Preview:
After an impressive win at home against Baylor, we could make a major statement nationally if we can beat Tennessee at their home. Tennessee was expected to have a down year after they lost Mercedes Russell and Jaime Nared to graduation, but they are off to an 8-0 start and just beat a good Texas team. In fact, Tennessee almost seems better this year than last. Against Texas, Tennessee's guard Meme Jackson (5'11" Senior) scored 33 and guard Evina Westbrook (6' Sophomore) scored 23. Both were deadly from three point range but also from every other range. If Baylor had elite posts, Tennessee has elite guards. We will soon see if Tara's scouting report defense works as well on the outside as it does on the inside.
Overview:
Stanford has an impressive victory, led by Carrington with a career high 33 points. We shot a scorching 55% from the field and 58% of our three point trys--and even managed to out rebound Tennessee!
Flow of the Game:
We got out to a 15 point lead by late in the 2nd quarter, chiefly on the strength of a highly accurate three point barrage by Williams, Smith, Lacie, and Carrington, along with Carrington taking it to the basket and collecting free throws and layups. Never has the Princeton worked better as Tennessee's aggressive man defense gave up a sprinkling of back door cuts and generally had difficulties with the motion. Tennessee clearly was trying to defend the three point line but with so many viable shooters we seemed to regularly get openings. It certainly helped that we shot 60% from three--something that I am not sure is sustainable for the long run, but which was very nice against Tennessee on their home court. All this while Alanna sat, again, with foul trouble.
The end of the first half and the third quarter were a different story. Tennessee ran a press defense, and while it did not provoke steals, it did seem to discombobulate us, creating some turnovers and using up a lot of time that would have been nice in the Princeton. We wound up with 20 turnovers which will not make Tara happy. Tennessee also nabbed some fast break points, and they scored 20 points in the first five minutes of the 3rd quarter to take the lead. Alanna collected her 3rd foul--this one really was questionable--and the tide could have shifted to orange.
But Stanford has shown it has "grit." Even when losing at Gonzaga this team fought back hard in the 4th. And it did so again today. Layups by Dodson and Hull put a quick end to Tennessee's lead, and the Carrington show continued unabated, as she sank a trey, a layup, another trey, two free throws, another free throw, another layup (on a pretty under the basket assist by Alanna) in the first few minutes of the fourth to give us back an 8 point lead. From that point on Alanna and Maya Dodson began contributing too, and it was enough to stay even and close the game out with a 95-85 win.
Performances:
In addition to scoring 33 points on 11/15 shooting (4/5 from three) Carrington was far and away our best rebounder with 13 D-boards. This career night for her was spectacular to see, especially remembering that last year she went on long scoring droughts. She played 38 minutes.
Also playing 38 minutes was Kianna Williams, who had 16 points on 5/13 shooting, along with 7 assists and 6 turnovers.
Smith also had 16 points on 5/6 shooting in just 21 minutes--she fouled out with about a minute left in the game. She had only 3 rebounds. I suspect that Carrington's rebounding and Alanna's lack may have been by design.
Lacie played 32 minutes and had 14 points on 4/5 three point shooting. It was one of her best all around outings.
Maya Dodson looked terrific in her 32 minutes of play. Her defense was critical, and she had 10 points and 9 rebounds.
Fingall looked solid but was not the offensive threat that she sometimes can be.
Jenna Brown got 9 minutes running point--when was the last season Tara let a freshman run point in a big game? Jenna took it to the basket several times but only got one score to show for it.
As a team, I am in shock that we out rebounded Tennessee--by a lot, 45-31. But that is partly because Tennessee took 75 shots and missed 60% of them, while we took 60 shots and made 55% of them. Our 20 turnovers to their 8 was not at all good--giving Tennessee 17 points off turnovers to our 9. All in all, it is hard to believe that Tennessee is a worse defensive team than Davis, American, Hawaii, etc., and so some credit needs to go to our improving offense, and the fact that unlike last year, we always seem to have five scorers on the floor at a time.
Conclusion:
This team seems to be for real! I hope our three point shooting stays hot, but hopefully we have what it takes to win even when it returns to the mean. Now on to Buffalo. A loss there would spoil all the good we have accumulated--so lets hope they close out the trip strong and return home for the holidays with a successful road trip under their belts.
After an impressive win at home against Baylor, we could make a major statement nationally if we can beat Tennessee at their home. Tennessee was expected to have a down year after they lost Mercedes Russell and Jaime Nared to graduation, but they are off to an 8-0 start and just beat a good Texas team. In fact, Tennessee almost seems better this year than last. Against Texas, Tennessee's guard Meme Jackson (5'11" Senior) scored 33 and guard Evina Westbrook (6' Sophomore) scored 23. Both were deadly from three point range but also from every other range. If Baylor had elite posts, Tennessee has elite guards. We will soon see if Tara's scouting report defense works as well on the outside as it does on the inside.
Overview:
Stanford has an impressive victory, led by Carrington with a career high 33 points. We shot a scorching 55% from the field and 58% of our three point trys--and even managed to out rebound Tennessee!
Flow of the Game:
We got out to a 15 point lead by late in the 2nd quarter, chiefly on the strength of a highly accurate three point barrage by Williams, Smith, Lacie, and Carrington, along with Carrington taking it to the basket and collecting free throws and layups. Never has the Princeton worked better as Tennessee's aggressive man defense gave up a sprinkling of back door cuts and generally had difficulties with the motion. Tennessee clearly was trying to defend the three point line but with so many viable shooters we seemed to regularly get openings. It certainly helped that we shot 60% from three--something that I am not sure is sustainable for the long run, but which was very nice against Tennessee on their home court. All this while Alanna sat, again, with foul trouble.
The end of the first half and the third quarter were a different story. Tennessee ran a press defense, and while it did not provoke steals, it did seem to discombobulate us, creating some turnovers and using up a lot of time that would have been nice in the Princeton. We wound up with 20 turnovers which will not make Tara happy. Tennessee also nabbed some fast break points, and they scored 20 points in the first five minutes of the 3rd quarter to take the lead. Alanna collected her 3rd foul--this one really was questionable--and the tide could have shifted to orange.
But Stanford has shown it has "grit." Even when losing at Gonzaga this team fought back hard in the 4th. And it did so again today. Layups by Dodson and Hull put a quick end to Tennessee's lead, and the Carrington show continued unabated, as she sank a trey, a layup, another trey, two free throws, another free throw, another layup (on a pretty under the basket assist by Alanna) in the first few minutes of the fourth to give us back an 8 point lead. From that point on Alanna and Maya Dodson began contributing too, and it was enough to stay even and close the game out with a 95-85 win.
Performances:
In addition to scoring 33 points on 11/15 shooting (4/5 from three) Carrington was far and away our best rebounder with 13 D-boards. This career night for her was spectacular to see, especially remembering that last year she went on long scoring droughts. She played 38 minutes.
Also playing 38 minutes was Kianna Williams, who had 16 points on 5/13 shooting, along with 7 assists and 6 turnovers.
Smith also had 16 points on 5/6 shooting in just 21 minutes--she fouled out with about a minute left in the game. She had only 3 rebounds. I suspect that Carrington's rebounding and Alanna's lack may have been by design.
Lacie played 32 minutes and had 14 points on 4/5 three point shooting. It was one of her best all around outings.
Maya Dodson looked terrific in her 32 minutes of play. Her defense was critical, and she had 10 points and 9 rebounds.
Fingall looked solid but was not the offensive threat that she sometimes can be.
Jenna Brown got 9 minutes running point--when was the last season Tara let a freshman run point in a big game? Jenna took it to the basket several times but only got one score to show for it.
As a team, I am in shock that we out rebounded Tennessee--by a lot, 45-31. But that is partly because Tennessee took 75 shots and missed 60% of them, while we took 60 shots and made 55% of them. Our 20 turnovers to their 8 was not at all good--giving Tennessee 17 points off turnovers to our 9. All in all, it is hard to believe that Tennessee is a worse defensive team than Davis, American, Hawaii, etc., and so some credit needs to go to our improving offense, and the fact that unlike last year, we always seem to have five scorers on the floor at a time.
Conclusion:
This team seems to be for real! I hope our three point shooting stays hot, but hopefully we have what it takes to win even when it returns to the mean. Now on to Buffalo. A loss there would spoil all the good we have accumulated--so lets hope they close out the trip strong and return home for the holidays with a successful road trip under their belts.
