NCAA Tournament 1st Round Game - Ripon vs UST 3-1-19

The nightcap on this Friday night pitted Ripon out of the MWC taking on host and MIAC champ UST with a 26-1 record.  This would be my first look at the Red Hawks and they were arguably the mystery team coming into this sub-regional pod being hosted by the Tommies and while UST may have been a big favorite coming into this game, you can never, ever take anyone lightly in the NCAA Tournament.

The Tommies as usual got off to a solid start in the opening period as senior All-American post Hannah Spaulding; not necessarily known for her three-point prowess, drew first blood in this contest with her bomb from the top of the key at the 9:05 mark and a lay-up by senior guard Kaylie Brazil at the 8:21 mark extended UST's lead to 5-0.  The Red Hawks came right back, however, shaving the deficit down to one point as a jumper from the free throw line area by sophomore forward Natalie Geiger at the 8:06 mark and a score in the paint by strong senior post Maggie Oimoen at the 7:46 mark made it a 5-4 ballgame.  The Tommies would answer with a 7-0 push; thanks largely in part to versatile sophomore guard/forward Kaia Porter as she first drained a "3" from the left top area at the 7:27 mark and followed that up with another three-point bomb - this one from the left wing area off of an inbounds pass at the 7:09 mark - that got UST's lead to 11-4.  Senior shooting guard Lucia Renikoff would add one free throw after getting fouled at the 6:28 mark to make it 12-4 before Ripon could cut into this cushion again.  Two free throws by Laurissa Johnson at the 5:35 mark and another Oimoen score in the paint with 4:14 left had the Red Hawks right back in the thick of things down 12-8 and two more free throws by junior reserve guard Caitie Carpenter with 2:23 left kept Ripon in that four-point range down 14-10.  The Tommies would manage to stretch things out again before this first period was over though.  Spaulding would connect with a lay-up with 2:01 left and draw a foul in the process that not only resulted in the "and one" upping UST's lead to 17-10 but now Red Hawks junior guard Alyassa Burgess was now saddled with her second foul as well.  Spaulding would also grab an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback with 1:25 left that had the Tommies up 19-12 and then Brazil would drain a "3" from the left corner with :20 left to push UST's lead to double-digits at 22-12.  Ripon would climb back into single-digit range again on a short shot by sophomore reserve post Megan Dille with :03 left in this opening period but the Red Hawks were already in a tough spot down 22-14.

While an eight-point deficit isn't necessarily a death wish in most circumstances, it does take on a new meaning when you're facing the number-two team in the country that knows how to pounce on an opponent's misfortune and Ripon's situation became even more complicated when Oimoen had to take a seat after picking up her second foul of the night at the 8:26 mark of the second period.  This allowed the Tommies to stretch their lead out to double-digits again - and keep it there as well.  Spaulding was able to score in the paint off of an inbounds pass at the 8:22 mark and drew a foul as well and her obligatory free throw got UST's lead to eleven at 25-14.  Renikoff would be fouled a little more than a minute late at the 7:18 mark in a transition opportunity and her two free throws pushed the lead to thirteen at 27-14.  The Red Hawks managed to slice a bit off of the cushion as two free throws by freshman reserve post Skyylar Brescia at the 5:58 mark and two more by Carpenter with 4:59 left had the deficit down to ten points at 28-18 but they could never slice and dice their way back to within striking distance and the Tommies made sure of this.  A Spaulding lay-up with 4:33 left got the lead to 30-12 and with 3:31 left Ripon's situation took another hit when Oimoen picked up her third foul of the night and had to come out.  That allowed UST to use their bigs even more as one score in the paint by Porter with 2:57 left and another by Spaulding with 2:22 left maintained the twelve-point edge at 34-22 and a Porter lay-up with 1:59 left upped the lead to 36-22.  The Red Hawks managed to whittle that deficit down to ten points again as one lay-up by Johnson with 1:44 left and two scores by Carpenter - a jumper from the right elbow area with 1:19 left and a jumper from the left wing area with :57 left offered up some hope being down 38-28 but UST's Spaulding would drop two free throws with :43.5 left as the Tommies were able to take a 40-29 advantage into the locker room at the half.  A check of the first half box score shows that UST had a decided advantage on the boards by a 23-14 margin and while both teams kept turnovers at a minimum, the Red Hawks were struggling with their shooting going only 10-28 from FG range for 35.7% and 0-3 from downtown.  UST was marginally better going 13-30 from FG range for 43.3% and 4-11 behind the arc for 36.4%.

Ripon tried desperately to stay within reach in the early moments of the third period as Oimoen was able to get into the paint for one score at the 9:17 mark and added one free throw at the 8:52 mark after getting fouled that had the Red Hawks down ten at 42-32.  UST's Porter connected with a lay-up at the 6:37 mark but the Red Hawks crept back into that ten-point range again when Carpenter drained a "3" from the left wing area at the 6:25 mark so there was still some hope for the Ripon contingent down 45-35.  But two quick scores by the Tommies' Spaulding - a lay-up in transition at the 6:16 mark and a score in the paint at the 5:48 mark - pushed the UST lead back up to fourteen at 49-35 and Red Hawks Head Coach Lauren Busalacchi felt compelled to take a thirty-second timeout as she clearly saw the gap widening and the tempo going in favor of the Tommies.  Ripon's Carpenter tried to cut into this cushion with her drive and finish at the 5:25 mark but the Red Hawks simply had run into a better opponent on this night.  UST methodically upped their advantage as senior reserve guard Bobbi Brendefur snared a steal and dashed the other way for a lay-up with 4:54 left and Ripon's Oimoen collected her fourth foul of the night with 3:38 left only making the Red Hawks' situation that much more dire.  The Tommies' Renikoff drained a "3" from the left wing area with 3:34 left to get the lead to 54-37 and pairs of free throws - two by freshman reserve post Brynne Rolland with 2:25 left and two more by Renikoff with 1:58 left - had UST up by fifteen at 58-43.  That lead increased to eighteen when sophomore reserve guard Macy Hatlestad buried a "3" from the right top area with 1:26 left to make it 61-43 and although the Red Hawks would get a Carpenter free throw with 1:03 left and a Brescia lay-up with :18 left, they were still staring at a sizable fifteen point deficit at 61-46 going into the fourth period. 

Ripon must have felt that the world was closing in on them in the opening minutes of the fourth period as the Tommies set out to open up even more distance.  Rolland; the understudy at the Tommie post position, showed her versatility as her three-point bomb from the right top area at the 9:33 mark sparked a 9-3 UST push.  Rolland would follow that up with a lay-up in transition at the 8:58 mark and then Porter would add a three-point bomb of her own from the right top area at the 8:33 mark that now made it a twenty-point ballgame at 69-49.  Brendefur would add one free throw after getting fouled at the 7:21 mark to make it 70-49 before the Red Hawks could finally get a significant answer on a "3" from the left corner by Geiger at the 7:10 mark.  But Ripon was going to need a lot more of these answers to make up for the gap and they weren't getting them on this night.  The Tommies' Porter would muscle into the paint for a score at the 6:51 mark and then junior reserve guard Sarah Krynski banged home a "3" from the right top area at the 6:08 mark to make it 75-52 and the Red Hawks Busalacchi called a timeout in hopes of undoing the carnage.  But those hopes had long since gone out the window and all that stoppage in play did was delay the inevitable.  Rolland would get a score in the paint at the 5:19 mark and then sophomore reserve guard Madi Radtke got a big defensive play when she snared a steal in the backcourt and got a lay-up out of it with 4:37 left to make it 79-54.  A Rolland drive and finish with 4:03 left and one free throw by freshman reserve guard Mia Krogseng with 3:26 left made it 82-56.  With a comfortable lead now at hand, this gave UST Head Coach Ruth Sinn an ample opportunity to start inserting some of her younger reserves to give them some valuable minutes in an NCAA Tournament game.  Freshman reserve guard Ellie Wolkow made a hard drive for a pretty finish off the glass with 1:12 left and a short turnaround jumper by Rolland with 1:02 left made it 86-58.  Freshman reserve guard Shayla Wallin connected with a lay-up with :26 left as the Tommies cruised into the second round with a resound 88-58 victory. 

In the Ripon press conference, Busalacchi expressed how incredibly proud she was of her team and on the great season they had.  "We're really proud of our kids.....With their fight this year and what they've been through as a team.  Obviously, first-round super-tough opponent and coach (Sinn) does an outstanding job with her program.  Efficiency-wise with shooting, we kind of ran into a brick wall today against St. Thomas and that's one they can do really, really well....We're proud of our kids and we wish St. Thomas the best; they're going to be a tough team to beat going forward."  But what I really want to point out here is Ripon freshman reserve guard Kassidy Walters out of Greenfield, IL who was diagnosed with cancer early on in the season.  The team has rallied around her after the diagnosis and she's fighting this dreaded disease with every ounce of fight and fiber in her.  I personally have been lucky enough to become acquainted with her on Facebook and am honored and proud to have this young woman in my network of friends and was lucky and honored to meet her after the game.  Just a terrific young woman who has all the fight in the world and a great attitude to boot and I hope and pray she beats this thing.  Screw cancer.  You can watch the Ripon press conference on this link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDg2c0tzIT4

UST's Sinn started out the Tommie's portion of the post-game press conference by talking about Ripon and how she told Busalacchi about how she was in a similar position when she took the UST job back in 2005 and the relentless pursuit of getting to the NCAA Tournament and then making the Final 4 and the struggles they endured in that process.  She was very complimentary of Ripon and Busalacchi.  As for her own team, Sinn was very happy with her squad's effort on this night.  "I was very excited about the energy and the purpose and the way we shared the ball....We had 24 assists tonight and it's just about everybody doing their part; doing their role, and I was really proud of these young ladies."  I asked Sinn specifically about a statistic that was brought to my attention during halftime in that UST had 12 assists on 13 made FGs and how I thought that that demonstrated how well the Tommies not only moved the ball but did a very good job in distributing the ball.  "Well, that's one of the things we try to do....We've got a lot of weapons and Hannah (Spaulding) and Kia (Porter) and Lucia (Renikoff) and people coming off the bench so as much as we can move the ball I didn't feel moved the ball as well in the first half as well as we did in the second half.....And in the second half I thought we did a much better job of getting lane penetration by not only the posts but by the guards as well."  You can view the entire UST press conference on this You Tube link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eciSD6QBeig

In viewing the final box score, I was a bit surprised to see that UST actually wound up with only a slight edge on the boards by a 39-35 count which I thought would be higher given the final score.  And turnovers weren't really that big of a deal for either team with Ripon committing 11 turnovers to UST's nine.  To me, it was the Tommie defense on this night as they limited the Red Hawks to 20-59 from FG range for 33.9% and only 2-13 from behind the arc for 15.4% and Ripon didn't do themselves any favors at the charity stripe as they were only 16-24 for 66.7%.  UST on the other hand was 31-56 from FG range for 55.4% and a decent 9-17 from behind the arc for 52.9%.  Perhaps the only real concern on this night for Sinn and her staff was that the free throw shooting could obviously have been better as well with the Tommies going 17-31 for only 54.8%.  Another incredible outing for Spaulding as she finished with yet another "double-double" of 29 points to lead all scorers along with snaring ten rebounds.  Porter was very solid on this night as well with her 17 points and surprisingly the up-and-coming Rolland had 13 points on this night which had to have been a pleasant surprise for Sinn and her staff and I made mention of that in the press conference.  Carpenter's 16 points paced the way for Ripon on this night and Oimoen finished with 11 points.