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I was there and I earlier promised to post some comments -- can't be nearly as good as 81s contributions, but here's my impression.
As an overall impression, the team looked ragged a lot of the time, not much smoothness or in sync there. Especially in the 1st half, the game was a lot closer than it should have been, and throughout the game, the perimeter defense was not good. Cal State LA got a lot of open looks, especially at 3, and they were making them. Rebounding was also sometimes weak, especially in 1st half. Missed a lot of D boards we should have gotten, particularly in the 1st half. Wasn't until the 2nd half that our rebounding outpaced Cal State.
14 assists on 30 made baskets tells a story -- a lot of the time, and this goes with the ragged sense of the game, individual players were just going in by themselves, not a lot of passing around or setting up plays. There were a few good passes to set something up, but they stood out because they were relatively rare in this game, at least to my eyes. In short, especially on the offensive end, this team is a work in progress, with a ways to go. Possibly contributing to this, Kate was constantly subbing among the 8 players who got almost all the minutes -- rotating people in and out a lot.
Re the starting line-up, missing Telana of course, and she was missed, didn't have her steadiness. Harriel did mostly play shooting guard, though she did take ball handling at times. Heal looks quick and also seemed a bit confused at times,, not yet fully connected to her teammates -- but she does handle the ball with confidence. She does drive well, but didn't do a lot of it. Bosgana was similar to last year, good start, but then doesn't play as well at times as the game goes on. Demetre also seems very similar to last year, blew hot and cold, sometimes really good, sometimes, what is she doing? And she did blow an inbound play with a 5 second violation.
And then there was Nunu. She looked terrific last night, the most steady and solid player on the floor. Looked confident, sure of herself, aggressive, but not fouling in doing so. To me, she looked better as a soph than Kiki did at that point. All those free throws (missed her 1st one -- and "and one" -- but then was very smooth with all the rest). She was getting fouled a lot on offensive rebounds, also on post-up shots. Worth noting re her, she not only had lots of points in the post, she also had a really nice 3 pointer. Re the assists, one was a beautiful pass out from the post to Ogden who made a 3 pointer. It was a case where Nunu found herself clogged up and knew what to do -- pass out to the open player. Note also that Nunu had a couple of blocks, might have been another or two as well that didn't make the stat sheet.
Other than Nunu, the scoring was spread around well -- total of 6 players with double digit points. Clardy in particular looked good, seems to have grown from last year. She played with confidence. Also was impressed with Ogden, seemed more sure of herself.
Stevenson was a bit of a disappointment to me. She seemed unsure of what she was doing, just didn't mesh into things, got off a couple of airball shots and nothing near the basket.
I was surprised that Kate stuck with what was an 8 person rotation for nearly the full game. None of the freshmen got into the game until the 1:34 mark in the 4th quarter, when Umeh and Peterson, along with Papadaki, finally got a chance. Becasue of this, I never got any sense of the frosh at all. Not into the game at all -- Ijwoye, Green, and Lepolo (still injured).
Sorry I can't give you a more sophisticated review, and the above is simply my non-expert reaction. I'll be interested to see how things may be different on Monday.