Preview:
In another triumph of scheduling, on Sunday Women's soccer starts against Penn State at 1pm, and Women's basketball starts against Buffalo at 2pm. Buffalo is a good team--perhaps not as polished as Gonzaga, but they were 4-0 until coming west to play SJSU and us. Thursday they unexpectedly lost to SJSU, but only after dominating the first half and having one player go 8/16 from three point range. Last year they played us very tight and close using a quick 3-2 zone that stymied our offense for everyone not named Alanna. Our three point shooting was awful. They focused their defense on Dijonai who was coming off a great Tennessee game. A repeat performance like last year--given we don't yet have the inside offense to replace Alanna's--and we could lose this game. Buffalo graduated its star and best player from a year ago, but has incoming freshman Dyaisha Fair, who is starting, playing 37 minutes, averaging 26 points, and shooting 40% of her treys. She is the one with the 8 treys against SJSU. This team is every bit as good as the Buffalo team that could have beaten us last year. We will need superb perimeter defense and a big inside game from one of our freshmen. Perhaps this is an opportunity for Anna Wilson to work her defensive magic against Dyaisha Fair.
Last year's write up:
https://thecardboard.org/board/showthrea...ht=buffalo
Overview:
Buffalo is a good team with an amazing frosh player, and they kept the game tight until midway through the 3rd quarter. Then Lexie sparked a 10-0 run to provide some breathing room. Lexie's 21 points and Prechtel's 17-10 double-double keyed our offense.
Before the Game:
We learned that Buffalo plays a quick 3-2 zone, which is incidentally the same defense that Oregon plays, and we had been practicing all week to attack it. The weakness in the 3-2 zone are three point shots from the corners (baseline.) Once the game started we saw the team attempt mightily to execute the gameplan, passing crisply to launch treys from the corners whenever possible.
Flow of the Game:
We had 9 turnovers in the first half and began the game with quite mediocre three point shooting and free throw shooting. Our weakest link, though, was giving up a whopping 21 offensive rebounds to Buffalo. Those factors kept Buffalo within striking distance for more than half the game, even though we had 10 blocks to their 0 and shot 51% to their 38%. Every time we pulled away a little they would come back, and we were up only 35-32 at the half. Defending Fair was very difficult--Williams could not seem to keep Fair in front of her, and Fair had uncanny accuracy whether bombing treys or driving on the basket.
Williams hit a 3 pointer to lead off the third quarter, followed by a trey from Lexie, and I began to think the worst was behind us. But Fair stole the ball for a fast break layup, and they followed up with another layup off an offensive rebound to close the margin to 3 at 5:24. Prechtel, Lexie, and Jump combined to give us a 10-0 spurt, and by the end of the quarter we were up 63-52.
In the fourth quarter our depth showed, and the double digit lead held up and widened to 19 points. Moschkau was 2/2 from three point range during that stretch. When Buffalo closed to within 10 Lexie came back into the game to stabilize the situation. We won by 19 but it was a much closer game most of the way.
Performances:
Lexie is turning into our best player. She played some good defense--frequently on Fair--and led scoring at the other end with 21 points including 4/11 from three point range. She also dished 3 assists. After she picked up her second foul in the 2nd quarter and had to leave the game, we struggled to score.
The absence of a fully healthy, experienced post has allowed Prechtel to blossom. Not only did she score 17 and snag 10 rebounds, she also dished 3 assists and had 2 blocks. The Buffalo posts went around her in the paint a couple too many times, but Prechtel's offense is quite good. She cleaned up a couple of three point misses and converted, and she does not appear to miss any bunnies. It is a markedly more polished offensive presence compared with the performances of any other freshman post I have seen since Chiney.
Just like the Gonzaga game, Williams had only 2 points in the first half, but came alive in the second with 12. No matter what she does on offense, Tara leaves her in--she is the only player who consistently plays in the high 30 minutes. She had 7 assists to 1 turnover.
Haley Jones played 26 minutes, was 4/6 for 10 points, had 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. She fills up a stat line.
Hannah Jump came in and hit 3 treys. Estella Moschkau came in and hit 2 treys. These were all important to breaking the zone.
Carrington played 16 minutes and went 2/8 with 6 rebounds. After the game Tara noted that Carrington's off season surgery had prevented her from practicing all summer, and she was still getting back into form. Everyone else had a head start. "But she will be there when we need her."
Jerome and Fingall each played about 15 minutes, each made 1 basket, Jerome had 6 rebounds and Fingall had 3 blocks.
Brown, Wilson, Lacie, and Belibi all played in the single digits.
Conclusion:
I think Gonzaga and Buffalo were probably good games to play to get prepared for a very tough tournament in Canada. After our first game, we can expect to play Syracuse, whose speedy little guard Kiara Lewis just hung 23 on Oregon in a game that they played even for 3/4 quarters. And if we reach the finals it would probably be Mississippi State, the #2 team in the computer rankings (Massey.) We have a big challenge around the corner and the freshmen are going to have to grow up fast, given that Fingall and Carrington are still getting back into shape after injuries, and given that Dodson may or may not be available.
In another triumph of scheduling, on Sunday Women's soccer starts against Penn State at 1pm, and Women's basketball starts against Buffalo at 2pm. Buffalo is a good team--perhaps not as polished as Gonzaga, but they were 4-0 until coming west to play SJSU and us. Thursday they unexpectedly lost to SJSU, but only after dominating the first half and having one player go 8/16 from three point range. Last year they played us very tight and close using a quick 3-2 zone that stymied our offense for everyone not named Alanna. Our three point shooting was awful. They focused their defense on Dijonai who was coming off a great Tennessee game. A repeat performance like last year--given we don't yet have the inside offense to replace Alanna's--and we could lose this game. Buffalo graduated its star and best player from a year ago, but has incoming freshman Dyaisha Fair, who is starting, playing 37 minutes, averaging 26 points, and shooting 40% of her treys. She is the one with the 8 treys against SJSU. This team is every bit as good as the Buffalo team that could have beaten us last year. We will need superb perimeter defense and a big inside game from one of our freshmen. Perhaps this is an opportunity for Anna Wilson to work her defensive magic against Dyaisha Fair.
Last year's write up:
https://thecardboard.org/board/showthrea...ht=buffalo
Overview:
Buffalo is a good team with an amazing frosh player, and they kept the game tight until midway through the 3rd quarter. Then Lexie sparked a 10-0 run to provide some breathing room. Lexie's 21 points and Prechtel's 17-10 double-double keyed our offense.
Before the Game:
We learned that Buffalo plays a quick 3-2 zone, which is incidentally the same defense that Oregon plays, and we had been practicing all week to attack it. The weakness in the 3-2 zone are three point shots from the corners (baseline.) Once the game started we saw the team attempt mightily to execute the gameplan, passing crisply to launch treys from the corners whenever possible.
Flow of the Game:
We had 9 turnovers in the first half and began the game with quite mediocre three point shooting and free throw shooting. Our weakest link, though, was giving up a whopping 21 offensive rebounds to Buffalo. Those factors kept Buffalo within striking distance for more than half the game, even though we had 10 blocks to their 0 and shot 51% to their 38%. Every time we pulled away a little they would come back, and we were up only 35-32 at the half. Defending Fair was very difficult--Williams could not seem to keep Fair in front of her, and Fair had uncanny accuracy whether bombing treys or driving on the basket.
Williams hit a 3 pointer to lead off the third quarter, followed by a trey from Lexie, and I began to think the worst was behind us. But Fair stole the ball for a fast break layup, and they followed up with another layup off an offensive rebound to close the margin to 3 at 5:24. Prechtel, Lexie, and Jump combined to give us a 10-0 spurt, and by the end of the quarter we were up 63-52.
In the fourth quarter our depth showed, and the double digit lead held up and widened to 19 points. Moschkau was 2/2 from three point range during that stretch. When Buffalo closed to within 10 Lexie came back into the game to stabilize the situation. We won by 19 but it was a much closer game most of the way.
Performances:
Lexie is turning into our best player. She played some good defense--frequently on Fair--and led scoring at the other end with 21 points including 4/11 from three point range. She also dished 3 assists. After she picked up her second foul in the 2nd quarter and had to leave the game, we struggled to score.
The absence of a fully healthy, experienced post has allowed Prechtel to blossom. Not only did she score 17 and snag 10 rebounds, she also dished 3 assists and had 2 blocks. The Buffalo posts went around her in the paint a couple too many times, but Prechtel's offense is quite good. She cleaned up a couple of three point misses and converted, and she does not appear to miss any bunnies. It is a markedly more polished offensive presence compared with the performances of any other freshman post I have seen since Chiney.
Just like the Gonzaga game, Williams had only 2 points in the first half, but came alive in the second with 12. No matter what she does on offense, Tara leaves her in--she is the only player who consistently plays in the high 30 minutes. She had 7 assists to 1 turnover.
Haley Jones played 26 minutes, was 4/6 for 10 points, had 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. She fills up a stat line.
Hannah Jump came in and hit 3 treys. Estella Moschkau came in and hit 2 treys. These were all important to breaking the zone.
Carrington played 16 minutes and went 2/8 with 6 rebounds. After the game Tara noted that Carrington's off season surgery had prevented her from practicing all summer, and she was still getting back into form. Everyone else had a head start. "But she will be there when we need her."
Jerome and Fingall each played about 15 minutes, each made 1 basket, Jerome had 6 rebounds and Fingall had 3 blocks.
Brown, Wilson, Lacie, and Belibi all played in the single digits.
Conclusion:
I think Gonzaga and Buffalo were probably good games to play to get prepared for a very tough tournament in Canada. After our first game, we can expect to play Syracuse, whose speedy little guard Kiara Lewis just hung 23 on Oregon in a game that they played even for 3/4 quarters. And if we reach the finals it would probably be Mississippi State, the #2 team in the computer rankings (Massey.) We have a big challenge around the corner and the freshmen are going to have to grow up fast, given that Fingall and Carrington are still getting back into shape after injuries, and given that Dodson may or may not be available.
