01-14-2017, 10:33 PM
Preliminary:
Remember that horrible loss to Santa Clara last year? Well, the coach that inflicted that loss on us was J.R. Payne, who is Colorado's new first year coach, and a former Kelly Graves' player and assistant coach. Colorado is 11-5, and while they beat Arizona, they have lost to UCLA, ASU, C.al and U.SC. Sagarin has them at 60, (Utah is 50, Arizona is 103 for comparison.) Kennedy Leonard, a 5'8" sophomore guard, leads them in scoring at 19ppg and in assists, but she is not their main three point threat. For that, look to 6'1" forward Haley Smith, who shoots 41% of her threes while leading the team in rebounds, blocks, steals, and a variety of other stats.
Overview:
Colorado gave us a scare, leading into the second half, but Karlie and Britt had terrific days and our defense finally found itself in the second half to cool down Colorado's stunning three point shooting. Key stat--by the time the game was over, we had shot 54% and Colorado 36%--after Colorado was shooting better than 50% at halftime.
Flow of the Game:
Colorado came out in a zone, following the standard Stop Stanford playbook. It did not seem to help their defense. Both sides were very hot from three point range. Marta even got in on the act and hit a three. Kaylee replaced Nadia and looked very good on her feet, but still our defense was not able to cool down Colorado's hot shooting. Also concerning was that Bri picked up two quick fouls and had to sit. Our perimeter defense, though, simply was lacking. Colorado shot 53%, including 4/5 on three point attempts, and the quarter closed with Colorado leading 23-20.
The hot shooting continued into the second quarterfun to watch. We were a sizzling 6/12 from three and Colorado was a more amazing 8/13. Britt was still passing up three point shots, once awkwardly pulling it back down and earning a travel. Carrington, on the other hand, was 2/2 from three point range and hit all net. Unfortunately, we helped keep Colorado in the game with a plethora of turnoverswe had 11 turnovers to Colorado's 3 or else the score would have been quite different in the half. Colorado's sophomore guards Robinson and Leonard were draining treys, sometimes from several feet beyond the arc. I doubted that they could sustain that shooting, but even so we were down 41-42 at the half.
There were some very good signs in the first half. Marta took and made a three and also drove right around the lane and scored with a layup. She also had 5 assists. Kaylee, DiJonai, and Alanna all looked good.Â
On the negative side, Britt with three turnovers and a hesitant three point shot looked a little rattled, although she went 2/3. And Nadia once again missed both free throws.
In the third quarter we got a scare. Marta went to the floor and got her head sat upon by a falling Colorado player. This opened a gash over her right eye with quite a bit of visible blood. She exited to the locker room, but she was moving, gesturing, and seemed to show no sign of concussion. Later in the fourth quarter she came back out with stitches and played, and we all breathed sighs of relief
As the third quarter wore on, it was clear that Colorado had gone cold and Karlie and Britt went red hot. Karlie drained three treys in a row. I was pleased to see a couple of them came after she used a screen. But then Brittwho must have read my critique at halftimeshowed the world what she was capable of doing. After assisting Karlie to two of her treys, Britt began running the left baseline and laying it in. She accomplished this three times, punctuated with a jumper and a trey, for an offensive outpouring that helped give us a 9 point lead by the end of the quarter. It was amazing to see her turn around her offensive performance so suddenly and completely.
Like Utah, Colorado seemed to fade in the fourth quarter. Bri opened with a trey, Alanna got minutes playing for Erica and she was effectivehitting four free throws. The final points of the game were from a McCall layup with an assist from Britt, and we just killed clock to ice the game.
Performances:
As a team, we turned the ball over too many times, although this was largely corrected in the second half. And while we out rebounded Colorado by 10, they actually had one more O-board than we did.Â
This was one of Karlie's best games. Not only was she 5/7 from three point range, she also was 5/5 on free throws and had 5 rebounds and a couple of assists as well. Lead scorer with 20.
Tara must have turned on the Britt switch at halftime. After a relatively poor first half, Britt went berserk in the third quarter, winding up 8/11 for 18 points, plus 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Very very nice to see the turnaround.
Erica kept doing what Erica does--despite constant foul trouble. 12 points, 5 rebounds, a couple of blocks, a good all around performance.
Kaylee is looking like she is getting back to form in a way I have not seen since last year. She was 3/5 with some nice offensive moves, sank both her free throws, had 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block. 4 turnovers to match Britt, though.
Alanna again made the most of her limited time. While she was just 1/3, she shot her free throws with great confidence (6/7) and gave valuable minutes while Erica was in foul trouble.
Bri was critical--especially so with Marta out for much of the second half. While she scored just 7 points, she ran the offense and had 3 assists and 0 turnovers. Having 0 turnovers considering how turnover plagued we were in the first half is amazing. She held it together.
Nadia did not do as well, getting just 7 minutes, and going 0/3. Carrington had just 7 minutes but had a fantastic three point stroke, burying two deliberate tries in nothing but net.
Conclusion:
Next weekend we come home for Arizona on Friday and Arizona State on Sunday. I am pleased with the improving situation of our bigs--with Kaylee and Alanna coming into form, and the better offensive output of Marta. And any concerns we may have had about Karlie are obviously vanquished. We will need it all if we are going to paste losses on each of the Arizona schools again.
Remember that horrible loss to Santa Clara last year? Well, the coach that inflicted that loss on us was J.R. Payne, who is Colorado's new first year coach, and a former Kelly Graves' player and assistant coach. Colorado is 11-5, and while they beat Arizona, they have lost to UCLA, ASU, C.al and U.SC. Sagarin has them at 60, (Utah is 50, Arizona is 103 for comparison.) Kennedy Leonard, a 5'8" sophomore guard, leads them in scoring at 19ppg and in assists, but she is not their main three point threat. For that, look to 6'1" forward Haley Smith, who shoots 41% of her threes while leading the team in rebounds, blocks, steals, and a variety of other stats.
Overview:
Colorado gave us a scare, leading into the second half, but Karlie and Britt had terrific days and our defense finally found itself in the second half to cool down Colorado's stunning three point shooting. Key stat--by the time the game was over, we had shot 54% and Colorado 36%--after Colorado was shooting better than 50% at halftime.
Flow of the Game:
Colorado came out in a zone, following the standard Stop Stanford playbook. It did not seem to help their defense. Both sides were very hot from three point range. Marta even got in on the act and hit a three. Kaylee replaced Nadia and looked very good on her feet, but still our defense was not able to cool down Colorado's hot shooting. Also concerning was that Bri picked up two quick fouls and had to sit. Our perimeter defense, though, simply was lacking. Colorado shot 53%, including 4/5 on three point attempts, and the quarter closed with Colorado leading 23-20.
The hot shooting continued into the second quarterfun to watch. We were a sizzling 6/12 from three and Colorado was a more amazing 8/13. Britt was still passing up three point shots, once awkwardly pulling it back down and earning a travel. Carrington, on the other hand, was 2/2 from three point range and hit all net. Unfortunately, we helped keep Colorado in the game with a plethora of turnoverswe had 11 turnovers to Colorado's 3 or else the score would have been quite different in the half. Colorado's sophomore guards Robinson and Leonard were draining treys, sometimes from several feet beyond the arc. I doubted that they could sustain that shooting, but even so we were down 41-42 at the half.
There were some very good signs in the first half. Marta took and made a three and also drove right around the lane and scored with a layup. She also had 5 assists. Kaylee, DiJonai, and Alanna all looked good.Â
On the negative side, Britt with three turnovers and a hesitant three point shot looked a little rattled, although she went 2/3. And Nadia once again missed both free throws.
In the third quarter we got a scare. Marta went to the floor and got her head sat upon by a falling Colorado player. This opened a gash over her right eye with quite a bit of visible blood. She exited to the locker room, but she was moving, gesturing, and seemed to show no sign of concussion. Later in the fourth quarter she came back out with stitches and played, and we all breathed sighs of relief
As the third quarter wore on, it was clear that Colorado had gone cold and Karlie and Britt went red hot. Karlie drained three treys in a row. I was pleased to see a couple of them came after she used a screen. But then Brittwho must have read my critique at halftimeshowed the world what she was capable of doing. After assisting Karlie to two of her treys, Britt began running the left baseline and laying it in. She accomplished this three times, punctuated with a jumper and a trey, for an offensive outpouring that helped give us a 9 point lead by the end of the quarter. It was amazing to see her turn around her offensive performance so suddenly and completely.
Like Utah, Colorado seemed to fade in the fourth quarter. Bri opened with a trey, Alanna got minutes playing for Erica and she was effectivehitting four free throws. The final points of the game were from a McCall layup with an assist from Britt, and we just killed clock to ice the game.
Performances:
As a team, we turned the ball over too many times, although this was largely corrected in the second half. And while we out rebounded Colorado by 10, they actually had one more O-board than we did.Â
This was one of Karlie's best games. Not only was she 5/7 from three point range, she also was 5/5 on free throws and had 5 rebounds and a couple of assists as well. Lead scorer with 20.
Tara must have turned on the Britt switch at halftime. After a relatively poor first half, Britt went berserk in the third quarter, winding up 8/11 for 18 points, plus 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Very very nice to see the turnaround.
Erica kept doing what Erica does--despite constant foul trouble. 12 points, 5 rebounds, a couple of blocks, a good all around performance.
Kaylee is looking like she is getting back to form in a way I have not seen since last year. She was 3/5 with some nice offensive moves, sank both her free throws, had 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block. 4 turnovers to match Britt, though.
Alanna again made the most of her limited time. While she was just 1/3, she shot her free throws with great confidence (6/7) and gave valuable minutes while Erica was in foul trouble.
Bri was critical--especially so with Marta out for much of the second half. While she scored just 7 points, she ran the offense and had 3 assists and 0 turnovers. Having 0 turnovers considering how turnover plagued we were in the first half is amazing. She held it together.
Nadia did not do as well, getting just 7 minutes, and going 0/3. Carrington had just 7 minutes but had a fantastic three point stroke, burying two deliberate tries in nothing but net.
Conclusion:
Next weekend we come home for Arizona on Friday and Arizona State on Sunday. I am pleased with the improving situation of our bigs--with Kaylee and Alanna coming into form, and the better offensive output of Marta. And any concerns we may have had about Karlie are obviously vanquished. We will need it all if we are going to paste losses on each of the Arizona schools again.
