M-A bulls way to crown at Coaches vs. Cancer tourney

The Bears, who led by as much as 15 near the end of the first half, saw their lead dwindle to 1 midway through the fourth quarter. After a timeout, and a set play to the 6-1 senior Hoyem in the post, M-A closed the game on a 10-1 run to claim the title, marking the third straight year the team has taken home the Competitive Bracket No. 1 trophy.

“It means so much, honestly,” McLanahan said. “This is our [third] one, me and G. We’re just really happy right now.”

With Hoyem the post notorious presence she is, M-A outrebounded Menlo 46-34. But, surprisingly, it wasn’t Hoyem who grabbed the most boards for the Bears. It was instead the point guard McLanahan, who recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

McLanahan joked that Hoyem — who scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds — taught her everything she knows about battling in the post.

“Learn from the best, right?” McLanahan said.

Hoyem’s clutch performance inside the final four minutes of the game was no joke though. M-A took a 54-41 lead into the fourth quarter, but Menlo found the hot hand from beyond the 3-point arc to go on a 12-0 run, with treys from Mallory North and Ally Stuart, followed by a steal and assist by Stuart to senior Erin Dunn for a 9-foot jumper to close the deficit to 54-53.

M-A head coach Markisha Coleman responded by calling a timeout, during which she drew up a post play for Hoyem and implored her team to slow down the tempo.

“I just told them to be patient, that we were going to be OK,” Coleman said. “You could see it in everyone’s eyes that they believed that. So, they just remained calm, came out and executed on a play really well. And then got a stop on defense.”

After Hoyem posted up, off a clutch lob pass from Erica Fischer, to up the lead to 56-53, Fischer came up with a rare steal. Menlo turned over the ball just four times in the game, but the Fischer steal allowed M-A to dominate the remainder of play.

Hoyem went on to score two more buckets down the stretch, drawing fouls on both.

“She’s very reliable,” Coleman said. “She usually never has a problem scoring. What we’ve been working on with her this year is when they send two or three (defenders) — and in this game they sent three people — being able to pass it out to your shooters. And every game she’s getting better.”

Considering the Knights’ abysmal shooting percentage, it is a testament to how talented they are — in incurring their first loss of the season — that they were in the game at all. Menlo shot 31.3 percent from the floor throughout, including just 6 for 30 in the first half.

After going into the halftime locker room down 36-23, however, the Knights scored 34 points in the second half.

“I think they just kind of relaxed,” Menlo head coach John Paye said. “We’re kind of a streaky team. We had the momentum going. And I have to hand it to M-A … obviously they’re a talented team, an experienced team.”

Dunn led the comeback surge in the second half, scoring 11 of her team-high 18 points after the break. But the Knights distributed the ball well when the going was good, with freshman Avery Lee adding 13 points, North adding 12 and Mohini Gupta scoring 9.

What M-A did in neutralizing the swarming Menlo press, though, was the difference in the game. During pregame warm-ups, it was clear the Bears were intent on three facets of their game above all — passing, passing and passing.

“I think the best way to beat any team is teamwork,” McLanahan said. “So, we like to move the ball and get open shots. Our best offense is when we’re getting the extra pass in, just getting everyone a touch on the ball, getting everyone in the flow of the game.”

M-A still turned over the ball 15 times, but only once in the first quarter, allowing the inside-out passing of Hoyem to get the perimeter shooters some looks. While the Bears knocked down just one 3 in the first period — a McLanahan swish to end the quarter — Fischer went on to hit three 3s in the game.

The win for M-A marks the fifth straight over Menlo head-to-head dating back to 2013-14.

“There were scheduling issues so we weren’t able to play them during the regular season,” Paye said. “So I’m glad we were able to play them in this tournament.”