07-11-2019, 09:00 PM
Jonny--
My memory of the play is upfake by Wideman at the right wing, Machanguana flies out of the lane at her arms up but having left the floor, and Jamila moves slightly to the right (with her typical basketball IQ) so that she can get the shot up underneath Machanguana's left arm AND still draw the contact on the 3 point shot - especially given that WIdeman was on the order of a 90% FT shooter. Maybe anticipating James Harden by a few years. The image I think of when I get nauseous as people intone "the refs shouldn't decide the game." No whistle in that situation DOES decide the game.
The other image that sticks in my head is from either the end of the game (I think this was it) or the end of overtime. I believe it was Jamila again, penetrating and putting up a contested shot in the lane... but her penetration had left Kate Starbird ALONE on the right baseline at about 8 feet. Instead of dishing to our then all-time leading scorer for a shot that was pretty much money for the original Bird all season long, she shot herself, and missed. That was one of my earliest memories of "Stanford has some ugly end-of-clock tendencies."
But the key turning point was Folkl fouling out toward the end of regulation. She had such a marked physical advantage over anyone on the court, but the officiating hadn't caught up to "yes, women ARE that athletic."
VG
My memory of the play is upfake by Wideman at the right wing, Machanguana flies out of the lane at her arms up but having left the floor, and Jamila moves slightly to the right (with her typical basketball IQ) so that she can get the shot up underneath Machanguana's left arm AND still draw the contact on the 3 point shot - especially given that WIdeman was on the order of a 90% FT shooter. Maybe anticipating James Harden by a few years. The image I think of when I get nauseous as people intone "the refs shouldn't decide the game." No whistle in that situation DOES decide the game.
The other image that sticks in my head is from either the end of the game (I think this was it) or the end of overtime. I believe it was Jamila again, penetrating and putting up a contested shot in the lane... but her penetration had left Kate Starbird ALONE on the right baseline at about 8 feet. Instead of dishing to our then all-time leading scorer for a shot that was pretty much money for the original Bird all season long, she shot herself, and missed. That was one of my earliest memories of "Stanford has some ugly end-of-clock tendencies."
But the key turning point was Folkl fouling out toward the end of regulation. She had such a marked physical advantage over anyone on the court, but the officiating hadn't caught up to "yes, women ARE that athletic."
VG