Preview:
Davis, unlike Vanguard, will provide a serious challenge. Anchored by 6'4" redshirt senior Morgan Bertsch, Davis has been picked to win the Big West this year after dominating the conference the last two years. Coach Jennifer Gross has implemented a mature Princeton offense with all the bells and whistles, and used it to assemble a 28-7 record a year ago. Along the way they knocked off Washington State and Kansas State, and used a tenacious defense to hold Oregon State to 61 points in a respectable 61-47 loss. Davis graduated both of its 40%+ 3 point sharpshooters and its top rebounder, but has plenty of young talent to go with Bertsch. It will be fascinating to see an intricate Princeton system in operation. Our offense incorporates a few Princeton pieces, but the UC Davis system is full-on, apparently, unless they change it up for us. Will be an interesting contrast.
At the Chalk Talk Lindy answered questions about our players and the upcoming game. Interestingly, the UC Davis coaches helped our coaches learn how to coach the Princeton--there is apparently some good will between the programs. Lindy mentioned the improvement of Maya Dodson and also noted how impressed the coaches are with how much our freshmen have learned in just 40 days since practices started.
Overview:
Tara won't like our 21 turnovers, but our defense suffocated the Aggies--holding them to 23% shooting, and our offense seemed to work reasonably well except for poor shooting in the first quarter. Kianna left the game and the bench after taking a spill in the first half.
Flow of the Game:
We got a chance to see why Morgan Bertsch is considered elite--we somewhat controlled her by fronting her and bringing help, but she still got 16 points. The first quarter was a bit of a struggle, ending with a 17 14 Stanford lead. From that point on our performance improved, with Stanford roughly doubling the points scored by Davis each quarter. Kianna took a spill in the second quarter. I saw her slap the floor but otherwise I did not see her express visible signs of pain--she got back up and (I think?) she continued to play for a short while. The first half ended with a 36-24 lead.
We were all concerned, however, when Kianna did not come out for the 3rd, and she was not even to be seen on the bench. The game really broke open with a 21-10 3rd quarter, on the strength of Smith's layups and treys, a trey by Lexie, and Jenna Brown's very first college points--a short teardrop in the paint.
Tara was substituting prolifically--all 14 players got in the game and ten (10!) got double digit minutes. This made it hard to really judge the chemistry of the team or the flow of the offense. But the fact that we ran out to a 30 point lead against a good team with an elite forward, and then held serve without our starters, felt like a good sign.
Performances:
We saw Jenna Brown for about half the game--and she got her first college points. Lindy said that Jenna would primarily be used as a point guard, although there would be times when there were the equivalent of two point guards on the floor. Jenna brought the ball up competently and obviously was not looking to do a lot of offense on her own. She took only two shots--making them both--but missed both her free throws the first time she went to the line. She played 18 minutes, had 2 assists and 3 turnovers. My impression was that this was a solid performance for a very first college game--but playing point is no doubt the hardest position to adjust to at the college level, and she will need a lot of practice and experience during this preseason.
Alanna had only 16 minutes and was clearly very comfortable being our scoring machine. She was 4/7 including 1/3 from three point range, and very impressively 7/7 from the free throw line. After last year, that last stat is especially welcome. Unfortunately there were a couple of ominous signs. She accumulated 4 fouls and 4 turnovers in that 16 minutes. Her career-long tendency to foul a lot raised its ugly head last night.
Kianna Williams was absolutely wonderful for the time we saw her, scoring 14 points on 5/8 shooting and dishing 3 assists to 2 turnovers. Most important in my mind was her 3/5 three point shooting--it came when Davis was beginning to pack it in around our forwards and helped immensely in the closer first half. I'm deeply concerned about her absence in the second half.
Maya Dodson looks so much more comfortable this year. I thought she played better than in the exhibition game, and finished more moves around the basket that she was often clanking a year ago. Tara gave her a long look--she had 26 minutes--no doubt partly due to Alanna's foul trouble. She went 5/8 but unfortunately missed both of her free throws. She grabbed 6 rebounds, had 3 spectacular blocks, but also accumulated 3 fouls. I think it is becoming clear that after Alanna, Maya is our best offensive option inside.
Nadia Fingall had a quiet stat line in her 16 minutes. She only took 1 shot and missed it, but sank two free throws and grabbed 4 rebounds--but also picked up 3 fouls and 3 turnovers.
Lexie Hull might have been the best player on the court, in her first official college game. I'm not exaggerating. Tara gave her the most minutes on the night at 27 and she used those minutes well. She scored 11 on 5/10 shooting, but led the team with 11 rebounds and thus achieved a double double in her first game. Her rebounding was really quite impressive--she boxed out very well and had a nose for the ball. She also had 4 steals and a block and played impressive defense. She is certainly going to be a starter her whole career.
With 14 players playing I won't comment on each and every one. Carrington seemed off somehow (0/6), Anna Wilson was 0/4 but accumulated 5 rebounds, Lacie was 1/5, Jerome had 6 points and 8 rebounds in 17 minutes, and I thought Alexa Romana made the most of her 9 minutes with 6 points.
As a team, we had 38 points in the paint to their 12--not bad considering their elite forward. We also managed 11 fast break points. Holding Davis to 18% shooting in the second half was a really good accomplishment.
Mediocre three point shooting (25%), a tendency of our bigs to foul too much, and the unsettling fall and disappearance of Kianna are the three greatest concerns emerging from our first game of the season.
Conclusion:
I am very pleased with the beginning of our season. This is chiefly due to the surprising readiness of Lexie Hull and the improved play of Maya Dodson. There is still a lot to work on but we seem far and away ahead of where we were a year ago and we seem to have a much higher ceiling than last year.
Davis, unlike Vanguard, will provide a serious challenge. Anchored by 6'4" redshirt senior Morgan Bertsch, Davis has been picked to win the Big West this year after dominating the conference the last two years. Coach Jennifer Gross has implemented a mature Princeton offense with all the bells and whistles, and used it to assemble a 28-7 record a year ago. Along the way they knocked off Washington State and Kansas State, and used a tenacious defense to hold Oregon State to 61 points in a respectable 61-47 loss. Davis graduated both of its 40%+ 3 point sharpshooters and its top rebounder, but has plenty of young talent to go with Bertsch. It will be fascinating to see an intricate Princeton system in operation. Our offense incorporates a few Princeton pieces, but the UC Davis system is full-on, apparently, unless they change it up for us. Will be an interesting contrast.
At the Chalk Talk Lindy answered questions about our players and the upcoming game. Interestingly, the UC Davis coaches helped our coaches learn how to coach the Princeton--there is apparently some good will between the programs. Lindy mentioned the improvement of Maya Dodson and also noted how impressed the coaches are with how much our freshmen have learned in just 40 days since practices started.
Overview:
Tara won't like our 21 turnovers, but our defense suffocated the Aggies--holding them to 23% shooting, and our offense seemed to work reasonably well except for poor shooting in the first quarter. Kianna left the game and the bench after taking a spill in the first half.
Flow of the Game:
We got a chance to see why Morgan Bertsch is considered elite--we somewhat controlled her by fronting her and bringing help, but she still got 16 points. The first quarter was a bit of a struggle, ending with a 17 14 Stanford lead. From that point on our performance improved, with Stanford roughly doubling the points scored by Davis each quarter. Kianna took a spill in the second quarter. I saw her slap the floor but otherwise I did not see her express visible signs of pain--she got back up and (I think?) she continued to play for a short while. The first half ended with a 36-24 lead.
We were all concerned, however, when Kianna did not come out for the 3rd, and she was not even to be seen on the bench. The game really broke open with a 21-10 3rd quarter, on the strength of Smith's layups and treys, a trey by Lexie, and Jenna Brown's very first college points--a short teardrop in the paint.
Tara was substituting prolifically--all 14 players got in the game and ten (10!) got double digit minutes. This made it hard to really judge the chemistry of the team or the flow of the offense. But the fact that we ran out to a 30 point lead against a good team with an elite forward, and then held serve without our starters, felt like a good sign.
Performances:
We saw Jenna Brown for about half the game--and she got her first college points. Lindy said that Jenna would primarily be used as a point guard, although there would be times when there were the equivalent of two point guards on the floor. Jenna brought the ball up competently and obviously was not looking to do a lot of offense on her own. She took only two shots--making them both--but missed both her free throws the first time she went to the line. She played 18 minutes, had 2 assists and 3 turnovers. My impression was that this was a solid performance for a very first college game--but playing point is no doubt the hardest position to adjust to at the college level, and she will need a lot of practice and experience during this preseason.
Alanna had only 16 minutes and was clearly very comfortable being our scoring machine. She was 4/7 including 1/3 from three point range, and very impressively 7/7 from the free throw line. After last year, that last stat is especially welcome. Unfortunately there were a couple of ominous signs. She accumulated 4 fouls and 4 turnovers in that 16 minutes. Her career-long tendency to foul a lot raised its ugly head last night.
Kianna Williams was absolutely wonderful for the time we saw her, scoring 14 points on 5/8 shooting and dishing 3 assists to 2 turnovers. Most important in my mind was her 3/5 three point shooting--it came when Davis was beginning to pack it in around our forwards and helped immensely in the closer first half. I'm deeply concerned about her absence in the second half.
Maya Dodson looks so much more comfortable this year. I thought she played better than in the exhibition game, and finished more moves around the basket that she was often clanking a year ago. Tara gave her a long look--she had 26 minutes--no doubt partly due to Alanna's foul trouble. She went 5/8 but unfortunately missed both of her free throws. She grabbed 6 rebounds, had 3 spectacular blocks, but also accumulated 3 fouls. I think it is becoming clear that after Alanna, Maya is our best offensive option inside.
Nadia Fingall had a quiet stat line in her 16 minutes. She only took 1 shot and missed it, but sank two free throws and grabbed 4 rebounds--but also picked up 3 fouls and 3 turnovers.
Lexie Hull might have been the best player on the court, in her first official college game. I'm not exaggerating. Tara gave her the most minutes on the night at 27 and she used those minutes well. She scored 11 on 5/10 shooting, but led the team with 11 rebounds and thus achieved a double double in her first game. Her rebounding was really quite impressive--she boxed out very well and had a nose for the ball. She also had 4 steals and a block and played impressive defense. She is certainly going to be a starter her whole career.
With 14 players playing I won't comment on each and every one. Carrington seemed off somehow (0/6), Anna Wilson was 0/4 but accumulated 5 rebounds, Lacie was 1/5, Jerome had 6 points and 8 rebounds in 17 minutes, and I thought Alexa Romana made the most of her 9 minutes with 6 points.
As a team, we had 38 points in the paint to their 12--not bad considering their elite forward. We also managed 11 fast break points. Holding Davis to 18% shooting in the second half was a really good accomplishment.
Mediocre three point shooting (25%), a tendency of our bigs to foul too much, and the unsettling fall and disappearance of Kianna are the three greatest concerns emerging from our first game of the season.
Conclusion:
I am very pleased with the beginning of our season. This is chiefly due to the surprising readiness of Lexie Hull and the improved play of Maya Dodson. There is still a lot to work on but we seem far and away ahead of where we were a year ago and we seem to have a much higher ceiling than last year.
