Following up, agreed with the criticism of our inbounding in the last 30 seconds. We wasted a timeout because of a poorly inbounded pass the first time, and then the second time we sent it into the backcourt and, surprise surprise, OSU was ready to close in and trap Lexie, who basically passed the ball straight into Kat Tudor's hands. I did not understand why Williams was DOING the inbounding, especially after the first time out - didn't someone remark earlier that Moschkau is a great inbounder (and she probably has at least 8 inches on Williams in height and arm length to enhance her range on the inbounds pass)? It looked like she was going to be subbed in initially on that play towards the end when we knocked it out of bounds, as she went to the scorer's table and is listed in the box score with 0 minutes, but then the refs confirmed the foul call stood and so she didn't end up entering. But why not bring her back once we'd used the timeout on the first inbounds? Totally agree that Williams should have been the one with the ball in her hands for the final score!
Re: Prechtel, my sense was also that she was struggling a little bit to switch on defense between the post and the perimeter. As 81 and others have noted, Dodson was much more effective on the switch from Jones to Slocum on the pick and roll plays, and I was surprised by how effectively she guarded Slocum outside. She's pretty agile and has long limbs, whereas Prechtel is sturdier and has a shooter's touch. I would imagine given that we were already struggling to guard Slocum, Tara thought the extra edge Dodson added on defense was worth it. But I did feel like our fourth quarter drop-off on offensive production was exemplary of where Prechtel might be useful - there were at least three times in the last 4 minutes when Dodson was open at the key. The first time, she shot, and it was WELL off. After that, OSU sagged on her, and even when she was open she looked to pass or dribble inside rather than shoot. I'm almost certain at on 1 or 2 of those 3 possession Prechtel would have scored had she been in the same position, because all three were clean looks.
More generally, our post rotation is now 5 deep (Fingall, Dodson, Jerome, Prechtel, and Belibi), so mathematically there's only so much time for each of them, especially against a lineup that was running 4-guard rotations for most of the game.
Re: Prechtel, my sense was also that she was struggling a little bit to switch on defense between the post and the perimeter. As 81 and others have noted, Dodson was much more effective on the switch from Jones to Slocum on the pick and roll plays, and I was surprised by how effectively she guarded Slocum outside. She's pretty agile and has long limbs, whereas Prechtel is sturdier and has a shooter's touch. I would imagine given that we were already struggling to guard Slocum, Tara thought the extra edge Dodson added on defense was worth it. But I did feel like our fourth quarter drop-off on offensive production was exemplary of where Prechtel might be useful - there were at least three times in the last 4 minutes when Dodson was open at the key. The first time, she shot, and it was WELL off. After that, OSU sagged on her, and even when she was open she looked to pass or dribble inside rather than shoot. I'm almost certain at on 1 or 2 of those 3 possession Prechtel would have scored had she been in the same position, because all three were clean looks.
More generally, our post rotation is now 5 deep (Fingall, Dodson, Jerome, Prechtel, and Belibi), so mathematically there's only so much time for each of them, especially against a lineup that was running 4-guard rotations for most of the game.