03-25-2024, 05:56 AM
Long time lurker, first time poster. I felt the need to finally weigh in on a thread after an exhilarating but sleepless night for this East Coast alum.
All kudos to Kiki who played the game of her life, though we seem to keep getting a new one of those from her every month. Here's hoping she can have another in April. I thought her energy on the defensive end was the best I've seen it. She was as determined as Cam to shut down Crooks on that end of the floor and it did nothing to diminish her incredible offensive output. I have to think her 3 blocks were a career high and it felt like she had more.
Hannah was among the unsung heroes of the night. We (I'll include myself here) often complain about not having a 3rd consistent force on this team, but she was steady as it goes last night even as they picked on her for some post-ups at the end of the game. For as much as Cam was on an emotional roller coaster in this one, Hannah seemed to alternate between steely and composed and totally exuberant, which I think is a good leadership vibe for this squad.
I think Tara is often slower to react to mismatches in the game than us fans would like, but last night I thought she at least tried a lot of stuff to solve the Emily Ryan-led 3-point shooting onslaught from ISU. Talana getting consistently torched on those unders in the late first quarter eventually led to Harriel coming in and fighting through the screens better. That second quarter was our best defensive quarter and it came with Cam on the bench for a ton of it, so I was surprised that Harriel didn't get more run in the second half. I'm among those who wish we turned over the keys to Harriel mid-season and let Talana nurse her knee back to health. Nunu did bring some needed physicality to guarding Ryan in the last 2 quarters + OT, and she gave us more than we could have asked for given how her playing time has been yanked around, but ultimately Ryan kept having her way no matter who we put on her.
Brooke is a classic "no, no, yes!!" shooter and I was happy to be wrong each time those shots went in. She's hit a bunch of big ones this year, as others have noted, and it's nice to see her contribute in such a big way.
Lastly, I'll say it feels weird to write such a long post while mentioning Cam only in passing. I didn't think this team had it in them to win a game like this with a sub-par game from our star, but they did it and they deserved it. This will go down as one of the best games of the Cam-Stanford era, and I'm glad she and Hannah were able to walk off the Maples floor one last time to such a great ovation. Feels right as the Pac-12 era comes to a close.
On to the Sweet 16!
All kudos to Kiki who played the game of her life, though we seem to keep getting a new one of those from her every month. Here's hoping she can have another in April. I thought her energy on the defensive end was the best I've seen it. She was as determined as Cam to shut down Crooks on that end of the floor and it did nothing to diminish her incredible offensive output. I have to think her 3 blocks were a career high and it felt like she had more.
Hannah was among the unsung heroes of the night. We (I'll include myself here) often complain about not having a 3rd consistent force on this team, but she was steady as it goes last night even as they picked on her for some post-ups at the end of the game. For as much as Cam was on an emotional roller coaster in this one, Hannah seemed to alternate between steely and composed and totally exuberant, which I think is a good leadership vibe for this squad.
I think Tara is often slower to react to mismatches in the game than us fans would like, but last night I thought she at least tried a lot of stuff to solve the Emily Ryan-led 3-point shooting onslaught from ISU. Talana getting consistently torched on those unders in the late first quarter eventually led to Harriel coming in and fighting through the screens better. That second quarter was our best defensive quarter and it came with Cam on the bench for a ton of it, so I was surprised that Harriel didn't get more run in the second half. I'm among those who wish we turned over the keys to Harriel mid-season and let Talana nurse her knee back to health. Nunu did bring some needed physicality to guarding Ryan in the last 2 quarters + OT, and she gave us more than we could have asked for given how her playing time has been yanked around, but ultimately Ryan kept having her way no matter who we put on her.
Brooke is a classic "no, no, yes!!" shooter and I was happy to be wrong each time those shots went in. She's hit a bunch of big ones this year, as others have noted, and it's nice to see her contribute in such a big way.
Lastly, I'll say it feels weird to write such a long post while mentioning Cam only in passing. I didn't think this team had it in them to win a game like this with a sub-par game from our star, but they did it and they deserved it. This will go down as one of the best games of the Cam-Stanford era, and I'm glad she and Hannah were able to walk off the Maples floor one last time to such a great ovation. Feels right as the Pac-12 era comes to a close.
On to the Sweet 16!