Fort Wayne, IN – In a game that looked destined to be “big conference beating up on little conference”, the Mastodons shook off a slow start to the game and became unglued to route the Butler Bulldogs by a score of 87-61. The Mastodons overcame a deficit of 13 points in the first quarter by using a 13-0 run spanning over the last 2 minutes of the first quarter and the first three minutes of the second quarter to tie the game.
From that point of a 23-23 tie, it was all Purdue Fort Wayne. The Mastodons shot 60% from the field and an above average 52.4% from three to pull away and blow away the Bulldogs in front of a packed Gates Sports Center crowd, who will be there again and probably stronger on Monday night with Purdue Fort Wayne getting the nod for the home game against well-known foe Cleveland State in the Great Eight.
First Quarter: The game started with scoring early and often. The game would never see more than 90 seconds go by without a basket from either team. The Mastodons got on the board with a three from the nation’s top three point shooter in Lauren Ross.
However, this would be the only three-pointer from Ross in the game. Purdue Fort Wayne would need another source of scoring. That scoring would come from the longest tenured Mastodon – Amellia Bromenschenkel. She would get on the board with a midrange shot with just over 3 minutes off the clock in the first but not before Butler would mail in their first two of four first quarter three balls.
The Mastodons would appear to have met their ultimate match in the postseason by only getting one basket in the next 4:30. In this time, Butler would steadily grow their lead all the way up to a baker’s dozen 20-7 on a Lilly Stoddard jumper, and it would force head coach Maria Marchesano to use a timeout to stop the momentum of her alma matter. Whatever she said to her team in this timeout was the difference. A visible switch had been flipped, and the Mastodons would never look back from here.
Out of the timeout, the “kid from Fishers,” Audra Emmerson, would hit the first of her four three-pointers of the night. Emmerson would take a drive to the basket and make a contested layup on the next possession. Bromenschenkel would then copy her teammate with a layup and three-pointer of her own in the last minute of the quarter to bring the game within reach with Butler leading at the break 23-17
Second Quarter: PFW came out of the quarter break with all of the momentum, and they kept it the entire game. The ‘Dons got six more points from Jazzlyn Linbo’s free throws, Sydney Freeman’s layup, and Bromenschenkel’s midrange to tie the game at 23-23. Butler’s Kilyn McGuff would make a three-pointer to stop the Mastodons’ 13-0 run. Freshman Taeya Steinauer would match McGuff’s three-pointer with one of her own on the next possession.
Midway through the quarter, Bromenschenkel would nail a three-pointer to put the ‘Dons up 30-28, and the Mastodons wouldn’t trail the rest of the game. Bromenschenkel (2 layups), Ross (layup), Emmerson (layup), and Jordan Reid (jumper and two free throws) would all find a way to cut, drive, and slice through the Butler defense to add baskets before the end of the half while Purdue Fort Wayne would pick up their defense intensity to force turnovers and ill-advised shots from the Bulldogs to take a 42-38 lead into the halftime break.
The Mastodons shot an impressive (but expected?) 16 for 32 (50%) from the floor in the first half including 5 for 11 (45.5%) from beyond the arc. Perhaps more importantly, Purdue Fort Wayne forced an otherwise usually careful and methodical Bulldogs team into 9 turnovers in the first half.
Third Quarter: The third quarter spelled the beginning of the end for Butler with Purdue Fort Wayne coming out guns blazing offensively. Emmerson and Bromenschenkel would each hit a three-pointer to start the half, bringing the lead to 8 for the Mastodons and bringing nearly every fan (not wearing Bulldog blue and white) to their feet in a near sold out Gates Sports Center.
Butler would throw back one last series of punches with Sydney Jaynes scoring twice early for Butler and Jocelyn Land tipping in an offensive rebound off her own miss to bring the game back to a two possession game, but Graber’s and-one play, Reid’s gravity defying layup, and yet another Emmerson three-pointer would have the Mastodons up by a dozen after being down by 13 early in the first quarter.
The Mastodons would go on another 9-0 run by the ways of a Reid jumper, two Graber layups, and a Renna Schwieterman three-pointer before Butler’s McGuff would make both of her free throws with four seconds left in the quarter to reduce the 21-point Mastodon lead to a 19-point Mastodon lead at the end of the 3rd, 67-48.
Fourth Quarter: Any good team probably could have put this game on cruise control and just floated through the motions of the last 10 minutes en route to a Great Eight appearance. Well the reason that the ‘Dons are a great team, not just a good team, is that they poured on another 20 points in the final 10 minutes of the game.
Linbo would score back to back layups for a fifth of PFW’s fourth-quarter points, and Bromenschenkel and Emmerson would each tally a layup of their own before Reid would sink two free throws to put her in double figures on the night.
With just under 150 seconds to play in the game, the “dagger,” as called by commentator John Nolan came off the hands of Emmerson as she would receive an inside-out pass from Sydney Graber in motion at the top of the key and bury her final three-pointer of the night to put the ‘Dons up by 27. A timeout followed this shot where PFW became the Komets and did a hockey line change to get the reserves some action and save the starters legs for the now “for certain” next round of play.
Tia Morgan would get on the three-point party, and this would be the last basket of the game for the Mastodons as they would defeat the former Horizon League member Butler Bulldogs more than convincingly 87-61.
Stats and Leaders: The Bulldogs didn’t have a bad game offensively. They just couldn’t keep up with the unconsciousness that is PFW’s perimeter shooting. Butler had 4 players in double figures, and all 7 players scored. Butler was led offensively by Kilyn McGuff with 18 points. Jaynes, Lily Zeinstra, and Jocelyn Land had 14, 12, and 11 points respectively. Zeinstra led her team in rebounding and tied for the game high with 6 rebounds.
The Bulldogs shot a decent 24-59 (40.7%) from the floor and 6-23 (26.1%) from beyond the three-point line. Depth and fatigue showed in the Butler lineup as the game progressed as the Bulldogs only had 7 players available for the game. The Mastodons’ fast pace offense was able to tire and suppress any hope of a comeback.
The Mastodons were led offensively by 25 points on 11-15 (73.3%) shooting from Bromenschenkel, who’s no stranger to big games in the WNIT, having scored 27 points last season in the Super 16 game against eventual champion St. Louis. Her great night offensively was also supplemented by 18 points on 7-10 (70%) from Emmerson and 10 points from the Horizon League’s Sixth Player of the Year, Reid.
Bromenschenkel also led the team in rebounds with 6, but Ross (5), Linbo (5), Graber (4), and Emmerson (3) all helped Purdue Fort Wayne win the rebounding battle 34-23. The Mastodons shot lights out, which is starting to becoming per usual for Marchesano’s squad. The ‘Dons were 33-55 (60.0%) overall and 11-21 (52.4%) from behind the arc.
What’s Next: Round 4. Well Round 4 of the WNIT, but also Round 4 against conference and battle tested foe Cleveland State. Cleveland State won their Super 16 matchup against the Duquesne Dukes on Friday night, 55-52. The Vikings also found themselves down by double digits but were able to rally and come away with the victory.
The Mastodons hold the season series against the Vikings 2-1 by knocking CSU out of the Horizon League tournament in the tournament semifinals earlier this month, 83-65. However, history favors the Vikings in the next round as Cleveland State was victorious in Fort Wayne back in February when they ended Purdue Fort Wayne’s historic winning streak with a 61-52 victory.
The leading scorers for both teams (Ross for PFW and Mickayla Perdue for CSU) had “off” nights in the Super 16, resulting in other players for both teams to step up big for the victories. The result and the type of game on Monday, March 31 is anything but predictable. The only thing for certain is that the Great Eight game in Fort Wayne will be full of emotion as the two league rivals will face off to determine who will represent the Horizon League in the WNIT Semifinals. The game is scheduled to start at 7:00 pm ET and will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
