NCAA Tournament 1st Round Game - Wisconsin Lutheran vs Chicago 3-2-18

Made my way over to the St. Paul side of town on this Friday afternoon to get settled into the media area of Schoenecker Arena early for the first of two games in the first round of the NCAA Tournament - this one pitting Wisconsin Lutheran out of the NACC and Chicago out of the UAA.  The green-clad Warriors were coming into this contest with a solid 24-3 overall record while the Maroons; who have made several visits to the NCAA Tournament, were coming in with a sparkling 23-2 record and went unblemished in UAA play.  While I had been able to get a look at the Maroons from last year's opening round NCAA games, this would be my first look at Wisconsin Lutheran and I was naturally curious as to how they play.

It's only natural, I suppose, that when two teams face each other for the first time - on a neutral floor - especially in the NCAA Tournament - that nerves and jitters can figure into play and both the Warriors and Maroons spent the first couple of minutes of the first period making untimely turnovers and other assorted mistakes that kept the lid on both baskets early as they had to feel each other out.  But Chicago would finally break out of its shell in a big way while Wisconsin Lutheran still struggled trying to find some rhythm.  Junior forward Obi Olariche got the Maroons on the board first with her lay-up off of an inbounds pass at the 7:16 mark and a steal and lay-up the other way by sophomore guard Miranda Burt at the 6:52 mark got Chicago's lead to 4-0.  Then sophomore forward Taylor Lake drained a "3" from the left corner at the 5:22 mark to give the Maroons a touchdown lead of 7-0 before Wisconsin Lutheran could finally get on the board with 4:47 left on a drive and finish off the glass with the shot clock expiring by junior guard Lexi Reinke.  But the Warriors found themselves further under the gun thanks to a 5-0 Chicago push.  Lake knocked down a short jumper at the 4:36 mark and a "3" from the right corner by sophomore point guard Mia Farrell with 3:41 left now gave the Maroons a 12-2 advantage.  Wisconsin Lutheran could have been in a heap of trouble right then and there but they managed to embark on a 6-0 push to tighten things up a bit thanks to strong junior reserve forward Maddy Elrod.  The Conifer, Colorado native snared an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback with 3:14 left and followed that up a little more than a minute later with another offensive rebound for a putback with 2:00 left that cut the deficit to six points at 12-6.  With 1:25 left, Elrod connected with a lay-up off of an inbounds pass that now had the Warriors back within striking distance down 12-8.  Chicago would try and stretch things out again as Lake made a drive for a finish with 1:11 left and a steal and lay-up the other way by the wily Obi with :56 left got the Maroons lead back to eight points at 16-8.  Still, Wisconsin Lutheran slimmed that gap down to six points on a jumper from the right elbow by senior guard Coreana Carson with :37 left so, despite the sluggish start, the Warriors still appeared to be in the thick of things down by only six at 16-10 as the game morphed into the second period.

Indeed, it appeared that Wisconsin Lutheran would stay reasonably close as the second period got underway.  Junior forward Jen Dowden connected with a lay-up at the 9:33 mark to get the deficit down to four points at 16-12 and although the Maroons would manage to get the lead back out to eight points at 20-12 over the course of the next three minutes, the Warriors still appeared to be in decent shape when sophomore guard/forward Kelly Tramburg muscled into the paint for a score at the 5:55 mark to reduce the deficit to six at 20-14.  A Dowden score in the paint at the 5:18 mark kept Wisconsin Lutheran in that six-point range at 22-16 and two Carson free throws did likewise with 4:45 left to keep the Warriors close down 24-18.  It was here, however, where things really started to go south for Wisconsin Lutheran and their Head Coach Klay Knueppel as the Maroons launched an 10-3 run down the stretch before the halftime break.  Two Obi free throws with 4:20 left got Chicago's lead back to eight points at 26-18 and then Burt got into a transition opportunity and although she couldn't connect on her initial lay-up attempt, she somehow was able to get a loose ball on the rebound attempt and got a putback out of it to stretch the Maroons lead to ten points at 28-18.  To make matters worse for Wisconsin Lutheran, junior guard Maddie Cruz went down with an apparent ankle or knee injury during the fracas and now the Warriors were without one of their key players as Chicago continued its run.  Obi would get sent to the charity stripe with 3:21 left where she sank two free throws and a short jumper from the left side by Obi with 1:23 left had the Maroons up thirteen at 32-19.  With :22 left, Obi made a hard drive into traffic for a finish to get the lead out to 34-19 and although Wisconsin Lutheran got two free throws by Dowden right before the halftime buzzer, facing a 34-21 deficit was not what the Warriors' Knueppel had in mind and having things go so awry down the stretch only complicated things.  While Chicago had a slight edge on the boards at 15-12, what really hurt the Warriors was the hot-shooting by the Maroons as they shot 53.8% from FG range in the first period and 54.5% from the same distance in the second period.  Wisconsin Lutheran, on the other hand, was only 38.5% from FG range in the first period and 30% in the second period.     

A quick 6-0 Chicago burst in the early moments of the third period left little doubt as to how this one was going to turn out.  A Burt drive and finish at the 9:52 mark pushed the lead to fifteen at 36-21 and an offensive rebound for a putback by Lake at the 9:17 mark got it to seventeen points at 38-21.  Then it was Obi connecting with a lay-up at the 8:41 mark to make it a 40-21 ballgame and the Warriors Klay Knueppel had seen enough to know that at least a thirty-second timeout was warranted.  Wisconsin Lutheran managed to trim some of the fat off of the deficit with a 7-3 push.  Dowden snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 8:19 mark and a Carson lay-up at the 7:29 mark along with a "3" from the right top area by Dowden at the 6:51 mark had the deficit down to fifteen points at 43-28.  But trying to make further inroads simply proved to be a bridge too far for the Warriors on this night as Chicago struck back with a 13-2 blitz down the stretch of the third period to put this one out of reach for good.  Two scores by Burt - a "3" from the top of the key at the 6:20 mark and a pretty reverse lay-up in transition with 4:52 left got the lead to twenty at 48-28.  Then senior reserve guard Elizabeth Nye drained a "3" from the right wing area with 2:41 left to push the lead to 51-28.  Junior guard Jamie Kockenmeister got a "3" of her own from the left corner with 2:08 left and two free throws by freshman reserve forward Meaghan O'Hara with 1:42 left gave the Maroons a seemingly insurmountable 56-28 advantage.  Wisconsin Lutheran finally broke their costly drought on a lay-up off of an inbounds pass by Elrod with 1:31 left but any hopes of mounting a meaningful comeback were now out the window.

A Burt "3" from the left wing area that also drew a foul that allowed the Knoxville, Tennessee native to sink the obligatory "and one" at the 8:19 mark of the fourth period stretched Chicago's lead to 60-30 and was indicative of how things were going for the Warriors in this second half.  Still, Wisconsin Lutheran refused to wave the white flag as a nifty reverse lay-up by Dowden at the 8:07 mark and two Dowden free throws at the 7:22 mark allowed the Warriors to make some dents into the sizable cushion they were facing.  Reinke was also able to grab an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback at the 7:01 mark and a "3" from the right wing area at the 6:31 mark by Carson at least had things looking a bit more respectable down 61-39.  The Maroons, however, would not leave anything to chance and looked to close things out for good down the stretch.  One free throw by freshman reserve guard Marissa Igunbor at the 6:03 mark and a pretty reverse lay-up by Lake at the 5:29 mark kept the safety net in good shape with a 64-40 lead and although Dowden of Wisconsin Lutheran would chip away at the deficit with free throws, they could never mount a serious threat.  Maroon freshman reserve forward Elisabeth McCray sank pairs of insurance freebies - with 1:18 left and with :52.3 left for a 68-46 Chicago lead and O'Hara connected with a lay-up for good measure with :22 left as the Maroons advanced to the second round with a convincing 70-46 victory.

Wisconsin Lutheran's Klay Knueppel was in decent spirits afterward despite the season-ending loss and expressed some disappointment that his squad was unable to get the kind of tempo he was hoping for; a slower, half-court game.  "We didn't want to be pushing the tempo...we wanted to keep it slower", noting that Chicago's pressure defense and their ability to push the ball up the floor was hard to keep up with.  "I thought our defense was okay" he said and added that his squad relied on defense all year long.  Klay Knueppel also pointed out that it was deflating when Cruz went out in the second period  with the injury.  He also pointed out that not having his daughter, senior guard/forward Caitlin Knueppel who was out with an injury and was wearing a protective cast on her right leg and foot in the press room and on the bench that night, hurt as well.  I asked Klay Knueppel specifically about the slow start his team had from the get-go and how hard it was for his squad to find rhythm in their half-court offense.  "We needed to get into that 'cutting offense' with our wing players" he said; presumably to get open looks out on the perimeter but those early shots the Warriors had often went awry.  Chicago Head Coach Carissa Sain-Knoche was very pleased with how her squad executed the gameplan for this game.  I pointed out to Sain-Knoche that I was impressed with the balanced scoring effort her team had plus the fact that they were able to force 24 Wisconsin Lutheran turnovers and get 16 steals on this night in the process.  "Yeah, that was great....It's a little bit who we are in terms of scoring and being balanced....With us it doesn't matter who gets the shot.....We have a lot of faith in each other and we rely on each other....They (Wisconsin Lutheran) wanted to 'tempo' us and I thought we did a good job in maintaining our intensity."  I also asked Sain-Knoche about her squad being seemingly more experienced in an NCAA Tournament setting; particularly coming back to the UST venue again.  "Yeah, certainly.....There were lots of emotions when we got to come back here....I spent far fewer minutes on meals and itineraries so we were much more comfortable this time around" she added with a laugh.  Sain-Knoche also pointed out that, for whatever reason, her squad always seems to come out of the halftime break "super well" and that they do a much better job of taking care of the ball.  And she added that her squad is hungry "and we're not ready to be done yet."

It was indeed a balanced scoring attack that helped pace the Maroons onto the second round as Burt led the way with 18 points and Obi was not far behind with her 14 points while Lake tallied 11 points.  Such was not the case with Wisconsin Lutheran as they relied heavily on Dowden and Carson as Dowden led all scorers with her 21 points and was just shy of a "double-double" with nine rebounds while Carson added 10 points.  Again, Chicago did a reasonably good job of protecting the ball; committing only 15 turnovers on this night.  Rebounds were surprising even on this night with the Maroons holding a 35-34 edge but those 24 turnovers that the Warriors were guilty of on this night proved fatal in the final analysis.  Plus the fact that Chicago had a 22-7 in points off of all those turnovers to boot.