01-29-2017, 11:33 AM
Preliminary:
Washington has to be considered the favored team today, given that it is the team that knocked us ignominiously out of the Pac 12 tournament last year in the first round, out of the NCAA tournament, and that it is improved since then. Plum has become one of the greatest players in Pac 8/10/12 history, Osahor is a rebounding vacuum, Romeo hit 10 treys in their last game, they have more depth than a year ago, and they are playing at home--probably in front of a sell-out of 8000. We have been improving steadily too. To win today will require that we get the hot hand shooting, that Plum is kept to under 30 points, and that Romeo and Osahor return to the mean. That is a lot to hope for.
Overview:
In front of Washington's first sellout crowd for WBB at 10,000, Stanford overcame an 18 point deficit and a 44 point Plum effort to edge Washington. Certainly our best win since Notre Dame. Roberson came alive in the second half to help us pull it off, and Britt contributed points and two critical defensive plays in the final minutes.
Flow of the Game:
The first quarter looked all too familiar, resembling our slow starts the last two times we played Washington. We made a handful of layups and clanked all of our three point attempts. Meanwhile, Washington made six treys--spreading the makes around the team, and our painful, plodding offense could not keep pace with their ridiculously high percentage bombing runs. The first quarter ended with Washington up 21-12.
In the second quarter, Plum began to go off like a fireworks display. She made 4 treys, 2 layups, and a jumper in the quarter, with only one miss during the sequence. Fortunately, we got our offense going better than the first quarter, and we scored 21-- mainly on layups as Erica and others got better involved. But we missed all of our three point attempts until Nadia came in at the very end and hit one to break the ice trey. That left us at a horrid 1/11 at three point shooting, with Washington at a sizzling 11/19. With four minutes left in the half Washington built an 18 point lead. By the end, Plum already had 26 points--sometimes shooting treys right in the face of her defenders, and was 6/6 from three point range. Our improved offense was not enough to keep up with the Plum show, and we fell three points further behind to 45-33. I was sinking deeper into depression at the painful (if expected) result.
At halftime Tara said she thought her team would do a better job on defense and that we needed to get our offense going. Almost any coach can say that at any halftime. Well, whatever she did at halftime, it worked.
The third quarter did not start well, though as we turned the ball over and watched Plum sink a couple of free throws. But then Marta hit a trey which was highly promising both for her development and for the team. Erica hit a trey and further cut the lead to 8. Britt began making some contorted layups and then, midway through the third quarter, Bri started to hit her jumper, whooshing two treys to help us further chip away at the lead and getting us within 3. At the end of the quarter Washington held a 55-50 lead.
Foul trouble was having an impact on the game. Erica picked up her fourth foul with 4:40 left in the third quarter on a hideous call--Osahor fouled her rather than the other way around. In what may have been a make up call, Plum got her fourth foul with :37 left in the third quarter. Before the game would be over, McPhee also had four, and Osahor, Collier, and Corral would have four. Plum fouled out in the waning seconds. All those players in foul trouble made for some interesting offense/defense substitutions as both coaches tried to keep their leading players in position to score in what was a tightening game.
The fourth quarter opened with Bri picking up where she left off and going for a layup to cut the lead, then on the next possession draining a trey to tie the score. Britt gave us the lead with 8:32 left on a jumper, but Plum tied it back up at the other end. The lead see-sawed on jumpers and free throws until it was tied up at 62, but then Plum hit a trey with 4:18 left and we all muttered "there she goes again..." It felt as if our opportunity may have slipped away. It got worse when Osahor hit a free throw to give them a 4 point lead and the score got stuck 66-62 all the way down to 2:21.
Marta took it to the basket to cut the lead to 2, and in the defensive play of the game, Britt blocked a Plum layup and retrieved the rebound with 2:02. Tara called a timeout when our halfcourt looked stagnant, and out of the timeout Bri made a long off balance jumper to tie the score.
Then came a critical turning point--Britt poked the ball away from Romeo and took it all the way to the rim for a layup and a two point lead at 1:20. Britt had given us two game-changing defensive plays in less than a minute. Romeo missed a jumper at the other end and Britt got fouled at our end, making one of two free throws to give us a 3 point lead at :29. We gave Plum the layup at the other end, forced them to foul Karlie after playing keep-away, watched as Karlie sank both free throws, and we were back up 3 with 11 seconds. Plum missed a trey for the first time in the entire game and then fouled out. Erica made one of two free throws to close it out 72-68.
Performances:
Tara and the defense deserve credit for a massive turnaround in the second half. After giving up 45 points in the first half, we gave up 23 in the second half. We shot 43% for the game and held Washington to 36%--which is probably their worst offensive showing of the year. That despite Plum shooting 17/27. Osahor was 1/10, Collier 0/5, and Romeo--the same who had sunk 10 three pointers two days ago--was 0/4.Â
We were exceptional at avoiding turnovers--only 7 to their 10, and had 5 blocks to their 1--while other team stats were not so far apart.Â
McPhee, playing in front of family and friends from the Seattle area, won the game for us, in my opinion, with her defensive heroics. Her offense was vitally necessary, and she led us with 17 points, but she was just 7/20 and 0/5 from three point range. She had our only three steals, though, and one of them was priceless.
McCall was next with 16 points, but they were hard earned on 7/13 shooting and 9 rebounds, despite constant foul trouble that limited her to 25 minutes.
Roberson had one of her best games with 14 points on 5/9 shooting--mostly coming at the critical juncture in the second half. She and Britt were responsible for changing the momentum and playing with confidence from behind.
Samuelson played all 40 minutes and had just 10 points, missing all 3 of her treys, but going 6/7 from the line. In a game when we had only 9 assists, she dished out 4 of them.
Sniezek contributed 8 clutch points, going 2/2 and also 3/4 from the line. She had the other 5 assists and three turnovers. She did not make many of those overly-aggressive turnovers, and she scored, making her quite effective.
Fingall had just 4 minutes and buried a trey, Smith got 12 minutes and went 1/4, and Kaylee had 17 minutes and went 1/5.
Conclusion:
A superb win that I hope will give our team confidence going forward, and move us up the RPI. It also makes it possible for Tara to get to 1000 on Friday against SC. EVERYONE SHOULD BE THERE.Â
However, Washington has a much easier schedule the rest of the way than we do, Next will be SC that just beat ASU--they are no longer pushovers, then UCLA is up next, and after the mountain schools and two games against C.al we have to go north to an emerging Oregon team and our old nemesis Oregon State. Then, if we play well, it is likely we shall face Washington again in the tournament.Â
Washington has to be considered the favored team today, given that it is the team that knocked us ignominiously out of the Pac 12 tournament last year in the first round, out of the NCAA tournament, and that it is improved since then. Plum has become one of the greatest players in Pac 8/10/12 history, Osahor is a rebounding vacuum, Romeo hit 10 treys in their last game, they have more depth than a year ago, and they are playing at home--probably in front of a sell-out of 8000. We have been improving steadily too. To win today will require that we get the hot hand shooting, that Plum is kept to under 30 points, and that Romeo and Osahor return to the mean. That is a lot to hope for.
Overview:
In front of Washington's first sellout crowd for WBB at 10,000, Stanford overcame an 18 point deficit and a 44 point Plum effort to edge Washington. Certainly our best win since Notre Dame. Roberson came alive in the second half to help us pull it off, and Britt contributed points and two critical defensive plays in the final minutes.
Flow of the Game:
The first quarter looked all too familiar, resembling our slow starts the last two times we played Washington. We made a handful of layups and clanked all of our three point attempts. Meanwhile, Washington made six treys--spreading the makes around the team, and our painful, plodding offense could not keep pace with their ridiculously high percentage bombing runs. The first quarter ended with Washington up 21-12.
In the second quarter, Plum began to go off like a fireworks display. She made 4 treys, 2 layups, and a jumper in the quarter, with only one miss during the sequence. Fortunately, we got our offense going better than the first quarter, and we scored 21-- mainly on layups as Erica and others got better involved. But we missed all of our three point attempts until Nadia came in at the very end and hit one to break the ice trey. That left us at a horrid 1/11 at three point shooting, with Washington at a sizzling 11/19. With four minutes left in the half Washington built an 18 point lead. By the end, Plum already had 26 points--sometimes shooting treys right in the face of her defenders, and was 6/6 from three point range. Our improved offense was not enough to keep up with the Plum show, and we fell three points further behind to 45-33. I was sinking deeper into depression at the painful (if expected) result.
At halftime Tara said she thought her team would do a better job on defense and that we needed to get our offense going. Almost any coach can say that at any halftime. Well, whatever she did at halftime, it worked.
The third quarter did not start well, though as we turned the ball over and watched Plum sink a couple of free throws. But then Marta hit a trey which was highly promising both for her development and for the team. Erica hit a trey and further cut the lead to 8. Britt began making some contorted layups and then, midway through the third quarter, Bri started to hit her jumper, whooshing two treys to help us further chip away at the lead and getting us within 3. At the end of the quarter Washington held a 55-50 lead.
Foul trouble was having an impact on the game. Erica picked up her fourth foul with 4:40 left in the third quarter on a hideous call--Osahor fouled her rather than the other way around. In what may have been a make up call, Plum got her fourth foul with :37 left in the third quarter. Before the game would be over, McPhee also had four, and Osahor, Collier, and Corral would have four. Plum fouled out in the waning seconds. All those players in foul trouble made for some interesting offense/defense substitutions as both coaches tried to keep their leading players in position to score in what was a tightening game.
The fourth quarter opened with Bri picking up where she left off and going for a layup to cut the lead, then on the next possession draining a trey to tie the score. Britt gave us the lead with 8:32 left on a jumper, but Plum tied it back up at the other end. The lead see-sawed on jumpers and free throws until it was tied up at 62, but then Plum hit a trey with 4:18 left and we all muttered "there she goes again..." It felt as if our opportunity may have slipped away. It got worse when Osahor hit a free throw to give them a 4 point lead and the score got stuck 66-62 all the way down to 2:21.
Marta took it to the basket to cut the lead to 2, and in the defensive play of the game, Britt blocked a Plum layup and retrieved the rebound with 2:02. Tara called a timeout when our halfcourt looked stagnant, and out of the timeout Bri made a long off balance jumper to tie the score.
Then came a critical turning point--Britt poked the ball away from Romeo and took it all the way to the rim for a layup and a two point lead at 1:20. Britt had given us two game-changing defensive plays in less than a minute. Romeo missed a jumper at the other end and Britt got fouled at our end, making one of two free throws to give us a 3 point lead at :29. We gave Plum the layup at the other end, forced them to foul Karlie after playing keep-away, watched as Karlie sank both free throws, and we were back up 3 with 11 seconds. Plum missed a trey for the first time in the entire game and then fouled out. Erica made one of two free throws to close it out 72-68.
Performances:
Tara and the defense deserve credit for a massive turnaround in the second half. After giving up 45 points in the first half, we gave up 23 in the second half. We shot 43% for the game and held Washington to 36%--which is probably their worst offensive showing of the year. That despite Plum shooting 17/27. Osahor was 1/10, Collier 0/5, and Romeo--the same who had sunk 10 three pointers two days ago--was 0/4.Â
We were exceptional at avoiding turnovers--only 7 to their 10, and had 5 blocks to their 1--while other team stats were not so far apart.Â
McPhee, playing in front of family and friends from the Seattle area, won the game for us, in my opinion, with her defensive heroics. Her offense was vitally necessary, and she led us with 17 points, but she was just 7/20 and 0/5 from three point range. She had our only three steals, though, and one of them was priceless.
McCall was next with 16 points, but they were hard earned on 7/13 shooting and 9 rebounds, despite constant foul trouble that limited her to 25 minutes.
Roberson had one of her best games with 14 points on 5/9 shooting--mostly coming at the critical juncture in the second half. She and Britt were responsible for changing the momentum and playing with confidence from behind.
Samuelson played all 40 minutes and had just 10 points, missing all 3 of her treys, but going 6/7 from the line. In a game when we had only 9 assists, she dished out 4 of them.
Sniezek contributed 8 clutch points, going 2/2 and also 3/4 from the line. She had the other 5 assists and three turnovers. She did not make many of those overly-aggressive turnovers, and she scored, making her quite effective.
Fingall had just 4 minutes and buried a trey, Smith got 12 minutes and went 1/4, and Kaylee had 17 minutes and went 1/5.
Conclusion:
A superb win that I hope will give our team confidence going forward, and move us up the RPI. It also makes it possible for Tara to get to 1000 on Friday against SC. EVERYONE SHOULD BE THERE.Â
However, Washington has a much easier schedule the rest of the way than we do, Next will be SC that just beat ASU--they are no longer pushovers, then UCLA is up next, and after the mountain schools and two games against C.al we have to go north to an emerging Oregon team and our old nemesis Oregon State. Then, if we play well, it is likely we shall face Washington again in the tournament.Â
