February 5th, 2016: Monmouth at Iona

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Strong rebounding outweighed cold shooting, as the Iona Gaels pulled away from Monmouth in the fourth quarter to win 68-56. Joy Adams flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 13 points, 24 rebounds, and eight assists, while Alexis Lewis contributed a game-high 18 points off the bench, all in the second half. Jamiyah Bethune led the Hawks with 16 points.

For bricks, many bus rides, missed shots, lacrosse players, clangs, ill-timed children, hitting the rim, autographs for other people, and bad shooting, join your intrepid and inaccurate blogger after the jump.


Good morning! It's another snowy day here in the New York metropolitan area, so of course your intrepid blogger is off to a basketball game. Actually, I'm off to two basketball games- the original plan was just to hit the night game at Hofstra, and then I realized that Iona had a morning game against Monmouth.

So here I am at the Hynes, impressed in a perverse way at just how few kids they managed to gt for this event- it looks like only one school. I could have waited for the 10:20 and probably been okay. Thanks to the lovely weather we're having, the J got delayed enough that I missed the 9:20 bus. The things I do for this team.

To the woman in the Dunkin Donuts buying tea for the homeless dude: I'm simultaneously humbled by your generosity and humanity, and irked that you're helping the guy hang out in the place where he hasn't bought anything.

I suspect they're doing autographs after the game for the kiddies, but since I'm not a kiddie and I need to catch the bus with the quickness once the game's over, I think I'll pass.

At halftime, Monmouth is up 32-29, basically because they can shoot just a little bit better than we can. We're missing a lot of shots- some contested, some very much not.

Cassidee Ranger has been coming in for a little bit of teasing from some friends of hers (lacrosse, I think). Cheering seems to be confusing the kids in general. Only kids I've ever seen not make noise when the opponent's shooting free throws. Cass did a remarkable job of restraining her urge to be highly irked at her lacrosse friends.

The educational portion of the program is a very clunky presentation on saving money. This woman doesn't seem familiar with how children work.

Joy seems determined to close the gap between 1441 and 1500 in one fell swoop.

So, things I have learned about Iona: we are not morning people. And we can't shoot for love nor money. Things I have learned about Monmouth: they like to play fast and take a lot of long shots.

Erica Balman came off the bench in short stretches in the second and fourth quarters, bringing size and a little bit of boxing out in the middle. Danica Dragicevic showed some stroke, but nothing else. Dana Carbone brought a little bit of offense in the second quarter, in a quick burst of threes, but I barely even noticed she was in in the second half until she was subbed out. Jasmine Walker seemed to have an interesting combination of size and skill. Jasmine McCall didn't do much of note.

Sarah Olson was hard-nosed and physical. I don't know if the bandage around her left wrist did anything to keep her from shooting, or if she's just not a scorer, but she did most of her work on defense. McKinzee Barker hustled a little but, but was otherwise unmemorable. Jamiyah Bethune went to work in the lane in the third quarter and was very solid overall.

I'm intrigued by Tyese Purvis, who lists as a guard but really seems to be more of a tweener. She's long-limbed and athletic, and she plays well both beyond the arc and in the paint. Christina Mitchell was a big body, but didn’t really look for her shot, and when she did, it was more from the perimeter. She didn't bend her knees very much when she shot, whether it was a jumper or a free throw.

Monmouth subbed fairly often, keeping their rotations brisk. They seemed to prefer a faster pace, even though the shooting numbers don't reflect it. I do wish their bench would be a little quieter- the coaches earned them a bench warning from the refs, because I think one of the assistants was talking too much. There were a couple of really over-the-top protests regarding the shot clock (that both ultimately turned out to be pointless).

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Alexis Lewis is not a morning person. I'm going to say this because she was very quiet in the first half, and then she hit three threes in the third quarter, including one right at the end of the quarter to tie the game, and kept the pressure on through the fourth quarter. She attacked the boards fiercely, too. It's rare to see at the mid-major level, but Lex might just be a true small forward- undersized overall, but not for the MAAC. Treyanna Clay hustled on the boards, especially on the offensive glass late in the game, but was knocking the ball away from her teammates almost as often as she was knocking it away from Monmouth.

No, I don't know why Coach Godsey has completely lost faith in Aurellia Cammock. Can I guess? Yes. Do I want to put that supposition to paper? No.

Joy Adams continues to amaze and frustrate, and usually all on the same play. She had a beautiful wide-open lay-up that she overshot- in general, she was shooting too strong, or too hard, or something that caused her shots to bounce out, but that was the most egregious. But she chased down loose balls like a bloodhound. What impressed me most was her ability to drive and dish to the perimeter shooters. Karynda DuPree seemed entirely too happy to settle for long jumpers today, but later in the game, she started to get more inside and rebound better.

I don't know what was up with Aaliyah Robinson today- maybe she's even less of a morning person than Lex is- but other than her defense, her game was completely off. That makes me sad- Aaliyah is one of my favorites, a topic that will be discussed at length during the inevitable Senior Day megapost. Philecia Gilmore started strong from three and was the most reliable option for bringing the ball up the floor, no matter how often Iona insisted on giving the ball to Joy or Treyanna to bring it up. Marina Lizarazu hit the gas pedal hard, driving the lane without fear and usually without accuracy. She had better luck from beyond the arc, especially in the fourth.

I don't know if Monmouth somehow ran out of gas despite being better-rested, or if Iona's espressos kicked in in the fourth quarter, or what, but all the shots that weren't going in for the first thirty minutes went down in the first six or so minutes of the fourth. Accuracy became a bit more of a problem in the last few minutes, but we came up with the offensive rebounds and milked the clock down.

The refs started out calling the game loosely, but tightened up as it went on. I think they were tired of hearing Palmateer and her assistant. Be careful what you wish for.

We'll win a lot of games rebounding like this. We won't win a lot of games shooting like this, holy mother of God. Someone needs to get Joy a shooting coach. Or something.