[Viking_Guy]

One other thing-- the strangeness of this game continued all the way through the end.

After Jos' good offense against their zone late pushed the lead to 14 with about 3 minutes left: again, a dribble drive generated an easy shot for an open post after Stanford's post rotated to help.  Nneka missed a shot and Jos rebounded, but instead of kicking it out and using another shot clock, she put up a contested attempt and another quick jumper by the Beavers cut the lead to 10 with a little more than 2 minutes left.

Then came one kind of weirdness.  OSU stayed in their 2-3 zone, not pressuring the ball at all, and not fouling, letting Stanford run 25 seconds off the clock.  Lindy missed a shot, but Nneka rebounded and was fouled (again, she didn't kick out to run more clock).  Made both FTs, but then another quick drive led to an and-1 after Jos fouled.  Again, the Beavers didn't foul or press, and Nneka took a quick shot and hit it (again not running clock).  Indendi hit a 3 for OSU to cut it to 8 - and again, no fouling, no pressure, and this time Nneka again took a quick shot and missed but the ball went out off OSU.  Stanford inbounded, and ran 15 more seconds, but then Toni gave it up on the perimeter and fouled in transition.  Another FT, and a miss and o-board, but then a scrum that ran the rest of the clock out.

It was just strange; it was as if OSU, having played themselves into contention, was content with the moral victory, and Stanford, instead of simply taking the air out of the ball and running the clock out, shot early in the clock and didn't conserve each possession.

Just a strange, weird, unsatisfying game.

VG

[Viking_Guy]

One other thing-- the strangeness of this game continued all the way through the end.

After Jos' good offense against their zone late pushed the lead to 14 with about 3 minutes left: again, a dribble drive generated an easy shot for an open post after Stanford's post rotated to help.  Nneka missed a shot and Jos rebounded, but instead of kicking it out and using another shot clock, she put up a contested attempt and another quick jumper by the Beavers cut the lead to 10 with a little more than 2 minutes left.

Then came one kind of weirdness.  OSU stayed in their 2-3 zone, not pressuring the ball at all, and not fouling, letting Stanford run 25 seconds off the clock.  Lindy missed a shot, but Nneka rebounded and was fouled (again, she didn't kick out to run more clock).  Made both FTs, but then another quick drive led to an and-1 after Jos fouled.  Again, the Beavers didn't foul or press, and Nneka took a quick shot and hit it (again not running clock).  Indendi hit a 3 for OSU to cut it to 8 - and again, no fouling, no pressure, and this time Nneka again took a quick shot and missed but the ball went out off OSU.  Stanford inbounded, and ran 15 more seconds, but then Toni gave it up on the perimeter and fouled in transition.  Another FT, and a miss and o-board, but then a scrum that ran the rest of the clock out.

It was just strange; it was as if OSU, having played themselves into contention, was content with the moral victory, and Stanford, instead of simply taking the air out of the ball and running the clock out, shot early in the clock and didn't conserve each possession.

Just a strange, weird, unsatisfying game.

VG