[81alum]

***Halftime Report***

Chiney went out of the first half with 2 fouls, and then Ruef and Amber too.  Even before her fouls, Chiney missed 3/4 free throws and also missed 3/4 baskets.  Bonnie has been doing well with three treys, but otherwise our offense went stagant.  Stanford's bench gave up a 10 point lead.

A troubling first half.

***Final Report***

A thrilling and unlikely win.  Chiney had 3 points and 10 rebounds for the game, making her only basket 45 seconds into the game.  It did not seem to me that she had the energy that we are used to seeing.  Announcers speculated about whether the brutal schedule and time change may have sapped her energy.  I wonder if a virus is sweeping though the ranks.  In any case, this was not the Chiney we are used to seeing, and the team somehow found a way to win in the end.

We trailed for most of the second half, by seven points with 7:20 left.  Amber led our scoring with a career-high 20 points on 9/15 shooting.  As the Bruins doubled and tripled Chiney, there were some lanes open for Amber, and she did a splendid job of exploiting them.

Over the last 7:20 Stanford scoring went like this:  Tinkle made two free throws, Orange made a 2 point jumper, a steal and a layup, two free throws, another  layup, then Ruef made a jumper before fouling out, and finally Amber hit a miraculous 2 point layup amidst the trees.    Walker scored 5 points but it wasn't quite enough--she missed her last attempt which then went out of bounds on Chiney.  The refs determined that there should be .2 seconds left on the clock, which meant by rule that there could be a tip but no catch-and-shoot.  Fortunately nothing came of the inbounds effort and Stanford won.

The defense was furious, and neither side had many assists. 

Ruef was stalwart in defense and scored 8 very necessary points.  My heart sank when she fouled out at the very end.  Bonnie was hot and did splendidly in the first half, but did not play much or shoot much in the second.  I am curious as to why. 

In addition to Chiney's inexplicable game, we nearly lost on account of rebounding.  We were outrebounded 41/33, and UCLA had 19 O-boards to our 9.  Even though Chiney managed 10 rebounds, she was not the vaccum cleaner she has been of late, and no one else had more than 4 rebounds either.  We looked sluggish, and UCLA seemed to get to the rebounds and the loose balls with much more regularity than we did. 

Joslyn continued to look as if she might be under the weather, with little spring in her legs and jumpers that often fell short, going 1/6, but hitting those two critical free throws.

Then how did we win, given this seeming disaster-in-the-making?  We shot 39% compared with their 29%.  Also, while UCLA had a big turnover lead until deep in the second half, we wound up with only a 2 turnover disadvantage in the end.  Somehow we cleaned up our turnovers by the end.

This game was won by Amber and Ruef--especially Amber.  The questions will now begin about Chiney's and Joslyn's health, and whether Toni will make it back for the NCAAs.  In the end, winning a game like this might be a good thing, helping the team to learn about a Chiney-less offense and scrapping, even when exhausted, for a victory.

[81alum]

***Halftime Report***

Chiney went out of the first half with 2 fouls, and then Ruef and Amber too.  Even before her fouls, Chiney missed 3/4 free throws and also missed 3/4 baskets.  Bonnie has been doing well with three treys, but otherwise our offense went stagant.  Stanford's bench gave up a 10 point lead.

A troubling first half.

***Final Report***

A thrilling and unlikely win.  Chiney had 3 points and 10 rebounds for the game, making her only basket 45 seconds into the game.  It did not seem to me that she had the energy that we are used to seeing.  Announcers speculated about whether the brutal schedule and time change may have sapped her energy.  I wonder if a virus is sweeping though the ranks.  In any case, this was not the Chiney we are used to seeing, and the team somehow found a way to win in the end.

We trailed for most of the second half, by seven points with 7:20 left.  Amber led our scoring with a career-high 20 points on 9/15 shooting.  As the Bruins doubled and tripled Chiney, there were some lanes open for Amber, and she did a splendid job of exploiting them.

Over the last 7:20 Stanford scoring went like this:  Tinkle made two free throws, Orange made a 2 point jumper, a steal and a layup, two free throws, another  layup, then Ruef made a jumper before fouling out, and finally Amber hit a miraculous 2 point layup amidst the trees.    Walker scored 5 points but it wasn't quite enough--she missed her last attempt which then went out of bounds on Chiney.  The refs determined that there should be .2 seconds left on the clock, which meant by rule that there could be a tip but no catch-and-shoot.  Fortunately nothing came of the inbounds effort and Stanford won.

The defense was furious, and neither side had many assists. 

Ruef was stalwart in defense and scored 8 very necessary points.  My heart sank when she fouled out at the very end.  Bonnie was hot and did splendidly in the first half, but did not play much or shoot much in the second.  I am curious as to why. 

In addition to Chiney's inexplicable game, we nearly lost on account of rebounding.  We were outrebounded 41/33, and UCLA had 19 O-boards to our 9.  Even though Chiney managed 10 rebounds, she was not the vaccum cleaner she has been of late, and no one else had more than 4 rebounds either.  We looked sluggish, and UCLA seemed to get to the rebounds and the loose balls with much more regularity than we did. 

Joslyn continued to look as if she might be under the weather, with little spring in her legs and jumpers that often fell short, going 1/6, but hitting those two critical free throws.

Then how did we win, given this seeming disaster-in-the-making?  We shot 39% compared with their 29%.  Also, while UCLA had a big turnover lead until deep in the second half, we wound up with only a 2 turnover disadvantage in the end.  Somehow we cleaned up our turnovers by the end.

This game was won by Amber and Ruef--especially Amber.  The questions will now begin about Chiney's and Joslyn's health, and whether Toni will make it back for the NCAAs.  In the end, winning a game like this might be a good thing, helping the team to learn about a Chiney-less offense and scrapping, even when exhausted, for a victory.