Made the short run over to Robertson Center on the campus of Bethel University on this frigid early December evening for my very first game coverage of the 2024-25 season - and a critical early season clash between visiting Concordia and host Bethel. The Cobbers; after a strong 3-0 start, suddenly and inexplicably hit the skids as they followed that up with road losses to both UW-River Falls and UW-La Crosse. The Royals meanwhile were coming into this contest on relatively stable footing having dropped only one contest to aforementioned UW-La Crosse team. I personally felt coming into this game that this was for all practical purposes a MUST win for Concordia if they wanted to re-establish themselves as a conference front-runner but also vitally important for Bethel as well as they were looking to climb back into contender status. But the urgency of the situation for the Cobbers seemed to be the main headline for me coming into this contest and I felt like they had to set the tone early on.
Unfortunately for Concordia, it was the Royals who came out with the hot hand from the opening tip-off. Junior guard Colette Duininck drove in (virtually unguarded) for an easy lay-up at the 9:48 mark of the opening period that got Bethel on the board and an offensive rebound for a putback by fifth-year senior Lydia Hay at the 9:16 mark and a lay-up by senior combo guard/forward Elly Schmitz at the 8:23 mark had they Royals on top 6-0. To their credit, the Cobbers came back with a 8-0 run of their own. Senior guard Jordyn Kahler would connect with a lay-up at the 7:20 mark and fellow senior forward Makayla Anderson would follow that up with a lay-up of her own at the 5:37 mark. Junior reserve guard Molly Musland would get a tricky lay-up to go down with 4:16 left as the shot clock was expiring that leveled this game at six a piece. Concordia would finally poke its nose out in front with 3:41 left when sophomore reserve guard Peyton Breidenbach knocked down a pair of free throws after getting fouled with 3:41 left to make it an 8-6 ballgame The Royals would retake the lead as fifth-year senior guard Anna Garfield would snare an offensive rebound for a putback with 3:32 left and would also knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled in a transition opportunity with 3:16 left that gave Bethel a 10-8 advantage. The Cobbers would again get this game on even terms as Musland would connect on a mid-range jumper from near the left elbow area with 2:54 left that had this game tied at 10 a piece and Concordia would eventually regain the lead at 12-11 when lanky sophomore reserve post Maci Wheeldon got a short, turnaround jumper to go down with 1:49 left. But the Royals would own a one-point lead when slender junior reserve forward Ali Born snared a steal in the backcourt and got a lay-up out of it with :17 left to make it a 13-12 game as this one transitioned to the second period.
The Cobbers prospects definitely appeared to brighten when junior guard and three-point specialist Taylor Safranski drained a three-point bomb from the right top area at the 9:22 mark of the second period to put Concordia back on top by a 15-13 count but it was here where things first started to turn sour for Concordia as the Royals unleashed an 11-0 run that really turned this game around for Bethel. Two scores in the paint by Schmitz - one at the 9:05 mark and again at the 8:32 mark - put the Royals back on top by a 17-15 count and although that alone wasn't that alarming for the Fargo-Moorhead crew, spirits definitely plummeted when Anderson; their primary anchor down low, picked up her second foul at the 8:12 mark on a charging call and Concordia Head Coach Kim Wagers wasn't in the mood to take any chances and she quickly yanked the former Bismarck Century standout to the bench for preservation purposes. That's when the floodgates seemed to open up and Bethel took full advantage. Sophomore reserve forward Cally Peterson slithered iinto the paint for one score at the 6:38 mark and then Duininck; the diminutive former Central Minnesota Christian standout, buried a "3" from the left wing area at the 5:57 mark to make it a 22-15 game. Schmitz would cap this run at the 5:08 mark with her offensive rebound for a putback to make it 24-15 before the Cobbers could tighten this one up. Wheeldon would connect on a lay-up attempt with 4:54 left and then senior point guard Carlee Sieben would finally get untracked and bury a "3" from the right top area with 1:28 left that made things a bit more manageable down 24-20. Bethel would get its lead back to six on two occasions coming down the stretch as sophomore reserve forward Emily Erickson would snare an offensive rebound for a putback with 1:10 left and Born would make a daring drive into the lane for a finish with :42 left to give the Royals a 28-22 lead. Concordia would get the deficit trimmed down to four again when Sieben made an almost-impossible score in the paint with just :02 left and although down only 28-24 - hardly an insurmountable deficit - it seemed larger than that because so much of the momentum was on Bethel's side. Furthermore, the Cobbers were having all sorts of problems with Bethel's pressure defense and it had definitely taken Concordia out of its comfort zone.
The Royals would again push their lead to six when Hay; the former CSB and Wayzata standout, connected with a lay-up at the 9:34 mark of the third period but Concordia again appeared to stabilize things when Anderson would connect with a lay-up of her own at the 8:17 mark that also drew a foul and her ensuing "and one" had the Cobbers in decent shape down just 30-27. But it was here where things once again fell apart for Concordia. First, Kahler would pick up her third and fourth foul of the evening in succession - at the 7:24 mark and at the 7:06 mark - that forced Wagers to yank the former Wahpeton, ND standout and then Bethel would launch an 11-2 burst that put the Cobbers behind the 8-ball. Schmitz would start things off with a routine score in the paint at the 6:26 mark and then Erickson would connect on a lay-up attempt at the 5:48 mark to make it 34-29. Then sophomore reserve guard Macey Littlefield would bang home a "3" from the right wing area at the 5:07 mark and Erickson would follow that up with a score in the paint with 4:43 left that gave the Royals a ten-point cushion up 39-29 and Concordia's Wagers had seen more than enough to know that it was time to take a match to a timeout in hopes of getting her squad settled down. Bethel would cap this run on a lay-up in transition with 2:09 left by Garfield before the Cobbers finally stopped some of the massive bleeding on a three-point bomb by junior reserve guard Taya Jeffrey from the left top area with :56.4 left but the damage had been done and down 41-32, Concordia was going to have to find some solutions - and quickly - if they were going to come back in this one.
The Cobbers would try once again to find tractive effort once the fourth period got underway as Safranski; the former Fargo Davies standout, connected with a jumper from the left elbow area at the 9:43 mark that cut the deficit down to seven at 41-34 with seemingly plenty of time left but the way things played out the rest of the way, it seemed like it was two steps forward and one step back proposition for Concordia as Kahler would collect her fifth and final foul of the evening at the 9:14 mark that sent her to the bench for good. Then the Royals' Duininck would bang home a "3" from the top of the key at the 8:26 mark to re-establish the double-digit advantage at 44-34 before Concordia could try and peck away again. Safranski would knock down a short jumper at the 7:26 mark and then Anderson would muscle into the paint for another score at the 6:41 mark that at least provided a ray of hope down 44-38 but the Cobbers could never get any closer as Bethel kept shutting off the valve. Schmitz would knock down a pair of freebies after getting fouled at the 6:25 mark and Erickson would add a score in the paint to make it a ten-point game at 48-38 and an offensive rebound and putback by Born with 4:44 left maintained this ten-point cushion at 50-40. Concordia would get a bit of a reprieve when Sieben drained a three-point bomb from the left wing area with 4:20 left but the Cobbers simply could not sustain any meaningful comeback attempt as Bethel was now in the process of putting the finishing touches on this one. Erickson would snare an offensive rebound for a putback with 3:56 left and draw a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" got the lead back to ten at 53-43 and Born would grab an offensive rebound for a putback as well with 3:02 left to make it a 55-46 game. Schmitz would make her mark on this game by doing most of the damage the rest of the way for the Royals with two free throws after getting fouled with 2:18 left and an offensive rebound for a putback with :56 left. Pairs of free throws by Schmitz with :42.2 and :34.8 left helped Bethel get an important early season 63-50 conference win under its belt when the final buzzer sounded.
I was able to catch up with Bethel Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer; on crutches because of recent knee surgery but that didn't hold him or his team back on this night and he was very happy with his squad after this win. I had spoken with him over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend at the Pat Patterson Girls HS Tournament over at Hamline and he even told me then that his squad was significantly far ahead from where it was a season ago. I mentioned to him from the get-go when I caught up with him after the game that this was the trademark Bethel defense that the rest of MIAC Women's Basketball has come to know and hate with a passion unbridled and it was incredibly efficient on this night. His only disappointment thus far? The loss at UW-La Crosse back in mid-November. "I got after them after that game" he remarked. And it's obvious that they've responded as this win over the Cobbers is their third straight after that setback. I know it's early in the season (early December) and perhaps we need to see more of this team to get a better "feel" for them but after seeing them on this night, it's clear to me that I obviously undervalued them when I came out with my MIAC picks a while back. I think I had reason to at the time......I stand by what I said that they had the most to prove of the rest of the contenders in the MIAC but they're already showing a night and day difference from last year's team. You look at their roster and then you watch them in action on the court, the first thing that strikes you is just how darned big they are. Schmitz, Born, and Hay at 6;0" and Erickson at 5' 10" can help give you a solid frontline no matter what combination Herbrechtsmeyer decides to go with. And this backcourt is vastly improved as well with Duininck now an experienced junior backed up by the sophomore Littlefield. And we know their identity - playing that classic Bethel defense that can trap and smother you to death and create an array of scoring opportunities on the other end. I think they have a little way to go before one could say that they're back on the same level that the 2020 squad was but they're well on their way to getting there I think.
Meanwhile, on the Concordia side of things, if there was ever a time for a team to sit down in the front of the proverbial mirror and do some serious soul-searching, this would be it. I'll be honest with you: I was just shocked at how disheveled and befuddled the Cobbers looked on this night as they simply had few - if any - answers for what Bethel threw at them. I mean, all you need to do is look at the final box score on this one and when you do, I guarantee that it will not be pretty. Consider: Bethel with a whopping 42-24 advantage on points in the paint. 23 (twenty-three!!!!) turnovers. Bethel with a 25-13 advantage in those all-important second-chance points. Bethel with an 11-4 advantage in fast-break points and a 26-18 advantage in bench points. I mean, there's your ballgame right there folks. True, the Cobbers were 12-13 from the charity stripe for 92.3% which is pretty damn good but that means little when all these other stats that I've outlined here are way out of whack for you. But it was more than that. Defensive lapses including uncontested lay-ups, failure to box out and just plain mental toughness that simply wasn't there on this night not to mention the lack of a sense of urgency. I don't want to sound too harsh here but that's what the eye test was telling me on this night. Even Wagers admitted afterward when I spoke with her that this team does not handle the physicality aspect of other teams well right now and we know that's something that must improve. I think, just as important, this team is still searching for an identity for itself and it's a struggle when you don't have that identity - whatever that may be. And the real daunting aspect is the road ahead which includes a roadie at defending MIAC Champion GAC on Saturday; not to mention the Transylvania tournament right before the first of the year where they'll square off with powerhouse Washington & Lee out of the ODAC in their opening game. In short, the Cobbers have got to figure out some things and they've got to figure them out pretty danged soon. I think this team is capable of doing just that but time is of the essence.
What a night it was for Schmitz as she led the team (and all scorers) on this night with her 19 points and just missed out on a double-double with her nine rebounds. She got plenty of help on this night as well but what's somewhat surprising is that it was Erickson - the sophomore reserve - pouring 13 points that helped bolster the Bethel attack. Sieben led the way for the Cobbers with her 12 points and Anderson was right behind with 11 points.
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