The two Bethel games that I have watched are the two that you refer to Gac.  To be fair to Heather, neither of the incidents involved her elbows; she was pivoting away from a second player and both Anna and Bri being aggressive, took the ball (hands) in the face.  And in fact, the penalty in last night's game was against Bri.  Granted Heather pivots hard, but if you stayed to watch the guys games, they rebound and pivot the same way; but the other guys know to stay out of the way.  Other posts in the MIAC bring the ball down only to have it slapped away; get use to it because this is the direction women's D-3 ball will go.

I beamed down to Bethel to watch the big game this evening.  This is the second time I have seen them play; the other game was against St. Ben's.  I can't believe that Bethel is losing some of their games lately, they have a pretty good team.  Maybe they play to their competition.  The game was fairly close the whole way with Bri and Jess leading the way for the Gusties.  Bri must have been a guard at some point with the quick first step that she has to the basket.  I don't know of many posts that can keep up with her.  You could tell the Jen A. was ill because she had little pop to her shots.  Overall a hard fought contest with decent refs to boot.

One very classless thing that I saw occurred after the game, when some of the Gustie parents started yelling at a Bethel player in the hall.    This player handled herself well with these parents, but how low they stooped.  The best part of the scene were the Gustie girls going after their parents because of their behavior.

When watching the Bethel vs. St. Ben's game last night at one point I realized that five girls on the floor were from the high school Classic Lake conference.  In checking rosters of the MIAC teams I found the following;

Augsburg – Rosinta Stromquist, Cooper
Bethel – Heather Davis, Minnetonka & Betsy Stevens, Minnetonka
Carleton – Annie Isler, Hopkins & Anna Biewen, Edina
Gustavus – Vicky Peterson, Armstrong
Hamline – Ashlee Senser, Hopkins & Steph Jurewicz, St. Louis Park
St. Bens – Nikki Carter, Anna Heikenen, & Ariel Tauer, all from Edina
St. Catherine – Leslie Anderson, Minnetonka
St. Olaf – Christine Schwichtenberg, Hopkins, Danielle & Kristina Stoermer, Wayzata
St. Thomas – Leah Gause

Are there other high school conferences this well represented?  Maybe coaches should be spending a little more time recruiting this conference.  Any thoughts on this?

My comment on the officiating was not meant to imply that the refs cost Bethel the game.  It was meant to imply that horrible calls both ways lead to the eventual end; be it Bethel being close when they should not have or Bethel losing when they should have won.  As a good coach should, Mr. Durbin spent a great deal of time influencing the refs on marginal calls.  The game did have one of the worst none calls (since the Nate Wright – Drew Pearson call in the NFC Championship) that I've seen.  With Bens up by one, and less then 4 seconds left, Bethel in-bounded the ball three quarters the length of the floor to Cotner who was essentially tackled without a call.

Thanks East Coast, can Bethel beat SMU at home?  You were right about the Bethel – Bens game being close.  The game appeared to be a must see game, so I headed over to Bethel to watch, and I wasn't disappointed.   At the beginning of the game both teams were shooting the lights out, Bethel was getting the ball inside to there posts (they scored 57 of Bethel's 88), Bens wanted it more on the boards and got extra looks because of it, Bethel (Davis) did a nice job guarding Anna H., Bens has got some speed (most noticeable was Tauer) and needs to exploit it more.  These teams match up well against each other, but it was too bad that the officiating was OFF (trying to be nice) and helped to determine the outcome. >

Peach, it looks like your logic was correct on the Bethel game.  They must have really underestimated their opponent. As to whether they get it or not might be answered tonight against Bens. I need Spock to look at my computer, because I was unable to log onto D3 all weekend.

"Mr. Scott I need warp power in five minutes or were all dead".

Peach, Jimmy the Greek your not.  Your prediction of Augsburg over Bethel had to be made just to piss off East Coast.  This should be an interesting game though and if Bethel wins big it could be a sign that they are starting to "Get It".  Nice game for the Cobbers although I'm not ready to concede the championship to them.

Solid, yes I am aware that Pearson is not on the team this year, I should have made myself more clear.

Mr. Sulu, ahead warp factor six.

At the mid point of the season some thoughts for a few teams;

Hamline – Turn Ewert loose and have her attack the basket.  She is a rare talent, let her show it.

Carleton – Good team with a senior star.  Start Oken-Berg, Lincoln, and Biewen; your better with these girls on the floor.

St. Ben's – With as good as Heikenen is the team vulnerable without her.  Whoever said that Ben's was still a top three team without her is way off.  Do it for her NOW!

Bethel – Post up with two girls at a time (3-2). Not many teams will be able to guard two six footers at once and it will open up the outside shots.

Gustavus – I don't know how your doing it because I'm not that impressed.  Maybe Bri is really that good.  The smoke and mirrors appear to be working though; keep it up.

St. Olaf – Build around the twins.  There is a lot of talent in the MIAC from the Classic Lake high school conference.

Concordia – Very good coaching from what I can see.  It help to have players like Hageman or Pearson; but maybe these players are coached to the best abilities.

St. Thomas – Look for a big drop off next year without Opdahl.


Beam me up Scotty!

I keep seeing the quote from Carleton backers saying other teams better hope they don't meet Carleton in the playoffs.  I think they better be worrying about making the playoffs themselves first.  I just don't see it.

I've now seen all the teams in the conference play this year.  My top ten;
1.   St. Bens- To much at this point for rest of conference.
2.   Gusties – Playing better then they are at this point.
3.   Bethel – The meek shall inherit the earth.
4.   Concordia – No height to match some of the other teams
5.   St. Thomas
6.   St. Olaf – Better then you think, with room to grow.
7.   Hamline – Watch out for this team.
8.   Carlton – How the mighty have fallen
9.   St. Kates
10.   St. Mary's - How the mighty have fallen 2
11.   Augsburg

St. Bens is good but not clearly superior over the rest of the teams.  This should be fun.