11-29-2017, 05:54 PM
Preliminary:
We play in San Francisco, sandwiched between the overtime loss to tOSU and Sunday's game at Baylor. A chance to continue to improve and prepare for what we hope will be a breakthrough game.Â
Overview:
After a dreadful first half, a combination of hot shooting and USF tiring resulted in a second half outburst that carried us from a 4 point deficit to a 20 point win. Significant points: Williams had a breakout game with 5/9 three point shots, Carrington also got back on track with 19 points, and Johnson had 14 rebounds and looked like her freshman self.
Flow of the Game:
Tara started the usual five: Johnson Smith Carrington Romano and Sniezek, and USF came out in a sagging man that looked a lot like the Stanford defense--not surprising given that Molly Goodenbour has replaced Jennifer Azzi as the USF coach. Throughout the first half that sagging man frustrated our offense. Every time Smith got near the paint she was doubled or tripled. Meanwhile our shooting simply was cold and the offense looked disjointed. USF played significantly better in the first quarter and swooshed a few treys, and maintained the lead all the way to halftime. Our offense in the second quarter was dreadful until near the end, but USF's offense also collapsed in the second quarter, leading to the ugliest stretch of basketball this year.
In the second half we simply started hitting shots that were not going in during the first half. Williams, Carrington, and Romano all hit treys at a high percentage in the second half, and Smith went 3/3 from three point range--the USF defensive focus on Smith inside was finally punished in a big way. In fact we hit 15/31 treys for the game for 48.4%. I wonder if that is some sort of record--more than half our points coming from long range. USF had only 8 players and the pace in the first half, with frenetic defense, was taxing, and I think they ran down as the game went along.
Performances:
As a team the second half really helped the overall stats. We shot 28% in the first half and 59% in the second, or 45% overall but 48% from three point range. 9 turnovers in the first half were deadly, but we kept it down to only 4 more in the second.Â
Smith had a double/double with 19 points and 11 rebounds, but she also had 4 fouls and 3 turnovers. Most impressive though was her 3/3 three point shooting. It is so important to see her confidence in that shot grow.
Carrington nabbed 19 points too, but also had 4 fouls and led the team with 4 turnovers, as is her tendency. Despite that her +/- led the team at 25.
Romano had an excellent game, with 13 points on 5/10 shooting. Not only did she get her rainbow shot going for 3/5 from three point range, she showed she can cut to the basket.Â
Sniezek got 21 minutes while Williams got 29. Sniezek scored 5 points on 2/7 shooting, and 3 assists to 2 turnovers.
Williams had a breakout game. She scored 17 on 6/14 shooting, 5/9 from three point range--meaning she was 1/5 from in close. She rounded out a very nice stat line with 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block and 0 turnovers.
Johnson had a good game for her, scoring 6 on 3/5 shooting and hauling in 14 rebounds. She also had 3 blocks and 2 assists with only 2 fouls.Â
Jerome played for 10 minutes, mainly in relief of Smith when she rested with fouls. She was 0/4 but had 2 assists.
Conclusion:
If the last game was Anna Wilson's coming out party, tonight it was Kiana Williams'. It also reminds us of how young this team is--that good shooting and bad shooting are both airborne infectious diseases that the players seem to catch from each other. I do hope with experience will come greater consistency. Why can't every half be like the second half against USF or the second half against UConn? While our second half tonight showed some happy things such as Kiana Williams' potential or a torrent of three pointers--it just doesn't feel to me that things are coming along swiftly enough to avoid some rough losses in the near future. But I continue to be optimistic about our chances for the tournaments at the end of the year.
We play in San Francisco, sandwiched between the overtime loss to tOSU and Sunday's game at Baylor. A chance to continue to improve and prepare for what we hope will be a breakthrough game.Â
Overview:
After a dreadful first half, a combination of hot shooting and USF tiring resulted in a second half outburst that carried us from a 4 point deficit to a 20 point win. Significant points: Williams had a breakout game with 5/9 three point shots, Carrington also got back on track with 19 points, and Johnson had 14 rebounds and looked like her freshman self.
Flow of the Game:
Tara started the usual five: Johnson Smith Carrington Romano and Sniezek, and USF came out in a sagging man that looked a lot like the Stanford defense--not surprising given that Molly Goodenbour has replaced Jennifer Azzi as the USF coach. Throughout the first half that sagging man frustrated our offense. Every time Smith got near the paint she was doubled or tripled. Meanwhile our shooting simply was cold and the offense looked disjointed. USF played significantly better in the first quarter and swooshed a few treys, and maintained the lead all the way to halftime. Our offense in the second quarter was dreadful until near the end, but USF's offense also collapsed in the second quarter, leading to the ugliest stretch of basketball this year.
In the second half we simply started hitting shots that were not going in during the first half. Williams, Carrington, and Romano all hit treys at a high percentage in the second half, and Smith went 3/3 from three point range--the USF defensive focus on Smith inside was finally punished in a big way. In fact we hit 15/31 treys for the game for 48.4%. I wonder if that is some sort of record--more than half our points coming from long range. USF had only 8 players and the pace in the first half, with frenetic defense, was taxing, and I think they ran down as the game went along.
Performances:
As a team the second half really helped the overall stats. We shot 28% in the first half and 59% in the second, or 45% overall but 48% from three point range. 9 turnovers in the first half were deadly, but we kept it down to only 4 more in the second.Â
Smith had a double/double with 19 points and 11 rebounds, but she also had 4 fouls and 3 turnovers. Most impressive though was her 3/3 three point shooting. It is so important to see her confidence in that shot grow.
Carrington nabbed 19 points too, but also had 4 fouls and led the team with 4 turnovers, as is her tendency. Despite that her +/- led the team at 25.
Romano had an excellent game, with 13 points on 5/10 shooting. Not only did she get her rainbow shot going for 3/5 from three point range, she showed she can cut to the basket.Â
Sniezek got 21 minutes while Williams got 29. Sniezek scored 5 points on 2/7 shooting, and 3 assists to 2 turnovers.
Williams had a breakout game. She scored 17 on 6/14 shooting, 5/9 from three point range--meaning she was 1/5 from in close. She rounded out a very nice stat line with 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block and 0 turnovers.
Johnson had a good game for her, scoring 6 on 3/5 shooting and hauling in 14 rebounds. She also had 3 blocks and 2 assists with only 2 fouls.Â
Jerome played for 10 minutes, mainly in relief of Smith when she rested with fouls. She was 0/4 but had 2 assists.
Conclusion:
If the last game was Anna Wilson's coming out party, tonight it was Kiana Williams'. It also reminds us of how young this team is--that good shooting and bad shooting are both airborne infectious diseases that the players seem to catch from each other. I do hope with experience will come greater consistency. Why can't every half be like the second half against USF or the second half against UConn? While our second half tonight showed some happy things such as Kiana Williams' potential or a torrent of three pointers--it just doesn't feel to me that things are coming along swiftly enough to avoid some rough losses in the near future. But I continue to be optimistic about our chances for the tournaments at the end of the year.