My takeaways from this game.
1) February 11 we play them in Pullman. We had better learn--a lot--from this game. We gave up sizable leads twice, and seemingly lost some of our composure. We need to learn to stay focused whether ahead or behind. Brink and Jump have that quality, and Lepolo and Demetre are developing it. The rest of the team needs to mature quickly.
2) CLW's three point shooting over the last six games: 0-1, 0-4, 0-5, 0-2, 0-4, 5-10. Without her breaking out of her slump against us WSU would not have been competitive tonight.
3) Missy AND Benny in the same game! No wonder the officiating was completely screwy. However, mull this over. We got 15 points from free throws, they got 4. Maybe we should be more circumspect.
4) Brink and Iriafen had great stat lines, but it did not show how difficult it was to consistently get the ball in to them. Yes, when we got it to them they usually scored, but many of those 17 turnovers were on efforts to get the ball to them in the crowded paint.
5) Lepolo is the hero of the game. 4-5 three point shooting, a second break-out game showing that the first was not a fluke.
6) Despite missing that first layup on the well-executed back door play, Demetre nevertheless had one of her better games this year. We needed that. I know that +/- is questionable for just one game, but it is eye-popping just the same. Our leader is Demetre at 26 and no one else makes it up to 10. Agara was -13. We have heard in chalk talks and at pressers how important Demetre's presence is, that she knows the offense and defense, that she is vocal, etc. So in ways that are not always obvious she is becoming the indispensable glue player.
7) Scoring and blocks aplenty for Brink, but also 18 rebounds. Zounds.
8) So many here wrung their hands about the point guard position for so long--but that is NOT our most unsettled position now. Bosgana is getting fewer minutes. She was down to 9 minutes tonight. Tara has been experimenting with lineups without her. Ogden has replaced her at times, at others it was Agara or Harriel. Clearly a number of players keep auditioning for the role, but no one has won it.
9) My greatest concern was the near melt-down at the end. A 15 point lead after the final TV timeout shrinks to 4, helped of course by that terrible call on the 5 point play. But that showed something of a lack of composure. When Demetre made her two freethrows with 55 seconds left we reasserted ourselves, but the WSU run from 4:22 to 0:55 was NOT a thing of beauty.
1) February 11 we play them in Pullman. We had better learn--a lot--from this game. We gave up sizable leads twice, and seemingly lost some of our composure. We need to learn to stay focused whether ahead or behind. Brink and Jump have that quality, and Lepolo and Demetre are developing it. The rest of the team needs to mature quickly.
2) CLW's three point shooting over the last six games: 0-1, 0-4, 0-5, 0-2, 0-4, 5-10. Without her breaking out of her slump against us WSU would not have been competitive tonight.
3) Missy AND Benny in the same game! No wonder the officiating was completely screwy. However, mull this over. We got 15 points from free throws, they got 4. Maybe we should be more circumspect.
4) Brink and Iriafen had great stat lines, but it did not show how difficult it was to consistently get the ball in to them. Yes, when we got it to them they usually scored, but many of those 17 turnovers were on efforts to get the ball to them in the crowded paint.
5) Lepolo is the hero of the game. 4-5 three point shooting, a second break-out game showing that the first was not a fluke.
6) Despite missing that first layup on the well-executed back door play, Demetre nevertheless had one of her better games this year. We needed that. I know that +/- is questionable for just one game, but it is eye-popping just the same. Our leader is Demetre at 26 and no one else makes it up to 10. Agara was -13. We have heard in chalk talks and at pressers how important Demetre's presence is, that she knows the offense and defense, that she is vocal, etc. So in ways that are not always obvious she is becoming the indispensable glue player.
7) Scoring and blocks aplenty for Brink, but also 18 rebounds. Zounds.
8) So many here wrung their hands about the point guard position for so long--but that is NOT our most unsettled position now. Bosgana is getting fewer minutes. She was down to 9 minutes tonight. Tara has been experimenting with lineups without her. Ogden has replaced her at times, at others it was Agara or Harriel. Clearly a number of players keep auditioning for the role, but no one has won it.
9) My greatest concern was the near melt-down at the end. A 15 point lead after the final TV timeout shrinks to 4, helped of course by that terrible call on the 5 point play. But that showed something of a lack of composure. When Demetre made her two freethrows with 55 seconds left we reasserted ourselves, but the WSU run from 4:22 to 0:55 was NOT a thing of beauty.