02-05-2016, 01:10 PM
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.
