01-28-2012, 06:13 PM
A wonderful atmosphere--Maples seemed almost full, and the crowd was loud. When leaving I overheard a lot of casual fans talking about what a great game it was. It certainly was an exciting game, but it was an ugly game at times and certainly did not reflect well on Stanford's shooting.
The lead see-sawed for the first five minutes of the game. Stanford then kept a small lead and gradually expanded it until it led by 9 at the half. School near Oakland kept within striking distance until Toni hit a 3 and Nneka got a fast-break layup in quick succession with 12 minutes left in the game. Stanford was up by 13 and some of the tension seemed to go out of the game--prematurely.
From that point forward a long series of missed three pointers, missed foul shots, missed layups, and inexplicable officiating calls helped C.AL go on a 16-8 run and close the game to 5 points. Tara inserted Bonnie Samuelson who hit two three point shots in rapid succession. C.AL, however, kept hitting open two point jumpers around the foul line and keeping it close. It was 67-60 when a TV timeout was called with 2:45 left.
Over those last few minutes Toni missed three shots, Nneka and Amber turned it over once each, Taylor missed the front end of a 1 and 1, and Nneka missed. Chiney make a couple of free throws but so did C.AL, with some baskets to go along with them and the score was 67-67 going into overtime.
Chiney was the heroine of overtime--of the whole game really. She made the first basket and a free throw. Toni added two free throws. C.AL got off a couple of three point attempts at the end but our defense was giving up the two to defend the three and it proved effective.
Several points stand out to me.
First, C.AL must have done something to shut down Nneka at the expense of leaving Chiney free. I will wait for Viking Guy to tell me what they did, but Nneka was seriously hampered the whole game. She was 6-18 with no free throws.
Second--well that brings me to the officiating. The officials were allowing any and all body contact under the basket. They would call fouls on the arms, but Nneka was repeatedly clobbered with hips and bodies without a single foul called. Hard to believe that with all that contact--lots and lots and lots of it--Nneka did not get a single free throw attempt in the entire game. Is this the famous physical "let them play" East Coast officiating that we will get in the NCAA tournament? Or is this just very, very bad officiating?
Third, our poor three point shooting nearly cost us this game. We shot 15%. Lindy was 0-8 and the crowd was visibly cringeing when she took long, long shots from several feet behind the line. Taylor was 0-3. Toni was 1-6. Bonnie was 2-2 or we would have lost. They were desperately needed when she made them.
Four, Chiney had a superb game, and must have benefited from whatever they were doing to her sister. She had 27 points on 9-16 shooting, and made 9-12 free throws. I still don't get why she got 12 free throws and her sister 0. Something very odd.
Five, Toni played very well other than her three point shooting. She had 18 points on 6-15 shooting and importantly had 5-7 free throws.
Six, Nneka, Chiney, and Toni each played more than 40 minutes! With all of our vaunted depth, Tara kept those three out there constantly. It did seem to me that this may have taken a toll on them--especially Toni, who missed most of her shots down the stretch.
Amber and Lindy gave it what they had and gave some good defensive minutes, but neither was on their game. Amber had 1 assist to 3 turnovers and looked a little rattled at times, so Tara gave her just 10 minutes. Lindy was 0-10, although she made 3 free throws. At a critical point in the game, however, she attempted a hard bounce pass that skipped out of bounds and was in the vicinity of no one. People around me in the stands commented about how terrible they felt for what is happening to her this season. Taylor played 22 minutes and had 4 assists and no turnovers. She made a particularly superb pass to Nneka in the paint that I remember. Joslyn started and played 16 minutes, but she seemed to me to be out there less and less in the second half.Â
Rebounds were tied in this game.* Turnovers were tied. C.AL was the more accurate team, shooting 40.5%, while we shot a miserable 36.5%. Go figure.
I would love to hear from someone who was able to stay after for Tara's talk, and of course from the expert eye of Viking Guy, who I'm sure can tell us what they did to Nneka.
*Rebounds were tied at 42 according to the ESPN box score, but the box score on the Stanford website gives us a 51-47 lead. I have no idea why there is a discrepancy. Perhaps ESPN did not count overtime?
The lead see-sawed for the first five minutes of the game. Stanford then kept a small lead and gradually expanded it until it led by 9 at the half. School near Oakland kept within striking distance until Toni hit a 3 and Nneka got a fast-break layup in quick succession with 12 minutes left in the game. Stanford was up by 13 and some of the tension seemed to go out of the game--prematurely.
From that point forward a long series of missed three pointers, missed foul shots, missed layups, and inexplicable officiating calls helped C.AL go on a 16-8 run and close the game to 5 points. Tara inserted Bonnie Samuelson who hit two three point shots in rapid succession. C.AL, however, kept hitting open two point jumpers around the foul line and keeping it close. It was 67-60 when a TV timeout was called with 2:45 left.
Over those last few minutes Toni missed three shots, Nneka and Amber turned it over once each, Taylor missed the front end of a 1 and 1, and Nneka missed. Chiney make a couple of free throws but so did C.AL, with some baskets to go along with them and the score was 67-67 going into overtime.
Chiney was the heroine of overtime--of the whole game really. She made the first basket and a free throw. Toni added two free throws. C.AL got off a couple of three point attempts at the end but our defense was giving up the two to defend the three and it proved effective.
Several points stand out to me.
First, C.AL must have done something to shut down Nneka at the expense of leaving Chiney free. I will wait for Viking Guy to tell me what they did, but Nneka was seriously hampered the whole game. She was 6-18 with no free throws.
Second--well that brings me to the officiating. The officials were allowing any and all body contact under the basket. They would call fouls on the arms, but Nneka was repeatedly clobbered with hips and bodies without a single foul called. Hard to believe that with all that contact--lots and lots and lots of it--Nneka did not get a single free throw attempt in the entire game. Is this the famous physical "let them play" East Coast officiating that we will get in the NCAA tournament? Or is this just very, very bad officiating?
Third, our poor three point shooting nearly cost us this game. We shot 15%. Lindy was 0-8 and the crowd was visibly cringeing when she took long, long shots from several feet behind the line. Taylor was 0-3. Toni was 1-6. Bonnie was 2-2 or we would have lost. They were desperately needed when she made them.
Four, Chiney had a superb game, and must have benefited from whatever they were doing to her sister. She had 27 points on 9-16 shooting, and made 9-12 free throws. I still don't get why she got 12 free throws and her sister 0. Something very odd.
Five, Toni played very well other than her three point shooting. She had 18 points on 6-15 shooting and importantly had 5-7 free throws.
Six, Nneka, Chiney, and Toni each played more than 40 minutes! With all of our vaunted depth, Tara kept those three out there constantly. It did seem to me that this may have taken a toll on them--especially Toni, who missed most of her shots down the stretch.
Amber and Lindy gave it what they had and gave some good defensive minutes, but neither was on their game. Amber had 1 assist to 3 turnovers and looked a little rattled at times, so Tara gave her just 10 minutes. Lindy was 0-10, although she made 3 free throws. At a critical point in the game, however, she attempted a hard bounce pass that skipped out of bounds and was in the vicinity of no one. People around me in the stands commented about how terrible they felt for what is happening to her this season. Taylor played 22 minutes and had 4 assists and no turnovers. She made a particularly superb pass to Nneka in the paint that I remember. Joslyn started and played 16 minutes, but she seemed to me to be out there less and less in the second half.Â
Rebounds were tied in this game.* Turnovers were tied. C.AL was the more accurate team, shooting 40.5%, while we shot a miserable 36.5%. Go figure.
I would love to hear from someone who was able to stay after for Tara's talk, and of course from the expert eye of Viking Guy, who I'm sure can tell us what they did to Nneka.
*Rebounds were tied at 42 according to the ESPN box score, but the box score on the Stanford website gives us a 51-47 lead. I have no idea why there is a discrepancy. Perhaps ESPN did not count overtime?