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Oles fight hard in playoff loss

Sarah McBroom
February 20, 2002

The St. Olaf 2001-02 basketball season ended on Monday, February 18, in the first round of the MIAC post-season playoffs. The Oles, seeded sixth in the playoff rankings, fell to the third seed, Carleton College, 71-48 at the West Gym on Carleton's campus.

The Oles were coming off a tough loss to the Knights in their last regular season game. St. Olaf put together an improved effort in the playoff match-up, but the Knights again proved to be too much for the Oles. After trailing 11 to eight after seven and a half minutes of play, Carleton went on a 24 to two point run to lead 32-13 with 4:25 remaining in the first half. At the halftime break, the Knights led 39-25, shooting 41.4 percent and going 13 for 15 from the free throw line.

Throughout the second half, Carleton maintained their lead, as the Oles began to struggle offensively, shooting only 27.6 percent from the field after a 35.7 percent first half total. The Knights shot 46.2 percent in the second half.

In other significant team statistics, the Knights won the battle from the free throw line, going 19 for 22, while the Oles connected on ten of 15 attempts. While St. Olaf only committed three more turnovers than the Knights, Carleton was able to capitalize, scoring 27 points off turnovers in comparison to St. Olaf's eight points. Carleton also had a slight edge in rebounds. The Knights grabbed 41 rebounds and St. Olaf collected 37. Coach Buresh commented , "Overall it was a good game and we played solid on defense. Their big run mid-way through the first half just did too much damage. We weren't hitting the front-end of our bonus situations and we did not shoot well from the field."

Mayme Cupkie (Jr., Owatonna, Minn.) had a career-high 13 points for the Oles and grabbed seven rebounds in the loss. Liz Woodrow (Sr., Aitkin, Minn.) added ten points and eight rebounds, while Carrie Cooley (Sr., Villard, Minn.) had six assists in the contest.

The loss ended a strong season for the Oles as well as the successful careers of three dedicated seniors. Cara Battles (McGregor, Minn.), Cooley, and Woodrow, were all major contributors to the St. Olaf program in past seasons. The Oles finished in a tie for fifth place in the MIAC for the 2001-02 season, qualifying for the MIAC tournament and improving on their eighth place finish in the 2000-01 season. "We got ourselves back into the top half of the conference; that was our goal. Now we'll build on that for next year," stated Coach Buresh.

Contact Judy Stromayer at 507-786-3315 or stromaye@stolaf.edu.