This was a happy end to the year--a 60 point win in which so many on the team contributed. Here are a few key points:
1) Morgan State's one stat at which they excel are steals--they average more than a dozen steals per game. I looked up in the 3rd quarter and they had 1 steal. They wound up with 4, and we had 11. Clearly, our team was ready for it and had much better ball handling than we have at some times in the past.
2) While 98 points looks gaudy, we held Morgan State 16 points below their average. Their top scorer for the year--Joelle Johnson--was held to 2 points on 1-6 shooting. I thought our defense looked much improved against Cal, and it continues to look excellent, despite tonight's mismatch. Morgan State shot 26% for the game.
3) Harriel really was coming into her own. Not only did she have 13 points--is that a career high?--but her shot and free throws all looked nearly perfect, swishing nothing but the bottom of the net. And she took a couple of those shots in a bit of traffic. While she was in, I carefully watched her defense, and it was excellent. The refs were letting a lot of contact go, and Harriel was playing very close defense on the Morgan State perimeter shooters. Furthermore, I watched her ball handling, and thought it was excellent. She had a couple of behind-the-back reversals and seemed good in traffic--with one notable exception. In other words, I am now ready to say that Harriel has matured as a player and to my eye she deserves more time. She was solid in every phase of the game.
4) After her Cal outpouring, Lepolo did not take a single shot. She didn't need to, obviously. Steding at the chalk talk seemed to think it would be a kind of up and down but mostly up process to develop her offensive aggression.
5) There were some very pretty assists. I eagerly await the highlights.
6) Agara continues to impress me in every way. Offense, defense, and rebounding. I think she deserves more time too. But as Steding said, the freshmen will be inconsistent, with some fabulous stretches and some nights they regress. That is the nature of freshmen. I think Agara has been the most consistent so far.
All in all, a game worthy of New Year's Eve! Happy new year, everyone!
1) Morgan State's one stat at which they excel are steals--they average more than a dozen steals per game. I looked up in the 3rd quarter and they had 1 steal. They wound up with 4, and we had 11. Clearly, our team was ready for it and had much better ball handling than we have at some times in the past.
2) While 98 points looks gaudy, we held Morgan State 16 points below their average. Their top scorer for the year--Joelle Johnson--was held to 2 points on 1-6 shooting. I thought our defense looked much improved against Cal, and it continues to look excellent, despite tonight's mismatch. Morgan State shot 26% for the game.
3) Harriel really was coming into her own. Not only did she have 13 points--is that a career high?--but her shot and free throws all looked nearly perfect, swishing nothing but the bottom of the net. And she took a couple of those shots in a bit of traffic. While she was in, I carefully watched her defense, and it was excellent. The refs were letting a lot of contact go, and Harriel was playing very close defense on the Morgan State perimeter shooters. Furthermore, I watched her ball handling, and thought it was excellent. She had a couple of behind-the-back reversals and seemed good in traffic--with one notable exception. In other words, I am now ready to say that Harriel has matured as a player and to my eye she deserves more time. She was solid in every phase of the game.
4) After her Cal outpouring, Lepolo did not take a single shot. She didn't need to, obviously. Steding at the chalk talk seemed to think it would be a kind of up and down but mostly up process to develop her offensive aggression.
5) There were some very pretty assists. I eagerly await the highlights.
6) Agara continues to impress me in every way. Offense, defense, and rebounding. I think she deserves more time too. But as Steding said, the freshmen will be inconsistent, with some fabulous stretches and some nights they regress. That is the nature of freshmen. I think Agara has been the most consistent so far.
All in all, a game worthy of New Year's Eve! Happy new year, everyone!