there's a lot of basketball to play yet and now GAC will get their first big tests of the season right after finals are done by heading down to Ft. Lauderdale, FL where they'll take on fourth-ranked Rhode Island (a Final Four participant last season) on 12-20 and follow that up by taking on perennial ARC powerhouse Simpson the next day (12-21). But it's precisely what the Gusties need to do to raise that proverbial SOS which is so vitally important when NCAA Tournament time starts rolling around.
But there's another item that I felt that I need to touch on here with regards to the team itself. I arrived at Butler Center early enough to watch the teams warm up and got a chance to speak with Assistant Coach Dan Wolfe as well. The Gusties warm-ups had a heart on the front end with #33 on it and on the back the initials "JJ" and "Always a Gustie". This was in honor of Jori Jones of the GAC Women's Hockey team that won the National Championship last season who tragically lost her life in an automobile accident this last August. As you can imagine, it was an incredibly tough time for everyone associated in the GAC community and the women's basketball team is very close to the women's hockey team and the sadness and grief they've had to endure is something that no kid their age should ever have to go through. Yet, through it all, this GAC team has found a way to persevere and perhaps because of this tragedy that struck the GAC community, it may have - in a backhanded way - bonded this team closer than they've ever been before and I could detect how focused they were in pre-game warm-ups. They're all business out there and they're one team. One heartbeat.
And, before I close this out, I have to give props to St. Kate's Mulhern who, despite the lopsided loss on this day, was busy after the game talking with recruits and their families and doing his best to make that "hard sell" to these families and players and there's not many who can do that better than Mulhern. Because he was busy, I didn't get a chance to speak with him afterward because I knew he was busy. But, much to my surprise, he called me up when I was out running a couple of errands after the game and apologized for not being available afterward. I told him not to worry about it but appreciated it. You could tell the disappointment in his voice but this guy is incredibly gracious in both victory and defeat and St. Kate's - and the MIAC - is damn lucky to have a guy like Don Mulhern.
The Gusties were led on this day by Kawiecki's 16 points and Hauger wasn't far behind with her 14 points. St. Kate's was paced by Schimnowski's 11 points.
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