January 10th, 2016: Canisius at Iona

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Iona started strong and never looked back in their 79-56 win over Canisius. Alexis Lewis led all scorers with 17 off the bench, adding seven rebounds. Joy Adams added another double-double to her career total with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Sarah Cooley led Canisius with 15 points on five three-pointers, as well as eight rebounds.

For deep play, strong freshmen, abusing dinosaurs, delicious burgers, the best revenge, and getting things done in a timely manner, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.
No such thing as rest for the weary. As the saying goes, basketball never stops. On this gray, damp, late-dawning Sunday, we're off to Iona for their game against Canisius. The cold's a bit better, perhaps helped by downing leftover Thai curry for breakfast (my sinuses have never been so clear).

I think the dude across from us on the train is trying too hard to be Jack Sparrow. The look doesn't have quite the same panache with a messenger bag and black Converse.

Despite the best efforts of dispatch on the Lexington Avenue lines, we made the bus. It helped that the bus driver was next to us at the Dunkin' Donuts and was able to tell us the correct departure time for the bus.

There's a dark-haired girl I don't recognize in sweats and a tee amongst the Gaels. I don't think that's Cas, and I think I'd be embarrassed if she was and I didn't figure it out. I'm not sure if she's part of the training staff or if she's a transfer.

I'm having fun running numbers for my senior hotshots in the Big East while everyone warms up. Too many teams, cannot cope. (The Awkward Bowl might end up being even more awkward if Aliyyah is anywhere near breaking 1950.)

At halftime, Iona is up 37-20 on Canisius. Aaliyah Robinson has a trio of first-quarter treys for her nine points; Alexis Lewis also has nine, off the bench.

One of the Canisius players barreled out of bounds and took an Iona cheerleader through the emergency exit with her. "I'm okay!" the cheerleader reported.

There is a child in front of me playing with dinosaurs. At least he's stopped throwing them. His mother seems somewhat frustrated at his behavior. If nothing else, losing one of the dinosaurs seems to have cured him of the throwing bit, though I'm afraid a tantrum will be forthcoming.

Iona let their foot off the pedal in the fourth quarter a bit, but I'm okay with that. If we're going with our deepest reserves against the Canisius starters, there's going to be a difference in talent and a difference in intensity, and I accept that. Everyone got to play, which is something I like to see.

Amanda Schiefen showed a nice little bit of offense in her brief fourth-quarter minutes. Jasmine Mungo seemed very active on defense. The Griffin that intrigued me most off the bench was Sara Hinriksdottir, a very red-headed freshman (we may have been making Viking jokes in the stands, I will neither confirm nor deny this rumor) who wasn't afraid to go to the basket, but also had a very pretty outside stroke. It might just have been because of her size, and the size of her bright red heap of curls, but she was easy to spot, that's for sure. I really like her potential.

Maria Welch brought size at the guard position- she had a monster block on Joy Adams (and Joy might be a little undersized for a post, but she doesn't usually get roofed). I don't know if this is usual for her on offense, but she's another interesting player. Zhane Irby came in late in the game. She didn't leave an impression. Jasmine Miskovic needs to learn when to back off- if you're down 20 in the waning seconds, let the ballhandler bring the ball up and let the game end. She was a bit rough.

It's rare to see a true three in a conference as small as the MAAC, but Sarah Cooley might just be one. She set up for open threes and hit them with rhythm, but she also did well on the glass. Crystal Porter started off strong, with six of the Golden Griffins' first eight points, but she got into foul trouble and never really got back into rhythm.

Tiahana Mills ran point, as far as I could tell, but the starting guards really didn't play a lot. The game got out of hand early. Lauren D'Hont brought nice size at the guard position. Margret Halfdanardottir left no major impression.

I'll say this: for a team that shot as badly as Canisius did, and for a team that lost as badly as they did, they have a lot of promising pieces for the future. If they can hit the weight room and work on their shooting, they can be very dangerous next year. I think it's been brought home to everyone that Marist is not what they used to be- the MAAC is as wide open as it's ever been. Mystique and Aura have gone off-duty.

So many reserves! Yay!

Poor Aurellia Cammock. As soon as she makes one mistake, she gets pulled from the game and planted on the bench. Did she drive too deep? Yes, but for heaven's sake, you can put her out on the floor in the final two minutes of a 25-point game, it's okay, she can't screw it up that badly. Ashley Murray was strong down low- a little wild, but that's okay. I like her. Iida Ahvenainen needs to hit the weight room or something- there's no excuse for her shots to be falling as short as they are. She's not ready yet- she needs more seasoning and more conditioning, but it's as good to know that as it is to know what she can do, if that tortured excuse for a sentence makes any sense to you. Casey Wortley had two easy looks at the basket that she didn't put enough oomph on, but I liked her moxie on the glass. I'm glad to see her play- she spent all last year injured. Treyanna Clay is still pretty raw (you may insert your pottery-related puns here) but she showed her potential late in the game with some strong moves to the basket. She needs time, but she can be a star.

Alexis Lewis did one of my favorite things, which was get even instead of getting mad. Jasmine Mungo got her hard in the face, enough that the refs went to the monitor to see whether it could be considered a flagrant. It wasn't. And then Lex went out and hit a three-pointer on the resulting possession. And then she hit another one. Her first one, before either of those, came with panache, at the shot clock buzzer, off the glass. She's got ups, and toughness. Kristin Mahoney ran point for the fourth quarter. She's found a little more assertiveness than she used to have, but she still relies too heavily on the same quasi-spin move to her left to give herself time to think.

Karynda DuPree is starting to grow on me. This might have been one of her quieter games statistically, but except for a couple of stand-and-stares on rebounds, she didn't do any of the things that make me swear at her. More importantly, the rebounds she got were strong, and her hands were up on defense. She didn't chuck any stupid threes from the top of the key, a shot I know she would have taken last year. She's been vocal in the huddle, but she was moreso today. I kind of wish she could have had this epiphany last year, but I'll take it when I can get it. Joy Adams needs to stop missing chippies at the basket, but the plays she did make were phenomenally athletic, and she was rebounding well. She had a really nice pass to Karynda down low for a bucket.

Marina Lizarazu was kind of like a ninja today- I barely even noticed her, but there she was, racking up the assists. She helped out on the pressure defense, too. You go girl, and ¡feliz cumpleaños! Aaliyah Robinson started the game on fire from beyond the arc, and cooled off later- but by then, we didn't need her to be as much of an offensive option. Philecia Gilmore made the big threes later in the game and brought a lot of toughness to the floor. I really like her, and her leadership on the bench. She sounds so quiet off the floor, but she's very vocal in the huddle and gets her teammates fired up.

Officials were making a lot of game management calls in the second half, ticky-tack touch fouls that had been ignored in the first half, but with a margin like that, I'm not completely certain I blame them. Nothing really egregious I can point to to be angry about, and a couple of borderline calls that Terry Zeh and Canisius had good reason to object to.

I really like some of the pyramid-type, climb-on-each-other stunts the cheer squad is doing. Take risks! Do flips! Be awesome!

Nice shooting job by the kid who won the ticket four-pack, but I get the feeling he wouldn't have needed to run right up to the buzzer if he had remembered the rules.

Ashley Murray, you were an adorable baby, but I'm not completely certain you wanted the entire world to know it.

Dinner at the Study Hall was delicious (and not just because my Johnnies ensured I didn't have to pay for it) (if you didn't read yesterday's notes, my husband and I staked today's dinner on the results of St. John's and Seton Hall). We had a nice chat with the bartender/manager, who did his graduate work at Iona and checked out games. It's not quite the Blackboard (oh, those sinful blackout fries) but it's good stuff.

Here's a thing I don't get: if this were an eatery in South Orange, it would have a Seton Hall poster on the wall and a Pirate decal on the window. If this were an eatery on Union Turnpike, there'd be a St. John's poster in the window. But I didn't see any Iona posters up. You'd think that a place three blocks from campus would be one of the first places you'd reach out to. Think locally!

But that's an institutional issue. That's, perhaps, not a GNoD issue. The GNoD cares about the game, and that Iona played well, and that I still don't understand what Billi Godsey has against Aurellia Cammock.