Preview:
Last year San Francisco--coached by former Stanford great Molly Goodenbour--gave us a tough time, leading by 4 at the half. You can see my write-up and thread here:
https://thecardboard.org/board/showthread.php?tid=15096
I think you can already feel the change in our team just by reading that year old thread and comparing it to the transformation we are witnessing with this year's team.
USF was 21-11 and won their conference tournament last year, but for better or worse, this is not the same team we played a year ago. USF has only 5 players returning. Molly has brought in 8 new players--7 of them international--one of them is starting and many of them are getting a lot of minutes. (Total of 9 international players: Finland, Croatia x 3, Latvia, Denmark, Australia, Sweden, Poland.) All that said, this year's USF is a decent team, having beaten Chico in an exhibition and dominating SJSU in their first game. Their win over SJSU showed 5 players in double figures and one guard hitting 4/6 treys.
Overview:
USF surprised us by mainly playing man defense, but we made 15/32 treys. Alanna and Lacie combined to make 4 in a row at the start of the fourth quarter to ice the game.
Flow of the game:
We began by making our first five shots in a row--four of them treys--before our first miss, and led the rest of the game. The game was not as easy as that might make it seem, however. After that first stretch and a 14-4 lead USF figured out how to defend and our shooting cooled off. By halftime we had a 43-31 twelve point lead. In the third quarter USF immediately made a trey and the lead was then down to 9--not the blow out domination we had dished out in the previous two wins.
USF spread it around and had 4 players in double digits. It seemed to me that we had problems defending their surprisingly speedy little guard--after 33 Shannon Powell got going Tara sent DiJonai back in to defend her--more successfully.
Offensively, Kiana was the sparkplug in the third quarter that got us going again. This was a little worrying because she had limped off the court and gone to the locker room earlier, before coming back in. And she limped off a couple more times before she was done for the night. I'm not sure if she reaggravated whatever injury she had in the Davis game, but the limp didn't stop her from being the star of the third quarter.
In the fourth we opened up with the 4 scores described in the overview led by Alanna, and then a lot of bench players got time. I was particularly pleased to see Mikaela Brewer hit a basket and a couple of free throws, and Estella Moschkau drain a three before the end.
Performances:
Kianna led the way despite her limp, with 21 points on 4/6 three point shooting, in 25 minutes. Her makes were pretty much all net, stroked with confidence. She is shooting 61% from three point range on the season so far. She also had 3 assists to 2 turnovers.
Alanna had 18 points in 26 minutes, with 5/8 three point shooting. She rarely got in around the basket, but after she hit 3 treys in a row it didn't seem necessary. She definitely was the stretch 4 tonight. She also had 3 assists and 4 blocks and 7 rebounds.
Maya had 10 points in 19 minutes, on 4/7 shooting. She started slow, missing a couple of disjointed shots, but finished well. Unfortunately she was only 2/5 from the line, but she had 6! assists and 4 blocks to round out an excellent stat line. She looks like a different player to me this year--much more confident and finishing much better than a year ago. Best of all, she kept her fouls down to 2.
DiJonai had 9 points in 18 minutes--which may have been her best offensive game this year so far--she seems to have started the season somewhat slowly. But it is pretty clear that she is our best perimeter defender with Marta out, and Tara put her on USF's hottest guard. She had 5 rebounds, a couple of them most impressive as she outjumped taller players for the ball. Add in 4 assists and it was a good night's work for her.
Nadia had 6 points in 12 minutes. I thought she played reasonably well but she did pick up 3 fouls.
Lacie outscored Lexie tonight, going 2/4 from downtown in 13 minutes of play. Lexie played 25 minutes with 5 points on 1/5 shooting. She filled out a nice stat line with 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Those steals are indicative of her hustle--both she and Lacie hustle on the floor and make things happen.
Jenna Brown played 9 minutes, Anna Wilson played 13. Both had quiet stat lines but neither of them turned the ball over even once.
Conclusion:
USF out rebounded us 39-34, which is a danger sign. On the other hand, we won't lose many games in which we make 15 treys. We shot 51% to their 33%. Our ability to defend very quick guards is a bit in doubt, and our rebounding clearly needs work. But our shooting was superb and this was enough to cover over a few problems. Next up: Ohio State on Sunday 1pm.
Last year San Francisco--coached by former Stanford great Molly Goodenbour--gave us a tough time, leading by 4 at the half. You can see my write-up and thread here:
https://thecardboard.org/board/showthread.php?tid=15096
I think you can already feel the change in our team just by reading that year old thread and comparing it to the transformation we are witnessing with this year's team.
USF was 21-11 and won their conference tournament last year, but for better or worse, this is not the same team we played a year ago. USF has only 5 players returning. Molly has brought in 8 new players--7 of them international--one of them is starting and many of them are getting a lot of minutes. (Total of 9 international players: Finland, Croatia x 3, Latvia, Denmark, Australia, Sweden, Poland.) All that said, this year's USF is a decent team, having beaten Chico in an exhibition and dominating SJSU in their first game. Their win over SJSU showed 5 players in double figures and one guard hitting 4/6 treys.
Overview:
USF surprised us by mainly playing man defense, but we made 15/32 treys. Alanna and Lacie combined to make 4 in a row at the start of the fourth quarter to ice the game.
Flow of the game:
We began by making our first five shots in a row--four of them treys--before our first miss, and led the rest of the game. The game was not as easy as that might make it seem, however. After that first stretch and a 14-4 lead USF figured out how to defend and our shooting cooled off. By halftime we had a 43-31 twelve point lead. In the third quarter USF immediately made a trey and the lead was then down to 9--not the blow out domination we had dished out in the previous two wins.
USF spread it around and had 4 players in double digits. It seemed to me that we had problems defending their surprisingly speedy little guard--after 33 Shannon Powell got going Tara sent DiJonai back in to defend her--more successfully.
Offensively, Kiana was the sparkplug in the third quarter that got us going again. This was a little worrying because she had limped off the court and gone to the locker room earlier, before coming back in. And she limped off a couple more times before she was done for the night. I'm not sure if she reaggravated whatever injury she had in the Davis game, but the limp didn't stop her from being the star of the third quarter.
In the fourth we opened up with the 4 scores described in the overview led by Alanna, and then a lot of bench players got time. I was particularly pleased to see Mikaela Brewer hit a basket and a couple of free throws, and Estella Moschkau drain a three before the end.
Performances:
Kianna led the way despite her limp, with 21 points on 4/6 three point shooting, in 25 minutes. Her makes were pretty much all net, stroked with confidence. She is shooting 61% from three point range on the season so far. She also had 3 assists to 2 turnovers.
Alanna had 18 points in 26 minutes, with 5/8 three point shooting. She rarely got in around the basket, but after she hit 3 treys in a row it didn't seem necessary. She definitely was the stretch 4 tonight. She also had 3 assists and 4 blocks and 7 rebounds.
Maya had 10 points in 19 minutes, on 4/7 shooting. She started slow, missing a couple of disjointed shots, but finished well. Unfortunately she was only 2/5 from the line, but she had 6! assists and 4 blocks to round out an excellent stat line. She looks like a different player to me this year--much more confident and finishing much better than a year ago. Best of all, she kept her fouls down to 2.
DiJonai had 9 points in 18 minutes--which may have been her best offensive game this year so far--she seems to have started the season somewhat slowly. But it is pretty clear that she is our best perimeter defender with Marta out, and Tara put her on USF's hottest guard. She had 5 rebounds, a couple of them most impressive as she outjumped taller players for the ball. Add in 4 assists and it was a good night's work for her.
Nadia had 6 points in 12 minutes. I thought she played reasonably well but she did pick up 3 fouls.
Lacie outscored Lexie tonight, going 2/4 from downtown in 13 minutes of play. Lexie played 25 minutes with 5 points on 1/5 shooting. She filled out a nice stat line with 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Those steals are indicative of her hustle--both she and Lacie hustle on the floor and make things happen.
Jenna Brown played 9 minutes, Anna Wilson played 13. Both had quiet stat lines but neither of them turned the ball over even once.
Conclusion:
USF out rebounded us 39-34, which is a danger sign. On the other hand, we won't lose many games in which we make 15 treys. We shot 51% to their 33%. Our ability to defend very quick guards is a bit in doubt, and our rebounding clearly needs work. But our shooting was superb and this was enough to cover over a few problems. Next up: Ohio State on Sunday 1pm.