2 teams came unbeaten into Augsburg's Si Melby arena Wednesday. And, after 54 fouls, 47 turnovers and 25 missed FT, one team walked out of Si Melby unbeaten, and that was the Bethel Royals, who eeked out a 74-70 win over the host Auggies. It was a game of runs, it was a war of attrition--or, one might say, a war of the whistles though, in the end, only 2 players fouled out, but others spent long minutes on the bench with fouls--it was a battle not only with the opponents but with a slippery ball. But, it was also a battle of ball movement, as the 2 teams got 35 assists on 46 baskets and made 33-of-65 2-pointers.
Augsburg got the game's first run, taking an early 15-5 lead as 5 different players scored. The lead was still 9 at the end of the 1st. But Bethel caught up at 29-29 and led 35-33 at the half as Kaezha Wubben had 14 points off the bench for the Auggies, and Taite Anderson had 11 for Bethel.
Augsburg again got out of the gate quickly, taking the lead at 38-37 and extending it to 43-37 with a 10-2 run to open the 2nd half. Bethel again bounced backing, tying it at 43 on an Anderson 3 and taking the lead on an Anderson 2. Now it was Bethel's turn to hang a big run on the Auggies. From 43-37 down, they surged to 62-50 up at the end of the 3rd quarter, which makes that a 25-7 run. Anderson had 7 and Haley Barker 5 during the run.
Once again, Augsburg roared back, taking the lead at 65-64 at 4:26 as Camryn Speese capped a 15-2 run with a FT but, unfortunately, she also missed a FT, one of 6 that the Auggies missed out of 10 attempts in the 4th. Bethel went back up 66-65 on a Makenna Pearson bucket, then Augsburg tied it with Arianna Jones again making just 1 of 2 FT. Bethel more than responded with an Elizabeth Schwarz bucket down low and a Barker steal-and-2 for a 4 point lead at 1:00. Tamira McLemore and Wubben scored for Bethel, but Barker and Schwarz made 4-of-4 FT to keep the Royals up by 4.
Augsburg "won" the game on the offensive glass with 15 offensive rebounds to 7 for Bethel, but the lost the game at the FT line, making 16-of-30 while Bethel made 23-of-34. Augsburg had 25 turnovers, 19 of them on Bethel steals, but Bethel reciprocated with 22 turnovers, only 9 of them on Augsburg steals. Frankly, I thought Augsburg would win tonight because they're a little quicker--and, of course, because they were at home. Their quickness really showed on the offensive board as Spies and Jazmyn Solseth dominated on their own end. But Bethel matched Augsburg's quickness with quick hands and quick feet defending the perimeter and causing turnovers. If you want to say the offensive boards and turnovers evened out, which would be in the eye of the beholder, then you'd have to say the game was won and lost at the FT line. If you wanted to say the the O-boards and missed FT evened out, then you'd have to say those Bethel steals were the difference. But, if you wanted to say that the steals and missed FT evened out, well, then the O-boards should have been the difference, and they weren't. So, steals and missed FT, it is.
In any event, here's where we stand with a long, long way to go in the MIAC. Keep in mind the MIAC women do not play a full round robin. Right now it looks like there are 4 teams that will have a say in the MIAC regular season championship.
Bethel 7-0, 12-0 with a road win and 4 more games against the Big 4, 2 at home and 2 away: Gustavus, @ St. T, @ Gustavus, Augsburg
Gustavus 7-0, 11-1 with a road win @ St. T and 5 more games against the Big 4, 3 at home and 2 away: @ Bethel, Augsburg, St. Thomas, Bethel, @ Augsburg
Augsburg 6-1, 10-2 with a home loss and 4 more games against the Big 4, 2 at home and 2 on the road: @ Gustavus, St. Thomas, @ Bethel, Gustavus
St. Thomas 6-2, 9-3 with a home loss and just 3 more games against the Big 4, 2 on the road: @ Augsburg, @ Gustavus, Bethel.
If everybody loses only road games against the Big 4 then it well end up:
Bethel 16-2
Gustavus 16-2
Augsburg 15-3
St. Thomas 14-4
But, of course, the home team is 0-2 right now. Here are the key games in January:
Saturday January 11--Gustavus @ Bethel
Saturday January 18--Augsburg @ Gustavus
Wednesday January 29--St. Thomas @ Augsburg
January, in other words, is huge for Augsburg and Gustavus with 2 Big 4 games, but all of the Big 4 have at least one Big 4 game. The most decisive things that could happen is that Gustavus, currently unbeaten, sweeps two, or Augsburg, with a loss, loses two. Or St. Thomas, with 2 losses, loses another or gets a big road win.
If I may make this installment 3 of my 1/3 report, St. Thomas' 2 losses are the biggest surprise of the young season along with the fact that one of those was at home to Gustavus. So Gustavus is the other surprise. But, as we've seen Bethel and Augsburg remain very much in the mix.
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