Northfield, Minn. – Hannah Oken-Berg (Fy./Portland, Ore./Lincoln) poured in 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds and Megan Vig (Sr./Northfield, Minn.) tallied 16 points and 10 rebounds and scored a key basket down the stretch as fourth-seeded Carleton held off fifth seed Hamline, 69-62, in the MIAC Playoff quarterfinals.
The Knights advance to the MIAC Playoff semifinals to face top-seeded St. Benedict on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in St. Joseph, Minn.
Kelly Lines led Hamline (13-13) with 14 points and eight rebounds. Allison Bratsch added 13 points and Ashlee Senser had 10 for the Pipers, who were making their first post-season appearance.
Anna Biewen (Fy./Edina, Minn.) tallied 10 points for Carleton (17-9), which moved to 8-1 at home in the MIAC Playoffs.
With the Knights clinging to a 64-62 lead and less than a minute remaining, Vig received the ball inside, shook off the double team and scored. Her offensive rebound on a missed free throw with 26 seconds left all but sealed the win for Carleton, who won for the 11th time in 12 MIAC Playoff games.
The Pipers, who won three of their final five MIAC games to get into the conference tournament, rallied from a 37-31 halftime deficit, getting consecutive three-pointers from Carolyn Korchik and Jessica Heinen to take its only lead of the second half, 52-50, with less than 10 minutes left. Carleton’s Sarah Kunelius (Fy./Eagan, Minn.) answered with a three-pointer and Oken-Berg scored on a beautifully executed pick-and roll with Kari Christianson (Sr./Twin Valley, Minn.) on the other end as the Knights extended to a five-point margin.
The Pipers were ice-cold down the stretch, going the final eight minutes with only one field goal, although it was Bratsch’s triple with 2 minutes, 41 seconds left that brought the Pipers within 62-60. Vig would score twice in a two-minute span, while the Pipers could only manage two Bratsch free throws over the final three minutes.
Carleton head coach Tammy Metcalf-Filzen was pleased with her team's execution down the stretch. "I think that was the key," she said. "Hamline is playing really good basketball right now and knocking down shots, but we knew coming down the stretch we had to run our stuff better than they did and we were able to do that."
The Knights started strong, scoring seven of the game's first nine points, but the Knights promptly missed nine straight shots and three straight free throws and the Pipers capitalized, rattling off 10 unanswered points by five different players to take its largest lead of the game at 12-7. The Knights responded with a 11-2 spurt, capped by a Vig triple, and then finished the half on a 7-2 run to lead 37-31 at the break.
"I thought we were a little jittery [early], but they worked through that and hopefully that will help us on Wednesday," Metcalf-Filzen said.
Carleton shot only 40.3 percent from the floor but held the Pipers to 39.7 percent. Carleton outscored Hamline 16-6 in point off turnovers, as the Knights had but 14 miscues to 18 for Hamline.
The Knights now advance to play at top-seeded St. Benedict on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Claire Lynch Hall. The two teams split the season series, with Carleton winning on Dec. 5, 58-57, while the Blazers defended their home floor with an 80-65 win on Jan. 28.
"It will be tough, but we like playing there. Hopefully we have some of the jitters out of our system and we’ll be ready to play," Metcalf-Filzen said.
It marks the fourth time in six years the Knights and Blazers have faced off in the MIAC Playoffs, with Carleton winning two of the three previous match-ups. The Blazers beat the Knights in the conference championship game a year ago, Carleton’s only MIAC Playoff loss in the event’s six-year history.
