Was back over at UST's Schoenecker Arena on this unseasonably warm late February Saturday afternoon to take in the big enchilada - the MIAC Championship Game between host UST and visiting SMU. The Cardinals, who got walloped a week ago in this same venue in the regular season finale were looking to make amends for that loss and were presumably coming into this contest with a bit of momentum after holding off a stern challenge from GAC in Winona on Thursday night. The Tommies meanwhile took care of business against Concordia on Thursday night and were looking for their fifth straight MIAC Championship Game title in a row.
The one thing that SMU absolutely could not afford to do coming into this game was to get off to another slow start like they did a week ago and allow the Tommies to grab an early cushion. And the Cardinals at least did get off to a decent start this time around. A score in the paint by junior forward Sam Jones at the 9:37 mark of the first period and two free throws by senior guard Brigette Audette gave SMU an early 4-0 lead at the 9:06 mark and a pretty lay-up in transition by senior guard Micaela Meredith at the 7:26 mark had the Cardinals up 6-2. But the Tommies quickly collected themselves and it didn't take long for them to usurp control of this one. A "3" from the left wing by sophomore forward Lauren Fischer at the 7:03 mark and a lay-up by senior guard Katie Stone had UST back out in front 7-6 and SMU Head Coach Brent Pollari; not wanting another panic attack to beset his team, called a timeout to get them settled down. To their credit, the Cardinals managed to grab one more lead at 8-7 on a jumper from the left elbow by Jones at the 5:40 mark before the Tommies managed to go on a 6-0 spurt. A short jumper off the glass by Stone at the 5:16 mark and a lay-up by freshman guard Lucia Renikoff with 4:37 left had UST up 11-8 and a score in the paint by junior post Kaitlin Langer with 3:59 left upped the lead to 13-8. SMU would manage to get back to within striking distance as freshman forward Brandi Blattner; using her strong 5'10" frame, snared an offensive rebound of her own miss with 2:48 left and a jumper from the right wing by Jones with 2:14 left cut the Tommie lead down to 14-12. UST would extend the cushion a bit before the opening period ended. Two Langer freebies with 1:57 left and and more with 1:14 left made it a 17-12 ballgame and a pretty drive and lay-up by Fischer with :32 left made it 19-12. The Cardinals would get one last strike before the end of the opening period when Meredith connected with a lay-up in transition with just :01.8 left that slimmed the Tommie lead down to 19-14 and at least had SMU in the hunt.
As good a job the Cardinals did in the first period in keeping things relatively close, things started to slowly spiral out of control once the second period got underway. Despite the fact that SMU was trying to clog the middle with their 2-3 zone defense, it didn't deter the Tommies from exploiting the opening out on the perimeter with their sharp and crisp passing. After Stone slithered through that zone defense for a lay-up at the 9:05 mark, the Eau Claire, Wisconsin native then drained a "3" from the right wing at the 8:43 mark for an eight point 24-16 lead. SMU's Jones; who got into early foul trouble against the Tommies a week ago, picked up her second foul at the 6:55 mark and things only got progressively worse for the Cardinals. Stone unleashed another three-point bomb at the 6:00 mark; this one coming from the top of the key and a lay-up in transition by Fischer at the 5:19 mark gave UST a ten-point cushion at 29-19. With 4:47 left, Stone let loose with another trey - this one from the left top area that made it 32-19 and a lay-up by freshman reserve guard Kaylie Brazil with 3:34 left ended this 10-0 blitz for a 34-19 lead. SMU managed to cut into the deficit a bit as one free throw by Audette with 3:22 left and two by senior guard Bridget Pethke with 2:29 left trimmed the Tommie lead down to 34-22 but the Cardinals could not get a sustained drive going to cut things into single-digit range. Stone made a hard drive along the right baseline for a finish with 2:11 left and two free throws by Langer with 1:00 left not only had the Tommies up 38-24 but now SMU's Jones was also saddled with her third foul as well. Pethke got one more score for the Cardinals on a lay-up with :45 left but UST had the last laugh of the first half when Fischer connected with a jumper from the free throw line off of an inbounds pass with just :00.3 left that gave the Tommies a cozy 40-26 lead to take into the locker room. A glance of the first half box score revealed some ugly numbers for SMU. While rebounds were fairly even at 20-18 in favor of the Cardinals, SMU shot only 28.1% from FG range and were 0-5 from three-point land. UST, while not necessarily shooting lights out, still managed to shoot 51.7% from FG range and although they were only 4-11 from three point land, Katie Stone got three of those bombs and had 17 points in all in a great first half.
Down fourteen points, it was imperative that the Cardinals get into an aggressive, attacking mode going into the third period to keep UST from applying an early choke-hold. Instead, SMU got out to quite possibly the worst-case scenario start that Pollari could have imagined. A quick 6-0 start by the Tommies in the form of two Langer free throws at the 9:37 mark along with a lay-up by Fischer at the 8:46 mark and a lay-up in transition by Stone at the 8:24 mark expanded UST's lead to 46-26 and Pollari quickly took a match to a timeout to try and stop the bleeding. After the stoppage, Fischer connected with a short jumper off of an inbounds pass at the 7:41 mark and then a Renikoff lay-up at the 7:03 mark made it 50-26 and now this one was starting to get out of control and a fully aware Pollari wasted no time in burning his second timeout of the second half. Two scores by junior guard Paige Gernes - a lay-up at the 6:01 mark and another one on a pretty give-and-go at the 5:08 mark - ended the 14-0 bludgeoning before the Cardinals finally regained their footing on an offensive rebound and putback by Blattner with 3:40 left. But that was about the only bright spot in an otherwise dismal third period for SMU. A three-point bomb by sophomore reserve guard Maddie Wolkow from the right corner with 2:58 left had UST up 57-30 and although the Cardinals Pethke responded with a lay-up in transition with 2:50 left, the New London, Wisconsin native also got tagged with her fourth foul with 1:56 left and now SMU had two of their starters in serious foul trouble. Suffice to say, things only got worse once Pethke had to be yanked from the floor. Wolkow unleashed another three-point bomb with 1:49 left - this one from the right corner and then Renikoff dropped her own three-point dagger with 1:19 left from the right corner. A jumper in the lane by Langer with :48 left completed this UST blitzkrieg for a seemingly prohibitive 65-34 advantage at the end of the third period.
Two quick scores by the Tommies at the beginning of the fourth and final period - a lay-up by Langer at the 9:15 mark and another one by Stone at the 8:31 mark - seemed to indicate that SMU had pretty much packed it in and was already looking forward to the long bus ride down U.S. 61 and the CP Rail River Sub mainline back to Winona down 69-34. But actually, now down by 35 points and the game all but decided, it was here that perhaps the Cardinals finally were able to somehow forget about the score and just play like they knew how. A score in the paint by Jones that drew a foul and allowed her to go to the line to sink the obligatory freebie at the 8:21 mark started this unlikely comeback attempt that was the beginning of a 24-4 run over the next six minutes. Meredith buried a "3" from the right top area at the 7:55 mark and then Jones got into the paint at the 7:30 mark for another score. Two Meredith free throws at the 7:02 mark and a Trom lay-up at the 6:30 mark trimmed UST's lead down to 73-46 and then Meredith, the Bloomington native and Kennedy grad, drained another "3" from the right corner with 4:56 left. Blattner was able to muscle into the paint for another score with 4:31 left and two free throws by freshman reserve post McKenzie Sommers cut further into the Tommie cushion at 73-53. Then junior reserve point guard Emma Schaefer; who did such a great job in filling in for Pethke after she went down with an injury last year, connected on a tough lay-up while falling down that had the SMU contingent on their feet and also had UST Head Coach Ruth Sinn calling for a full timeout to discuss things with her team. A lay-up by Audette that drew a foul and allowed her to go to the line for the ensuing free throw sliced the Tommie lead down to fourteen at 73-59 but that's where UST drew the line and shut the door for good. Insurance free throws by both Gernes and Stone offset late Cardinal scores by both sophomore guard Alexa Huisman and Schaefer and the Tommies claimed their fifth straight MIAC Championship Game trophy by a final score of 77-65.
I managed to grab a couple of minutes with a disappointed but proud Pollari afterward about how the beginning of the second half ultimately killed off any real hope the Cardinals may have had but also about the unlikely comeback his squad made when all was lost. Pollari alluded to defensive mistakes that allowed the Tommies to shoot so well behind the arc. But he spoke with pride about his team's comeback attempt. "I told the team to play like the knew how and with guts" he said. When I asked Pollari about his squad's NCAA Tournament hopes, Pollari said that his "gut feeling" was that they were in. "We have 3 losses against the number eight team in the country (UST) and one against Bethel when they were ranked" he said. He also pointed to his team's 21 wins as well that, by all accounts, should be enough to get them in and I hope he's right. A very happy Sinn meanwhile talked about what it took this last week getting ready to be in the position that they're in with another MIAC Tournament title under their belt and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. "We just focused on getting better" she said. She talked about how the team watched a lot of film during the week; making correctors on small mistakes that they were making. But she's not surprised one bit that her squad is at where it's at right now as she talked about the goals this team set for itself back during the beginning of this season. The real scary thing is that I don't think this team has even reached its true potential yet and if they continue to get better, they definitely have a shot at making a deep run in the Dance. UST had a fairly balanced attack but Stone's 23 points led all scorers in this one and for the senior to do this in what may be the last game she plays at Schoenecker Arena has to be special for her. Langer contributed 14 points while Fischer added 13 points and Gernes had 10 points. SMU was led by Jones' 15 points while Meredith added 12 points and the backcourt duo of Pethke and Schaefer contributed eight points a piece. SMU actually outrebounded UST in this one by a 42-38 count but mistakes and defensive lapses did in the Cardinals when they were still relatively close in the second period.
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