Preview:
We head to Seattle for our second match with Washington this season. This is a dangerous one. Washington played us even in the first half when they visited Maples, and can certainly be expected to do better on their home floor.
https://thecardboard.org/board/showthrea...hlight=wbb
However, since Washington lost to us, they have lost 5 in a row, capped off with two heartbreaking overtime losses at USC and UCLA last weekend. I'm not sure what to think of them. They nearly beat UCLA @ UCLA, after all. My guess is that they will be highly motivated to get some revenge and accomplish something positive by beating us on their home court. This is a team that is MUCH better than its record indicates, and since, on any given night, Melgoza could score 40 points--no result against them is foreordained.
Overview:
We held Melgoza to 0/8 for 0 points in a suffocating defensive effort. It wasn't pretty since we sprinkled runs of turnovers into the game that kept it from becoming a blowout, but holding Washington to 28% while we collected 17 O-boards was a recipe for an ugly win.
Flow of the game:
We held Washington to 3 points in the first quarter, then let them come back to tie it up in the second after we turned the ball over 5 times in a row. But Williams, Lexie, and Jump made three treys on three possessions to get the lead and a little breathing room, and Washington never really threatened again.
Performances:
The TV announcer called it a Tara defensive clinic. Holding Melgoza to 0 points was in fact a remarkable achievement. The Washington starters had 7 point for the game! There were not brobdingnagian differences in turnovers, assists, fouls etc. The biggest disparity in stats is that we grabbed 17 offensive rebounds to their 8, leading to a 16 to 3 differential in second chance points.
Individually, Fingall, Lexie, and Williams all played for almost the whole game. Jump, Prechtel, Belibi, and Lacie split the other two slots.
Lexie gets the game ball, with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and a full stat line.
Williams showed no sign of a slump, with 16 points and 5 assists, although 5 turnovers was troublesome. Washington is the Pac 12 steals leader, though, so it may not have been unexpected.
No one else had double digits, though Fingall had 9 and Belibi 8 rebounds. Washington certainly made it hard for our posts to get involved. Prechtel, who has been on such a roll lately, was 2/7 in 20 minutes.
It was good to see Jerome on the court and playing, although she logged only 5 minutes. And Lacie seems to have been fine, since she came back to play after an earlier ankle ding.
Conclusion:
We are still learning how to play shorthanded. We were challenged offensively in this game, but were able to exert constant defensive pressure--except when we were giving the ball away--and this was enough to bludgeon our way to a comfortable win. I still feel that we need either Carrington or Dodson or Jones back to have a shot at the Pac 12 title or the final four. The group we put out there tonight is very good but may not have enough depth against some of the rough teams that are coming up.
We head to Seattle for our second match with Washington this season. This is a dangerous one. Washington played us even in the first half when they visited Maples, and can certainly be expected to do better on their home floor.
https://thecardboard.org/board/showthrea...hlight=wbb
However, since Washington lost to us, they have lost 5 in a row, capped off with two heartbreaking overtime losses at USC and UCLA last weekend. I'm not sure what to think of them. They nearly beat UCLA @ UCLA, after all. My guess is that they will be highly motivated to get some revenge and accomplish something positive by beating us on their home court. This is a team that is MUCH better than its record indicates, and since, on any given night, Melgoza could score 40 points--no result against them is foreordained.
Overview:
We held Melgoza to 0/8 for 0 points in a suffocating defensive effort. It wasn't pretty since we sprinkled runs of turnovers into the game that kept it from becoming a blowout, but holding Washington to 28% while we collected 17 O-boards was a recipe for an ugly win.
Flow of the game:
We held Washington to 3 points in the first quarter, then let them come back to tie it up in the second after we turned the ball over 5 times in a row. But Williams, Lexie, and Jump made three treys on three possessions to get the lead and a little breathing room, and Washington never really threatened again.
Performances:
The TV announcer called it a Tara defensive clinic. Holding Melgoza to 0 points was in fact a remarkable achievement. The Washington starters had 7 point for the game! There were not brobdingnagian differences in turnovers, assists, fouls etc. The biggest disparity in stats is that we grabbed 17 offensive rebounds to their 8, leading to a 16 to 3 differential in second chance points.
Individually, Fingall, Lexie, and Williams all played for almost the whole game. Jump, Prechtel, Belibi, and Lacie split the other two slots.
Lexie gets the game ball, with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and a full stat line.
Williams showed no sign of a slump, with 16 points and 5 assists, although 5 turnovers was troublesome. Washington is the Pac 12 steals leader, though, so it may not have been unexpected.
No one else had double digits, though Fingall had 9 and Belibi 8 rebounds. Washington certainly made it hard for our posts to get involved. Prechtel, who has been on such a roll lately, was 2/7 in 20 minutes.
It was good to see Jerome on the court and playing, although she logged only 5 minutes. And Lacie seems to have been fine, since she came back to play after an earlier ankle ding.
Conclusion:
We are still learning how to play shorthanded. We were challenged offensively in this game, but were able to exert constant defensive pressure--except when we were giving the ball away--and this was enough to bludgeon our way to a comfortable win. I still feel that we need either Carrington or Dodson or Jones back to have a shot at the Pac 12 title or the final four. The group we put out there tonight is very good but may not have enough depth against some of the rough teams that are coming up.