The Macalester women are looking to improve on last year's 8-17 record (4-14 in the MIAC) but the results so far (2 games, 2 losses) are not encouraging. The Scots lost to WI-LaCrosse by 15 a year ago. This afternoon they lost by 19. Last year they defeated Bethany Lutheran 78-75. Last Thursday they lost 69-55.
Today they hung with the Eagles for 2 quarters--in fact, leading 31-24 at halftime. But 2 things--2 big things--caught up to the Scots in the 2nd half. One was a remarkably difficult day shooting 2-pointers. They made 2-of-13 2s in the 1st half, 3-of-20 in the 2nd. 5-of-33 overall, for a 15% shooting percentage. And this is on 2-pointers. They made 9-of-21 3s, 7-of-11 in the 1st half, ergo the halftime lead. But relying so heavily on the 3, then shooting 2-of-10 in the 2nd half wasn't going to cut it. Overall they shot 14-of-54 (26%) for the day.
Then there were turnovers, 12 in the 1st half and 10 more in the 2nd, enabling WI-LaCrosse to rack up an insurmountable 31-10 edge on points off turnovers.
Justine Barraza, a 5-6 sophomore guard from CA, was the entire show for Macalester. She made 5-of-13 3s (0-for-4 2s) for 22 points. Her teammates shot 9-of-37. Kayla Toggery, a 5-11 sophomore forward, also out of CA, supplied the other bright spot, which was 7 blocked shots off the bench.
WI-LaCrosse has 5 Minnesotans on its roster--2 of them starters today--led by Ava Kramer, 5-6 sophomore guard from Elk River's 2017 state champions. She scored 9 ppg last year but managed just 3 today. 6-1 freshman post Caitlin O'Brien from Kimball started but played just 7 minutes and did not score. Jayne Emerson, 5-8 sophomore guard from Winona, came off the bench to score 2 points. Claire White, 5-10 freshman forward from Mound, came off the bench but did not score. Shayla Karge, 5-10 sophomore forward from Mankato East, scored 4 ppg last but did not play today.
The Concordia St. Paul men opened their season this weekend with a pair of wins over Arkansas Tech and Arkansas-Monticello. The Sunday game with Tech went to 3 OT with the Bears winning 118-113. So while the Macalester women's game was our game of the day, our award winners are from CSP.
Player of the Day--Bryndan Matthews, CSP, 6-4 senior guard (from Eagan), 34 pts-15 reb-7 acts
Team of the Day--CSP men
Coach of the Day--Joey James, CSP.
James is 43-76 in 4 years at CSP and 11-49 the past 2 years. A turnaround this year would seem to be pretty important for his future here. Of course, CSP has had little enough success historically under any coach. They have now won 530 games and lost 780 since the program was established back in 1967, for a .405 winning percentage, and just 13 winning seasons in what is now 50 seasons. (The CSP women, in contrast, have won 770 games and lost 535 for a winning percentage of .590. In an average year the men have been 11-15, the women 16-10. Since the year 2000 the men are an average of 12-16, the women 20-10. Why is that?)
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