Made a good trip on this sunny Saturday down US Highway 169 and the Union Pacific's Mankato Sub mainline down to St. Peter and Lund Arena on the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College for the MIAC Championship Game featuring two teams that know each other very well - visiting and second-seeded Concordia and host and number-one seed GAC. The Cobbers fended off a scrappy St. Kate's team on Thursday night up in Moorhead to advance and the Gusties summarily dispatched CSB at this venue on Thursday night as well to set up a rematch of last year's clash that many anticipated. I arrived early enough which allowed me to get a good lunch at the world-famous Gustavus cafeteria before meandering back over to nearby Lund Arena to get settled into the press box area.
One thing that Concordia obviously was hoping to do on this day was to get off to a good start to provide some solid footing in an otherwise hostile environment. But the Gusties had vastly different ideas and an early 12-3 blitz set the tone for this contest. Senior guard Emma (not evil) Kniefel would start things off by burying a laser-like "3" from the right top area at the 9:32 mark of this opening period and a lay-up by junior point guard Kylie Baranick at the 8:59 mark had GAC up 5-0. The Cobbers appeared to finally assert themselves a bit later at the 8:37 mark when junior guard Carlee Sieben drained a "3" from the left top area but Concordia would soon find themselves in an early hole. Senior forward Izzy (Izzy Izzy, you're making me dizzy) Quick would make a great athletic move to snare an offensive rebound for a putback at the 8:15 mark and then Kniefel would find her touch again from behind the arc with a bomb from the left top area at the 6:14 mark to make it a 10-3 ballgame and then senior guard Syd Hauger would use a burst of speed to connect with a lay-up at the 5:51 mark that grew the lead to 12-3 and Concordia Head Coach Kim Wagers knew that she had to take a match to a timeout to get her squad calmed down and refocused. The Cobbers would get a bit of a lift when strong junior forward Makyala Anderson muscled into the paint for a score at the 5:29 mark but GAC would soon get their lead to double digits as reserve junior forward Morgan Kelly would connect with a lay-up at the 5:07 mark and then Kniefel would unleash more terror from behind the arc with her third bomb of this first period - this one coming from the top of the key with 3:26 left to make it a 17-6 game. Concordia was able to momentarily get back into single digit-range again as Anderson would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled with 2:46 left and two more by freshman reserve forward Genevieve Gruba with 2:23 left after she was fouled trimmed the deficit down to nine at 19-10 but the Gusties would soon show that this opening period was no fluke as Hauger would again use a burst of speed to waltz in for an easy lay-up with :25 left that had GAC up 21-10.
The Cobbers hoped to get out to a much better start and get back to within striking distance again once the second period got underway and one free throw by senior guard Emily Beseman after she was fouled at the 8:10 mark at least got the deficit down to ten at 21-11 but then GAC would unleash another quick burst. Freshman reserve guard Emily Bowron would bang home a "3" from the right wing area at the 7:55 mark and then Quick would connect with a short jumper off the glass at the 7:27 mark to grow the lead to 26-11 and Concordia's Wagers would again be clamoring for a timeout as she saw this one quickly slipping away. The Cobbers would get a bit of a reprieve when Anderson connected with a lay-up at the 6:42 mark but then the Gusties unleashed another quick burst thanks to Morgan Kelly. The hometown St. Peter product would connect with a lay-up at the 5:43 mark and then would unleash a three-point bomb from the left corner as the shot clock expired with 4:01 left that grew GAC's lead to 31-13. Concordia; already looking out of sorts, had to battle back quickly as Beseman finally got a jumper from near the free throw line to go down with 3:42 left and freshman reserve guard Alexa Snesrud would connect with a lay-up with 3:17 left but these scores seemed like trying to patch a sinking boat as the Gusties would finish up this second period on a 6-2 run. Strong junior forward Rachel Kawiecki would come through with back-to-back scores as she would first knock down a jumper from the right wing area off of an inbounds pass with 2:41 left and would follow that up a bit later with a hard drive into the lane for a finish with 1:38 left. Then Hauger would finish off this second period with a lay-up with :38.6 left to get the lead to twenty at 39-19 and as both teams headed off to their respective locker rooms, Concordia looked dazed, disheveled and beat up and down twenty, they looked like they were past the point of no return.
An 8-0 run by GAC out of the gate in the third period put the Cobbers further into the abyss. Kawiecki would start things off with back-to-back scores as she would connect on a lay-up at the 9:20 mark and would follow that up with a jumper from near the free throw line area at the 8:36 mark that expanded the Gustie lead to 43-19. Then Baranick would get a three-point play the old-fashioned way with a tough lay-up that drew a foul along with the ensuing "and one" by the former Maple Grove standout at the 7:53 mark. Then Morgan Kelly would knock down a jumper at the 6:55 mark that bloated the GAC lead to 48-19. The Cobbers finally found some semblance of offense as Anderson would muscle into the paint for one score at the 6:21 mark and Gruba would connect with a lay-up at the 5:29 mark but without a substantial run, Concordia was only making small dents in this cushion and the Gusties showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon either. Kniefel would connect with a lay-up in transition with 4:48 left and then Bowron; the former Rochester Lourdes standout, buried her second trey of this afternoon with a bomb from the right top area with 3:41 left that now had GAC up thirty at 53-23. The Cobbers did respond with a couple of three-point bombs of their own - one by sophomore reserve guard Molly Musland from the right corner with 3:19 left and another by diminutive senior reserve guard Maddie Guler from the left corner with 2:36 left added some points on the Concordia side but at this juncture, not nearly enough to get them back into the thick of things. To her credit, Guler would bang home her second trey of this period with a bomb from the left wing area with :40.3 left but the Gusties would punctuate this third period as Baranick would race from coast-to-coast for a lay-up with just :00.5 left on the clock as GAC carried an insurmountable 58-32 lead into the fourth period.
And, lest there be any doubt, the Gusties would put the finishing touches on this rout once the fourth period got underway. Kniefel would get back-to-back scores - a hard drive with a short, turnaround jumper at the 8:30 mark and a jumper from the free throw line area at the 8:03 mark - that would re-establish the thirty-point lead at 62-32. Kawiecki would connect with a short shot off the glass with 4:56 left that made it a 64-34 ballgame. Meanwhile, Concordia's shooting woes would continue and would not abate until Anderson was sent to the charity stripe with 2:45 left as the Bismarck, ND native would get two freebies to go down. With a large lead at hand, GAC Head Coach Laurie Kelly yanked her main chain gang off the floor and got several of her reserves in for mop-up duty. The Cobbers meanwhile would get one score down the stretch as Guler sneaked into the paint for a finish with 1:51 left and then Gustie freshman reserve forward Whitley Ronn would knock down a jumper from the right wing area with 1;22 left. With :21.7 left, Concordia's Anderson; doing what she's done best all season, snared an offensive rebound for a putback but this issue had long since been determined and GAC would claim its third MIAC Championship Game title in as many years with a convincing 66-38 drubbing of a very good Concordia Cobber team.
After the postgame ceremonies had concluded with the Gusties cutting down the nets and accepting the trophy from MIAC Associate Commissioner B. J. Pickard who was in the press box with me during the game, I was first able to catch up with GAC Assistant Coach Dan Wolfe who exclaimed, "That's us! That's us!" Indeed it was as it was just an absolute dominant display by the Gusties on this day with their defense as they simply smothered Concordia and had them out of their comfort zone from the get-go. I was able to spend a bit of time with a jubilant Laurie Kelly of GAC who offered her thoughts on this latest conquest and what lies ahead. I mentioned to her that the Gusties defense in this contest could best be described as suffocating. "We've been playing really good basketball coming into the tournament (MIAC Playoffs).....We're just in a good place....They've been on the floor a lot together over the last few years and they really know each other. The success of our team has always been the balance and distribution and that we play team basketball and it was really on display today.....In front of our home crowd and now to win three in a row and no other Gustie team has ever done this......We're going to enjoy this moment and you don't want to take it for granted; what we've earned and how hard they worked to get here.....This is the start of what our goals and aspirations are." I asked Kelly as well about what now lies ahead between now and Monday afternoon when the NCAA Tournament pairings are announced and how it seems that this team is now poised to do some serious damage in the Dance. "We have so much responsibility representing our amazing conference in the MIAC and we're going forward to represent what our league is about and we feel a responsibility with that......We're going to sit there on Monday afternoon with the feeling that you know your name is coming up; there's a feeling of relief in that......We can't control the the things we can't control so we're gonna take the hand we're dealt as we've done all year long and we're going to hopefully have a couple of good games back-to-back coming up."
As you can imagine, it was a much more somber atmosphere on the Concordia side afterward as they saw their MIAC Championship Game title hopes - and possibly an NCAA Tournament berth - go up in flames - again - in this same venue. I mentioned to Concordia's Wagers afterward that it seemed like they ran into the perfect storm on this day and no matter what they did, things seemed to go from bad to worse. "Yeah.....They're just extremely physical and they guard really well so credit to them.....We're normally averaging 74 points a game but they did a great job defensively....We missed a ton of lay-ups and felt like we got 'sped up' again (as they did up to a certain point against St. Kate's on Thursday night back up in Moorhead) where we're not executing and we're rushing stuff and not shooting a great percentage so they (GAC) did a really good job and some of that we didn't get any stops.....We didn't get any transition buckets and that's our 'MO' so certainly a frustrating day today......But our kids played hard and being back in the conference championship is always exciting and it was good to be back and I think we learned a lot about ourselves and hopefully.....Maybe we're not done." I mentioned to Wagers that I'm keeping my fingers crossed for their NCAA Tournament hopes as well to which Wagers responded, "I hope I get one more week with them."
I suppose it's not the best analogy in the world but watching this game on this day made me feel like I was watching the MIAC Women's Basketball version of the 1975 NFC Championship Game that my Los Angeles Rams participated in and got absolutely obliterated by the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 37-7 - at the LA Coliseum no less (and to this day I STILL cannot get that damn game off of my "hard drive"). It was just total domination by the Gusties from start to finish and given the fact that the Cobbers held a double-digit lead at the half in this same venue back in early January before losing and then got revenge on GAC earlier this month at home in Moorhead, and given how they had looked coming down the stretch of the regular season, I really felt that they had an opportunity today. But GAC shut the door on them early and proceeded with the beat down. What the Gusties did defensively on this day made even the simple things extremely hard for Concordia. You look at the box score on this game and you see this reflected as the Cobbers shot a paltry 12-53 from FG range for 22.6% and things weren't any better from downtown either as - except for a few brief flashes - the Cobbers wound up going 4-18 for 22.2%. Contrast that with GAC going 28-53 for 52.8% from FG range and 6-16 from behind the arc for 37.5% and that gives you a pretty good idea of what it was like on this day. Then throw in GAC's whopping advantage in points in the paint by a 36-14 count along with a 17-4 advantage in points off of turnovers and it hammers home the earlier point even more. The only red flag that had to have caught the attention of Laurie Kelly and her staff afterward was that the Gusties were 4-10 from the charity stripe on this day and that is a figure that MUST be better as they delve into NCAA Tournament play this next Friday evening.
And, to expand on Laurie Kelly's point about balance and distribution of her team, it was again on display on this day as we saw Kniefel's points lead the way (and all scorers as well) but she had a lot of help as Kawiecki would tally 12 points and Morgan Kelly would finish with 10 points. And Quick was an absolute monster on the glass on this day with her 10 rebounds. And the freshman, Bowron, finished with only six points but both scores came on three-point daggers and it's easy to see that Laurie Kelly has a real gem in this youngster. On the Concordia side, it was Anderson leading the way again with her 12 points but unfortunately for the Cobbers, she didn't get a lot of help on this day as the only other Cobber with a reasonably solid day on the scoring front was Guler with her eight points.
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