11-29-2015, 08:36 AM
Overview:
Purdue was undefeated, although its quality of opposition was a bit suspect, beating Louisville to get to the final today. We, on the other hand, have been looking shaky. Yesterday, Tara played Lili, Karlie, and Bird nearly the whole game to help us defeat a scrappy Dayton. Today was an equally tense game, going to overtime, with the critical shot coming with Kailee taking and making a trey, and then Bri being fouled in the act of shooting a three, and draining all three free throws. The game as a whole, however, belongs to Roberson. She played energetic defense for 42 minutes, went 5/6 from three point range, and sank 7/7 free throws. Give her the game ball!
Flow of the Game:
Same starters as always. Kaylee got another start, but she got only 6 minutes. This is beginning to remind me of the way Tara started Sara James for a few minutes before pulling her--due to an undisclosed injury at the time. It really makes we wonder about Kaylee, who just has not seemed like herself. The other four starters, however, all played for nearly all the minutes--Lili, Bri, Karlie, and Erica all got 37 or more minutes, leaving the Kaylee post slot as the only major substitution slot. Into that slot Kailee, Alanna, and McPhee got significant minutes, with Kailee getting the most and with Kailee being left in during the crucial fourth quarter and overtime.
We came out running, with very active passing, and got a couple of three point baskets early. Defense in the early going also looked good, with steals by getting into the passing lanes, and Bird had a great block from behind to foil a fast break. Tara subbed Kailee and Alanna in for Kaylee and Bird and the offense seemed to go stagnant. McPhee had a wonderful steal and took it to the rim--a defender tried to set but not in time and McPhee plastered her, made the basket, and sank the and-one. End of first quarter Stanford 13 Purdue 9.
The second quarter was a flurry of defensive activity and a lot of missed shots. Tara had McPhee and Karlie and Bri in together with Lili out--just for a few minutes. McPhee seems good to me around the basket. Kailee again had trouble with a simple put-back under the basket. During the last part of this quarter, our shooting went stone cold. Fortunately, so did Purdue's. All in all, I would call it an ugly offensive half, with the score Stanford 26 Purdue 21.Â
The third quarter started badly, with Purdue getting three treys and momentarily taking the lead. Our offense was still out of sync. Nothing fluid despite crisp passes on the exterior. Often drives to the basket resulted in missed shots. Bird seldom got close and had to take midrange jumpers--which only rarely went down. Bri did hit a couple of treys and McPhee had a nice baseline drive to stem the bleeding, but the momentum distinctly shifted to Purdue which made five treys in the quarter. Purdue 45 Stanford 44.
The fourth quarter seesawed back and fortht. Just when we scratched back to a three point lead, Purdue bombed another trey to tie it up with less than five minutes to go. Purdue used a 2-3 zone intermittently, daring us to shoot the trey, and could not consistently take advantage. Like Gonzaga, this game felt like it was coming down to the wire. Bri tied it up with two icy free throws with 33 seconds left. Solid defense and we forced overtime with the score 59-59.
Overtime developed into a free throw shooting contest during the first few minutes. Fortunately, Erica sank both of her two to give us back a lead, but we gave up a foul and their frosh missed one of two, leaving us a one point lead and the ball. Then, finally, Kailee made a three from the corner! A turning point to be sure, and the first I've seen her make this year. This after she had repeatedly passed up open three point shots all game long. What a time to drain a high, arcing rainbow. Then Bri sank two free throws, and just when we thought we had it iced, Purdue nailed a trey. That gave us the ball with a three point lead with 40 seconds left in the game. After running the clock down, Bri heaved up an inaccurate three point shot but was fouled, and sank all three free throws, giving us a six point lead with 9 seconds left. The biased Purdue announcer went bezerk. After the game the Purdue coach called it a "phantom call." Whatever. Stanford wins 71 65.
Performances
Bri Roberson was incredible tonight. It is rare to see someone so active on defense and so effective on offense all in the same game. There were times when she was all the offense we seemed to have. 5/6 from three point range, wow!Â
Lili was also critical, with 17 extremely hard earned points. They clearly keyed on her, but many of her dribble-drives did not fall--she was 1/7 from two point range. But she had 5 assists, and most important of all, she was 9/9 shooting free throws.
Erica was next up with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Those 12 points were very tough--she was 4/13. I was very proud to see her make all 4 of her free throws, though--something that has been a weakness of hers. Considering the height and muscle of the Purdue interior she scratched her way to some points and rebounds. She will have to do that against Texas and Tennessee soon enough--it won't get easier. She had an incredibly nice block from behind to kill a Purdue fast break.
No one else scored in double digits. McPhee had some very impressive plays and wound up with 7 points. She hustled. Karlie only took one three point shot, missing it, but sank 4 three throws. She just was never left open. Neither Kailee nor Kaylee made a single point until Kailee sank that critical three pointer. It was not for lack of trying. Lili and others fed Kailee the ball with the "roll" part of the pick'n'roll a couple of times and she could not convert, and she also missed off of an O-board, leaving her at 1/4 for the evening. But what a 1!
As a team, rebounds and turnovers were fairly even. Here is a wild one: we shot 34.5% overall, and 44.4% from three. That is how bad our interior shooting was--or how effective the Purdue interior defense was. Purdue shot 38.5 overall, much of that reflecting an improvement in the second half.Â
Conclusion:
Tara saw something--probably on defense--that caused her to play Kailee extensively to close out the game. Kailee often was at the perimeter--perhaps to block three point shots. Her offensive woes inside simply continued in this game, and she lacked the self confidence to take uncontested three point shots repeatedly in the game--until the one in overtime that saved the game for us. Let's hope that her success there will open the floodgates. We are going to need all of our posts to be clicking to have a chance next week in Austin, not to mention Tennessee at Maples in 10 days. But let's close this out with some love for Bri--a special day for her. The smallest player on the floor put the team on her back and won us a game.
Purdue was undefeated, although its quality of opposition was a bit suspect, beating Louisville to get to the final today. We, on the other hand, have been looking shaky. Yesterday, Tara played Lili, Karlie, and Bird nearly the whole game to help us defeat a scrappy Dayton. Today was an equally tense game, going to overtime, with the critical shot coming with Kailee taking and making a trey, and then Bri being fouled in the act of shooting a three, and draining all three free throws. The game as a whole, however, belongs to Roberson. She played energetic defense for 42 minutes, went 5/6 from three point range, and sank 7/7 free throws. Give her the game ball!
Flow of the Game:
Same starters as always. Kaylee got another start, but she got only 6 minutes. This is beginning to remind me of the way Tara started Sara James for a few minutes before pulling her--due to an undisclosed injury at the time. It really makes we wonder about Kaylee, who just has not seemed like herself. The other four starters, however, all played for nearly all the minutes--Lili, Bri, Karlie, and Erica all got 37 or more minutes, leaving the Kaylee post slot as the only major substitution slot. Into that slot Kailee, Alanna, and McPhee got significant minutes, with Kailee getting the most and with Kailee being left in during the crucial fourth quarter and overtime.
We came out running, with very active passing, and got a couple of three point baskets early. Defense in the early going also looked good, with steals by getting into the passing lanes, and Bird had a great block from behind to foil a fast break. Tara subbed Kailee and Alanna in for Kaylee and Bird and the offense seemed to go stagnant. McPhee had a wonderful steal and took it to the rim--a defender tried to set but not in time and McPhee plastered her, made the basket, and sank the and-one. End of first quarter Stanford 13 Purdue 9.
The second quarter was a flurry of defensive activity and a lot of missed shots. Tara had McPhee and Karlie and Bri in together with Lili out--just for a few minutes. McPhee seems good to me around the basket. Kailee again had trouble with a simple put-back under the basket. During the last part of this quarter, our shooting went stone cold. Fortunately, so did Purdue's. All in all, I would call it an ugly offensive half, with the score Stanford 26 Purdue 21.Â
The third quarter started badly, with Purdue getting three treys and momentarily taking the lead. Our offense was still out of sync. Nothing fluid despite crisp passes on the exterior. Often drives to the basket resulted in missed shots. Bird seldom got close and had to take midrange jumpers--which only rarely went down. Bri did hit a couple of treys and McPhee had a nice baseline drive to stem the bleeding, but the momentum distinctly shifted to Purdue which made five treys in the quarter. Purdue 45 Stanford 44.
The fourth quarter seesawed back and fortht. Just when we scratched back to a three point lead, Purdue bombed another trey to tie it up with less than five minutes to go. Purdue used a 2-3 zone intermittently, daring us to shoot the trey, and could not consistently take advantage. Like Gonzaga, this game felt like it was coming down to the wire. Bri tied it up with two icy free throws with 33 seconds left. Solid defense and we forced overtime with the score 59-59.
Overtime developed into a free throw shooting contest during the first few minutes. Fortunately, Erica sank both of her two to give us back a lead, but we gave up a foul and their frosh missed one of two, leaving us a one point lead and the ball. Then, finally, Kailee made a three from the corner! A turning point to be sure, and the first I've seen her make this year. This after she had repeatedly passed up open three point shots all game long. What a time to drain a high, arcing rainbow. Then Bri sank two free throws, and just when we thought we had it iced, Purdue nailed a trey. That gave us the ball with a three point lead with 40 seconds left in the game. After running the clock down, Bri heaved up an inaccurate three point shot but was fouled, and sank all three free throws, giving us a six point lead with 9 seconds left. The biased Purdue announcer went bezerk. After the game the Purdue coach called it a "phantom call." Whatever. Stanford wins 71 65.
Performances
Bri Roberson was incredible tonight. It is rare to see someone so active on defense and so effective on offense all in the same game. There were times when she was all the offense we seemed to have. 5/6 from three point range, wow!Â
Lili was also critical, with 17 extremely hard earned points. They clearly keyed on her, but many of her dribble-drives did not fall--she was 1/7 from two point range. But she had 5 assists, and most important of all, she was 9/9 shooting free throws.
Erica was next up with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Those 12 points were very tough--she was 4/13. I was very proud to see her make all 4 of her free throws, though--something that has been a weakness of hers. Considering the height and muscle of the Purdue interior she scratched her way to some points and rebounds. She will have to do that against Texas and Tennessee soon enough--it won't get easier. She had an incredibly nice block from behind to kill a Purdue fast break.
No one else scored in double digits. McPhee had some very impressive plays and wound up with 7 points. She hustled. Karlie only took one three point shot, missing it, but sank 4 three throws. She just was never left open. Neither Kailee nor Kaylee made a single point until Kailee sank that critical three pointer. It was not for lack of trying. Lili and others fed Kailee the ball with the "roll" part of the pick'n'roll a couple of times and she could not convert, and she also missed off of an O-board, leaving her at 1/4 for the evening. But what a 1!
As a team, rebounds and turnovers were fairly even. Here is a wild one: we shot 34.5% overall, and 44.4% from three. That is how bad our interior shooting was--or how effective the Purdue interior defense was. Purdue shot 38.5 overall, much of that reflecting an improvement in the second half.Â
Conclusion:
Tara saw something--probably on defense--that caused her to play Kailee extensively to close out the game. Kailee often was at the perimeter--perhaps to block three point shots. Her offensive woes inside simply continued in this game, and she lacked the self confidence to take uncontested three point shots repeatedly in the game--until the one in overtime that saved the game for us. Let's hope that her success there will open the floodgates. We are going to need all of our posts to be clicking to have a chance next week in Austin, not to mention Tennessee at Maples in 10 days. But let's close this out with some love for Bri--a special day for her. The smallest player on the floor put the team on her back and won us a game.
