Made a return trip to Bethel's Robertson Center on this Wednesday night to take in the first night of conference play in January; this one between visiting St. Olaf and host Bethel. This would be my first look at the Oles who were coming into this contest with a somewhat surprising 8-3 record overall and 3-1 in the MIAC. The Royals, of course, staved off a tough challenge from next door neighbor Northwestern on Monday night so naturally I was curious as to what Bethel team would show up on this night: The one that creates turnovers on defense and gets easy points off of them or the one that has looked sluggish and unsure of itself at times.
On this night, Bethel came out of the gate fast; jumping out to a quick 7-0 lead, thanks to a lay-up by senior point guard Hannah Niewald at the 9:14 mark and a "3" from the left wing by fellow senior guard Sydney "Bam Bam" Schultz at the 5:12 mark. The Oles finally got on the board with 4:48 left in the opening period when senior guard Afton Wolter connected on a tough, scoop lay-up but otherwise St. Olaf looked totally out of sync on offense. As a result, the Royals were able to go on a big 11-2 run. Junior forward Kalli Zimmerman went into the lane for a finish with 4:27 left and then it was diminutive sophomore reserve guard Abby Miller making a big splash. The Howard Lake native drained her first trey of the evening with 3:30 left from the left corner and then made lightning strike twice when she banged home another "3" from the right wing area as the shot clock was winding down for at 15-4 lead with 1:43 left. With 1:00 left, Miller struck yet again from three-point land; this one coming from the left wing area for an 18-4 Bethel lead. St. Olaf finally stopped some of the bleeding when junior forward Betsey Daly connected with a jumper in the lane with :40 left but a short turnaround jumper by freshman reserve post Hannah Johnson allowed Bethel to hold a 20-7 advantage at the end of the first period.
The Royals extended their lead to sixteen at 23-7 in the early moments of the second period on a three-point bomb from Niewald from the left wing area at the 8:29 mark but St. Olaf; likely smarting from the lackluster first period debacle, slowly got into the groove. Daly snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 5:31 mark and then Wolter; doing what she does best, unleashed a "3" from the right wing area with 4:08 left that slimmed the deficit down to thirteen at 25-12. Freshman reserve forward Makenna Ash got into the paint for one score with 3:26 left and then senior forward Zoe Hansen knocked down a short jumper with 3:16 left that drew the Oles a bit closer trailing 27-16. One Ash freebie with 2:41 left and two more by junior reserve guard Brooke Nyenhuis with 2:11 left got St. Olaf back into single-digit range trailing 27-19. The Royals sagged on offense coming down the stretch of the first half and, with :48 left, Ash got into the paint again for the Oles for two more points that now had the Bethel lead cut down to a much more manageable 28-21 halftime margin. A much more aggresive approach by St. Olaf in the second period made the rebounding margin very close with the Royals holding a slim 21-19 edge. What had to be really bugging Bethel Head Coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer during the halftime break were the nine turnovers his squad was guilty of in the first half alone while the Oles committed only three boo-boos. The dismal first period kept the shooting percentages down for St. Olaf but now with the deficit down to a much more manageable margin, could the Oles keep that momentum going in the second half?
The Royals had a quick answer for that question as they went on an 8-2 burst in the opening moments of the third period. Schultz drained a "3" from the right wing area at the 9:38 mark and then junior guard Shanni Moorse; held scoreless in the first half, snared an offensive rebound for a putback of her own miss at the 7:11 mark for a 33-21 Bethel lead. St. Olaf senior guard Woo Bandel temporarily halted the home team's charge with her lay-up at the 6:56 mark but Schultz found the range again from three-point land as this bomb from the right corner at the 6:38 mark made it a thirteen-point game at 36-23. The Oles would momentarily recover as Ash connected on a short jumper at the 6:27 mark and then senior forward Zoe Hansen connected on a lay-up at the 5:53 mark that got the deficit back into single-digit range but two free throws by Zimmerman at the 5:21 mark and two more by senior reserve post Rachel Parupsky with 3:39 left had Bethel back up by thirteen at 40-27 and then a Parupsky score in the paint with 2:36 left upped the lead to 42-27 and St. Olaf Head Coach Dave Stromme promptly called a timeout to get his squad reorganized. But that stoppage had little effect as Zimmerman slithered into the paint for a one-handed shot inside with 1:57 left and an upset Stromme took a match to another timeout in a vain effort to keep this one from getting away. But the Royals put the finishing touches on this 10-1 blitz to end the period on two charity stripe shots by sophomore reserve guard Angie Kirchoff for a 46-28 lead.
The Oles tried to counter once the fourth and final period got underway. Hansen snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 9:16 mark and then Ash connected on a turnaround jumper at the 8:00 mark that drew a foul and sent her to the line for one free throw but they could never get a sustained run or a spark that might have changed the complexion of this game. Sophomore forward Molly O'Toole dropped two free throws at the 7:50 mark and another one by Moorse at the 7:09 mark made it 51-33 for the home team. Wolter swished another "3" for St. Olaf from the right wing area at the 6:42 mark but that was answered by Kirchoff's "3" from the right wing twenty seconds later for a 54-36 Bethel lead. St. Olaf would desperately try to stem the tide as Hansen made a nice drive along the left baseline for a finish at the 5:35 mark and senior reserve guard Molly Dietrich knocked down a "3" from the left corner with 4:20 left but the Royals were getting to the charity stripe with more and more frequency and they were making the most of those opportunites. Further complicating the situation for the Oles was that Bethel was now in the bonus as well. Johnson dropped two freebies with 4:08 left and one more with 3:45 left for a 61-41 Royal lead and everything after that was pretty much academic. Both Herbrechtsmeyer and Stromme sent in their reserves to close things out and Bethel recorded a solid 66-48 victory when the final buzzer sounded.
A check of the final box score revealed some telling numbers. The Royals owned the glass by a 45-36 margin and while St. Olaf took relatively good care of the ball with only 8 turnovers on the night, they only shot 25.7% from FG range and a dismal 25% from three-point land which is the hallmark of Bethel's defensive philosophy. Herbrechtsmeyer made no bones about not being happy after his team let a double-digit first period lead get whittled down into single digits by halftime. He spoke about how his squad has to sometime disconnect mentally after a not-so-good offensive possession so it won't affect them on the other side of the floor. "I wish they had amnesia at times" he lamented. Still, the Royals came out with a new focus and determination and took St. Olaf completely out of their comfort zone with that hard-nosed defense that they take with pride. Bethel had a pretty balanced scoring attack as well as Zimmerman's 12 points and Miller's 11 points led the way followed by Schultz with her nine points and Niewald and Parupsky's six points. St. Olaf was balanced as well with their scoring attack in the losing effort. Ash's ten points led the way followed by Hansen's nine points and Wolter's eight points.
No comments:
Post a Comment