In November, Diamond Miller was out with a knee issue, and Katie Benzan and Faith Masonius stayed home with illnesses. Masonius is one of their leaders off the bench with 22 mpg. Benzan is their three point specialist. Miller is probably their most talented player, although her season has been made very inconsistent with injuries. Lately she has been terrific.
Tara took full advantage. Maryland had only 7 players dressed for the game. (They have only 10 on their roster.) We played 14, although the starting five all had over 20 minutes. Our strategy was to run at every opportunity until the legs fell off the Maryland 7.
Brink was sick right before the game and so Jump got the start and had a terrific game. Apparently Brink felt well enough to give a few minutes later. I remembered her scratching as a starter but did not remember her coming back in. It must not have been a communicable illness.
However you look at it, that game was a very long time ago, a different cast of characters will be involved, and both teams have improved. As Tara said yesterday, looking forward, "Let's see who has improved more." If we play as well as we did in the second half against Kansas, then Maryland will not be a problem. But we can't always dial-up a 36 point performance from a star. We will keep needing performances like Lexie's from someone or another--or maybe 2 excellent performances offensively for a couple of others, or a trio of very good performances. I suspect Maryland will score more it did in November, so we had better, too.
Tara took full advantage. Maryland had only 7 players dressed for the game. (They have only 10 on their roster.) We played 14, although the starting five all had over 20 minutes. Our strategy was to run at every opportunity until the legs fell off the Maryland 7.
Brink was sick right before the game and so Jump got the start and had a terrific game. Apparently Brink felt well enough to give a few minutes later. I remembered her scratching as a starter but did not remember her coming back in. It must not have been a communicable illness.
However you look at it, that game was a very long time ago, a different cast of characters will be involved, and both teams have improved. As Tara said yesterday, looking forward, "Let's see who has improved more." If we play as well as we did in the second half against Kansas, then Maryland will not be a problem. But we can't always dial-up a 36 point performance from a star. We will keep needing performances like Lexie's from someone or another--or maybe 2 excellent performances offensively for a couple of others, or a trio of very good performances. I suspect Maryland will score more it did in November, so we had better, too.