November 19th, 2006: Army at St. John's

Army 57, St. John's 45

The fashion's really the prettiest thing about this game. That, and Cara Enright.


As my seatmate Lib Fan can attest, I spend a lot more time screaming inarticulately at college games than at Liberty games. There's a lot more stupidity going around.

It shouldn't have surprised me, but it did amuse me that Army uses a US government bus. It also shouldn't amuse me that it was neat as a pin except for one lonely water bottle in a window, and that there was a camo folder in the driver's seat.

Cara Enright's good. No, really. I was also impressed by Megan Evans. Anna Wilson's itty-bitty (if she's really 5'5", I'll eat my Liberty rain hat), but she's got some ups on her! Magarity really needs to relax sometimes. Granted, we were sitting in the fourth row, but we heard plenty from him. It was quite amusing, especially after a boneheaded foul by… oh, was it King? "WHY? WHY? WHY TRY TO BLOCK THAT SHOT?!"

The good news for the Red Storm was that due to roster mix-ups earlier in the season, I miscalculated how many players we have- we had a whole *seven* players today, and the young lady I had thought was our IU transfer was in fact freshman Charisse Curtis, who came off the bench for two three-pointers and some other miscellaneous stats. In appearance and build, she reminds me somewhat of a slightly taller Kristi Toliver. (The offense she brought today also made me wonder exactly why she didn't play against Iona, when we were desperate for anyone to sub in.)

It was dumb blonde day on the court for St. John's. Tiina Sten looked flat-out awful- I don't know how many times I muttered "fucking Euro" under my breath, or not so much under my breath. She wasn't defending well inside, she wasn't driving inside (hello, 6-3, plz to be using it), and she utterly spazzed out half the game. Your point guards should not BOTH finish with more rebounds than a starting forward, not if the name Loree Moore is not mentioned. Allie Patterson was so useless that although she started, she played the fewest minutes of any Red Storm player. Missed all her shots and should have been credited with more than one turnover. "ALLIE! ALLIE! SKIP PASS!" Poor Coach is going to go gray at this rate.

The rest of the frosh, on the other hand, acquitted themselves quite well. Nikki Jo has seven turnovers listed, but several of those are failed lobs to the Tall Blonde and Clueless contingent. Love her shooting. Love her hustle. Joy had a rough shooting day, but she tied Angel for the team lead in rebounds. She was aggressive on defense, and I'm surprised she was allowed to get away with the level of contact she was on Enright. She'll learn. She's a freshman. This is my soothing mantra. Charisse, as mentioned, shot well, although I was surprised her teammates didn't get her the ball more often- maybe they weren't sure she was there either? :) As for Kia, she didn't start, but she played the bulk of the minutes at one guard spot, and did her fill-the-stat-sheet thing.

Two plays back to back for the Storm: Nikki Jo with the ball, drives to the free throw line, shot fakes, dishes to Joy under the basket, Joy hits the open lay-up. Defensive stop, Kia drives up the right side of the court, stops over halfcourt, looks out at the crowd on the same side as the bench, and passes off to Tiina coming down on the right, Tiina hits the lay-up off the no-look. Occasionally I thought we had hope. Jen Hansen hit a heartbreaking three-point shot at the end of the first to put Army up ten, and Evans and the rest of their posts were abusing our inside defense and the backboard.

Fashion report: Monique won the day in a pink skirt, gold blouse, and silver slippers (but the Gatorade-branded towel *so* did not go with the outfit); Victoria wore a white sweater and black slacks; Recee was in black slacks, a bright blue blouse, and short heels; Kelly wore a sleeveless blue top and a nice pair of slacks.

Danielle Chambers, the tenacious rebounder who graduated last year, was at the game; she's playing professionally in Puerto Rico these days.

I keep two soothing mantras in mind when watching the Red Storm: "She's only a freshman, she'll learn better" and "If we get Monique or Recee back, things will get better".