Made the easy drive down US Highway 169 and the Union Pacific's Mankato Sub mainline to St. Peter on this sunny and pleasant early March afternoon to get situated in Lund Arena on the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College for this 1st/2nd round pod being hosted by GAC - a first-time affair for this program. The first game of this evening featured UW-Stevens Point out of the WIAC which got into the Dance with an at-large bid and Wartburg; champions of the ARC. The Pointers were coming into the NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 18-8 in a very competitive WIAC Conference that sent five teams to the Dance. The Knights meanwhile were coming in with a sparkling 25-2 record and had won both the ARC regular season title and the ARC Championship Game to claim that conference's AQ to the Dance.
As you can imagine, both teams came out a bit sluggish offensively with both teams having to endure a case of the jitters and it wasn't until the 8:22 mark of the opening period when UW-Stevens Point finally broke the ice on a score in the paint by senior combo guard/forward Alexa Thomson. The Pointers would grab a 4-2 advantage when sophomore reserve combo guard/forward Alexa Truchon connected on a short jumper along the left baseline at the 7:37 mark but Wartburg would then take its cue. Slender fifth-year senior Lauren Woeste slithered into the paint for a score to tie the game at the 7:16 mark and then the Knights would poke their nose out in front on a pretty drive and finish by sophomore reserve forward Lauren Golinghorst at the 6:16 mark to make it a 6-4 ballgame. UW-Stevens Point would reclaim the lead on a three-point bomb by senior guard Courtney Krueger from the left wing area at the 5:14 mark but things would go downhill from there for the Pointers as Wartburg seized control. Golinghorst would connect on a lay-up in transition with 4:05 left and would follow that up with another lay-up with 3:32 left that helped spark a 10-0 run. Fifth-year senior reserve guard Natalie Bearbower would drain a "3" from the right wing area with 2:11 left and then fellow fifth-year senior guard Sara Faber would bury a "3" of her ownfrom the top of the key with 1:48 left that had the Knights out in front 16-7 and UW-Stevens Point Head Coach Matt Hockett; seeing his squad out of sorts on the offensive end, called for a holt for the action. Still the Pointers couldn't get anything to fall in the remaining time of this first period and things definitely were not looking promising for the Stevens Point faithful.
UW-Stevens Point finally dusted off the cobwebs forming on its basket at the 9:20 mark of the second period when junior guard Maija Rice knocked down a jumper from the top of the key just inside the arc but the Knights were not relinquishing control of this game just yet. Sophmore reserve guard Grace Hennessy would bury a "3" from the top of the key at the 8:59 mark and a score in the paint by fifth-year senior forward Jaedon Murphy at the 8:19 mark appeared to have Wartburg in great shape with a 21-10 advantage. But it was here where the Pointers turned up their intensity on defense as they slyly took their opponent out of their comfort zone and battled back. Krueger would connect on a short jumper in the lane in a transition opportunity at the 7:01 mark and would follow that up a bit later at the 5:14 mark with a drive into the lane and a pretty floater that cut the deficit down to seven at 21-14. Then freshman reserve forward Aubrey Smith would bang home a "3" from the left wing area with 4:42 left and when fellow freshman reserve guard Brenna Gehri made a hard drive for a lay-up with 3:37 left, UW-Stevens Point was suddenly back to within a single possession down 21-19. Then senior foward Gabby Gawlitta made her presence felt as she would grab an offensive rebound of her own miss with 2:50 left and get a putback that also drew a foul and her ensuing "and one" now pushed the Pointers back in front 22-21. Gawlitta would also knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled with 1:53 left to cap this unexpected 14-0 blitz that extended the UW-Stevens Point lead to 24-21 before the Knights finally ended their extended dry spell on one free throw by Faber after she was fouled with 1:46 left. Wartburg would then get the game leveled on an offensive rebound and putback by Woeste with :29.3 left but the Pointers would take a 26-24 lead into the locker room at the half on a pair of free throws by Rice after she was fouled with :12 left and for the Knights; who definitely seemed in control of things after the first period, looked out of sorts and it definitely appeared that the physicality aspect of UW-Stevens Point had definitely tipped the scales in their favor.
Neither team could seem to gain much of an advantage once the third period got underway as things were tight througout. Wartburg would regain the lead at 27-26 on a three-point bomb by fifth-year senior guard Britney Young from the left wing area are at the 9:42 mark but the Pointers would grab it right back at 28-27 when Thomson snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 9:11 left. UW-Stevens Point would assume a 31-29 lead on a three-point bomb by sophmore reserve guard Karissa Smith from the left corner at the 8:34 mark but right back came the Knights as they got this one leveled at 31 on a drive into the lane and pretty floater by Young at the 8:02 mark. Defense would take center stage over the next couple of minutes but the Pointers would get themselves back out in front on a three-point bomb by freshman reserve guard Maddie Murphy at the 5:39 mark to make it 34-31 but Wartburg would respond with a 4-0 push as Golinghorst muscled into the paint for a score at the 5:11 mark and two free throws by Faber after she was fouled with 4:22 left pushed the Knights back out in front by a 35-34 count. Now it was UW-Stevens Point's turn to respond as Thomson connected with a short jumper from the right side with 4:04 left that gave the Pointers a 36-35 edge. Then it was Wartburg's turn to reclaim the lead as Woeste would get one free throw to go down after getting fouled with :50 left and two more by Hennessy after she was fouled with :35.7 left gave the Knights a 38-36 lead but some of the temporary relief by that was wiped away for Wartburg when Jaedon Murphy picked up her third foul of the evening with just :02.6 left.
But UW-Stevens Point wasn't without foul issues either and that issue reared its ugly head for the Pointers at the 9:48 mark of the fourth period when Gawlitta was whistled for her fourth foul of the evening and Hockett was in no mood to gamble with one of his "bigs" and quickly yanked her to the bench for preservation purposes. That sequence seemed to give Wartburg a bit of an opening and Faber would come through for the Knights as she would get a tough score in the paint at the 9:24 mark and a Faber lay-up in transition at the 8:53 mark had Wartburg up 40-38. The Knights would maintain this two-point edge when Woeste grabbed an offensive rebound of her own miss for a putback at the 7:53 mark that had Wartburg up 42-40. But this back-and-forth affair would take another turn as the Pointers would grab the upper hand. Thomson would knock down a pair of free throws after getting fouled at the 7:37 mark and she would follow that up a bit later at the 6:57 mark with a jumper from the left elbow area that gave UW-Stevens Point a 44-42 lead. The Knights would get the game leveled on a lay-up by Golinghorst at the 5:46 mark but then the Pointers would proceed to put their opponent behind the eight-ball with a 5-0 push. Thomson would grab an offensive rebound for a putback that also drew a foul and her ensuing "and one" put UW-Stevens Point in front 47-44 at the 5:03 mark. Then Rice would knock down a jumper in the lane with 4:33 left that now had the Pointers up 49-44 and Wartburg Head Coach Bob Amsberry; now seeing his team possibly being in the danger zone in a first-round NCAA Tournament game, took a match a timeout in hopes of some quick fixes to this mess. The Knights would quickly respond as Jaedon Murphy connected on a lay-up off of an inbounds pass with 4:23 left and then Golinghorst would grab an offensive rebound for a putback after a steal that now had the deficit down to one at 49-48. But UW-Stevens Point certainly didn't seem willing to let go of this small advantage. Rice would maneuver into the paint for one score with 3:38 left that gave the Pointers a 51-48 lead and although Wartburg would cut it to one on two free throws by Jaedon Murphy after she was fouled with 3:20 left, the Pointers opened up some more space as Krueger buried what looked to be a dagger "3" from the left wing area with 2:22 left that gave UW-Stevens Point a 54-50 lead. The Knights would quickly cut that down to one point as Hennessy unleashed a three-point bomb of her own from the left corner with 2:11 left but UW-Stevens Point was able to increase its safety net to three points on a pair of free throws by Rice after she was fouled with 1:54 left. The Pointers would ultimately lose Gawlitta to foul trouble after she picked up her fifth foul of the night with 1:25 left but there was no time to worry about that now as they had to focus on choking off their opponent. Wartburg's Young would see her three-point shot attempt with 1:05 left rattle out and with :49.1 left, UW-Stevens Point Hockett would call a timeout in hopes of closing this one out. But the Pointers would come up empty on their ensuing possession and with :24.3 left, Wartburg closed things to a scant point at 56-55 when Golinghorst made a hard drive into the lane for a finish. But now the Knights had to foul and UW-Stevens Point's Krueger would get sent to the charity stripe with :20.9 left. But Krueger was unable to cash in on either free throw attempt and now the Knights had their chance as they got the ball over midcourt and set up their offense. But things nearly went awry for Wartburg as they almost lost the ball at midcourt but luckily regained possession with just :04.1 left in regulation. Both teams would take timeouts in hopes of doing whatever they needed to do to secure ultimate victory. With the clock winding down, Wartburg's Faber would make a last-gasp drive into the lane and although her shot attempt was errant, the officials whistled UW-Stevens Point senior post Kelly McIntyre for the foul; much to the chagrin of the Pointers Hockett and his players and the faithful in the stands. Faber calmly dropped both free throw attempts to put the Knights out in front 57-56 with just :01.3 left on the clock. UW-Stevens Point's Hockett took his last thirty-second timeout in hopes of drawing up one last play. The Pointers got the ball inbounded to Rice and she went up to launch a three-point shot attempt as the buzzer sounded that banged off the rim and although there was some incidental contact, no foul was called despite vehement protests from the Pointer contingent as Wartburg was able to get out of Dodge with the slim 57-56 victory to advance into the second round.
Wartburg's Amsberry was quick to give UW-Stevens Point a lot of credit following the Knights narrow win, "Hats off to Stevens Point - they had a great year and gave us a tremendous challenge tonight.....They had us late and our kids made some really big plays....I respect how they (Stevens Point) did it all year and they are trending upward. But our team - they find ways and they've just done it over and over......I think that in the NCAA Tournament; to make a run, you've got to have a game or two where it comes down to something like this and when we got down by five, we were able to get some big stops.....I couldn't be more proud of this group and certainly how they play the game but more so as people because they've had a tremendous impact on our program. I asked Amsberry about the adjustments he had to make at the halftime break after the Knights looked so out of sorts on the offensive end in that second period. "I thought they did a good job of taking us out of who we want to be and our whole thing going into this game was staying true to who we are and in that second quarter they got us out of that; no question. I thought in the second half we did a better job of getting the touches we wanted and where we wanted and that's just credit to our players for being able to do that." I also asked Amsberry about the physicality aspect and how UW-Stevens Point seemed to use that to their advantage in this game. "They're physical......I don't know what impact that had....We've faced teams before that are physical but for us it's just a matter of being able to play through that."
As you can imagine, it was a very emotional UW-Stevens Point contingent that came into the press conference afterward and the sadness and disappointment was clearly etched on their faces; including Hockett's as he was emotional. He talked about how this game; despite the loss, was a "win" in many ways; not just for the team but for this program as well as it's been a while since they've been on this stage. He also talked about the four seniors at length - Krueger, Gawlitta, McIntyre and Thomson - and what they've meant to the program and this team. "They love that name on the front of their jerseys" he said and he also talked about how this group stayed together despite the previous rough seasons where the wins seemed to be few and far between. "They mean the world to me." I aksed Hockett about his team's struggles offensively in that first period and what they did to turn things around once the second period got underway. "I think maybe they were a little too 'keyed up" in that first period and I think they just really 'settled in' and it became a really good basketball game.....It came down to execution and it came down to the care and love and belief in one another to make the right plays." "It wasn't all perfect" he added as he mentioned the 23 turnovers his team was guilty of on this night. But he didn't second-guess his squad's toughness. "We're battle-tested.....We've been playing tournament basketball since February 15th and we had to beat UW-Eau Claire just to get into our conference tournament and we put together a win against a tough UW-Stout team and a UW-La Crosse team who are both in the NCAA Tournament and you look at our schedule, the last three games we played prior to the NCAA Tournament were teams from our conference who are in the NCAA Tournament and that doesn't happen in every gym across the country.....They're used to playing in these types of games."
Nobody can certainly ever doubt the toughness of this Pointer team; certainly on the boards where they enjoyed a 33-24 edge and UW-Stevens Point also had an edge in this all-important second-chance points at 12-8. But when you look closer at the box score, you'll also see that Wartburg had a decided edge in points in the paint at 30-20 and a big edge in bench points as well at 25-11. But perhaps the biggest item that stands out for me and how the Knights ultimately prevailed was at the charity stripe where Wartburg was 12-14 for 85.7% which is pretty solid. Contrast that with UW-Stevens Point going 11-16 for 68.8%. Just those few misses proved costly for the Pointers on this night.
UW-Stevens Point relied heavily on Thomson and Rice for scoring production and they certainly didn't disappoint as they finished with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Wartburg was somewhat better-balanced as Golinghorst's 14 points led all scorers and both Jaedon Murphy and Faber tallied 10 points a piece to pace the Knights.
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