The afternoon of Saturday, April 6 saw the Saint Louis Women’s Basketball team completely outplayed, outlasted and outgunned the Minnesota Golden Gophers to earn the title of Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) champions. After a hard fought season and a marathon of a tournament, SLU trounced UMN 69-50 in one of their most dominant showings all season.
SLU came into Edwardsville as a 4.5 point underdog against their 20-15 Big Ten opponent. The Billikens were 16-18 entering the tournament after a heartbreaking loss to Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Saint Louis proceeded to battle their way through the bracket. SLU was the only program in the tournament’s Great 8 not to benefit from a first-round bye. Their path to greatness featured games in Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, Vermont and finally Illinois. Officially SLU hosted one game during the tournament, and that is what transpired, but the basketball gods smiled upon West Pine on that fateful April Thursday on which the WNIT Final venue was announced to be First Community Arena in Edwardsville Illinois, home of the Southern Illinois – Edwardsville Cougars. The game would be played 20 miles away from the Billikens home arena, a half-hour drive from the city. The Gophers, meanwhile, were 600 miles from home, effectively making this event an away game for them.
The Gophers’ past two games had been in Wyoming and Alabama, and had propelled their away record to 4-8. Boding poorly for the Gophers, SLU boasted a 9-7 home record. Minnesota’s offense entered the final averaging 2.5 more field goals made off of six more attempts than their tournament opponents. This possession advantage came in part from the rebounding trio of Sophie Hart, Mallory Heyer and Niamya Holloway who averaged a combined 25.33 rebounds per game, 10.33 being offensive boards. The Gophers as a team averaged 4.25 more offensive rebounds than their opponents in their four playoff matchups preceding SLU. The Gophers also came in averaging 3.0 more steals than their tournament opponents thanks to pickpockets Maggie Czinano and Amaya Battle, who combined for half of the teams total steals thus far in the bracket. Minnesota averaged the exact same field goal percentage as their opponents, shooting 41.4% from the floor. Their strength came in winning the rebounding, turnovers and possessions battles. Their execution of this strategy rested with Battle, Hart and Meyer, especially after the unfortunate loss of Mara Braun due to injury which left her sidelined after their third-round matchup against North Dakota St. The trio combined for 41.3 points per contest, with an additional 8.5 from freshman standout Grace Grocholski.
Saint Louis also utilized the possession game, finishing second in the A10 in steals per game with 9.53, just behind Fordham’s 9.69. SLU actually averaged a lower field goal percentage than their opponents leading up to the final, shooting at a 42.4% clip contrasted to their opponents 43.4% accuracy. SLU countered this by averaging 5 more steals than their foes each game. Julia Martinez and Kennedy Calhoun combined for 6.2 of SLU’s 11 steals per game.
Martinez was also a major factor in the team’s rebounding alongside breakout star Peyton Kennedy and recent acquisition, Tierra Simon. The three combined for 22 rebounds per game, waxing the glass for an additional 8.2 possessions per contest. Kennedy’s emergence as an all-around offensive threat has been crucial for the Billikens. Her scoring has jumped from 9.6 to 16.9 points per game this season, on an efficient 49/39/87 clip, flirting with 50/40/90 splits. She and Kyla McMakin formed the A10’s best offensive duo, finishing second and third in points per game and combining for 33.6 of SLU’s second-in-conference 72.1 points per game. In the five-game stretch to the WNIT Final, they combined for 35.4 points per game including their stellar game against Purdue Fort Wayne in which they scored a shared 48 points.
The game started slowly, with neither team scoring for over a minute until Calhoun broke the ice with a euro-step layup off of a fastbreak. Minnesota would not answer back for another minute. SLU would finish the quarter leading by 7 points. The gap would widen by the half, with McMakin hitting mid-range daggers from Kevin Garnett distance and Peyton Kennedy doing the dirty work, collecting offensive rebounds and drawing fouls. As time ticked down Julia Martinez would seal the half, beating the buzzer to swish a triple. The Bills entered halftime up by twelve. The Billikens defense was stifling the Gophers, holding them to 2/10 shooting from beyond the arc. UMN head coach Dawn Plitzuweit tried to counter SLU’s defense with Mike D’Antoni-esque pace, seeming to encourage Grocholski to find a spot she liked and let fly. Unfortunately for the Gophers, Grocholski was unable to reliably hit her jumpers and any rhythm they tried to foster was quickly squashed by a SLU deflection, a point of emphasis for Billikens Head Coach Rebecca Tillett all season long.
The Billikens trotted out for the second half to the resounding cheers of almost the entire arena, the fanfare of the Billiken pep band and the cheers and chants of the SLUnatics. Gophers fans occupied only a section of the First Community Arena bleachers, but while they were few they were mighty and proudly cheered for their team in hope of a rally. The shouts of the Minnesota faithful rang through the gym when an Amaya Battle led to an easy bucket for Mallory Heyer, bringing the score to 37-27 and forcing Saint Louis to play even more aggressively if they wanted to keep the double-digit lead. The next possession, Kennedy Calhoun would take the ball up the court and finish the play with a lethal three pointer, starting a 14-0 run for the Bills over the next six minutes. Calhoun’s handling easily broke down the Minnesota press, leading to comfortable shots for the Bills down the floor.
The Billikens would finish the quarter leading 54-32. SLU would not slow down for the fourth quarter. Primary handlers Calhoun, Martinez and Camreé Clegg excelled in getting past UMN’s full-court press. Martinez and Calhoun combined for 9 of SLU’s 14 assists on the night, with Martinez play being reminiscent of pre-back injury Ben Simmons. Her control of pace and understanding the gameflow was apparent as she put together a statline of 3 points, 10 boards, 6 assists and 5 steals, combining with Simon for 17 of the team’s 38 rebounds. After the game Coach Tillett described the two as “so important for our success tonight and in this run.” Tierra Simon had a bit of a question mark around her going to this game, regarding her matchup against Minnesota’s Sophie Hart. Hart stands at 6’5” to Simon’s 6’1”, presenting what was on paper an easy miss-match for the Gophers and their potential post-offense. Despite the size disadvantage, Simon defended Hart well, holding her to her average of 13 points, and made those points hard enough to come by so that the Gophers could not reliably play through the post.
The Billikens defended the Gophers incredibly, holding them to 33.9% from the field and 14.7% from deep. Minnesota was also unable to play their possession game, attempting almost the same number of field goals as the Billikens. The Billikens meanwhile were impressively efficient, shooting 43.3% from the field and an incredible 45.8& from three-point range. The Billikens were unafraid of taking statistically questionable shots, firing and burying multiple mid range jumpers coming mostly from McMakin and Kennedy, who together combined for 39 points. Peyton Kennedy was named the tournament Most Valuable Player for her all-around incredible efforts throughout the tournament. After the game she spoke about how her chemistry on and off the court all season with McMakin has had a great impact on her scoring, and took the opportunity to give praise to Martinez and Calhoun for their impressive playmaking.
SLU enters the offseason with four players graduating, meaning Coach Tillett will be looking to Kennedy, Simon and Calhoun for on-court leadership. This tournament run has convinced fans that the team is in good hands. Coach Tillett herself entered the season with the question of whether or not her excellence last year was a valid indicator of her talent as a coach or a mere fortunate fluke. What few doubters she still had have been silenced. Regarding the future of Billiken basketball, Peyton Kennedy summed it up perfectly “We here.”
