Made the relatively easy run over to Robertson Center on the campus of Bethel University in Arden Hills on this overcast Saturday afternoon for this important late regular season game between visiting Hamline and host Bethel. The Pipers were sporting an impressive 16-6 overall record coming into this contest and had third place in MIAC standings all to themselves and were riding a three-game win streak coming into this game as well; their latest victim being Carleton on Wednesday night. The Royals meanwhile got a solid bounce-back win up at Concordia on Wednesday night that upped their overall record 18-4 overall and were tied with GAC atop the MIAC standings. With Hamline's high-octane offense contrasting with a defensive-minded Bethel team, you had to figure that something had to give.
You certainly didn't need an abacus to keep track of the scoring in the opening period as both teams struggled mightily to find solid footing on the offensive end. The Pipers finally broke the ice at the 7:39 mark when sophomore guard Yasmeen Abed connected on a lay-up in transition and the 2-3 matchup zone defense that Hamline Head Coach Josh Hersch was employing certainly played a role in the early struggles that the Royals were experiencing. Finally, at the 5:08 mark, Bethel got the game tied at a deuce a piece on a drive and finish by fifth-year senior guard Anna Garfield but the Pipers would soon grab a 4-2 advantage when sophomore reserve forward Evelyn Wiltrout connected on a lay-up with 4:52 left. But Hamline was not setting the world on fire with their normally-potent offense either as the Royals dug in and snuffed out several Piper scoring attempts down the stretch which allowed Bethel to grab a small lead. Garfield would drop a pair of free throws after getting fouled with 3:16 left and then lanky senior combo guard/forward Elly Schmitz would connect on a short jumper along the right baseline with 1:18 left to give the Royals their first lead of this game at 6-4. Bethel would grow that lead to 8-4 when sophomore reserve forward Emily Erickson slithered into the paint for a score with :12 left that gave the Royals a bit of momentum in an otherwise forgettable first period.
Being down by four points in what was thus far a very low-scoring ballgame wouldn't have normally been that big of a problem for a team like the Pipers that can score quickly and in bunches. But the beginning of the second period is precisely where things started going to hell in a handbasket for Hamline as the Royals would start making amends for some of their transgressions offensively back in the first period. Garfield would connect on a lay-up at the 9:01 mark that also drew a foul and her ensuing "and one" got Bethel's lead to 11-4. And that would also send key Piper reserve combo guard/forward Anna Rynkiewich to the bench with two fouls as well. Then lanky senior combo/guard forward Elly Schmitz finally found her touch from behind the arc with a three-point bomb from the left top area at the 8:25 mark that pushed the lead to ten at 14-4 and Hamline's Hersch; not liking this latest development at all, called for a thirty-second timeout in hopes of making some quick fixes. To their credit, the Pipers started to wake up offensively but making meaningful inroads on this deficit initially proved to be problematic. Sophomore reserve guard Lauren Cooper would connect on a jumper from the left elbow area at the 7:20 mark that cut the deficit to eight at 14-6 and at the 5:05 mark freshman reserve guard Josie Schmidt would be the recipient of a baseball pass from the aforementioned Cooper and would connect on a lay-up in transition that kept Hamline in that eight-point range down 16-8. Strong sophomore forward Marina LaFreniere would connect on a jumper in the lane with 4:30 left that kept the Pipers in that eight-point range again down 18-10 and finally with 3:20 left, Hamline appeared to be right back in the thick of things again when Cooper drained a "3" from the right top area that cut the Royals lead to 18-13. But just when you thought things had turned around for Hamline, they were promptly turned away by Bethel as the Royals would finish this second period with a key 10-2 push. Garfield would bury a "3" from the right corner with 2:56 left and less than a minute later, junior combo guard/forward Rosalie Penke would get into the paint and get a score off the glass with 2:03 left that had Bethel up by ten again at 23-13. With 1:04 left, junior point guard Colette Duininck would bury a "3" from the left top area to stretch the lead to 26-13 and with just :07 left, Schmitz would snare an offensive rebound for a putback that allowed the Royals to take a 28-13 lead into the locker room at the halftime break - a lead that seemed larger than it was given how this game had been flowing from the opening tip.
Hamline's prospects certainly didn't brighten in the early moments of the third period as the Royals' Penke would unleash a "3" from the right corner at the 9:17 mark that grew Bethel's lead to 31-15. The Pipers would get this deficit slimmed down to eleven as junior combo guard/forward Josie Wiebusch muscled into the paint for one score at the 8:59 mark and a three-point bomb by Abed from the right corner at the 8:36 mark provided some hope down 31-20. But Bethel was in no mood to let its opponent hang around and the Royals went right back to work. Fifth-year senior forward Lydia Hay banged home a "3" from the left top area at the 8:07 mark and a jumper along the right baseline by Garfield at the 6:45 mark got Bethel's lead back up to sixteen at 36-20. Undaunted, the Pipers would launch another bid. Wiltrout would connect on a lay-up at the 6:23 mark and then Cooper would snare a steal and race the other way for a short pull-up jumper in transition that had the deficit down to twelve at 36-24. With 4:46 left, Abed would knock down a pair of charity stripe shots after getting fouled that had the deficit back down to eleven and a bit later with 4:12 left, Schmidt would bury a "3" from the left corner that pulled Hamline back to within single digits again down 37-29 and this comeback proposition didn't seem so wild after all. But those hopes would quickly go down the drain as the Royals turned the spigot off and started padding their lead again. Schmitz would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled with 2:16 left and Bethel was now in the bonus by this point as well. Duininck would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled with 1:52 left and Hay would cash in on a pair of free throws after getting fouled with :17.1 left that got Bethel's lead to 42-29. In a bit of an ironic twist, the Pipers' Cooper would bang home a "3" from the left top area off the glass with just :02.1 left and even though Hamline had the deficit back down to ten again at 42-32, each comeback attempt was being successfully rebuffed by the opponent.
While bringing this one back wasn't an outlandish proposition for the Pipers being down by only ten, it'd been a hard row to hoe for Hamline thus far and no one - certainly not Hersch and his staff - would have guessed that they would have been held to just one measly point (a Rynkiewich free throw) in the fourth period. Yet that's exactly what happened as the Royals suffocated their opponent in this last stanza. And not that Bethel was setting the world on fire with their offensive prowess either - but they didn't have to. Schmitz would start off the fourth period on a lay-up at the 8:52 mark and at the 6:16 mark, sophomore reserve forward Cally Peterson would grab an offensive rebound and get a pretty reverse lay-up out of it to get the Royals lead to 46-33. With 4:09 left, Penke would maneuver into the paint for a score and a routine score in the paint by Schmitz with 2:53 left had Bethel safely up 50-33. Hay would provide the final margin of victory when she knocked down a pair of free throws after getting fouled with 1:32 left. But what had to be frustrating from a Hamline standpoint is that they missed out on ten - that's right - TEN scoring opportunities. And the vast majority of these were either short jumpers or lay-up attempts that you know that they make in practice. That's how disruptive Bethel can be with their defense and ironically, it's kind of what the Royals had to endure last Saturday against GAC. But Bethel certainly wasn't complaining on this day as they pocketed the 52-33 victory.
When I caught up with Hamline's Hersch afterward, his main theme was "One game at a time" and while this latest setback isn't a devastating one, it does make things a bit trickier for this Piper team as they try to protect that third seed in the upcoming MIAC Playoffs as they first have to run over to St. Kate's on Wednesday night before finishing up the regular season at home against St. Olaf next Saturday. The guess here is that they'll recover from this loss and take care of business where they have to. But it has to be concerning for the Piper faithful that their leading scorer; junior guard Camille Cummings, was held scoreless on this day. In fact, was 0-5 from FG range and didn't even get a chance to launch one missile from behind the arc in this contest (her specialty as we well know). I didn't inquire about junior combo guard/forward Sophie Stork and although she was in uniform on this day, she didn't log any minutes so that has to be a concern. Also shut out on this day was senior point guard Kate Trachsel who normally averages 8.5 ppg so there's definitely some concerns there for Hamline. And who would've guessed that it'd be the sophomore - Cooper - leading the way for Hamline on this day with her 10 points. The real storyline on this day was what the Bethel defense did to this normally potent Hamline attack; limiting them to 13-61 from FG range for 21.3%. And it wasn't any better from behind the arc as the Pipers shot 4-17 for 23.5%. Throw in the fact that Bethel had a sizable advantage in those all-important second-chance points at 12-2 and that pretty much tells you all you need to know about this one.
Bethel's Herbrecthsmeyer was obviously very pleased with his team's trademark defense on this day. Offensively? "At times we were very good. At others?" He made a few facial expressions to express some disappointment on that front but as I stated earlier, if your defense is doing what it's doing, you don't need to be world-beaters on the offensive end as long as you get more buckets than your opponent which they safely did on this day. The Royals were solid from the charity stripe on this day going 13-15 for 86.7% and did hold a 42-37 edge on the rebounding front. Again, the real story on this day was Bethel's defense and how it creates opportunities for them on the other end. I did get a chance to discuss the upcoming MIAC Playoffs a bit with Herbrechtsmeyer and the fact that his team is deadlocked with GAC for that top seed with a coin flip appearing to be the only way of settling things at the moment anyway. I think he's okay with however that turns out although he couldn't help but reminisce about the experience from five years ago when the Royals were the top seed and how Robertson Center was packed to the max and he'd obviously love to have an opportunity like that come his way again.
Both Garfield and Schmitz had stellar performances on this day as they paced Bethel with 14 and 13 points, respectively, and Schmitz just missed out on a double-double with nine rebounds.
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