We win 91-64 as we extended our lead to thirty points allowing Tara to rest/protect her starters and key players and give our bench playing time and experience midway through the fourth quarter.
This game underscores our incredible depth as our five starters plus Belibi off the bench scored in double figures and Jump was one point away from being the seventh:
The only offense blemish was that we were 7/14 from the FT line.
Defensively, Utah made eight three-point shots shooting 42% from long range, but they only scored 64 points. Their interior shooting was worse (11/33) and we forced them into more of those shots, rather than their specialty long-range ones. We also stole the ball away from 10 times, contributing to 20 turnovers. McFarland was able to get 11 FT opportunities, so Tara will want to improve our interior D without fouling as much.
This game underscores our incredible depth as our five starters plus Belibi off the bench scored in double figures and Jump was one point away from being the seventh:
- Brink "only" had 10 points, but she had 7 rebounds and 6(!) blocks
- Jones despite having four turnovers and four fouls was an efficient 7/10 from the field
- Lacie had 10 points too. She doesn't need to score a lot given everyone else on the team, but if she can score in the high single digits, it will make teams less likely to double up on someone else, allowing us to exploit mismatches elsewhere
- Lexie had 15 points to lead the team along with Jones; she was 3/6 from three point range, but only 1/5 from short range. Would love to see her finish a couple more of the shorter range shots. Was best tonight from the FT line - 4/4
- Wilson had 11 points; she may not have the scoring prowess of Kiana, but some of her shots - the pull-up and the drive was Williams-esque, beautiful to watch. She also had 6 assists to ZERO turnovers
- Belibi had 10 points along with 3 steals; she has really come on strong the last couple weeks, providing another capable inside scorer whenever Brink is resting and sometimes when she's not. When the two of them are on the floor together and are in sync, it's a sight to behold
- Jump had 9 points off of 3/7 long range shooting. Great to see her line up and nail long range baskets; a quick three pointer can really deflate an opponent
- Iriafen only played a few minutes at the end, but her steadiness around the basket, already with experienced moves to get a better look at the shot is so encouraging to watch, especially when you remember she's still a freshman who's only played limited time
The only offense blemish was that we were 7/14 from the FT line.
Defensively, Utah made eight three-point shots shooting 42% from long range, but they only scored 64 points. Their interior shooting was worse (11/33) and we forced them into more of those shots, rather than their specialty long-range ones. We also stole the ball away from 10 times, contributing to 20 turnovers. McFarland was able to get 11 FT opportunities, so Tara will want to improve our interior D without fouling as much.
