02-10-2012, 05:40 PM
Toni is getting back to form from last year's injury. Starting to see her moving more confidently and be able to shift it into a higher gear. Still not up to her peak form from last year but getting there on both offense and defense. I think this will be a key to our success. As Toni ramps up her game - it gives Amber more time with less pressure to get comfortable in her role. Her development is also critical this year. She has times of defensive brilliance that we could really use and occasionally terrific passing. I'd really like to see her drive to the basket more aggressively. I think that was one of the big contributions that Toni gave us last year and really opens things up for us.
It seemed to me - but not certain - that we ran more of a weave on offense - similar to how other teams have been playing against us. I really liked the way we moved the ball around on offense in this game. Crisp, quick passing - 'SC was trying to trap or help or double and we moved the ball so well it led to open shots and layups. It seemed to start when Nneka went to the bench and Jos came in.
On defense we were helping out and switching about as well as I've seen. It really was our defense that led to their poor shooting. They had a difficult time getting space. Chiney was blocking just about every other shot in the lane - I gather she was credited for 6 but I counted a lot more shots that she deflected or blocked. Ashley Corral had a great game but it seemed almost every time she drove into the lane, Chiney blocked her shot and Ashley was sent sprawling onto the ground. And we caused them to run out the shot clock or rush to beat it a number of times.
It seemed to me - but not certain - that we ran more of a weave on offense - similar to how other teams have been playing against us. I really liked the way we moved the ball around on offense in this game. Crisp, quick passing - 'SC was trying to trap or help or double and we moved the ball so well it led to open shots and layups. It seemed to start when Nneka went to the bench and Jos came in.
On defense we were helping out and switching about as well as I've seen. It really was our defense that led to their poor shooting. They had a difficult time getting space. Chiney was blocking just about every other shot in the lane - I gather she was credited for 6 but I counted a lot more shots that she deflected or blocked. Ashley Corral had a great game but it seemed almost every time she drove into the lane, Chiney blocked her shot and Ashley was sent sprawling onto the ground. And we caused them to run out the shot clock or rush to beat it a number of times.