[pefloresjr]

Nice gritty win. As others mention - great for this team to feel confident they can pull out a win against a top 10 opponent even when a couple of the ‘stars’ are having an off night. 

One note watching the game was how much we got killed on defense when Reese and Pellington turned it into a 2 on 2 game with Reese setting a high screen on Wilson, and then popping out for a midrange jumper. 

Wondering if given the height difference there if Lacie would have been a better option. On Lacie, nice to see her take a few shots and a drive or two to the basket. Forces defenses to respect that more.

Pellington - Reese and Pellington - Arizona were much more effective when Brink was not in the game.  Pellington got blocked on at least two drives and stopped trying to take it all the way to the rim when Brink was guarding the middle.  That took away her excellent ball and body control on drives but also took away the option of drawing the defense down to the rim to open up three point shooters.  They were smart to focus on some mid range shots when the rim was protected.  But, thanks to Jana, we had more options for scoring than they did and came out on top.  They weren't able to get Brink in foul trouble even though that was clearly part of their strategy and Reese's over aggressive defense early took her out of the game for long stretches.  Great win in overcoming the crazy inconsistency of a Missy Barlow game.  We were good enough that we overcame the variation you get from any officiating but it is especially important to take care of business in a Missy game.  

Also, the crowd wasn't as big as I had hoped but was really into the game and had an impact by showing true (not scoreboard prompted) support through cheering and rumbling of the collapsible seats.  

Cheers,
Pete F.

[pefloresjr]

Nice gritty win. As others mention - great for this team to feel confident they can pull out a win against a top 10 opponent even when a couple of the ‘stars’ are having an off night. 

One note watching the game was how much we got killed on defense when Reese and Pellington turned it into a 2 on 2 game with Reese setting a high screen on Wilson, and then popping out for a midrange jumper. 

Wondering if given the height difference there if Lacie would have been a better option. On Lacie, nice to see her take a few shots and a drive or two to the basket. Forces defenses to respect that more.

Pellington - Reese and Pellington - Arizona were much more effective when Brink was not in the game.  Pellington got blocked on at least two drives and stopped trying to take it all the way to the rim when Brink was guarding the middle.  That took away her excellent ball and body control on drives but also took away the option of drawing the defense down to the rim to open up three point shooters.  They were smart to focus on some mid range shots when the rim was protected.  But, thanks to Jana, we had more options for scoring than they did and came out on top.  They weren't able to get Brink in foul trouble even though that was clearly part of their strategy and Reese's over aggressive defense early took her out of the game for long stretches.  Great win in overcoming the crazy inconsistency of a Missy Barlow game.  We were good enough that we overcame the variation you get from any officiating but it is especially important to take care of business in a Missy game.  

Also, the crowd wasn't as big as I had hoped but was really into the game and had an impact by showing true (not scoreboard prompted) support through cheering and rumbling of the collapsible seats.  

Cheers,
Pete F.