[81alum]

Stanford was behind by a point at the half, but survived this bludgeoning by scoring 22 points on free throws.  Overall, we shot only 34%, but converted a 4 point deficit to a 9 point lead during the first 10 minutes of the second half.  Perhaps the key play was a steal and a layup by Chiney with 9 minutes left in the game.

In the first half our Chiney-centric offense looked fairly stagnant, and while Chiney got her points, few others were contributing on offense.  Meanwhile, Chuckie Jeffrey looked very hard to stop as she darted to the right and left of our taller players.  It was a defensive battle with the refs letting way too much contact go uncalled.

In the second half, though, other players began to score some.  Amber Orrange wound up with 13 points--mostly with drives and free throws.  Mikaela Ruef showed much more willingness to drive too, and she wound up with 11 points. 

That proved to be enough to open things up some more for Chiney, too.  Chiney finished with 25 points and 19 rebounds, but she was just 9/24.  There were many times when she was obviously whacked or pushed and no foul was called.  But I also get the feeling that Chiney's shot was a little off tonight--it was not all good Colorado defense, but she missed a couple of easy layups and also some not-so-easy shots that she would normally make.

For one reason or another, Tara decided that this game would not involve many three point attempts, and we took just 3 attempts, with Sara making the only trey.  Maybe for this reason Bonnie did not play that much--only two minutes, or maybe they are being cautious about a concussion--but then why play her at all?  Actually, I remember Tara talking earlier this year about games being called too physically, and mentioning that "Bonnie doesn't have a chance in those games."  In that same interview I think she said "but this game was nothing like the Colorado game."  She went on to describe the first Colorado game as the most rugby-like game we played all year, so perhaps this was not a surprise to her.

Joslyn had a rough game.  The reporters said she "had been feeling under the weather" and it showed.  She was just 1/9, and late in the game when Colorado was threatening to cut into our lead she took and missed a jumpshot with ample time left on the shot clock.  Tara was not pleased.  I noticed that much of our run to get the lead back came with Taylor, Ruef, and Chiney as our bigs tonight.  Tinkle got less time than any of the other starters--again, perhaps she was not feeling well.

Tomorrow will be a fascinating game against UCLA, which looked like a completely different team than the one we walloped twice before.  It is a dangerous match up.  UCLA will be completely loose with nothing to lose.  And confident after beating the team that beat us.  They will have a psychological edge.  And they have 4 starters who can certainly match up with us.

[81alum]

Stanford was behind by a point at the half, but survived this bludgeoning by scoring 22 points on free throws.  Overall, we shot only 34%, but converted a 4 point deficit to a 9 point lead during the first 10 minutes of the second half.  Perhaps the key play was a steal and a layup by Chiney with 9 minutes left in the game.

In the first half our Chiney-centric offense looked fairly stagnant, and while Chiney got her points, few others were contributing on offense.  Meanwhile, Chuckie Jeffrey looked very hard to stop as she darted to the right and left of our taller players.  It was a defensive battle with the refs letting way too much contact go uncalled.

In the second half, though, other players began to score some.  Amber Orrange wound up with 13 points--mostly with drives and free throws.  Mikaela Ruef showed much more willingness to drive too, and she wound up with 11 points. 

That proved to be enough to open things up some more for Chiney, too.  Chiney finished with 25 points and 19 rebounds, but she was just 9/24.  There were many times when she was obviously whacked or pushed and no foul was called.  But I also get the feeling that Chiney's shot was a little off tonight--it was not all good Colorado defense, but she missed a couple of easy layups and also some not-so-easy shots that she would normally make.

For one reason or another, Tara decided that this game would not involve many three point attempts, and we took just 3 attempts, with Sara making the only trey.  Maybe for this reason Bonnie did not play that much--only two minutes, or maybe they are being cautious about a concussion--but then why play her at all?  Actually, I remember Tara talking earlier this year about games being called too physically, and mentioning that "Bonnie doesn't have a chance in those games."  In that same interview I think she said "but this game was nothing like the Colorado game."  She went on to describe the first Colorado game as the most rugby-like game we played all year, so perhaps this was not a surprise to her.

Joslyn had a rough game.  The reporters said she "had been feeling under the weather" and it showed.  She was just 1/9, and late in the game when Colorado was threatening to cut into our lead she took and missed a jumpshot with ample time left on the shot clock.  Tara was not pleased.  I noticed that much of our run to get the lead back came with Taylor, Ruef, and Chiney as our bigs tonight.  Tinkle got less time than any of the other starters--again, perhaps she was not feeling well.

Tomorrow will be a fascinating game against UCLA, which looked like a completely different team than the one we walloped twice before.  It is a dangerous match up.  UCLA will be completely loose with nothing to lose.  And confident after beating the team that beat us.  They will have a psychological edge.  And they have 4 starters who can certainly match up with us.