The CardBoard
WBB: Stanford 60 C.al 55 - Printable Version

+- The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board)
+-- Forum: C-House! (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-5.html)
+--- Thread: WBB: Stanford 60 C.al 55 (/thread-11544.html)


WBB: Stanford 60 C.al 55 - 81alum - 02-05-2016

Overview:
Very strong defense on Anigwe and balanced offensive contributions from our posts and McPhee helped us win this game after a third quarter spurt.


Pregame:
We really need this one....and then a week of rest before the critical homestand against the Arizona schools.  But oh how I hate these back-to-back games against the same team.  The games seem to often wildly diverge from each other--since the Pac 12 started doing this silly schedule.  C.al will almost certainly shoot the ball better at home than they did on Tuesday, even if our defense stays consistent.  And since I doubt that anybody is going to come up with a brand new defensive scheme in a couple of days, we can expect the edge to shift slightly to the offenses as they practice how to overcome Tuesday night's defensive schemes.  So...I expect that whichever team improves its offensive execution the most will win tonight.  Having said that, I'm far from confident. 

Flow of the Game

In the first half Karlie got into serious foul trouble (3) and spent significant time on the bench.  Kiran Lakhian got into the game, although she does not show up on the boxscore for some reason.  As seems to be the case regularly, we fell behind in the first quarter, but we were not able to close the gap.  Kailee and Kaylee are our only two consistent scorers today--I was impressed especially with Kailee taking the ball at the high post and going to the basket or sinking jumpers--something I have not seen much out of her before.  Lili was stone cold again in the first half at 0-7.  The offense does not work when that happens.  We were 0-6 from three point range, while C.al was 4-11 from three point range, and that pretty well explains the difference so far.  The end of the first half marked very poor play.  Alanna got the ball and nicely drove across and up the lane for a layup--that did not go down, and then on the final possession Bri seemed to not know time was about to expire and lost the chance for a last shot.  Meanwhile C.al banked in a three pointer and extended the lead to seven.

The second half started much better than the first, with Lili breaking her drought with a trey, Kaylee a layup, Lili a jumper, Mcphee and Bird layups, and McPhee a jumper before C.al scored its first second half points.  The 13-0 run gave us a lead we kept for the rest of the game, but it was frequently tight the rest of the way.  What really won the game?  How about holding Kristine Anigwe to 0 baskets in the second half, and having five players of our own score in double digits.  No one looked overpowering, but many players had a brilliant play or two and the five managed to scratch out modest contributions each--which was just enough in the end.

Performances:

Erica led the way with yet another double-double, 14 points on 7/15 shooting, 10 rebounds, an assist, and a couple of blocks.  Most of her production came in the second half, and she was the beneficiary of some very nice assists by Marta and others. 

Brittany McPhee came off the bench and got significant time in both halves, especially with Karlie sitting in foul trouble virtually the whole game.  The announcers mentioned that the coaches were working on McPhee's defense, and she seemed to acquit herself well on that front, with 0 fouls, a steal, and a block.  Her 12 points often came at critical times, and her aggression in taking the ball to the basket and provoking three point plays in the first half helped to prevent the game from getting entirely away from us.

Kaylee Johnson had 10 points and 7 rebounds; Kailee Johnson had 10 points and 4 rebounds.  They both showed some good plays from the high post as described above, and that will have to continue to force teams to guard them.  But they also both had a lot to do with shutting Anigwe down in the second half.  Impressive work.  Not sure who was supposed to guard 25 point Courtney Range, though, but whoever had that assignment failed.

Lili wound up with 10 points, but on 3/18 shooting.  There were times when I cringed when she shot.  I know shooters have to shoot themselves out of slumps, but the shots were not even close at times and this fan completely lost confidence.  I'm not sure if they were rushed, or strong, or weak, or left, or right, or all of those things in succession--but this was an even worse shooting performance than last time.  Thank goodness that at least the three did go down in the second half, and at crucial times.  Lili worked hard in other ways, with 5 rebounds, a couple of steals, and an assist, plus her good defense--the C.al guards were 3/11 tonight.

Bri Roberson is an interesting case.  She took only 1 shot and missed it, but when I saw her stat line--6 assists and 0 turnovers--my jaw dropped.  She also had a couple of steals and a rebound.  No, her offense remains lost in Antarctica, but she was effective at ball distribution.  Marta came in for her and got most of the minutes in the second half I believe.

As for Marta, she was Marta.  3 assists--a couple of the beautiful bounce passes into the paint for McCall layups--one turnover, and only 2 attempted baskets--both missing.  She hit a couple of free throws and snagged a few rebounds.  So neither of our point guards was much of a scoring threat tonight, but both looked good in their own ways.

Alanna Smith played a little in the first half but was not a factor, and I did see Kiran Lakhian play for a few minutes, but the ESPN box score does not record her presence at all. 

As a team we had only 10 turnovers, very respectable, and we wound up out rebounding C.al 45 to 38--something that is hard to believe after the first quarter.  Our three point shooting was a miserable 23% and we were 35% overall, while holding C.al to 32%.

Conclusion:
While Tuesday was a Quasimodo-ugly win, this one was marginally better from the offensive perspective.  Karlie and Lili had very disappointing nights, but the post-play and McPhee picked up the slack.  Next weekend we have an opportunity to get into the Pac-12 conversation if we can beat the two Arizona schools.  To do that, we will need Karlie and Lili to be sharp and all of tonight's heroines to continue their progress.


Re: WBB: Stanford @ C.al, 7pm Pacific - TheFarm07 - 02-05-2016

Gabby Green will also be back for UCB.  So we definitely will need to put up some points in a very hostile environment.  I hope the team puts into action what they've said after Tuesday's game and be more willing to take shots.  53 points won't win us the game tonight.

Re: WBB: Stanford @ C.al, 7pm Pacific - TheFarm07 - 02-05-2016

We are down 27-34 at halftime.  Numbers are pretty comparable across the board, but they've made 4 of their 11 three point attempts and we've missed all 6 of ours.  Each team has ten offensive boards.

Lili is 0-7, including 0-4 from three-point land, but the two Kaylee/Kailees are keeping us in, leading the team with 9 and 10 points respectively.  I am liking the more aggression being shown on offense, but we missed a couple of layups we should have gotten and we need to land some threes.

Courtney Range has 16 pts for the Bears and Anigwe is perfect from FG (2-2) and FTs (4-4). Gabby Green has been pretty quiet at 1-3.

Re: WBB: Stanford @ C.al, 7pm Pacific - 76lsjumb - 02-05-2016

(02-05-2016, 08:03 PM)TheFarm07 link Wrote:I hope the team puts into action what they've said after Tuesday's game and be more willing to take shots.  53 points won't win us the game tonight.

Well, we started the game with a 37-second shot clock violation [yes, we got an EXTRA 7 seconds due to a kicked ball at :08 on the original shot clock] and we ended the first half by failing to get a shot off in roughly 15 seconds after K.al made their last shot of the half. 

"More willing to take shots?"  Not so much...

BTW, a question relevant to another thread:  Does a shot clock violation count as a turnover?  If so, is it credited to a particular player?

Re: WBB: C.al 34 Stanford 27 at the half - CompSci87 - 02-05-2016

Offhand I believe it counts as a team turnover.

Re: WBB: C.al 34 Stanford 27 at the half - TheFarm07 - 02-05-2016

Starting the second half on a 13-0 run, we end the third quarter clinging to a 42-38 lead.  After scoring early and often in the quarter, we cooled off.  We clamped down on defense and only allowed 4 points in the entire quarter.

Karlie is saddled with 4 personal fouls and she had yet to score for us and Lili is an atrocious 2-12, but the two Johnsons have combined for 21 points and McPhee has 7, along with Erica's 6.

Re: WBB: Stanford 60 Low APR U 55 - TheFarm07 - 02-05-2016

We win a tough one 60-55.

Likes: Coming out of halftime down by 7 in a hostile environment and going on a brobdingnagian run to turn the tide of the game and then fighting tooth and nail to preserve the lead for the victory.  Double digit contributions by 5 players showing that other players can step it up when our leading scorers are struggling.  More aggressive offensive moves by Kailee and Kaylee.  Karlie, despite being saddled with personal fouls and ending up scoreless contributing with a pinpoint pass to Erica to extend the lead.  21(!) offensive rebounds.  Only turning the ball over 10 times.  Our defense in the second half shutting down Ca.l's offense for large stretches and holding Anigwe in check.

Dislikes: After her monstrous games against the Washington schools, Lili has severely cooled off, showing the volatility of her shooting.  Despite scoring in double figures (10), it took her 18 shot attempts to get there.  Karlie getting in early foul trouble and being held on the bench and ending the game without any points.  Despite feeling like a higher scoring game, we ended up only scoring 60, because we missed a lot of shots (42) of them.  We still made a lot of careless errors, some of which 81alum pointed out, that are not acceptable and could bite us in the future.

Re: WBB: Stanford 60 Low APR U 55 - chimera - 02-05-2016

I haven't looked at stats at all but seemed like a somewhat better offensive effort.  We seem to find new offensive weapons, like Kailee lately, and Britanny, but we don't get all our offensive weapons going in the same game.  I think having Green back sorta played into our hands because Gottlieb got a bit giddy to have more than 6 players available and tried to press and run, which did not help them and I think helped us play a more loose offensive game, in a good way.  Hey we just swept cal, so I am happy. 

Re: WBB: Stanford 60 Low APR U 55 - mbdude - 02-05-2016

Nice comeback in  2nd half. we scored a lot of points off 2nd chances, putbacks,  and fast breaks, not because our offense was stellar. Lowered the number of turnovers, but our passing is scary at times - very lazy and readable.

Re: WBB: Stanford 60 Low APR U 55 - BobK - 02-05-2016

How about we played so damn tough.  I loved our toughness.  Time and time again we had our back to the wall and made a brobdingnagian play either on O or D or both. Hate the offense although had shots tonight but love the D and the rebounding.
brobdingnagian games by many to take up the slack for Lili and Karlie.  But great pass by Karlie and a cutch three and free throws by Lili at the end.

We are 19-5 and 9-3.  ASU and Oregon State won so we are in 3rd but 2 games back of the two leaders

Re: WBB: Stanford 60 Low APR U 55 - BostonCard - 02-05-2016

Most importantly, we swept Cal!

BC

Re: WBB: Stanford 60 Low APR U 55 - TheFarm07 - 02-05-2016

(02-05-2016, 01:10 PM)81alum link Wrote:Alanna Smith played a little in the first half but was not a factor, and I did see Kiran Lakhian play for a few minutes, but the ESPN box score does not record her presence at all.

I was looking at the box score through Ca.l's website and Lakhian was recorded in their live stats, so we should see that in the official box score.

Re: WBB: Stanford @ C.al, 7pm Pacific - Papa John - 02-05-2016

(02-05-2016, 08:03 PM)TheFarm07 link Wrote:53 points won't win us the game tonight.

Nice call, TheFarm07!

Re: WBB: Stanford 60 C.al 55 - 2006alum - 02-06-2016

Thanks for the write-ups! Looking at the box score, I'm actually pretty encouraged. We had 16/10 A/T ratio (and that includes three stupid shot clock violation T's), and balanced scoring. And but for a down night for Lili, our FG% really isn't terrible. Basically, if Lili had gone even 8-18 (still not great, but reasonable) instead of 3-18 this would have been a blowout, and the only thing that kept it close was that she was so off all night. Also really encouraging to see our trio of bigs all performing well on the same night - this is exactly what we hoped to get (and desperately needed) at the start of the season... we just didn't anticipate the decline in guard play that would offset it. Solid performances by Bird, Kayl, Kailee, and Brittany all in the same game is just what we've been hoping to see - I don't think I can remember a single game where all of them were in double digits scoring wise. Also, keeping Anigwe 2-6 shooting and 9 rebounds is brobdingnagian. So a lot of positives in this game to offset one really really off shooting night from Lili.
                         
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
24 McCall, Erica.......    f  7-15  0-0        0-0    5  5 10      2  14  1  1  2  0  34
5  Johnson, Kaylee.....  f  4-8    0-0          3-3    3  4  7        1  11  1  1  1  0  20
1  Thompson, Lili......    g  3-18  2-9        2-2    2  3  5        1  10  1  2  0  2  35
10 Roberson, Briana.... g  0-1    0-0          1-2    0  1  1        0  1  6  0  0  2  20
44 Samuelson, Karlie... g  0-3    0-2        0-0    0  1  1        4  0  1  1  0  0  15
11 Smith, Alanna.......      0-1    0-0          0-0    1  0  1        1  0  0  0  0  0  2
12 McPhee, Brittany....    4-9    1-2          3-5    2  2  4        0  12  1  1  1  1  28
13 Sniezek, Marta......      0-2    0-0          2-2    1  3  4        0  2  3  1  0  0  18
25 Lakhian, Kiran......      0-0    0-0          0-0    0  0  0        0  0  0  0  0  0  4
32 Johnson, Kailee.....      5-8    0-0          0-0    3  1  4        3  10  2  0  1  1  24
  TEAM................                                          4  4  8                      3
  Totals..............            23-65  3-13  11-14  21 24 45      12  60 16 10  5  6 200

(And by the way, does anyone know what it means to have "team" rebounds? I get team turnovers for shot clock issues, but what are "team" rebounds?)


Re: WBB: Stanford 60 C.al 55 - BobK - 02-06-2016

A team rebound is when the ball bounces away after a shot.  It's not an individual rebound therefore......

Re: WBB: Stanford @ C.al, 7pm Pacific - TheFarm07 - 02-06-2016

(02-05-2016, 10:54 PM)Papa John link Wrote:[quote author=TheFarm07 link=topic=14560.msg155834#msg155834 date=1454727808]
53 points won't win us the game tonight.

Nice call, TheFarm07!
[/quote]

Even though on paper, we only scored 7 more points than Tuesday's game and we still shot only 35%, it felt like a better offensive performance.  Though we still lapsed in some of our old frustrating habits, I like that the two Johnsons were more aggressive.  It just felt like we were more proactive more often on offense.

Re: WBB: Stanford @ C.al, 7pm Pacific - 81alum - 02-06-2016

(02-06-2016, 08:47 AM)TheFarm07 link Wrote:[quote author=Papa John link=topic=14560.msg155859#msg155859 date=1454738088]
[quote author=TheFarm07 link=topic=14560.msg155834#msg155834 date=1454727808]
53 points won't win us the game tonight.

Nice call, TheFarm07!
[/quote]

Even though on paper, we only scored 7 more points than Tuesday's game and we still shot only 35%, it felt like a better offensive performance.  Though we still lapsed in some of our old frustrating habits, I like that the two Johnsons were more aggressive.  It just felt like we were more proactive more often on offense.
[/quote]
Yes, it did.  I think this was because of Kaillee and Kaylee and Brittany's improved offensive roles.  Erica was as good as usual.  Obviously, scoring by the guards was actually much worse than Tuesday, but we know that Karlie will play better if not for the freaky fouls that sidelined her, and so the optimism about the improved contributions from the Kaylee Kaillee and Britt outweighs any concern about Karlie.

The one truly negative thing--and a nagging doubt--is Lili's shooting--not even the rest of her performance, just the shooting.  For us to win consistently, she has to shoot more consistently.  She obviously has the capability, but her streaky shooting is just deeply worrying.  It seems to have little to do with those who defend her--she does a superb job of getting open and most of the shots she missed were not that closely defended.  I specifically asked Kate at the last chalk talk about what coaches can do to help a player break out of a slump--I was thinking of Bri at the time but she feigned ignorance of who I was talking about.  Still, her answer was that the team has to get the slumping player good quality shots early in a game.  Well, that can't hurt, but Lili did not hit a basket until the second half, and some of those she missed were good quality shots.  There has to be more to it.  Going from hitting 5/5 from three point range in a single quarter to heaving up shots that can't hit the side of a barn is such an extreme contrast that I don't know what to make of it.

Re: WBB: Stanford 60 C.al 55 - chimera - 02-06-2016

I don't remember Lili being this inconsistent last year.  I'm sure she is getting somewhat tougher shots without another scoring threat at guard like we had with Amber last year, which explains some of it, and maybe that is affecting her when she is more open.  Maybe she feels rushed a lot with defenses keying so that even when she isn't really that rushed, her rhythm is a little off? 

One key for next weekend against ASU's posts is how well we do inside when it is hard to get good looks outside.  Will Bird soar?  Can the Johnsons keep it up?  ;)Â