<rleton College Knights took on three MIAC opponents and came out of the week 2-1 and 8-4 overall in the conference which puts them solidly in a tie for fourth place. The top six make the playoffs and the Knights are certainly in a solid position at this point to get there again.
The week featured the Knights taking solid victories at Macalester last Friday and at home against Augsburg last Wednesday. The loss was an absolute heartbreaker, at home against Gustavus last Monday. The win over Augsburg was particularly special as head coach Tammy Metcalf-Filzen recorded her 200th win as coach of the Knights.
On Saturday the Knights downed the Macalester Scots by a score of 64-55. The game was never close as the Knights led by 16 at the half and at one point by 21 in the second half prior to allowing Macalester to crawl back into the game. But the Knights shut the door in the end with excellent free throw shooting down the stretch. Sarah Lincoln ‘09 led the Knights in this one going 6-7 from the field which was good for 14 points. Annie Isler ’08 was the other double digit scorer as she scored 10, almost all of them coming from an impressive 8-9 from the foul line. The story of the game though was solid defense as the Knights held the Scots to just 29% shooting in the first half and Macalester was only 1-13 from beyond the arc, a porous 7.7%.
Next up on the docket for the Knights were the Gusties. The game was a tale of two halves as during the first one, neither team could find any rhythm on offense with both teams shooting around 30%. Both sides though exploded in the second half, shooting over 50%. The Gusties found themselves with a four point lead with under a minute to play before an unbelievably athletic steal by Isler followed by her taking it all the way to the basket found the Knights down by two.
Gustavus would misfire on their next possession but the Knights seemingly couldn’t capitalize as time expired, or so we thought. After the referees discussion, half a second was added to the clock and the Knights wouldn’t let this one get away so easily as Isler found Lincoln under the hoop for a layup as time expired with the score knotted at 65 apiece.
Unfortunately Hannah Oken-Berg ‘09 fouled out quickly in overtime and without her and Ally Weaver ‘11 who fouled out at the end of the half, the Knights did not have quite enough fire power to keep pace and ended up losing a tough one, 77-73.
The game was not without its high points for the Knights though. Amber Connor ‘10 tied for her career high with 22 points and Oken-Berg added a season high of 20 for the Knights. Lincoln went for a very solid 11 points.Isler also played a very solid game going for eight points, nine boards and five assists, coupled with two very impressive steals down the stretch of regulation. The Knights managed to hold last year’s MIAC player of the year Jess Vadnais to just two points in the first half, but she ended up going for 25 in the game and propelled Gustavus to victory.
The Knights though got back on track to net Metcalf-Filzen her 200th victory by dismantling Augsburg in front of the home crowd by 35 points in an 84-49 victory. The contest was never close as Augsburg never led and Carleton led by 23 at half time and only built on that in the second half.
The Knights shot a very impressive 49 percent in tying their highest scoring output of the year. The scoring was unbelievably balanced with 9 of 10 Knights scoring including five in double figures. Lincoln once again led the way with a huge double-double, going for 14 points and 12 boards. Anna Biewen ’09 got back on track shooting 75% from the field for a clean 12 points.Weaver also chipped in 12 with a couple of threes, and Oken-Berg and Sarah Kunelius ‘09 added 11 and 10 respectively in the huge win.
The Knights have a tough week on the road ahead of them as they travel to Concordia on Saturday to take on a very fierce Concordia team which will be looking for revenge after the Knights took a tough 84-75 victory on their home court. Then the Knights travel to St. Benedict’s to take on a Blazers team which Carleton eked out a win against 64-61, also in West Gym. Saint Benedict’s and Concordia are two and three in the conference respectively so this week will go far in shaping up the MIAC playoff picture.