WBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Willy Wonka]

GAC down 51-50 with under 7 to play.

Don't have any details since I'm watching Beastley right now.

[Willy Wonka]

Wow. Vadnais on fire and GAC up 60-57 with under 4 to play.

AND

Young-Kruse doesn't get her team out of the huddle after a timeout and causes a turnover. Yikes.

[Nites]

GAC over Hamline  79-66.

Carleton over Concordia 62-61.  Oken-Berg and Freudenberg each with 19.

[MiacLostProphet]

Good game at Gus Young tonight!  The Gusties jumped out early but couldn't hold of the pipers run as the pipes went into halftime with the lead.  It was good to see #5 for the Gusties play.  I haven't seen her play since high school.  It was nice to see a player from around town hoop it up in the MIAC.  The pipes played very well at the end of the first half and into the second half but seemed to run out of gas.  The Pipes were plagued by turnovers all day.  In the end Gus Young came to balance and the Gusties righted their ship and finished off the game winning by 13 points.  It was a good game and it was also good to see the Hamline women improving in their playoff play.

Willie, Beastley would look real nice in that Minnesota Uni

[LA RAMS]

Gusties get the win and move on but it was a weird game to watch; frighteningly reminded me of Iowa's NCAA tourney game w/Northwestern St. a couple of years ago.  The Gusties got off to a fast start for a change and had Hamline on the ropes.  But instead of delivering the knockout blow like they should have they allowed Hamline to gradually get back into the game.  That flurry of 3-pointers toward the end of the 1st half had me sensing impending doom for the Gusties and the way the second half was unfolding didn't make me feel any better.  But in crunch time, Jess Vadnais showed why she's the MVP of this conference.  Again, I also thought Emily Nelson was just nails coming down the stretch as well; nailing key points from the charity stripe.  Clearly, though, GAC CANNOT allow all these open 3-point attempts that they are giving up.  Also, post play down low continues to be an area where the Gusties are getting exposed big-time.  As much as I'd love to see GAC in the MIAC Championship game there is no way they will get past UST with the lapses they had last night.

Wow, must have been some game down in N'field last night.  Was anybody there?

[gacbacker]

Clearly, though, GAC CANNOT allow all these open 3-point attempts that they are giving up. 

Amen to that. 34 made three's for the Gustie opponents in the last 5 games.

L.A....the up and down nature of the Gusties last night had a lot to do with lineups last night. The freshmen looked like freshmen last night, which is why Haller wisely shortened the bench in the second half last night. I wouldn't be surprised if she does the same tomorrow against UST.

Great game for Vadnais, great second halves by Layman, Radtke and Nelson.

[LA RAMS]

Nice article in today's Strib about CSB's Danielle Frank.  Definitely worth the read.

[buf]

This weeks regional rankings:

West Region
1.  Simpson  19-1  23-2
2.  George Fox  15-2  22-3 
3.  Puget Sound  16-2  21-4
4.  St. Thomas (Minn.)  19-6  19-6
5.  Chapman  15-3  22-3
6.  St. Benedict  19-5  20-5

[gacbacker]

Should be an interesting night.

The Gusties and Tommies have played two defensive minded struggles this year with the road team winning both times. Vadnais will have to get more open looks tonight that she did in the last game between the two teams if the Gusties are to win. The Tommies have not won an MIAC playoff game since the 2002-03 season. The Gusties have never won a postseason game of any kind (MIAC or NCAA) on the road (0-9).

A couple of days ago I thought Carleton would have a good chance to knock off St. Ben's tonight, but if Sarah Lincoln's injured ankle keeps her out of tonight's game like it did in the second half of the Concordia game, then I don't think the Knights have much of a chance.

[Willy Wonka]

In case people haven't heard, there's a big game tonight pitting the two most probable MVP candidates against each other. Anyone care for a closer look?

A Closer Look
• GAC has closed the year by winning 6 of 7 games, including an impressive win on the road at The Shoe. Four players scored in double figures last game, suggesting the clunker against the Carlies is well in the rearview.
• Vadnais has averaged 21 PPG over that span and shot 41%, raising her season totals fairly significantly.
• Vadnais has failed to reach double figures only 4 times this season. Two came against UST.
• In the two games between GAC and UST — which were won by the road team both times — Vadnais has shot a mindnumbing 5-27 (18%) and is averaging 7 PPG — 12 below her average — while being guarded mostly by Katch.
• Vadnais averages 6.5 FT attempts per game and shoots them at a tremendous clip, often bolstering her point total with easy points on "off" nights from the floor. However, she's shot just 4 total against UST.
• In addition to not scoring, Vadnais has managed only four assists against the Tommies this year.
• Katch is averaging 15 PPG, 8.5 RPG and 4.5 APG against GAC while Embree has added 14 PPG and 5.5 RPG.

Lingering Questions
1. Can Katch continue her role as the unproclaimed Vadnais Stopper? (Maybe)
2. Vadnais took two horrible shots in the final minute that almost blew the game against UST last time. Can she be satisfied in a distributor role? And can the Gusties win *again* if that's all they get from her? (Doubtful and probably not)
3. If the little lefty is held in check, who will step up for the Gusties? (Nelson and/or Mathiowetz)
4. Can Layman handle Embree? (Hopefully)

[PRF2007]

CSB v. Carleton thoughts....


-Frank vs. Okenberg...Can Frank match Okenbergs offensive output or at least hold Okenberg down a bit?

- 3 point shooting....CSB will need to make some shots early and often

- turnovers... Carleton needs to eliminate their turnovers to have a chance.

-  Sarah Lincoln... how effective can she be on her injured ankle?

Should be a good game... CSB by 10 setting up a big game on saturday.

[Collegeville Magic]

This Blazer fan is bummed after looking up the results from tonight's game.  Danielle Frank was listed as playing only 9 minutes, and somehow managed to pick up 4 fouls.  I assume having her out for most of the game led directly to Oken-Berg scoring 23 (although with only 2 free throws attempted, which doesn't make sense). 

Without having heard a peep from anybody who saw the game, the 4-point loss seems to be explained pretty clearly despite four Blazers in double figures.  I'd be curious to get some input on whether Franks fouls were earned due to aggressive drives by Carleton, or whether the often-suspicious coaching staff for the Knights may have unduly influenced the officials in key situations. (not that they would ever even attempt that, of course)

The question, of course, is how CSB builds for next year after two disappointing losses to end the season.  Hopefully these last two will be motivation for the returning players.  With the split MIAC title and a loss at home in the conference semis, I have a hard time believing that my favorite DIII squad has much of a chance of an NCAA bid.

If this is it for the seniors, my proverbial hat is off to Mackenzie O'Neil and Judy Falvey, who both turned in very solid senior seasons!

Good luck to my two most hated MIAC squads on Saturday, may the less-despicable team win (whichever that is).

[PRF2007]

Frank's fouls came from a combination of a lot of compaining by Okenberg and just some pour calls.  1 over the back foul that wasn't even close...and 2 clean blocks that were called fouls for some awful reason.  However, these calls definitely didn't change the outcome too much.

Carleton had a great game plan and ran it to perfection.  Okenberg was outstanding especially without having much defense against her.  After seeing the tommies saturday and carelton tonight I think that the tommies will have no problem on saturday. 

Good luck to both teams in the next round.  They are two tough teams. 

[gacbacker]

Too much Carrie Embree tonight.

Sad to see the Monahan/Vadnais era come to end for Gustie fans. The last 5 years have been fun to watch.

[Nites]

This Blazer fan is bummed after looking up the results from tonight's game.  Danielle Frank was listed as playing only 9 minutes, and somehow managed to pick up 4 fouls.  I assume having her out for most of the game led directly to Oken-Berg scoring 23 (although with only 2 free throws attempted, which doesn't make sense). 

Without having heard a peep from anybody who saw the game, the 4-point loss seems to be explained pretty clearly despite four Blazers in double figures.  I'd be curious to get some input on whether Franks fouls were earned due to aggressive drives by Carleton, or whether the often-suspicious coaching staff for the Knights may have unduly influenced the officials in key situations. (not that they would ever even attempt that, of course)

Aren't you a little quick looking for an excuse for the loss?  You look at a box score and immediately question the officiating.  It was a home game for the Bennies so they didn't get homered. 

Seems to me that PRF may have done a pretty accurate pre-game analysis:

-Frank vs. Okenberg...Can Frank match Okenbergs offensive output or at least hold Okenberg down a bit?

- 3 point shooting....CSB will need to make some shots early and often

- turnovers... Carleton needs to eliminate their turnovers to have a chance.

-  Sarah Lincoln... how effective can she be on her injured ankle?

- Frank couldn't match Oken-Berg.  Perhaps, Oken-Berg's experience had something to do with that - a junior matched up against a first year.  Oken-Berg picked up her 3rd foul with 5:43 to go in the first half so she sat for the remainder of the half.  She was then able to play 18 minutes of the second half without picking up any more fouls.

- St. Ben's 3 point shooting was off.  They shot 28.6% for the game and they were only 3-13 in the first half so they didn't hit many early.

- Carleton had only 11 turnovers.  Without looking, I'll bet that is a season low for the Knights.  This is the area that I think has been Carleton's achilles heel all year.

- Lincoln didn't play, but others stepped up.

I think PRF pretty much called it.  Carleton hit on 3 of the 4 keys mentioned and they won.  Apparently, the Knights had a good game plan and they executed it.  Remember, they had all their players back from last year and they beat the Bennies once before this year.  Unfortunately, they have underperformed this season.  Will they put it all together and go on a roll?  I hope so, but I rather doubt it.  They were, however, good for a least one game.  St. Ben's has had a fine season.  Hopefully, it won't end and they'll get an at large bid.  If any team in the league has a chance at one, it would be the Bennies.