The final day of the 2023-24 regular season saw me hopping on US Highway 10 and the BNSF's Staples Sub mainline up to the St. Cloud area and, despite some inconvenient road construction on the west side of town, I got over to nearby St. Joseph and Claire Lynch Hall on the campus of St. Benedict for this matchup between visiting St. Kate's and host CSB. The Wildcats were coming into this contest on a nice little roll; winners of their last six games that allowed them to lock up the third seed in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs for the first time in program history. It's been a bumpy ride for the Bennies coming down the home stretch; going 3-3 in their last six games which includes a tough loss at Bethel this last Wednesday night. Given the bizarre nature of the double-overtime loss that CSB suffered to St. Kate's back on January 13, you had to think that the Bennies had revenge on their minds and wanted to dish out some comeuppance on their opponent today. This was also Parent's Day and Senior Day at CSB as well as the parents of players were recognized before the game.
The comeuppance reference certainly seemed to be the case anyway right out of the gates in the opening period as the Bennies stormed out to an early 13-2 lead. Two free throws by lanky senior forward Lydia Hay after she was fouled at the 9:39 mark helped draw first blood and then sophomore combo post/forward Kira Young expanded that lead when she connected on a lay-up at the 8:57 mark that also drew a foul and her ensuing "and one" made it a 5-2 game. Then CSB started inflicting damage from behind the arc thanks to sophomore guard Megan Morgan. The former Winona Cotter standout would unleash her first trey of this game from the left wing area and would follow that up after a foiled Wildcat possession with a bomb from the left corner at the 7:52 mark that now made it an 11-2 ballgame and St. Kate's Head Coach Don Mulhern; not at all liking how this game was unfolding, took a match to a timeout in hopes of some quick fixes. Still, the Bennies would cap this first big run on a lay-up in transition by Kira Young at the 7:31 mark before the 'Cats could patch up some of the bleeding on one free throw by slender sophomore forward Emme Golembiewski after she was fouled at the 5:45 mark but CSB was not in a charitable mood on this day and they went off on an 11-0 burst. Junior guard Sophia Jonas would get fouled behind the arc with 4:53 left and get two free throws to go down out of the deal and a three-point bomb by senior reserve guard Morgan Ebel with 4:46 left made it an 18-3 game. Senior point guard Carla Meyer got in on the act with a jumper from the top of the key just inside the arc with 4:04 left and then junior reserve forward Morgan Chmielewski slithered into the paint for a score to get the lead to 22-3 and the Wildcats' Mulhern was soon clamoring for a thirty-second timeout in hopes of plugging all these holes. Still, this latest Bennie run wasn't over until Morgan connected with a jumper from near the free throw line area with 2:31 left and although St. Kate's finally found some relief on a three-point bomb from the left top area by junior forward Greta Schimnowski with :52.6 left, the 'Cats were in a big hole down 24-6.
The Bennies picked up right where they left off once the second period got underway. Meyer would unleash a trey from the left corner at the 9:29 mark and then Morgan would follow suit with a bomb from the right wing area at the 8:01 mark that stretched the CSB lead to 30-6. The Wildcats would try and counter on a three-point bomb by freshman guard Hattie Fox at the 7:38 mark but the math was not working for St. Kate's on this day as they kept falling further behind. The Bennies' Morgan would unleash more terror from behind the arc with a bomb from the left top area at the 6:41 mark to make it a 33-9 game and that had the Wildcat's Mulhern burning another thirty-second timeout as the prospects for St. Kate's grew even more dim. But CSB meant business on this day and Meyer - the former Totino-Grace standout - wanted her day in the sun in her final home game at Claire Lynch. She would snare an offensive rebound for a putback at the 5:36 mark and a bit later would knock down a jumper from the left elbow area at the 5:10 mark to make it a 37-11 ballgame. With 4:13 left, Meyer would bang home a "3" from the left corner that ballooned the lead to 40-11 and Ebel would follow suit with a "3" of her own from the right corner with 2:45 left to make it 43-13. Although the Wildcats would finish up this dreadful first period on a couple of scores - a score in the paint by freshman reserve forward Lily Peper with 2:29 left and two free throws by junior reserve forward Sydney Elliott after she was fouled with :30.8 left, St. Kate's had dug themselves into a canyon down 43-17 as both teams headed for the locker room for the halftime break and any meaningful comeback attempt looked highly unlikely at this point considering how CSB had taken the 'Cats out of their normally fast-paced up-tempo style of play.
Even worse for St. Kate's is that the third period started out much like the opening period with a big run by the Bennies to widen the gap even more. Hay drained a "3" from the top of the key at the 9:10 mark and a pretty lay-up by Kira Young at the 8:45 mark got the lead to 48-17. Morgan would make a hard drive and finish with a lay-up at the 8:05 mark and Meyer would cap this 9-2 burst with a lay-up at the 7:01 mark to give CSB a 52-19 lead. The Wildcats finally found some semblance of offense as Golembiewski got a pair of free throws to go down after getting fouled at the 6:47 mark and senior point guard Karis Zezza finally got things going as she would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled at the 5:44 mark and with 4:55 left, the former STMA standout would use her defensive prowess to snare a steal near the midcourt line and race in for an easy lay-up. Sophomore reserve guard Kristen Lawton would get a pair of free throws to go down after getting fouled with 2:56 left and then Elliott would bang home a "3" from the left wing area with 2:32 left but trailing 54-29, it was one of those cases where you had to break out the Jerry Reed song of "We got a long way to go and a short time to get there" and that was indeed the case for the 'Cats at this juncture. And the Bennies had no intention of letting the gap narrow down the stretch either. Morgan would knock down a pair of freebies after getting fouled with 2:03 left and with 1:39 left, Morgan would drain a casually cruel "3" from the top of the key that made it 59-29. St. Kate's would get the last two points of this third period on two free throws by sophomore reserve guard Maddie Young after she was fouled with 1:03 left but down 59-31, the outcome for this game seemed pretty much academic by this point.
And CSB would drive home that point even more once the fourth period got underway with a pair of three-point bombs - one by Jonas from the right wing area at the 9:48 mark and another one by Morgan from the left corner at the 8:03 mark - that bulged the lead to 65-31. Although any thoughts of a meaningful comeback attempt by the Wildcats had long ago went out the window, St. Kate's did show heart as they continued to battle. Maddie Young would make a nifty drive along the right baseline and finish with a pretty reverse lay-up at the 7:44 mark and a bit later at the 7:27 mark, Zezza would snare a steal and get the ball to Fox who would race the other way for a lay-up. Less than a minute later, Fox would strike again - this time with a three-point bomb from the left wing area at the 6:42 mark. But trailing 65-38 by this point, the Wildcats were only taking nibbles out of the sizable deficit and CSB went back to work to ensure victory and give Head Coach Mike Durbin an opportunity to start inserting his younger reserves into the contest as well. Kira Young would use a burst of speed for a pretty drive and lay-up at the 6:23 mark and Ebel would connect with a lay-up in transition at the 5:33 mark to make it a 69-38 game. Ebel would cap her solid day with a three-point bomb from the right corner with 3:29 left and then both Durbin and Mulhern let their reserves take over down the stretch. St. Kate's freshman reserve post Julia Harmon would get a jumper to go down from the right elbow area with 3:10 left and Bennie freshman reserve post Mia Rogholt would connect with a lay-up with 1:27 left. Wildcats sophomore reserve guard Taylor Soltis would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled with :43.4 left and CSB's Rogholt would get a score in the paint with :32.5 left as the Bennies coasted to a convincing 76-50 victory.
I was first able to catch up with St. Kate's Assistant Coach Ben Fleming afterward who was obviously disappointed with the outcome but remained upbeat regarding the upcoming MIAC Playoffs. I asked him specifically if CSB's length might've contributed to the Wildcats struggles on this day but he pooh-pooed that notion and said that it really comes down to coming out and being fully-focused and ready to go; particularly when you're on the road against a quality opponent. And I think Fleming, in all fairness, kind of hit the nail on the head with this one. Anyone who has watched this team play this year knows all too well that they've dug themselves into too many canyons and the times that they've been able to crawl out of those canyons, it's taken some absolute dramatics and flair to do so. This group has done a better job in protecting leads than last year's team but even with a program-best of 18-7 overall at the moment, obviously there's still room for growth here. You look at the box score on this one and you'll see that neither rebounds nor turnovers were a game-changer here by any means. True, the Bennies did have a decided edge in both points in the paint (24-18) and points off of turnovers (15-7). What it really boiled down to in this one is that CSB just shot incredibly well on this day; going 27-64 from FG range for 42.2% and 13-29 for 44.8% which contrasts with St. Kate's going 15-66 from FG range for 22.7% and 5-19 from downtown for 26.3% and voila - there's your ballgame, folks. I think both coaches can feel good about their respective squads when it came to the charity stripe as CSB was 9-10 for a straight 90% and although St. Kate's got to the line more often, they still made the most of it going 15-18 for 83.3%.
I also got to spend little bit of time with CSB's Durbin afterward who was busy honoring the three seniors after this win - Meyer, Ebel and Hay. I asked him if the REAL CSB team stood up today and he emphatically replied - "YES!" I think we indeed did see the Bennies play at their full potential today and they really showed how dangerously good they can be when it's all "clicking" for them. At the same time, we've also seen that this squad has had their share of struggles on the road at times this season (along with some arguably rotten bad luck as well) and now, being locked into the fifth seed in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs this next week, they have to find a way to bring this same energy and play-making ability as they did today into a hostile environment and therein lies the big challenge for the Bennies which even Durbin as much admitted to. But they've got the length and they've got a great group of three-point bombers and if they can put all the ingredients together and blend it really well, this team can be incredibly dangerous.
Even though it was Senior Day at Claire Lynch, it was CSB's young sophomore, Morgan, who really stole the show with a double-double of 26 points that easily led all scorers and 10 rebounds to boot. Meyer had a fabulous day in her final outing at Claire Lynch with 14 points as did Ebel who tallied 11 points and was 3-4 from downtown in doing so. Fox had to shoulder the load for St. Kate's on this day as she paced the Wildcats with 14 points.
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