Preview:
Utah is shockingly good this year. They are ranked 21st by AP, 11th by Massey, and are 17-1--the same as Stanford. Their best wins were over Alabama, BYU, and Friday against Cal. Their lone loss was a last second loss to ASU. Against common opponent Hawaii they won by 25 and we won by 22. How are they doing this? Their freshmen players have won Pac 12 freshman of the week honors 7 times already this season--and 6'3" senior forward Megan Huff is having an outstanding year. Huff is averaging 20 points a game and like Alanna, she shoots threes. In fact she is Utah's leading three point shooter at 43%, but 80% of her scoring is inside at 51%. 6' senior wing Daneesha Provo is a terrific player who just went down with an ACL, but Utah seems to be replacing her with young talent and just continues to win. 6'2" freshman forward DreUna Edwards rounds out the double digit scoring with 12 ppg. Edwards hasn't attempted a 3 point shot but is making 55% from inside. They also have a terrific point guard with a 2:1 assist/turnover ratio. The Utah fans will be packed in, loud, and excited by their Cinderella season and we will have a gigantic bullseye on our backs. It could be the toughest away game we will play this year (although Gonzaga is by results the toughest so far!) --and it is not televised.
Overview:
Alanna was in constant foul trouble which hampered the offense, and defensively we gave up 23 points to an unheralded defensive specialist Erica Bean who went 5/8 from three point range. It was enough to cost us the game.
Flow of the game:
Yet again we got off to a slow start, scoring only 12 points in the first quarter after Alanna picked up 2 quick fouls and we resumed missing three point shots and committing turnovers. By the half, the Hulls were 5/5 but everyone else was 3/20. We were lucky to be down 31-32 at the half, after 10 turnovers and 38% shooting. We stayed in it because Utah had 9 turnovers of its own. Furthermore, Alanna could have been called for her 3rd foul at least 3-4 more times, but survived with just 2.
The third quarter started well for us, with Alanna and Kianna each making a trey to give us a five point lead. Roberts called a timeout and it proved to be an excellent decision, breaking the run. The game really turned here, with the refs calling a whole series of fouls on us which Utah took advantage of with 8 made free throws. When all that was over we resumed missing our shots again, with Kiana and Alanna missing several treys in a row. The last two minutes of the quarter Utah broke a 50-50 tie with two Erika Bean layups and we were once again in a 5 point hole.
The fourth quarter was particularly frustrating to watch. Bean opened with a trey--why weren't we guarding her more closely given that she had such a hot hand? Alanna answered with her own, and then Dijonai got going with a couple of aggressive baskets and we finally tied the game at 59 all. Then Erica Bean made a trey--who else? We were in the hole again, but battled back yet again, tying it on Alanna's trey 64-64 just before the last mandatory timeout. With a tie at 64-64, Utah came out and who broke the tie? Why, it was Erika Bean, of course, with a layup. Dijonai answered at the other end with her own, and we were tied 66-66 with 2:51 left.
We gave up another layup--this time to someone other than Erica Bean, and Lexie tied it up again with two free throws. It was 68-68 with 2:04 left.
Then we faltered. A Dijonai miss was followed up with the game winning shot--a trey by who else but Erica Bean. Making things worse Alanna fouled out on a drive to the basket at the other end--called for a questionable charge. We missed our remaining shots, Utah hit the inevitable free throws, and the game wound down to our first Pac 12 defeat.
Performances:
Rebounds, turnovers, assists, fouls--all these stats were relatively even. We made one more field goal than Utah did, but our three point shooting let us down--we were 8/28 and they were 11/24. Also, we made 10 free throws and they made 16. Those are the two differences that seem most significant. We also gave up 13 fast break points--uncharacteristically letting them get behind us after misses.
Individually, Jerome had a career high with 9 points, I believe. Alanna had 19 points and 9 rebounds. Williams came in with 10 points and 7 assists, and Carrington 13 points after a very slow start. Lexie scored 10 and Lacie 7.
Conclusion:
This was not a good weekend for Stanford WBB. Our greatest weakness--depth behind Alanna--was exposed today when the vagaries of officiating put her in constant foul trouble. I would not be surprised if some of the fast break points we gave up and some of the defensive mistakes we made were the result of trying to protect Alanna from picking up defensive fouls. Tara has often remarked that three point shooting is always welcome--but it is not reliable and a team has to be able to find other ways to win when the shots are not falling. Against weak Colorado, we barely found a way. Against Utah, we didn't. Worse, Gottlieb, Rueck, and Graves were no doubt watching carefully, and may borrow liberally from whatever they found Utah doing to slow us down.
Let us hope that Maya gets back soon, and without too much rust.
Utah is shockingly good this year. They are ranked 21st by AP, 11th by Massey, and are 17-1--the same as Stanford. Their best wins were over Alabama, BYU, and Friday against Cal. Their lone loss was a last second loss to ASU. Against common opponent Hawaii they won by 25 and we won by 22. How are they doing this? Their freshmen players have won Pac 12 freshman of the week honors 7 times already this season--and 6'3" senior forward Megan Huff is having an outstanding year. Huff is averaging 20 points a game and like Alanna, she shoots threes. In fact she is Utah's leading three point shooter at 43%, but 80% of her scoring is inside at 51%. 6' senior wing Daneesha Provo is a terrific player who just went down with an ACL, but Utah seems to be replacing her with young talent and just continues to win. 6'2" freshman forward DreUna Edwards rounds out the double digit scoring with 12 ppg. Edwards hasn't attempted a 3 point shot but is making 55% from inside. They also have a terrific point guard with a 2:1 assist/turnover ratio. The Utah fans will be packed in, loud, and excited by their Cinderella season and we will have a gigantic bullseye on our backs. It could be the toughest away game we will play this year (although Gonzaga is by results the toughest so far!) --and it is not televised.
Overview:
Alanna was in constant foul trouble which hampered the offense, and defensively we gave up 23 points to an unheralded defensive specialist Erica Bean who went 5/8 from three point range. It was enough to cost us the game.
Flow of the game:
Yet again we got off to a slow start, scoring only 12 points in the first quarter after Alanna picked up 2 quick fouls and we resumed missing three point shots and committing turnovers. By the half, the Hulls were 5/5 but everyone else was 3/20. We were lucky to be down 31-32 at the half, after 10 turnovers and 38% shooting. We stayed in it because Utah had 9 turnovers of its own. Furthermore, Alanna could have been called for her 3rd foul at least 3-4 more times, but survived with just 2.
The third quarter started well for us, with Alanna and Kianna each making a trey to give us a five point lead. Roberts called a timeout and it proved to be an excellent decision, breaking the run. The game really turned here, with the refs calling a whole series of fouls on us which Utah took advantage of with 8 made free throws. When all that was over we resumed missing our shots again, with Kiana and Alanna missing several treys in a row. The last two minutes of the quarter Utah broke a 50-50 tie with two Erika Bean layups and we were once again in a 5 point hole.
The fourth quarter was particularly frustrating to watch. Bean opened with a trey--why weren't we guarding her more closely given that she had such a hot hand? Alanna answered with her own, and then Dijonai got going with a couple of aggressive baskets and we finally tied the game at 59 all. Then Erica Bean made a trey--who else? We were in the hole again, but battled back yet again, tying it on Alanna's trey 64-64 just before the last mandatory timeout. With a tie at 64-64, Utah came out and who broke the tie? Why, it was Erika Bean, of course, with a layup. Dijonai answered at the other end with her own, and we were tied 66-66 with 2:51 left.
We gave up another layup--this time to someone other than Erica Bean, and Lexie tied it up again with two free throws. It was 68-68 with 2:04 left.
Then we faltered. A Dijonai miss was followed up with the game winning shot--a trey by who else but Erica Bean. Making things worse Alanna fouled out on a drive to the basket at the other end--called for a questionable charge. We missed our remaining shots, Utah hit the inevitable free throws, and the game wound down to our first Pac 12 defeat.
Performances:
Rebounds, turnovers, assists, fouls--all these stats were relatively even. We made one more field goal than Utah did, but our three point shooting let us down--we were 8/28 and they were 11/24. Also, we made 10 free throws and they made 16. Those are the two differences that seem most significant. We also gave up 13 fast break points--uncharacteristically letting them get behind us after misses.
Individually, Jerome had a career high with 9 points, I believe. Alanna had 19 points and 9 rebounds. Williams came in with 10 points and 7 assists, and Carrington 13 points after a very slow start. Lexie scored 10 and Lacie 7.
Conclusion:
This was not a good weekend for Stanford WBB. Our greatest weakness--depth behind Alanna--was exposed today when the vagaries of officiating put her in constant foul trouble. I would not be surprised if some of the fast break points we gave up and some of the defensive mistakes we made were the result of trying to protect Alanna from picking up defensive fouls. Tara has often remarked that three point shooting is always welcome--but it is not reliable and a team has to be able to find other ways to win when the shots are not falling. Against weak Colorado, we barely found a way. Against Utah, we didn't. Worse, Gottlieb, Rueck, and Graves were no doubt watching carefully, and may borrow liberally from whatever they found Utah doing to slow us down.
Let us hope that Maya gets back soon, and without too much rust.
