Made my way over to UST's Schoenecker Arena on this unseasonably warm February Saturday afternoon to take in the regular season finale between visiting SMU which made its way up the Canadian Pacific Railway's River Sub mainline and U.S. Highway 61 and host UST. This was a special day in that it was not only the regular season finale but it was also Senior Day and seniors Katie Stone and Mykenzie Spaulding along with players and parents were honored before the game. More importantly, a share of the regular season title was at stake as the Tommies had claimed their share and the second-place Cardinals were hoping to take their share of the regular season title back to Winona with them.
Indeed, SMU had revenge on their minds as UST snuck back up the River in mid-January with a 76-67 victory in Winona that nudged the Cardinals out of having first place in the MIAC all to themselves. But they were going to have to play the perfect game and rock-solid defense if they were going to return the favor. Alas, neither of those two things happened in the early going as the Tommies took control of this one from the get-go. Leading 4-2 after freshman guard Lucia Renikoff got into the paint for a score at the 9:01 mark, sophomore forward Lauren Fischer drained a "3" from the left corner at the 8:22 mark at two free throws by lanky 6'3" junior post Kaitlin Langer suddenly made it a 9-2 ballgame by the 7:26 mark. Less than a minute later, Langer struck again from the charity stripe and promptly sank both free throw attempts that now made it 11-2. Even worse from a Cardinal perspective was that junior forward Sam Jones got whistled for her second foul and SMU Head Coach Bent Pollari had no choice but to yank his key starting forward at the 6:15 mark of this first period. When Stone, in her last regular season game at Schoenecker, drilled a "3" from the right top area at the 5:28 mark that now gave the Tommies a 14-2 advantage, Pollari had to take a match to a full timeout to try and stop the massive bleeding that was taking place. Cardinal freshman forward Brandi Blattner's score in the paint with 4:41 left trimmed the deficit to ten points but SMU's burden only grew with a plethora of missed lay-ups and an inability to box out on the defensive end. UST freshman reserve guard Kaylie Brazil nailed a "3" from the left top area with 3:08 left and a short, turnaround jumper in the lane by Langer with 2:08 left made it 19-6. Junior guard Paige Gernes worsened SMU's woes with a "3" from the right corner with 1:22 left and a coast-to-coast lay-up with :12.3 left in the opening period that put an exclamation point on the first ten minutes and with it, a 24-8 advantage.
A "3" by Cardinal junior reserve guard Brigette Audette from the left wing at the 9:46 mark of the second period briefly gave the sizable SMU contingent in the bleachers on this day a wisp of hope that temporarily slimmed down the Tommie lead to 24-11 but UST had no intentions of being nice to its visitors from Winona. Stone uncorked her second trey of the afternoon from the right top area at the 7:21 mark and a short jumper by Brazil after a steal upped the Tommie lead to 29-11. A jumper in the lane by Langer at the 6:07 mark that drew a foul and allowed the Stillwater native to drop the obligatory freebie cranked up the lead to 32-13. With 4:10 left, Langer used her long frame to score in the paint and added one free throw with 3:39 left that gave UST a twenty-point advantage at 35-15. When Stone connected with a jumper from the left wing area with 3:04 left, a beleaguered Pollari had to take a match to a thirty-second timeout as this one was clearly slipping away with no lifelines left. Gernes; the lefty who played her high school basketball at (ironically enough) Winona Cotter High School, let loose with a "3" from the right corner with 1:51 left that now had the Tommies up 40-15. SMU managed to get to late scores before the end of the first half - two free throws by junior guard Emma Schaefer with 1:41 left and a lay-up by senior guard Bridget Pethke with 1:19 left - but were staring at a 40-19 deficit going into the locker room at halftime. A glance at the first half box reveals some ugly numbers from a Cardinal perspective. The Tommies had the advantage on the boards by a 23-17 margin and snared seven steals in the process. Even worse was the paltry shooting. The Cardinals could only mange to shoot 25% from from FG range and were an artic-like 14.3% from three-point land. That simply won't get the job done against a championship-caliber team like UST.
Needless to say, SMU needed a fresh burst of energy; something.......ANYTHING positive at the start of the third period if they were going to take a sizable chunk off of the deficit. Senior sharpshooting guard Micaela Meredith, very quiet in the first half, shook off those early cobwebs when she connected with a jumper from the left wing area at the 9:19 mark and one Jones free throw at the 8:31 mark cut a bit of the fat off of the deficit at 40-22. Blattner snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 7:46 mark and then Meredith knocked down a "3" from the left top area off of an inbounds pass at the 7:10 mark that cut further into UST's lead at 45-27 and Tommie Head Coach Ruth Sinn; perhaps sensing a bit of a letdown after carrying such a big lead, called a thirty-second timeout to try and get her squad refocused. That short stoppage in play seemed to do the trick and got UST back on track. Two quick scores by Langer - one in the paint at the 6:51 mark and a lay-up off of an inbounds pass at the 6:10 mark - got the lead back up in the twenty-plus range at 49-27. Then it was two more three-point bombs from Stone; the Eau Claire, Wisconsin native - one from the left corner at the 5:24 mark and another one from the left top area with 3:34 left that now had the Tommies up by a 55-30 mark and had SMU back at Square One as Pollari called another timeout to assess the damage. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they would not be able to make up much ground before the third period ended. A Brazil lay-up with 2:07 left made it 57-32 and back-to-back scores by Mykenzie Spaulding - two free throws with 1:12 left and a jumper from the left wing with :29 left - gave UST a seemingly prohibitive 61-35 lead going into the fourth and final period.
SMU could have easily just looked forward to a long bus ride back down the River after Langer connected with a lay-up in transition with 9:42 left in the fourth period that made it 63-35 but surprisingly this was where the Cardinals made their first and only real charge of the day that made things interesting for a while. Two free throws by senior reserve guard Haley Trom at the 9:30 mark and a "3" by Meredith from the right wing sliced a chunk of fat off the deficit at 65-40 but still things looked secure for the Tommies when Jones picked up her fourth foul of the day at the 8:42 mark that allowed Langer to go to the charity stripe and get one free throw out of the deal for a 66-40 advantage. At this point, however, SMU went on an 11-3 run that did change the complexion of things. A short jumper by Pethke at the 8:31 mark and a jumper by Meredith from the free throw line at the 7:44 mark reduced UST's lead down to 66-44. A Pethke lay-up at the 7:13 mark and a score in the paint by Audette at the 6:28 mark cut into the Tommie cushion even more at 69-48. At the 6:04 mark, Schaefer banged home a "3" from the right top area that drew the Cardinals even closer trailing 69-51 and UST's Sinn had to call a timeout to zap her team out of its late-game snooze. Jones, riding those four fouls, got SMU even closer trailing 69-54 at the 5:06 mark when she connected on a lay-up that drew a fould and allowed the White Bear Lake native to sink the "and one" and you couldn't help but wonder for a fleeting moment or two if the Cardinals just might somehow impossibly get close again. But this is where the the Tommies awoke from their brief slumber and promptly slammed the door shut on any SMU comeback attempt. A Langer score in the paint with 4:58 left and a lay-up by Stone with 4:01 left got the lead back up to seventeen at 73-56. Blattner, the young Cardinal enforcer down low, picked up her fourth foul with 3:48 left and things went south from SMU there. A score in the paint by Fischer with 3:17 left and free throws by sophomore reserve guard Maddie Wolkow increased the lead to eighteen at 78-60. Then Wolkow, the former Lakeville South standout, drained a "3" from the right wing area with 2:47 left that had the cushion back in comfort range again at 81-60. Two free throws by Gernes with 2:26 left and a score in the paint by Mykenzie Spaulding with 2:06 left made it 85-60 that was, for all intents and purposes, the game. Both Pollari and Sinn sent in their young reserves for mop-up duty as UST took the MIAC regular season crown for itself with a convincing 89-65 victory.
A happy and seemingly satisfied Sinn talked about that fourth period run that the Cardinals went on that made things a little dangerous at one point. "We had to get 'locked in' on each possession again" she said. Sinn admitted that her squad got a little complacent going into the fourth quarter with the big lead and she emphasized how important it is for her team to be 'locked in' mentally on each possession. At the same time, she was also bubbling with enthusiasm at the strides her team has made since January; particularly the young freshmen who have been stepping into the limelight and have blended nicely with the veteran returners. "We've been getting better and better" she said and added that her team can be "downright scary" when they're playing their best. As far as looking ahead to the MIAC playoffs where the Tommies will once again have the number one seed, Sinn just replied "We have to focus on ourselves". SMU's Pollari on the other hand quickly admitted that this one got out of hand early and pointed to missed lay-ups and an inability to box out that allowed things to snowball. Still, Pollari seemed confident that his squad could make amends in the MIAC playoffs this next week. "We think we'll get into the Nationals (NCAA Tournament ) if we can get to the MIAC Championship Game" and there's no doubt that this game today could very easily have been a little MIAC Championship Game preview. With an overall record of 20-5, the sun certainly has not yet set on the Cardinals and they have a chance to be back in this same venue a week from now if they take care of business against an opponent to be determined Thursday night in Winona. Langer had a fabulous outing on this day; leading all scorers with her 28 points while Stone added 16 points and Wolkow added 13. Blattner's 15 points paced SMU on this day while Meredith added 12 points and Audette chipped in 10 points. The Tommies held an overall 40-35 advantage on the boards and though the Cardinals offensive efficiency definitely took a step up in the second half, they ultimately got themselves into too deep a hole early on to ever recover.
No comments:
Post a Comment