Stanford 88 FGCU 65
Overview:
A career night for Nadia and a superb effort from Dijonai led us over scrappy FGCU, which kept the game close into well into the second half. Our defense against speedy guard still seems suspect to me--FGCU had 10 fast break points to our 0. Foul trouble for Alanna and an injury to Lexie definitely affected our play.
First Quarter:
Starting lineup: Williams Carrington Wilson Fingall Smith with Anna Wilson getting the start in place of Lexie.
Announcer Schwarz noted before the game that Lexie "will be out for a while now." "At least a couple of weeks." A stress reaction in her foot. Very bad news indeed.
FGCU opened with a 2-3 zone and pushed the tempo and got out to a 4 point lead, then it was all Stanford on a 12-0 run with Wilson, Carrington, Fingall and Williams scoring. Then the game slowed in a flurry of fouls and FGCU got its bearings, hit a trey and a three point play, and closed the margin. We began to use our size inside against a team with no player over 6' and pushed the lead out to 21-10. Carrington sank 5/5 free throws in the early going. Alanna, however, rapidly picked up 2 fouls in 4 minutes of play and sat. A 14-4 rebounding advantage helped us secure a 21-12 first quarter, with Carrington and Fingall leading our scoring. Schwarz noted that FGCU all retreats on defense as soon as a three point shot goes up--intentionally forgoing any chance for an O-board in order to get their defense set.
Second Quarter:
The second quarter started badly as we gave up several treys, but Anna Wilson canned a three to stem the bleeding, Dodson made a move from the elbow to the basket, and Wilson made a second trey to get us back to a 31-21 lead. But FGCU was not intimidated, and continued to find ways to drain treys and narrowed the score to 33-29--Anna Wilson and Alanna Smith both sitting with 2 fouls each. Our chief culprit--9 turnovers to FGCU's 2 by midway through the quarter. Fingall kept us in the game going 5/6, and putting back several of her teammates' misses. FGCU closed to within three on yet another trey, but Alexa Romano answered with her own trey to get it back to a 38-32 Stanford lead. Lacy Hull also went out with 2 fouls and our offense continued to be a bit disjointed. The half ended 38-34 after a quarter in which they turned the ball over 6 times and had three players sitting out with fouls.
Not at all a good half defensively, and a mediocre quarter offensively. The turnovers, fouls, and injury to Lexie have somewhat discombobulated us. Fingall had a great half, however, with 11 points and 5 rebound, and Wilson acquitted herself well until she picked up her second foul.
Here is an interesting first have stat--points in the paint: Stanford 16 FGCU 14. Their pack-it-in zone and the absence of Smith have limited our inside game. We have as many threes as they have and scored them more efficiently--but we certainly are not dominating this scrappy team.
Third Quarter
The third quarter opened with the original five and FGCU narrowed it to 39-38 as we opened with cold 0-3 shooting, and to make it worse Alanna picked up her 3rd foul. We actually went to a 2-3 zone. At the other end Carrington took it to the basket for a three point play to recapture a 5 point lead. In fact, by midway through the quarter she was 8/8 free throw shooting. Fingall also was showing a strong offensive force, staking out the shot from the elbow--reminiscent of some of her best games last fall when she developed that shot, going 10/12 shooting for a career high of 22 points through the quarter. But we seemed to be not stopping FGCU on the other end with fast breaks--not getting in front of their drivers cutting to the basket, which is how they racked up points-in-the-paint against a much taller team. Lessons to be learned about controlling speedy guards in the future! We outscored FGCU 29-18 in the third quarter, mainly on the strength of Fingall and Carrington--Fingall with a mid range jumper from the elbow and Carrington with oodles of free throw attempts, leading to a 67-53 lead.
Fourth quarter
Smith was clearly out of sorts in this game. Finally coming back into the game in the 4th she rapidly picked up her 4th foul on an offensive scramble, and Tara decided to leave her in. Finally Kiana, who had been relatively quiet since early in the game, hit a trey and we were up 70-45, and she repeated it a couple of minutes later for a 76-55 lead. According to the announcer, Tara used an aggressive 2-3 trapping zone. Gradually we pulled away. Smith finally got a basket on a feed from Nadia, and Nadia converted yet another basket on an inbounds play for a 23 point lead. Then there were wholesale substitutions and our offense fell off until Moschkau knocked down a three, and the game ended Stanford 88 FGCU 65.
Performances
Nadia went 11/14 for a career high 24 points, to go with 8 rebounds and a whopping 5 assists. The best offensive game of her career.
Dijonai's aggression generate a lot of FGCU fouls. She scored 16 points and 12 of them were from the free throw line on 12/14 free throw shooting. She also had 9 rebounds and 3 assists.
Kiana wound up with 15 points and continued her torrid three point shooting at 5/8.
Anna Wilson and Maya Dodson played will with minutes in the high teens. Alanna's constant foul trouble limited her to 14 minutes and she never got into gear, but her free throw shooting continues to be significantly improved over a year ago--4/5.
Conclusion:
Our offense this year looks quite good against inferior teams. Our defense continues to trouble me. We did hold FGCU to 37% shooting, but they got way too many layups. Our guards just don't seem to be able to stay in front of their marks, which may be why Tara is experimenting with a zone.
Overview:
A career night for Nadia and a superb effort from Dijonai led us over scrappy FGCU, which kept the game close into well into the second half. Our defense against speedy guard still seems suspect to me--FGCU had 10 fast break points to our 0. Foul trouble for Alanna and an injury to Lexie definitely affected our play.
First Quarter:
Starting lineup: Williams Carrington Wilson Fingall Smith with Anna Wilson getting the start in place of Lexie.
Announcer Schwarz noted before the game that Lexie "will be out for a while now." "At least a couple of weeks." A stress reaction in her foot. Very bad news indeed.
FGCU opened with a 2-3 zone and pushed the tempo and got out to a 4 point lead, then it was all Stanford on a 12-0 run with Wilson, Carrington, Fingall and Williams scoring. Then the game slowed in a flurry of fouls and FGCU got its bearings, hit a trey and a three point play, and closed the margin. We began to use our size inside against a team with no player over 6' and pushed the lead out to 21-10. Carrington sank 5/5 free throws in the early going. Alanna, however, rapidly picked up 2 fouls in 4 minutes of play and sat. A 14-4 rebounding advantage helped us secure a 21-12 first quarter, with Carrington and Fingall leading our scoring. Schwarz noted that FGCU all retreats on defense as soon as a three point shot goes up--intentionally forgoing any chance for an O-board in order to get their defense set.
Second Quarter:
The second quarter started badly as we gave up several treys, but Anna Wilson canned a three to stem the bleeding, Dodson made a move from the elbow to the basket, and Wilson made a second trey to get us back to a 31-21 lead. But FGCU was not intimidated, and continued to find ways to drain treys and narrowed the score to 33-29--Anna Wilson and Alanna Smith both sitting with 2 fouls each. Our chief culprit--9 turnovers to FGCU's 2 by midway through the quarter. Fingall kept us in the game going 5/6, and putting back several of her teammates' misses. FGCU closed to within three on yet another trey, but Alexa Romano answered with her own trey to get it back to a 38-32 Stanford lead. Lacy Hull also went out with 2 fouls and our offense continued to be a bit disjointed. The half ended 38-34 after a quarter in which they turned the ball over 6 times and had three players sitting out with fouls.
Not at all a good half defensively, and a mediocre quarter offensively. The turnovers, fouls, and injury to Lexie have somewhat discombobulated us. Fingall had a great half, however, with 11 points and 5 rebound, and Wilson acquitted herself well until she picked up her second foul.
Here is an interesting first have stat--points in the paint: Stanford 16 FGCU 14. Their pack-it-in zone and the absence of Smith have limited our inside game. We have as many threes as they have and scored them more efficiently--but we certainly are not dominating this scrappy team.
Third Quarter
The third quarter opened with the original five and FGCU narrowed it to 39-38 as we opened with cold 0-3 shooting, and to make it worse Alanna picked up her 3rd foul. We actually went to a 2-3 zone. At the other end Carrington took it to the basket for a three point play to recapture a 5 point lead. In fact, by midway through the quarter she was 8/8 free throw shooting. Fingall also was showing a strong offensive force, staking out the shot from the elbow--reminiscent of some of her best games last fall when she developed that shot, going 10/12 shooting for a career high of 22 points through the quarter. But we seemed to be not stopping FGCU on the other end with fast breaks--not getting in front of their drivers cutting to the basket, which is how they racked up points-in-the-paint against a much taller team. Lessons to be learned about controlling speedy guards in the future! We outscored FGCU 29-18 in the third quarter, mainly on the strength of Fingall and Carrington--Fingall with a mid range jumper from the elbow and Carrington with oodles of free throw attempts, leading to a 67-53 lead.
Fourth quarter
Smith was clearly out of sorts in this game. Finally coming back into the game in the 4th she rapidly picked up her 4th foul on an offensive scramble, and Tara decided to leave her in. Finally Kiana, who had been relatively quiet since early in the game, hit a trey and we were up 70-45, and she repeated it a couple of minutes later for a 76-55 lead. According to the announcer, Tara used an aggressive 2-3 trapping zone. Gradually we pulled away. Smith finally got a basket on a feed from Nadia, and Nadia converted yet another basket on an inbounds play for a 23 point lead. Then there were wholesale substitutions and our offense fell off until Moschkau knocked down a three, and the game ended Stanford 88 FGCU 65.
Performances
Nadia went 11/14 for a career high 24 points, to go with 8 rebounds and a whopping 5 assists. The best offensive game of her career.
Dijonai's aggression generate a lot of FGCU fouls. She scored 16 points and 12 of them were from the free throw line on 12/14 free throw shooting. She also had 9 rebounds and 3 assists.
Kiana wound up with 15 points and continued her torrid three point shooting at 5/8.
Anna Wilson and Maya Dodson played will with minutes in the high teens. Alanna's constant foul trouble limited her to 14 minutes and she never got into gear, but her free throw shooting continues to be significantly improved over a year ago--4/5.
Conclusion:
Our offense this year looks quite good against inferior teams. Our defense continues to trouble me. We did hold FGCU to 37% shooting, but they got way too many layups. Our guards just don't seem to be able to stay in front of their marks, which may be why Tara is experimenting with a zone.