11-16-2016, 07:25 AM
Preview:
Gonzaga has a good team this year, having just annihilated UC Irvine 102-38, breaking school records by draining 15 treys. It is a very experienced team with 3 redshirt seniors include Elle Tinkle, although its starters include two terrific sophomores. Sophomore guard Makenlee Williams #04 (5'11") went 6/9 from three point range, and Sophomore forward Zykera Rice #00 (6'1") went 4/6 but more importantly collected 8/10 free throws, meaning she was getting inside under the basket a whole lot. Their 2nd year coach Lisa Fortier is doing a terrific job after her former boss Kelly Graves left to coach Oregon, winning national rookie coach of the year honors. Fortunately we have them at Maples this year--Gonzaga has a terrific fan base at home--they draw more than 5000 a game, putting us to shame. I expect a strong contest on Friday.
Overview
Stanford could not overcome a cold shooting night--going 3/18 from three vs. Gonzaga's 8/13, and we could not adequately defend versatile post Jill Barta, who dumped 26 high percentage points on us.
Flow of the Game
Before the game, Kate noted that we had been practicing zone just in case, but Gonzaga came out with a very tight, swarming man defense that was very, very solid. They allowed very few transition points, they almost never left a perimeter player open, and they fronted Erica inside to deny her the ball. Our offense looked anemic and eventually Tara took out Marta, who had started, for Bri and left the game mostly in Bri's hands the rest of the way. That happened against Texas, too, making me wonder what the current thinking on the point guard situation is.Â
Meanwhile, our defense was fairly solid except for a very serious problem defending Barta. Tara tried Kaylee on her but when Barta would get the ball inside she was unstoppable one on one, easily going around or hitting short step backs. Kaylee gave way to Nadia and then to Alanna, who seemed to do a little better on defense and got many minutes the rest of the way. In any case, the first quarter ended Zags 16 Stanford 15 and it looked like it would be a defensive slugfest.
The second quarter was even more defensive, ending Zags 28 Stanford 27. I was relieved for halftime, thinking Tara will pull out some magic to solve this riddle. The second quarter was noteworthy for the three point jumper attempted by Marta. Unfortunately, neither it nor many others went in.Â
The third quarter began with Barta and McPhee exchanging layups, but then it turned sour. Barta began draining treys--she seemed to be unstoppable from anywhere on the court. Bri fought back with a trey of her own but then Barta and Elle Tinkle started a scoring spree, and we found ourselves down 43-33 in a game where points seemed very hard to come by.Â
The second half of the third quarter, however, was a remarkable turnaround for us. We went on a 16-3 run to take a 5 point lead. It was mainly on the strength of McCall and McPhee, with a Karlie trey at the very end for good measure. I remember thinking at the end of the third quarter how much I wished that the game had just concluded, since I wasn't sure we could keep that up. Sadly, my doubts proved true.
Tara decided to keep the same five players on the court who had succeeded in the third quarter--Bri at point, Karlie and Britt, Alanna and Erica. Alanna, unfortunately, seemed to be tiring and kept missing shots as the fourth quarter progressed. But our defense had settled down and Gonzaga was not doing much better. With 4:00 left in the game Britt hit a layup and we went ahead by two, only to have Elle Tinkle equalize at the other end. Britt missed another layup and then Stockton hit the dagger--a trey with 3:07 left. After that we had misses by Kaylee, Britt, Alanna, and Erica, before Britt hit a couple of free throws, leaving us down by 1 with 56 seconds left. Along the way, the refs took about 7 minutes on an out-of-bounds call that they ultimately did not reverse, leaving the ball in the Zags hands. We fouled twice, they sank their free throws, we missed our shots, and then finally on the last meaningful play of the game, needing a three, Alanna tossed a slow moon ball all the way across court into the waiting arms of Laura Stockton, leaving the fans shaking their heads and heading out the door.
Performances
Britt did well today, going 8/17 for 22 points, but missing both her three point attempts. She also snagged 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block.
Erica was fronted and had fewer opportunities, making 5/10 for 17 points and 11 rebounds. A double-double. She did pick up 4 fouls.
Kaylee is struggling. She was 1/5 for 2 points and only 1 rebound in about half the minutes. Much of the time she was in she played the 4 and simply swung passes around the arc.
Marta had 0 assists in only 14 minutes. Bri got 33 minutes and had 6 assists to 2 turnovers, but scored only 5 points on 2/8 shooting.Â
Karlie was not left open much and took only 2 three point shots, hitting only 1. She wound up fouling out in 37 minutes.
Alanna was not effective offensively, going 0/5 from three point range. Her defense was far from perfect, but she managed not to foul out in 21 minutes of play.
Conclusion
The most impressive player on the floor was Gonzaga's Barta, who was 8/10 including 3/3 from three point range and 7/8 free throws for 28 points. If we could have hounded her as effectively as Gonzaga hounded McCall, we might have had a different outcome.
Gonzaga, however, was simply the better pure shooting team tonight, shooting 51% while we managed only 38%. Some of our poor shooting was their defense. But I imagine Tara is going to be much angrier about our defense than about our offense. She understands that you can't always count on shooting accuracy, but defense is something that is always in our control, and allowing Gonzaga to shoot 62% of their treys is a major reason we lost the game.
Going forward, I would say we have questions at point guard and at the 4. Is Kaylee OK? Marta's offense has been fleeting, but both against Texas and now Gonzaga her passing skills have not been what was expected. How can we get the ball to Erica inside more effectively? And why is our three point shooting so erratic? Finally, our perimeter defense is suspect, as it was against Texas.
Gonzaga has a good team this year, having just annihilated UC Irvine 102-38, breaking school records by draining 15 treys. It is a very experienced team with 3 redshirt seniors include Elle Tinkle, although its starters include two terrific sophomores. Sophomore guard Makenlee Williams #04 (5'11") went 6/9 from three point range, and Sophomore forward Zykera Rice #00 (6'1") went 4/6 but more importantly collected 8/10 free throws, meaning she was getting inside under the basket a whole lot. Their 2nd year coach Lisa Fortier is doing a terrific job after her former boss Kelly Graves left to coach Oregon, winning national rookie coach of the year honors. Fortunately we have them at Maples this year--Gonzaga has a terrific fan base at home--they draw more than 5000 a game, putting us to shame. I expect a strong contest on Friday.
Overview
Stanford could not overcome a cold shooting night--going 3/18 from three vs. Gonzaga's 8/13, and we could not adequately defend versatile post Jill Barta, who dumped 26 high percentage points on us.
Flow of the Game
Before the game, Kate noted that we had been practicing zone just in case, but Gonzaga came out with a very tight, swarming man defense that was very, very solid. They allowed very few transition points, they almost never left a perimeter player open, and they fronted Erica inside to deny her the ball. Our offense looked anemic and eventually Tara took out Marta, who had started, for Bri and left the game mostly in Bri's hands the rest of the way. That happened against Texas, too, making me wonder what the current thinking on the point guard situation is.Â
Meanwhile, our defense was fairly solid except for a very serious problem defending Barta. Tara tried Kaylee on her but when Barta would get the ball inside she was unstoppable one on one, easily going around or hitting short step backs. Kaylee gave way to Nadia and then to Alanna, who seemed to do a little better on defense and got many minutes the rest of the way. In any case, the first quarter ended Zags 16 Stanford 15 and it looked like it would be a defensive slugfest.
The second quarter was even more defensive, ending Zags 28 Stanford 27. I was relieved for halftime, thinking Tara will pull out some magic to solve this riddle. The second quarter was noteworthy for the three point jumper attempted by Marta. Unfortunately, neither it nor many others went in.Â
The third quarter began with Barta and McPhee exchanging layups, but then it turned sour. Barta began draining treys--she seemed to be unstoppable from anywhere on the court. Bri fought back with a trey of her own but then Barta and Elle Tinkle started a scoring spree, and we found ourselves down 43-33 in a game where points seemed very hard to come by.Â
The second half of the third quarter, however, was a remarkable turnaround for us. We went on a 16-3 run to take a 5 point lead. It was mainly on the strength of McCall and McPhee, with a Karlie trey at the very end for good measure. I remember thinking at the end of the third quarter how much I wished that the game had just concluded, since I wasn't sure we could keep that up. Sadly, my doubts proved true.
Tara decided to keep the same five players on the court who had succeeded in the third quarter--Bri at point, Karlie and Britt, Alanna and Erica. Alanna, unfortunately, seemed to be tiring and kept missing shots as the fourth quarter progressed. But our defense had settled down and Gonzaga was not doing much better. With 4:00 left in the game Britt hit a layup and we went ahead by two, only to have Elle Tinkle equalize at the other end. Britt missed another layup and then Stockton hit the dagger--a trey with 3:07 left. After that we had misses by Kaylee, Britt, Alanna, and Erica, before Britt hit a couple of free throws, leaving us down by 1 with 56 seconds left. Along the way, the refs took about 7 minutes on an out-of-bounds call that they ultimately did not reverse, leaving the ball in the Zags hands. We fouled twice, they sank their free throws, we missed our shots, and then finally on the last meaningful play of the game, needing a three, Alanna tossed a slow moon ball all the way across court into the waiting arms of Laura Stockton, leaving the fans shaking their heads and heading out the door.
Performances
Britt did well today, going 8/17 for 22 points, but missing both her three point attempts. She also snagged 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block.
Erica was fronted and had fewer opportunities, making 5/10 for 17 points and 11 rebounds. A double-double. She did pick up 4 fouls.
Kaylee is struggling. She was 1/5 for 2 points and only 1 rebound in about half the minutes. Much of the time she was in she played the 4 and simply swung passes around the arc.
Marta had 0 assists in only 14 minutes. Bri got 33 minutes and had 6 assists to 2 turnovers, but scored only 5 points on 2/8 shooting.Â
Karlie was not left open much and took only 2 three point shots, hitting only 1. She wound up fouling out in 37 minutes.
Alanna was not effective offensively, going 0/5 from three point range. Her defense was far from perfect, but she managed not to foul out in 21 minutes of play.
Conclusion
The most impressive player on the floor was Gonzaga's Barta, who was 8/10 including 3/3 from three point range and 7/8 free throws for 28 points. If we could have hounded her as effectively as Gonzaga hounded McCall, we might have had a different outcome.
Gonzaga, however, was simply the better pure shooting team tonight, shooting 51% while we managed only 38%. Some of our poor shooting was their defense. But I imagine Tara is going to be much angrier about our defense than about our offense. She understands that you can't always count on shooting accuracy, but defense is something that is always in our control, and allowing Gonzaga to shoot 62% of their treys is a major reason we lost the game.
Going forward, I would say we have questions at point guard and at the 4. Is Kaylee OK? Marta's offense has been fleeting, but both against Texas and now Gonzaga her passing skills have not been what was expected. How can we get the ball to Erica inside more effectively? And why is our three point shooting so erratic? Finally, our perimeter defense is suspect, as it was against Texas.
