January 5th, 2016: Marquette at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: in a game close throughout, St. John's prevailed in overtime over Marquette, 81-77. Danaejah Grant led the Red Storm with 27 points, 16 in the first half; Aliyyah Handford had 15 points, and Aaliyah Lewis had 11, nine in overtime. Allazia Blockton led Marquette with 25 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists; the Golden Eagles also got double-digit points from Amani Wilborn (17) and Natisha Hiedeman (14).

For a team of ducks, cross-court passes, flags, and sleep deprivation, join your intrepid and time-strapped blogger after the jump.


Another day, another eighty-seven cents, another game on the slate. Tonight, the second partner in the Great Lakes duo, Marquette, comes to visit the Johnnies.

I really thought trying to warm up dinner had blown my chance at making the bus, but there was another one right behind it. Hopefully, I didn't blow any of my team's luck on it- we might need it for one of Nae's shots off the glass, or to get Liyyah a call (sometimes that takes a lot of luck).

At halftime, St. John's is up 39-27, after a slow start that saw Marquette leading by as much as six. Danaejah Grant has continued her hot play from the fourth quarter against DePaul, leading the way with 14 points. Allazia Blockton leads Marquette with eight.

This iteration of the dance team costumes looks kinda Christmas-y.

They gave out flags. They made us take one. I like our flag better. It's signed.

Guys from the men's team are in front of us. It kind of ruins some of my better lines.

We really should not be going to overtime with a Marquette team that's so terrifyingly, ridiculously, young. But the pieces around our superstars are too used to the superstar security blanket and don't have confidence in themselves to shoot. The Big East is not such a mid-major that you can win with just two players.

Marquette essentially went six deep for most of the game. Olivia Moskari went in in the first half, and Sandra Dahling briefly in the second; neither had any major impact on the game. Erika Davenport fought hard on the glass, taking advantage of her teammates boxing out to come up with offensive boards. She positions herself well on the floor.

McKayla Yentz took a lot of threes. They weren't always good threes, and she had a habit of taking them deeper than might have been necessary from the position of the defense. She set screens for her teammates well. Shantelle Valentine moved around and made space on the inside, but I don't know if she was looking to score and rebound so much as she was facilitating things for her teammates. I feel like they could be doing more with her.

I really like Allazia Blockton. She drives hard to the basket, and she's not afraid to get on the glass. Her passes were being picked, but that's a thing we do and should do more often, so that's not really a knock on her. She's really athletic. I was also impressed by Amani Wilborn- she wasn't necessarily glamorous, but she shoots well behind the line and she makes good defensive plays. Natisha Hiedeman played well down the stretch- it's sort of a backhanded compliment if I start grumbling about a player, so if she heard me muttering, "goddamn Swedish Clarendon-wannabe", I hope she wasn't offended. (But really, if you have short, curly, dark hair that you bleach the top of, and you wear #5, and your team wears gold with navy accents, I'm going to make Clarendon references at you until the cows come home.) She's streaky, but promising.

Marquette played like a young team, but they also played like a talented team. They need to lay off the cross-court passes. But on another night, if the rims were kinder and the refs were better, this might have been their night.

Tamesha Alexander came in in the first half when Aaliyah Lewis picked up her second foul. This is not a recording. She made some dumb passes, but picked up a nice jumper. Crystal Simmons needs to stop hesitating so much on offense, but I absolutely love what she brings on defense. So much energy, so much movement, so much work! Akina Wellere came up with some baskets late, but she's another one who needs to shoot more. Maybe not much more, but she's our three-point specialist by default, she needs to take them.

Jordan Agustus saw brief minutes in both halves. She never really got her feet under her, so it's hard to say what effect she had on the game. Jade Walker had the jumper working a little, and one good putback at the rim, but she missed too many shots down low, and at least two of them were on offensive rebounds. She also has to understand that one of the constants of the universe is that if there's a situation where she can be called for a foul, she'll be called for a foul. Get used to it, play smarter, and hit harder; if you're going to get fouled, make it worth your time.

I'm really not sure what to say about our forwards at this point. I love Sandra Udobi as a person, but she was never the same after the knee injury. Tonight, she was taking too many long jumpers with no one there to rebound. Just how much are you trying to pile on Danaejah's shoulders? If I were more statistically inclined, I'd chart Sandie's stats against the weather and see just how much the cold is getting to her knee. Imani Littleton came up with some strong baskets underneath. Maybe she's starting to get into her groove. That would be cool.

Aaliyah Lewis was the heroine of overtime, after a rough start to the game. Her shots never seemed to get much air, but they got up just enough to go over the rim and through the net. That might be a metaphor, or possibly some other form of poetic description for the player your intrepid blogger calls Tiny Aaliyah. She's so adorably feisty. Aliyyah Handford was the target of everyone's defense tonight, and the rim was not kind to her. She still found ways to get her points, especially as Danaejah heated up and some of the heat came off her. But she's getting a little wild on defense, a little over-aggressive. She knows she has to do too much, and she's been fouling more. We don't need more of that from her. She's got to play smarter, not harder, cliché as it is. Danaejah Grant started the game like a house on fire.. She was rebounding well, too. I love to watch her and Liyyah rebound.

Way too many risky cross-court passes. Way too much losing track of where the ball was. (Looking at you, Imani. Y tú también, Crystal.) Too many stupid fouls. (Jade. Aliyyah.)

The stupid foul problem was exacerbated by stupid foul-calling, and stupid non-foul-calling. Officiating was inconsistent all night. Dropping the shoulder only seemed to be an offensive foul at one end of the floor. I'm not sure how Marquette got a timeout granted after six seconds of attempting to inbound. I'm not sure how we didn't get an advance on a timeout under two minutes left in the fourth. To be fair, I'm also not sure how Crystal didn't get called for fouling Hiedeman on the three, or how that ball went to St. John's, on Marquette's next-to-last possession. All I ask for is consistency, and to not miss really blatant calls that could change the game.

It is customary to have a ball when participating in a dress and dribble contest. I don't mean in the "weeeeee, fun!" sense, but in the basketball sense.

This was the kind of night where we actually bought ducks, because it seemed necessary to throw things.

The Awkward Bowl against Seton Hall is up next on Saturday. It's going to be interesting.