01-20-2013, 08:44 PM
Chiney had a monster second half, totaling 29 points (23 in the second half) and 16 rebounds, to put the University of Spoiled Children away. But her success in the second half is deceptive in two ways.Â
First, the offense was much more balanced overall in the first half than Chiney's 29 overall points suggest. At almost the end of the first half Stanford had built a 13 point lead but Chiney had only 4 points. Instead, the scoring was much more evenly distributed and Sara, Amber, and Joslyn had more than done their parts.Â
Second, the game was close because of our defensive breakdowns in the second half. Chiney's offensive game bailed us out--it was needed because our defense took a vacation. We gave up 20 points in the first half and 46 in the second, with our opponents closing to an uncomfortable 5 point deficit with just under two minutes left. We held SC in the first half to 33% shooting, but they heated up to 57% in the second half. Finally, in the last two minutes, it took Chiney and Amber to each make a basket and some free throws to ice the game. There were some tense moments in the second half as we saw our 19 point lead whittled away.
Sara started again today, and Tara said afterwords that she thought she had had a good game. She had 13 points on 6/12 shooting. She was 1/5 from three. She took a lot of open threes that she missed, but she also had some drives to the basket that worked well, and the usual number of hustle plays and physical defense that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. For example, she took a great charge but it wasn't called a charge. I'm beginning to think she has Jeanette's mentality--and what we need more of is mental toughness on this team.
Joslyn's three point shooting has certainly heated up. She made 3/3 treys and 15 points overall. (That puts her at 7/7 treys for this weekend!) She also showed a little more willingness to score from under the basket, and made a couple and missed a couple from point blank, including a put back off of Chiney's miss. But Joslyn deserves credit for 4 assists--the most on the team.
Amber has regained her form as a significant offensive threat. She opened up with a made three and scored 13 on 6/9 shooting, something that Tara called out in the meeting after the game.Â
Toni continues to be "our best perimeter defender" said Tara, but she is "saving her shots." She also made a three early, which no doubt helped to open up the SC defense, but was just 1/8 overall. Someone asked why she was icing her neck, and Tara said "I think she just does that to cool down." Hmmm.Â
As a team we had 14 assists, which is a whole lot better than we have been doing until recently. We did have 13 turnovers. SC pressed quite often and it did cause one turnover that I noticed, but we are becoming better at breaking the press and scored several easy baskets off of it--one with Sara streaking back door to receive a long pass.
Still, the game was probably won with rebounds. We had 41 to their 25. SC is certainly not Cal when it comes to rebounding. For example, once Joslyn's miss was put back by Chiney, and once Chiney's miss was put back by Joslyn--it brought back memories of the Ogwumike sisters last year.Â
The crowd (3800) was much more boisterous today. There were hundreds of school children--mostly young girls who had been practicing their shrieking-- and it was deafening at times. Beautiful national anthem sung by the Pennisula Women's Chorus. The band was smallish and got started late, but seemed to be playing in key more than usual.Â
Officiating was considerably better than we have had in some recent games. There were, however, a few wrong calls and the crowd let them know about it. Once they reversed themselves appropriately when it became clear that an out of bounds ball hit an SC player who was out of bounds on the floor before touching the floor. Most importantly, they did not allow the professional wrestling that typified the two Cal games. Tara commented after the game how much she appreciated this style of officiating---that the last several games had not been basketball but football/rugby/hockey. When the officials allow the game to become that physical, she said, a player like Bonnie has no chance. That is why players like Ruef and James have been so useful she noted--they have been in the weight room and have the physical ability to enter the wrestling pit. I took her remarks to indicate that players like Bonnie and Erica Payne would need to put on some muscle if they want to be able to play consistently in such a physical game.
Before this weekend I said that this was a make-or-break time for the team. Well, we won both games, are getting our three point shot back, have diversified our scoring, and have a new starter. All these things are very positive signs and I think we squeak by with a "make" instead of a "break."
That said, it is still apparent that we have significant weaknesses. USC pretty convincingly beat us in the second half of this game, and there is no reason why they should not be expected to play that well for both halves now that they have this experience. If they had, they would have scored 92 points! So the road trip to UCLA and USC will be a dangerous time for us--if our three point shooting goes stone cold again, or if Chiney gets into foul trouble, or if our defense collapses again--then things could fall apart in LA. Coaching this team must be a bigger challenge for Tara than any other team she has had for quite some time. We have stopped the bleeding and are beginning to heal. Will there be enough time to improve sufficiently this year for another run at the final four? We shall soon see.
First, the offense was much more balanced overall in the first half than Chiney's 29 overall points suggest. At almost the end of the first half Stanford had built a 13 point lead but Chiney had only 4 points. Instead, the scoring was much more evenly distributed and Sara, Amber, and Joslyn had more than done their parts.Â
Second, the game was close because of our defensive breakdowns in the second half. Chiney's offensive game bailed us out--it was needed because our defense took a vacation. We gave up 20 points in the first half and 46 in the second, with our opponents closing to an uncomfortable 5 point deficit with just under two minutes left. We held SC in the first half to 33% shooting, but they heated up to 57% in the second half. Finally, in the last two minutes, it took Chiney and Amber to each make a basket and some free throws to ice the game. There were some tense moments in the second half as we saw our 19 point lead whittled away.
Sara started again today, and Tara said afterwords that she thought she had had a good game. She had 13 points on 6/12 shooting. She was 1/5 from three. She took a lot of open threes that she missed, but she also had some drives to the basket that worked well, and the usual number of hustle plays and physical defense that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. For example, she took a great charge but it wasn't called a charge. I'm beginning to think she has Jeanette's mentality--and what we need more of is mental toughness on this team.
Joslyn's three point shooting has certainly heated up. She made 3/3 treys and 15 points overall. (That puts her at 7/7 treys for this weekend!) She also showed a little more willingness to score from under the basket, and made a couple and missed a couple from point blank, including a put back off of Chiney's miss. But Joslyn deserves credit for 4 assists--the most on the team.
Amber has regained her form as a significant offensive threat. She opened up with a made three and scored 13 on 6/9 shooting, something that Tara called out in the meeting after the game.Â
Toni continues to be "our best perimeter defender" said Tara, but she is "saving her shots." She also made a three early, which no doubt helped to open up the SC defense, but was just 1/8 overall. Someone asked why she was icing her neck, and Tara said "I think she just does that to cool down." Hmmm.Â
As a team we had 14 assists, which is a whole lot better than we have been doing until recently. We did have 13 turnovers. SC pressed quite often and it did cause one turnover that I noticed, but we are becoming better at breaking the press and scored several easy baskets off of it--one with Sara streaking back door to receive a long pass.
Still, the game was probably won with rebounds. We had 41 to their 25. SC is certainly not Cal when it comes to rebounding. For example, once Joslyn's miss was put back by Chiney, and once Chiney's miss was put back by Joslyn--it brought back memories of the Ogwumike sisters last year.Â
The crowd (3800) was much more boisterous today. There were hundreds of school children--mostly young girls who had been practicing their shrieking-- and it was deafening at times. Beautiful national anthem sung by the Pennisula Women's Chorus. The band was smallish and got started late, but seemed to be playing in key more than usual.Â
Officiating was considerably better than we have had in some recent games. There were, however, a few wrong calls and the crowd let them know about it. Once they reversed themselves appropriately when it became clear that an out of bounds ball hit an SC player who was out of bounds on the floor before touching the floor. Most importantly, they did not allow the professional wrestling that typified the two Cal games. Tara commented after the game how much she appreciated this style of officiating---that the last several games had not been basketball but football/rugby/hockey. When the officials allow the game to become that physical, she said, a player like Bonnie has no chance. That is why players like Ruef and James have been so useful she noted--they have been in the weight room and have the physical ability to enter the wrestling pit. I took her remarks to indicate that players like Bonnie and Erica Payne would need to put on some muscle if they want to be able to play consistently in such a physical game.
Before this weekend I said that this was a make-or-break time for the team. Well, we won both games, are getting our three point shot back, have diversified our scoring, and have a new starter. All these things are very positive signs and I think we squeak by with a "make" instead of a "break."
That said, it is still apparent that we have significant weaknesses. USC pretty convincingly beat us in the second half of this game, and there is no reason why they should not be expected to play that well for both halves now that they have this experience. If they had, they would have scored 92 points! So the road trip to UCLA and USC will be a dangerous time for us--if our three point shooting goes stone cold again, or if Chiney gets into foul trouble, or if our defense collapses again--then things could fall apart in LA. Coaching this team must be a bigger challenge for Tara than any other team she has had for quite some time. We have stopped the bleeding and are beginning to heal. Will there be enough time to improve sufficiently this year for another run at the final four? We shall soon see.
