Made my way over to the Robertson Center on this sunny but cold Saturday afternoon for Senior Day at Bethel as they prepared to take on visiting Macalester. Before the game, Bethel's three seniors - Kristi Nye-Studanski, Alicia Montbriand and Kelly Swenson were honored and it always makes for a special day no matter what venue you're at.
As full of spirit that the Royals were on this day, they could do little offensively early on in this contest and Macalester was able to take advantage of Bethel miscues. With the score tied at 2-all after Montbriand was able to manuever inside for a score in the paint at the 17:57 mark, Macalester made its move. 6'3" junior post Veronika Jakubovie connected with a turnaround jumper down low at the 16:23 mark and then a lay-up by speedy senior point guard Kyanna Jones at the 15:59 mark made it a 6-2 game for the Scots. Although Jones misfired on two chances from the charity stripe after being fouled at the 14:05 mark, she made up for that just a little more than a minute later when she was sent to the line again and promptly knocked down both for an 8-2 Macalester lead. Finally, junior guard Katelyn Vavra got the home team untracked somewhat at the 12:44 mark when she nailed a "3" from the right wing and then, at the 9:57 mark the junior from Askov drained another "3"; this one from the left wing area to tie things up at 8 a piece. Freshman post Rachel Parupsky then gave Bethel its first lead of the afternoon when she scored on a lay-up at the 9:21 mark and then Parupsky extended the lead to 11-8 with a free throw with 8:43 left.
But the Royals were still way out of synch on offense and could not sustain the surge they had created. This gave the Scots the opening they had been searching for and, although they weren't setting the world on fire with their shooting on this day either they did take partial advantage. After Jakubovie knocked down one free throw with 8:28 left, it was the freshman guard from Sparta, Wisconsin, Erin Murray who provided the spark the Scots were looking for. She knocked down a short jumper with 8:03 left and Jones did the same at the 7:27 mark that gave Macalester the lead back at 13-11. Murray then connected with another jumper from the left wing with 6:45 left and then Jakubovie spotted Jones down low and made a sweet pass in the lane to feed her for an easy score that made it a 17-11 game for the Scots. Murray also connected with another short jumper with 5:16 left that upped the Macalester advantage to 19-11. An ice-cold Bethel squad; which shot a frighteningly icy 16.7% from FG range (yikes!) would not get any more perimeter scoring before the halftime break and had to settled for free throws from sophomore reserve post Lindy Parker and freshman reserve Megan Brodeur and freshman guard Hannah Niewald and Macalester would only register one more point the rest of the first half that made it a 20-15 game at the half but it seemed like Bethel was down way more than that.
Bethel made a concerted effort to attack the rim once the second half got underway. Parupsky scored down low at the 19:51 and Swenson knocked down two free throws at the 19:22 mark after getting fouled that made it a one point game at 20-19. But Macalester kept the Royals at bay early on in the second half; as the Royals still continued to struggle with their offensive cohesiveness. Trouble was, though, Macalester never could take full advantage of the situation that allowed them to open up even a little bit of a cushion that could have changed the complexion of the game. As such, the Scot lead teetered in the one to three point range for the most part over the course of the next several minutes. Oddly enough, even on this day which was Senior Day for the Royal seniors, it would be a freshman that would emerge as the savior for Bethel on this afternoon. Niewald, the 5'7" guard from suburban Fridley would slowly take over this game for the Bethel as she knocked down a jumper at the 17:01 mark that cut Macalester's lead to 24-23. After the Scots junior guard Emma Leyden scored on a lay-up in transition at the 16;11 mark and Murray knocked down two freebies at the 15:31 mark to make it a 28-23 ballgame, freshman guard Sydney "Bam Bam" Schultz, known more for her prowess behind the arc, made a drive and finish at the 13:45 mark and then Vavra made good on a left-handed lay-up attempt that cut the Scot lead to 28-27.
Then Niewald really went to work for the home team. After knocking down two free throws at the 12:36 mark when she was fouled in a transition attempt and doing an encore performance at the charity stripe at the 11:20 mark, Niewald was able to score inside at the 10:40 mark that tied things at 33-all. The Royals would force two more ties at 35-all and 37-all before Niewald got another chance from the line with 6:38 left. Once again, she knocked down to clutch freebies that forced another tie at 39-all. Then, with Niewald being as aggressive as ever she drew another another foul with 5:56 left that got her to the charity stripe again where she knocked down two free throws again that gave Bethel its first lead of the day at 41-39. That spark that Niewald provided seemed to rub off on her teammates as they stepped up in the crucial closing minutes. With Bethel up only 43-41 with 4:27 left, Vavra uncorked an ice water in my veins "3" from the right top area that got the Royals a 46-41 lead. With 3:32 left, Vavra spotted Parker cutting into an open area in the lane and made a sweet pass to find her teammate for the finish that made it 48-43 Bethel. But the Royals could not completely close the deal in the waning minutes either and it allowed Macalester to draw close again. Free throws by both Jones and Jakubovie made it a 51-49 game for Bethel and you could feel the tension on both sides as Macalester's Head Coach Ellen Thompson had to yell at the game officials when they inadvertently let the shot clock expire on a missed Scot shot that did indeed hit the rim. When the game officials were discussing the situation, Bethel Head Coach Jon Herbrecthsmeyer wanted to have a moment with his team and, when he initially could not get their attention he was agitated and yelled "White come here!!". In any event, on the last Bethel possession, Niewald managed to get fouled by Macalester junior Carmen Whitehead. However, Niewald could only sink the back end of the bonus situation freebie with just :19.4 left that made it a 52-49 game. Both Thompson and Herbrechtsmeyer charted their respectives team's strategies on this last few seconds. The Scots patiently brought the ball up the court and were rolling the dice as they had nothing to lose at this point. Finally, with just :05 left Leyden got just enough of a good look to launch a three-point attempt but it was a bit too hard off the glass and bounced off the front rim. However, Leyden hustled and snared the loose ball away from the Bethel defenders and whirled around for one more last-gasp attempt that was also off the mark and the Royals finally had reason to celebrate on Senior Day claiming a tough 52-49 victory.
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