December 20th, 2008: Buffalo at St. John's (Chartwells Holiday Classic)

St. John's Red Storm 81, Buffalo Bulls 57

Monique McLean brings enough awesome for everyone as St. John's rolls up their sleeves and shows 'em how it's done.


Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful, except for that bit where we let them back in for a little while. That's how you beat up on a mid-major. Um, sorry about that, Buffalo.

We got to the game late, so we didn't hear the anthem. Or originally find the scoresheets. The staff at St. John's is really epic fail at knowing terminology. We ended up begging a sheet off a very nice guy from the Houston contingent… only to find them on the table after the second game. Good job, guys.

OH HAI DERE ROCKER. What's with the SUNY schools picking up original WNBA coaches? Linda Hill-McDonald, much to my surprise, coaches Buffalo. We were really loving the reserve guard Ephesia Holmes- a small, very stocky guard we dubbed The Little Engine That Did because she was like a miniature freight train. Rachelle Matthys opened the scoring for the Bulls, and that was her last contribution of any use for the game. Bridgette Kendricks was amazing on the boards- she has a wingspan that, much like DeLisha Milton-Jones's, allows her to alter a lot more shots than she has any right to, snare rebounds that she really shouldn't, and get all over the passing lanes. Fortman also brought down a tough board that was worth noting. Semalulu had a big block. Their bench really outplayed their starters today.

Daaaamn, Little Sista, what have you done? This was the kind of game we need to send out to WNBA scouts to get Monique some love. When she's getting to the line in addition to hitting her -teens from the field, she's a beast, and today she went 10-11 from the line. She was all over the place on defense, too, and her rebounding was strong. And also? 4/0 A/TO. Seriously, I could probably end it there, but I won't, because I was feeling the love for Sky, who had a nice, solid game. And for Da'Shena, who got hit again because the universe likes to break our freshman, but who really rocked on the boards. And for Kelly, who had so much confidence in her game inside the arc that it was heartwarming- and who put up a killer block. And for Joy, who goes to the floor for every loose ball and keeps stupid teammates out of trouble. And for Britney, who quietly and efficiently made things happen off the bench (5/0 A/TO, a steal, and a pair of free throws- good midget, you can have a name now). Recee crashed the boards hard in her two minutes, and I like Victoria more and more every time I see her play. Coco, however, needs to get her head out her ass in a hurry, though she did play a part in one of the best plays of the game.

Speaking of, best play of the game: Coco's screen setting up Kelly's jumper.

Recurring theme of the game: Joy on the floor, scrambling for a loose ball.

Denise Brooks couldn't do a thing to save this crew. The pace was awful. Some of the calls in our favor were pretty bad. Some of the non-calls were pretty bad. Da'Shena was as confused as I was on one play that was initially called on Buffalo's Christensen, then reversed and put on the poor freshman.

But yeah. I'm happy. Now, let's see what we can do against Boston College and that firecracker they've got...