02-12-2012, 04:40 PM
Game was a lot closer than the final score makes it appear. UCLA led with 5 minutes left in the first half, Stanford had both Chiney and Toni on the bench with 2 early fouls apiece, and Nneka had started the game 1-7 from the field.
But the Bruins' own foul trouble and fatigue, compounded by their extremely short bench, let Stanford blow the game open a few minutes into the second half, leading to the deceptive final score.
The first half UCLA employed an aggressive 2-3 zone, and Stanford as usual had a tough time adjusting. It bottled up Nneka, and Chiney was called for two early fouls, the second a silly reach-in that led to an and-1 opportunity for the Bruins' only real outside shooting threat, Thea Limburger. Stanford was generally about 3-5 points in the lead, but Stanford was turning the ball over on the perimeter far too often, leading to run-out opportunities for the Bruins. The Cardinal, meanwhile, had no offensive rhythm to speak of, harassed by the physical zone they were facing, and the breaks seemed to be falling the Bruins' way: Nneka had a wonderful block against against their starting post Costa, but the block fell directly to Rebekah Gardiner for an easy 10-foot unguarded jumpshot.
Things got worse when Toni picked up her second foul trying to defend against a transition opportunity that came off her missing a 3-pointer, leading to UCLA converting 2 FTs for a 24-23 lead. For some reason, Tara didn't immediately reinsert Amber, instead going with Lindy at the point. Lindy came down and instead of staying up to, fed the ball into Nneka and then went to the wing. Nneka tried to dribble back out to the perimeter, got her pocket picked, and Lindy fouled Limberger heading the other way. While she did have a great pass to Nneka for a transition bucket, she also dribbled into two bad traps and turned the ball over, prompting Tara to bring back in Orrange with the score 28-27 Bruins and about 4 minutes left.
Over the last four minutes, Stanford finally got some positive momentum. Nneka started to heat up inside, helped by nice feeds from Amber and Lindy, and Erica Payne, seeing some early playing time, had a nice rebound and putback off a missed three, and brought some good energy. UCLA, meanwhile, stalled, only getting 2 FTs from their star Markel Walker, who then went to the bench dinged up by the foul, taking the entirety of the Bruins' offense with her. Stanford closed the half outscoring the Bruins 8-2 to take a 35-30 lead into the locker room.
The announcers were predicting a Stanford second half surge, as they have made a habit of coming out and pushing leads out early after the break. In this game, however, the Bruins managed to hold it off for a while, especially when Toni picked up a silly third foul early in the half. Gardiner and Walker kept them in it, but the Ogwumikes were at an all-out sprint every time the ball transitioned, leading to early and secondary break opportunities for easy finishes. And when Stanford started to pass Ogwumike to Ogwumike from the top of the key to a baseline cutter for an easy look, you thought the Bruins might fold.
But they rallied one last time, trimming a 13 point lead to 7 off of three consecutive Stanford turnovers on the perimeter. That was really their last bit of energy, however. Chiney converted two FTs, then Toni had a signature play. With UCLA pressing forward, Nneka led her down the sideline. Toni ran the ball down, took contact from her defender and kept going to the bucket, taking the foul and converting the and-1 opportunity. Then came two absolute dagger 3s by Greenfield, first on a nice stepback in the right corner then off a secondary transition feed from Lindy for an open look in the left corner, and a 7 point lead was suddenly 18. And you could see the air come out of the Bruins. When on a couple of trips later Greenfield faked the three then fired a bullet into Chiney for a layup, Stanford had a 20 point lead, and the game was essentially over.
You may have noticed I've not mentioned Missy Barlow's name once. The officiating was a bit uneven, but there were no real controversial calls; some banging was let go, other instances weren't. But Missy couldn't leave well enough alone, although at least this time it didn't have an impact on the game. Just under four minutes left, Nneka has the ball after a defensive rebound, and is waiting for Amber to come by and pick up the ball. She turns to hand the ball off just as Gardiner runs into the both of them, and Missy whistles the foul... against Nneka. I literally laughed, it was so typically Missy.
In any case, a solid win over a team that is going to be really good next year (when they get Jasmine Dixon and other injured players back and have a good group of incoming guard recruits). Good points: rallying from a rough start, raising the energy level to match an opponent, and eventually wearing them down, leading to an outstanding shooting second half (15-20, 75% as a team - that's nutty goodness right there). Gameball to Nneka for her 25 and 8, rallying from the 1-7 start to finish 8-16 and 9-10 from the line, and really keeping an even keel throughout adversity. Strong secondary consideration for Jos, who from opening tip filled whatever role the team needed and finished with 10 points and 9 boards. Also, Amber for getting into the lane and hitting that nice pull-up jumper of hers on a couple occasions, and Taylor for her dagger threes.
The bad: way too many turnovers, and not enough of them forced by the Bruins' defense; even Taylor had more TOs than assists today. Too many telegraphed late passes on the perimeter leading to transition opportunities; UCLA is offensively challenged enough that they had real trouble scoring against a set half-court defense, shooting in the low 30s for much of the game. I really wish Lindy would've driven a bit against the zone, but she settled for 1 three point attempt for the game; we need some offensive threat from her, or other teams really should start doing to her what she's been doing to other shooting-challenged guards - dropping into the middle and helping out inside, as she did today off of Williams and Rebekah Gardner. The ill-fated run at PG didn't help. Toni continuing her maturation as the team's PG by not giving up easy and early fouls and putting herself on the bench; not saying it's a common occurrence, but today it really hurt for a while.
In any case, who would have thought that one of the biggest games of the season would be at Oregon State on Thursday? And the importance of today's win was underscored by Notre Dame losing 65-63 at home to West Virginia, despite Skylar Diggins' 32 points. WVU, for reference, has a very similar profile to UCLA, #54 in RPI to UCLA's 49. having beaten the Bruins earlier this season on a neutral court by 9.
The Beavers, meanwhile, have won 6 in a row for the first time in years, I would bet, and stand 1 game behind Kal in third place in the Pac-12. Scott Rueck has really done a great job with them, and it will be interesting to see what Stanford learned from their first meeting, when they only won by 7 in a game that I thought OSU gave up on far too early, trailing by single-digits late but not fouling or trying to extend the game.
VG
But the Bruins' own foul trouble and fatigue, compounded by their extremely short bench, let Stanford blow the game open a few minutes into the second half, leading to the deceptive final score.
The first half UCLA employed an aggressive 2-3 zone, and Stanford as usual had a tough time adjusting. It bottled up Nneka, and Chiney was called for two early fouls, the second a silly reach-in that led to an and-1 opportunity for the Bruins' only real outside shooting threat, Thea Limburger. Stanford was generally about 3-5 points in the lead, but Stanford was turning the ball over on the perimeter far too often, leading to run-out opportunities for the Bruins. The Cardinal, meanwhile, had no offensive rhythm to speak of, harassed by the physical zone they were facing, and the breaks seemed to be falling the Bruins' way: Nneka had a wonderful block against against their starting post Costa, but the block fell directly to Rebekah Gardiner for an easy 10-foot unguarded jumpshot.
Things got worse when Toni picked up her second foul trying to defend against a transition opportunity that came off her missing a 3-pointer, leading to UCLA converting 2 FTs for a 24-23 lead. For some reason, Tara didn't immediately reinsert Amber, instead going with Lindy at the point. Lindy came down and instead of staying up to, fed the ball into Nneka and then went to the wing. Nneka tried to dribble back out to the perimeter, got her pocket picked, and Lindy fouled Limberger heading the other way. While she did have a great pass to Nneka for a transition bucket, she also dribbled into two bad traps and turned the ball over, prompting Tara to bring back in Orrange with the score 28-27 Bruins and about 4 minutes left.
Over the last four minutes, Stanford finally got some positive momentum. Nneka started to heat up inside, helped by nice feeds from Amber and Lindy, and Erica Payne, seeing some early playing time, had a nice rebound and putback off a missed three, and brought some good energy. UCLA, meanwhile, stalled, only getting 2 FTs from their star Markel Walker, who then went to the bench dinged up by the foul, taking the entirety of the Bruins' offense with her. Stanford closed the half outscoring the Bruins 8-2 to take a 35-30 lead into the locker room.
The announcers were predicting a Stanford second half surge, as they have made a habit of coming out and pushing leads out early after the break. In this game, however, the Bruins managed to hold it off for a while, especially when Toni picked up a silly third foul early in the half. Gardiner and Walker kept them in it, but the Ogwumikes were at an all-out sprint every time the ball transitioned, leading to early and secondary break opportunities for easy finishes. And when Stanford started to pass Ogwumike to Ogwumike from the top of the key to a baseline cutter for an easy look, you thought the Bruins might fold.
But they rallied one last time, trimming a 13 point lead to 7 off of three consecutive Stanford turnovers on the perimeter. That was really their last bit of energy, however. Chiney converted two FTs, then Toni had a signature play. With UCLA pressing forward, Nneka led her down the sideline. Toni ran the ball down, took contact from her defender and kept going to the bucket, taking the foul and converting the and-1 opportunity. Then came two absolute dagger 3s by Greenfield, first on a nice stepback in the right corner then off a secondary transition feed from Lindy for an open look in the left corner, and a 7 point lead was suddenly 18. And you could see the air come out of the Bruins. When on a couple of trips later Greenfield faked the three then fired a bullet into Chiney for a layup, Stanford had a 20 point lead, and the game was essentially over.
You may have noticed I've not mentioned Missy Barlow's name once. The officiating was a bit uneven, but there were no real controversial calls; some banging was let go, other instances weren't. But Missy couldn't leave well enough alone, although at least this time it didn't have an impact on the game. Just under four minutes left, Nneka has the ball after a defensive rebound, and is waiting for Amber to come by and pick up the ball. She turns to hand the ball off just as Gardiner runs into the both of them, and Missy whistles the foul... against Nneka. I literally laughed, it was so typically Missy.
In any case, a solid win over a team that is going to be really good next year (when they get Jasmine Dixon and other injured players back and have a good group of incoming guard recruits). Good points: rallying from a rough start, raising the energy level to match an opponent, and eventually wearing them down, leading to an outstanding shooting second half (15-20, 75% as a team - that's nutty goodness right there). Gameball to Nneka for her 25 and 8, rallying from the 1-7 start to finish 8-16 and 9-10 from the line, and really keeping an even keel throughout adversity. Strong secondary consideration for Jos, who from opening tip filled whatever role the team needed and finished with 10 points and 9 boards. Also, Amber for getting into the lane and hitting that nice pull-up jumper of hers on a couple occasions, and Taylor for her dagger threes.
The bad: way too many turnovers, and not enough of them forced by the Bruins' defense; even Taylor had more TOs than assists today. Too many telegraphed late passes on the perimeter leading to transition opportunities; UCLA is offensively challenged enough that they had real trouble scoring against a set half-court defense, shooting in the low 30s for much of the game. I really wish Lindy would've driven a bit against the zone, but she settled for 1 three point attempt for the game; we need some offensive threat from her, or other teams really should start doing to her what she's been doing to other shooting-challenged guards - dropping into the middle and helping out inside, as she did today off of Williams and Rebekah Gardner. The ill-fated run at PG didn't help. Toni continuing her maturation as the team's PG by not giving up easy and early fouls and putting herself on the bench; not saying it's a common occurrence, but today it really hurt for a while.
In any case, who would have thought that one of the biggest games of the season would be at Oregon State on Thursday? And the importance of today's win was underscored by Notre Dame losing 65-63 at home to West Virginia, despite Skylar Diggins' 32 points. WVU, for reference, has a very similar profile to UCLA, #54 in RPI to UCLA's 49. having beaten the Bruins earlier this season on a neutral court by 9.
The Beavers, meanwhile, have won 6 in a row for the first time in years, I would bet, and stand 1 game behind Kal in third place in the Pac-12. Scott Rueck has really done a great job with them, and it will be interesting to see what Stanford learned from their first meeting, when they only won by 7 in a game that I thought OSU gave up on far too early, trailing by single-digits late but not fouling or trying to extend the game.
VG