12-28-2019, 05:05 PM
Well, we survived and advanced. UCD running the same offense as us (and in fact teaching it to Tara) definitely helps explain why they were tracking us so well on defense - I was very impressed with their defense, as we probably only got about 3 or 4 clean backdoor cuts the entire part of the game I watched. Tara seemed to have us start taking jumpers early in the 4th and that seemed to help keep them honest on defense, which in turn opened up the floor.
I also felt like we rebounded much better in the second half, especially Jones, who seemed to be getting every other rebound for us. Indeed, she definitely had a landmark freshman game, stats line wise: 21 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal. What I like so much about her game is she can Plan A the Princeton but also Plan B the one-on-one.
I'm starting to wonder if something is more systematically off with Kiana Williams. She has had flashes of her old self this season, but for the most part, she's had a rough shooting stretch that began this spring, continued into the Pan-Am this summer, and has largely plagued her this fall. Coming into this game, if you can believe it, she had the third worst shooting percentage on the entire team, ahead of only Lacie Hull and Anna Wilson...
...and relatedly, I feel like one problem we have this year is that some of our best offensive options like Jump, Belibi, and Prechtel, are not strong defenders, and our best defenders, like Wilson and Lacie Hull, are not especially prolific on the offensive end. That means we're either giving up something on offense or on defense with any given set, because with Carrington out, our best dual purpose players are Lexie Hull, Jones, and Williams (and sorta Nadia Fingall), and with Williams in a shooting funk, we're basically either giving up something on offense, or else on defense.
I love our frosh, but unless the others come along on defense quickly or Carrington comes back, we're going to have a hard time keeping up those 80+ point games we had at the start of the season...
I also felt like we rebounded much better in the second half, especially Jones, who seemed to be getting every other rebound for us. Indeed, she definitely had a landmark freshman game, stats line wise: 21 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal. What I like so much about her game is she can Plan A the Princeton but also Plan B the one-on-one.
I'm starting to wonder if something is more systematically off with Kiana Williams. She has had flashes of her old self this season, but for the most part, she's had a rough shooting stretch that began this spring, continued into the Pan-Am this summer, and has largely plagued her this fall. Coming into this game, if you can believe it, she had the third worst shooting percentage on the entire team, ahead of only Lacie Hull and Anna Wilson...
...and relatedly, I feel like one problem we have this year is that some of our best offensive options like Jump, Belibi, and Prechtel, are not strong defenders, and our best defenders, like Wilson and Lacie Hull, are not especially prolific on the offensive end. That means we're either giving up something on offense or on defense with any given set, because with Carrington out, our best dual purpose players are Lexie Hull, Jones, and Williams (and sorta Nadia Fingall), and with Williams in a shooting funk, we're basically either giving up something on offense, or else on defense.
I love our frosh, but unless the others come along on defense quickly or Carrington comes back, we're going to have a hard time keeping up those 80+ point games we had at the start of the season...