Sunday, February 28, 2016

February 28th, 2016: Creighton at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Creighton broke open a nip and tuck game with a strong fourth quarter to win 64-57 at St. John's. Sydney Lamberty led the Jays with 18 points, 14 in the final frame. Aliyyah Handford of St. John's led all scorers with 19.

For giving up too many opportunities, missing too many makeable shots, bad calls, seniors, small posters, large quantities of New Jerseyans, dancing in unauthorized areas, switching to decaf, and going it alone, join your intrepid and penultimate blogger after the jump.


It's Senior Day at St. John's, also known as "Punch Me Right In The Feelings, Why Don't You?" Day. Two of the best to rock the red, Danajah Grant and Aliyyah Handford, play their final regular season home game today against Creighton.

So that was Jennifer Blanding I saw on the bus! Or if not, someone else closely affiliated with St. John's. (No, that's definitely Big Love. Nadirah arrived at halftime and made a bee-line for her and the adorable kid. Ballers and small children are an adorably hilarious, or hilariously adorable, combination.)

People. Y'all have got to stop putting kids behind the opposing bench. It's really super bad manners. Creighton actually brought a fairly large contingent, and they're eight or nine rows above their team because there are kiddy groups parked in the seats that are supposed to be theirs.

I'm pretty sure a statistically significant portion of the population of Newark is here today.

O HAI BRI. Or maybe that's not Briana Brown chilling with Team Jersey. I detect a theme here.

Senior Day was, as usual, uninspired. Managers got flowers and a framed jersey with either #11 or #12. Not sure if those were leftovers or the year of their matriculation. Our senior stars got one of their pink jerseys in a frame. And of course there were flowers. But that's really about it. Seton Hall does it better.

At halftime, St. John's is up 32-27, #Liyyah2K is 17 points away from happening, and it's going to be a race to see who can throttle the refs first. Flanery has the hotter temper, but Jade Walker is losing her patience with the travel calls, Liyyah had a crap call right before the half on a pushoff by Creighton, and Joe never likes refs.

DSPN brought a few friends this time around. Let's get some noise in this joint!

Another autograph session, but I might just hang around to wish 'em good luck in Chicago and maybe squee a little at Liyyah. (Which I did. I don't know if I should have, but I did.)

Senior Day should not turn into a #refshow. No game should ever turn into a #refshow, but Senior Day definitely should not turn into one. Two calls made too much of a difference.

Creighton really rubbed me the wrong way in this one. I suppose losing instead of winning might have something to do with it, and part of me does get that getting a win to end the regular season is a big deal. But Creighton celebrated the end of that game as if it had clinched them the Big East championship, and that bothers me. Don't dance on the logo, even if it's only a far corner of it, on someone else's floor. Lose with grace, win with grace.

I didn't even notice Kylie Brown enter the game, so you can tell how much of an impact she had. Tessa Leytem came in very briefly in the first half- I think she was helping relieve some of the foul issues with MC McGrory. Lauren Works is much more annoying when you don't have the bench drama between you and the court. She makes shrill, distracting noises on defense (which, yes, is a valid strategy, but an annoying one) and celebrates a bit too much for my liking. She does work hard, and probably hears puns like that far too much in her life, but I don't like her. And I don't have to like her. Neener neener neener. Brianna Rollerson was stronger today than Friday, and I think that was part of Creighton's change in strategy- the weak-side corner was being more closely guarded than in the Seton Hall game, but that opened up space in the middle both for the big girls and for the guards to cut.

Or, if you're Jade Owens, you throw up one-handed push-roll-shot-things and they go in. I'm
really impressed with her. She's fiery, she's got sweet moves in the lane, and she knows how to find the open player. MC McGrory got into foul trouble real quick in the first quarter, and somehow managed to not foul out. She's very tough. She had the advantage of being well-rested in the fourth quarter, which gave her a chance to make some big plays late down the stretch. Sydney Lamberty has such a pretty shot. She finds ways to get open. I don't know if I'd go as far as to say she can make her own shot, but she's good at using the space she gets. You'd think we'd have figured out the three-point shooting thing at some point, but nooooo. She's a mismatch and then some.

Bailey Norby continues to make smart, heady, frustrating plays. In this case, it was the rebound of the missed Owens free throw that then set up Lamberty for the three that ultimately won the game for the Bluejays. She makes things happen on the glass. Audrey Faber showed a little bit on defense, with a big block on Crystal Simmons. She's got decent stroke from outside, too, but that's sort of to be expected if you're playing for Creighton.

Jade Walker's back! She was playing more outside than inside, but that's pretty normal for Jade on a good day, much less Jade two days after sitting out with a knee injury. They were calling her for the step on her move to the inside today, and she was not a happy camper. Crystal Simmons brought the defense, but she has to stop being afraid to shoot, this is not a recording. She passed up good shots for panic shots. That's not a good thing. Akina Wellere brought some rebounding, but she also needs to be less afraid to shoot the ball. There aren't that many games left for y'all to rely on Aliyyah and Danaejah, y'all are going to have to step up around them.

Aaliyah Lewis got off to a hot start in the first quarter, but you can't run the same plays for her that you can run for Aliyyah Handford. Tiny Aaliyah has spectacular ups that give her somewhat of a height advantage, but she's still shorter and she's still not as athletic as Liyyah. She can't make all of those shots. Danaejah Grant had two Jays on her pretty much all night, usually Owens and either McGrory or Works, and it curtailed her ability to do pretty much anything offensively. On the plus side, we got to see her ability to pass out of the double-team. Aliyyah Handford tried to take the game back single-handedly in the waning minutes, with two steals and fast breaks, but the third time was the reverse of the charm- she got called for the reach-in for her fifth foul, and that pretty much ended the game.

Too much hesitation. Too much time wasted. Too much time spent in our own heads and not enough spent focusing on the game. Creighton took us out of our game, and we let them do it.

We let the refs get to us too. There were calls that went in our favor, to be sure. But there are two calls that stick in my craw, because I think they together changed the tenor of the game. The foul at the end of the second quarter on Aliyyah- where it looked like a Creighton player pushed her and she got called for it- turned out to be the second of five. It doesn't look like the end of the world when it's the second, but when there are three legit fouls after it, that's a problem. The other one came at the beginning of the fourth quarter, when Jade Walker got called for a block that sure looked like a charge on Jade Owens. Owens hit the basket, then missed the free throw- but Norby got the board and set up Lamberty for a three that was compounded by Imani fouling away from the ball- which in college is a sideout to the team so offended. Thank all the forgotten gods that Faber committed an offensive foul, or it might have been a seven or eight-point possession and either Joe would have done something drastic or Mama Handford might have jumped the rail.

General inconsistency bothers me. Calling cheap contact bothers me. Ignoring blatant travels on one end bothers me. But I'm starting to feel like I should yell at these refs to get off my lawn.

This was a bad loss. This was a loss we really shouldn't have taken. We're down to the four seed now, when we had a shot at second or third. It's on to Chicago now, and your intrepid blogger will be there every step of the way. There's just one more bit of business to take care of…

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Saturday, February 27, 2016

February 26th, 2016: Creighton at Seton Hall

Just the Facts, Ma'am: A 15-0 second quarter run was the deciding factor in Seton Hall's 77-71 win over Creighton. Tabatha Richardson-Smith notched 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Hall, with Tiffany Jones just missing the double-double (13 points, nine rebounds). MC McGrory led Creighton with 20 points.

For lots of blue, bus adventures, perhaps being in the wrong place at the right time, three-pointers, wheels within wheel plays, late-night travels, and crucial bench three-pointers, join your intrepid and tumbling blogger after the jump.


Stop me if you've heard this one before: since I had the day off anyway, I figured I might as well pull the day-night double-header and head over to Seton Hall for my last regular-season trip to Walsh Gymnasium.

Important life lessons learned: do not experiment with new bus-based routes into New Jersey on a Friday afternoon. Such traffic. Much confuse.

Creighton's bright blue is so similar to Seton Hall's bright blue that I accidentally helped a pair of Creighton fans.

Seton Hall may have done something very clever, or it's a total coincidence. This is the first home game after Tabatha Richardson-Smith broke the career scoring record set by Geraldine Saintilus way back in the day. One of the guys from the color guard today had a name tag that said Saintilus...

Briana Rollerson has big hair. This isn't actually relevant to anything, but it's an observation.

"Mic check one, two- that sounds great."

Tiffany Jones and Tabatha Richardson-Smith seem to be having an impromptu dance-off. Worrrrrrrk.

For heaven's sake, Tab, don't crash the opposing line. That's just rude.

Yeah, okay, if that's a knee injury for Taylor Byrne, I'm Sue Bird. She's wincing at the sound of the band, and they're not bad. They are, in fact, doing a rousing version of "Evil Ways". (Poor Grumpy Byrne.)

At halftime, Seton Hall is up 40-28, after dueling runs in the first quarter led to a 15-all deadlock and a big Seton Hall second half push.

These little kids in the biddy game can really score. Someone even had a boss blocked shot.

This shouldn't have been as close as it was, but Creighton can shoot, and if their picks are working, and their fakeouts are working, they can get on a hot streak and make games entirely too interesting.

Not that the anthem singer was overdoing his melisma, but Shakena Richardson was mocking him after he was done. Nice voice, but badly trained.

Tessa Leytem sneaked around behind the full-court pressure for a pretty sweet lay-up (it was similar to a play from the morning game, where Brianna Frias of Providence, fresh off the bench, went picking cherries in her frontcourt). Myah Mellman got a few minutes in the first half and even less in the second half. Given that I had to check the play-by-play to confirm that she played in both halves, she didn't exactly leave much of an impression. Lauren Works lives up to her last name- she made plays happen on the offensive boards. She was aggressive defensively, too. Like many a Bluejay, she has a nice outside stroke. Flanery went to Olivia Elger late in both halves, most likely just to eat up minutes.

Brianna Rollerson brings an inside presence that changes the way Creighton plays on offense. They didn't use her a lot, but she was enough of a threat that the defense had to respect her. In her brief shift, Kylie Brown looked a little like a deer in the headlights- there was one sequence fairly early in the game where she had a good-looking shot, but hesitated far too long. Ali Greene saw some time in the second half, to bring a little height and a fresh set of fouls. I think she can be a useful part in their system, given time- those three-point shooters need screeners, and she seems like she could be a good one for them.

Bailey Norby was an excellent screener- she set two picks early on that busted shooters open for threes. In the second half, she became a three-point shooter herself. Her shot looks awkward, but it goes in. Audrey Faber still looks a little like she's finding her way, but when she does, she's going to be pretty darn good. She put up a monster block on Aleesha Powell.

I really like the energy that Jade Owens plays with. She took a lot of shots, but it seemed like the ones she hit came at critical times for the Bluejays. And if she wasn't doing that, she was making the big steal, or a nifty defensive play. She seems very much in command of herself and her team, and that's a neat thing to see from a sophomore. MC McGrory plays hard, and I think she can get a little too easily frustrated sometimes- her play got much more physical in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter. She had a martial-arts style takedown of (I think) Tab that would have impressed a karateka. Sydney Lamberty needs a moment to get that shot off, but when it does, it's super fast. If she has space, it's going up. She was able to use her height advantage well against the small Seton Hall guards.

There was one epic fail near the end of the game that Jim Flanery is still probably screaming at his team about. With 47 seconds left, Seton Hall had the ball and a four-point lead. Creighton pressured, but didn't foul- despite Flanery yelling at them to do so repeatedly. SHU was able to work the clock down until Shakena dropped off a sweet little pass to Tiffany Jones wide open at the basket. I understand McGrory and Works backing off, since they both had four fouls, but Leytem and Owens both had fouls available, and it would have extended the game (and since the 9:15 didn’t come until 9:45 or so, I would have been okay with that). You have to know time and score.

Jordan Molyneaux saw a little bit of time in the second half when both Tiffany Jones and Lubirdia Gordon got into foul trouble. She did nothing of note. Claire Lundberg showed fight, but more importantly, her ability to hit threes countered the Creighton run in the second quarter and got Seton Hall back on track, and she made a game-saving play after the Faber block with a block of her own. Martha Kuderer held her own a little bit, but didn't get involved in any of the big plays.

Jordan Mosley was also part of the second quarter, three-fueled, pushback that Seton Hall used to give themselves a cushion. She's really done a lot of heady stuff in this season, and I'm going to miss her (and I didn't think I'd miss her as a player, just as a person, though that sounds awfully calculating). LaTecia Smith is working on her clock awareness (and she's ahead of Creighton on that score). She put up some acrobatic shots, some going in, some not. She used her speed well to jump the passing lanes.

Shakena Richardson looks so right with the ball in her hand, coming up the court, controlling the dribble and controlling the game. It's where she seems to belong. She had some pretty passes, but she left a lot of her shots short, or put them up at weird angles. Aleesha Powell's speed was on show- she played the game at a different pace from anyone else out there. She takes so much contact that it scares me sometimes, but she gets right back up again. Tabatha Richardson-Smith had a couple of WTF moments, but this is part of the Tab Experience, so it's to be expected she'll chuck a three or two from, like, Rahway, or throw up a shot in the lane from an unreasonable angle. She rebounded really well, sometimes even muscling her teammates out of the way. When she decides she's going to take control of a game, watch out- and that goes for both the opponent and for her team.

Tiffany Jones looks like she's still in the slump, but she's come out of it enough to know she has to fight her way out. Her long shots aren't falling, but she's making plays at the rim and keeping balls alive. I like to see that out of her- sometimes post players get so distracted by outside jumpers that they forget they have an advantage on the inside. Lubirdia Gordon gt called for a couple of weak fouls, and I think that got into her head a little bit; she was barking at the refs by the fourth one. I really like her knack for turning broken plays into something, though.

The Pirates were very loose before the game. Maybe too loose. I think they saw that this final weekend was against the bottom of the pack and got too comfortable. Creighton's not a team you can do that against. Creighton's streaky, and you can live by the three at any given time.

The refs started calling the game tighter and tighter as time went on, and it started to grate on everyone in the building. Coach Bozzella's face was red for much of the night. Flanery got T'd. Tab needed a cooldown talk from Aleesha (at least, that's what it looked like Aleesha was doing). People get upset when you start calling touch fouls or cheap jump balls. And Bryan Brunette has a very annoying smirk.

First time I've ever seen the ball get stuck on a shooting contest. There should be a special prize for that, but that would be akin to a prop bet, and that would be bad.

Keep it together, Hall. SHU's emotion fuels them, but sometimes I think it might be too much.

Not that I was waiting for the bus back to Newark-Penn Station for a while, but Creighton's bus beat it down South Orange Avenue.

Next up: FEELS I CANNOT SHARE because Aliyyah and Danaejah will be hitting me right in the feels.

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Friday, February 26, 2016

February 26th, 2016: Providence at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Danaejah Grant and Aliyyah Handford each had 27 points and seven rebounds to power the Red Storm to a 69-54 win over Providence. With a putback in the first quarter, Handford set a new career scoring record for St. John's. Sarah Beal had 19 points to lead Providence.

For screaming children, history, tiny posters, those Jersey girls doin' work, the t-shirt feeding frenzy, gimme questions, and squee, join your intrepid and unfinished blogger after the jump.
Good morning! It's Field Trip Day at St. John's, so there are several thousand children making a large amount of noise around me. Fortunately for my sanity, our usual seats were reserved (sadly, I have extra leg room because my husband has to hold down the fort at the office). Thanks, Veronica!

They're working off the kids' extra energy with dance music, which isn't the worst idea in the world. Ow. Right in my ear, kid. Right in my ear.

Nice reminder by the host that we're here for the basketball and the noisemaking should be related to said event.

Aliyyah Handford is four points away from tying the St. John's career scoring record, five away from breaking it. I AM SO HYPED. I missed Tab, and I missed Damika, but I finally get to see one, I finally get to see one! And I finally got to see one and it was awesome! (It was awesome as these dancers on the E train think they are. To be fair, the ceiling tricks are kind of cool. And the fist bump of a random passenger while hanging upside down from the ceiling rails. And the dude leaping over the dude. Okay, they were pretty awesome.)

You didn't get halftime notes because the place was so packed that I barely had space to pull out a tablet, much less a full-fledged laptop. Suffice to say St. John's woke up after the first quarter. I keep telling people we're not morning people, why does no one ever listen to me?

If you're going to be a small to medium-sized child behind me, you can either knee me in the kidneys, hit me in the head with a poster, or scream in my ear. You can't do all of the above.

Providence came out scrappy and aggressive on defense, and they ran some good plays to get whichever big blonde forward was on the floor open right at the basket, whether it was Evi Iiskola or Erica Meyer. But they didn't have the firepower or the ability to stay in front of our big scorers. There are a couple of good parts there, but Provvy might be a few years away.

There's something I like about Erica Meyer. She's making freshman mistakes, but they're such blatant freshman mistakes that you know she's going to stop making them or her coach is going to strangle her. I like her strength, and I like her tenacity on defense. Aliyah Miller would probably have been more effective if she could stay in the game- she's a strong player with nice touch around the basket, but she couldn't stay off her opponent on the defensive end. I suspect her physicality may be why she comes off the bench- she needs to be protected from fouls. Clara Che is a long guard, who in this freshman season comes off as gawky instead of lanky. I think she saw herself as being ready to run the offense more than her team did. Jovana Nogic saw time filling in for just about everyone and was solid, if unremarkable.

Brianna Frias had a strong start to the second half, scoring in the paint and getting to the line. She faded out pretty quickly after that, though. Evi Iiskola got position down low, but she also had an unfortunate tendency to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when St. John's was inbounding. I was surprised they didn't look for her more. I'm really not sure about those rebounding numbers for Allegra Botteghi, but there was one pretty good play where she got a board despite being boxed out perfectly by Danaejah Grant, so there's that.

Maddie Jolin is still working off the rough edges as a freshman, especially on the defensive end. She committed a couple of dumb reach-in fouls that were unnecessary. Sarah Beal is damn good. I don't necessarily like the way she carries herself- wait, that's not quite the right turn of phrase. She carries herself much like Lisa Leslie once did, or Tammy Sutton-Brown, or Kyra Dunn- something about the way she holds her body emanates prissiness and fussiness. And she rolls her shorts up. On the other hand, we're definitely kindred spirits when it comes to encouraging small children to scream; that is to say, neither of us approves of the situation (she had her hands over her ears coming out of timeout a couple of times). She's got game, a sweet pull-up jumper, and the urge to jump the passing lanes on dumb passes.

Tamesha Alexander came in at the very end and sunk a couple of free throws- she nearly had her pocket picked near the end, though. She's got to be more careful with her handle. Crystal Simmons brought some defense in the first half, and was rewarded for that with the second half start, whereupon she proceeded to commit three straight fouls, and that was the end of the day for her until the game was back in hand. She had a pretty solid fourth quarter, though. Akina Wellere had to deal with people outside her weight class- there's no good reason for her to be the one guarding a big post like Aliyah Miller. I wish she'd be less hesitant with her shot, but I wish that about a lot of people and it never happens. Jordan Agustus overshot everything. I think she was trying to compensate for the defense and overcompensated like a man with a souped-up Lambo.

Sandra Udobi got her first name mispronounced all game- either that, or she's had it mispronounced all season. She was limited, which was a bit of a problem, since we were also short Jade Walker (as discovered via Twitter, Jade has a knee injury and I haz a sad). She's tough. Imani Littleton kept committing stupid fouls. She's working on her fronting, though.

Aaliyah Lewis was quiet, but came up with the boards when they went long. Tiny, but fierce! I thought she did an okay job setting the pace of the game. Danaejah Grant is just rock solid. The only flaw in her game today was really her tendency to drive the baseline and then throw it to a Friar, and that's an ongoing Red Storm thing. Her give and go with Aliyyah Handford at the basket was fantastic- the two of them had two or three exchanges for sweeeeet lay-ups. Nae has grown up this year.

And of course, the woman of the hour, the all-time leading scorer in St. John's history, she of the 1,971 points and counting, the one, the only, Aliyyah Handford. Rocking the new headband, she made it abundantly clear that she wasn't waiting any longer to take that record and make it her own. She drove hard. She broke loose on fast breaks from steals. She took a couple of long jumpers, one of them even a three. She drew contact and got to the line. She was the Aliyyah who should be drafted. All shall love her and despair.

It's hard to get a good sense of the officiating when everyone around you hates the refs and your view is occasionally obscured by a Danaejah Grant wingspan poster. I thought there were a couple of blown out of bounds calls, and Crystal was absolutely robbed on her fourth foul (it was a push-off by the offensive player). Nothing changed the game, though, so there's that. (Joe, you're not going to get a call if it's you Aliyyah trips over.)

Some of Liyyah's family got to see the record and were so excited! I just wish they'd announced it at the time instead of waiting until the second quarter.

History! Liyyah2K is next, I know it. I AM EXCITE.

Next up, THE TIME OF FEELS SO MANY FEELS ALL THE FEELS.

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Sunday, February 21, 2016

February 21st, 2016: St. Peter's at Iona

Just the Facts, Ma'am: A strong start gave the Iona Gaels the cushion they needed to beat St. Peter's, 64-50. Joy Adams had 20 points and seven rebounds to lead Iona, with Alexis Lewis contributing 19 and seven off the bench. Hala Mostafa and Sajanna Bethea each had 13 to pace the Peacocks.

For travels, mild pink rage, defiant pins, brilliant crazy plans, defensive tip drills, personnel mistakes, heat-checks, multi-colored Sharpies, and accidentally firing someone else's coach, join your intrepid and somewhat charitable blogger after the jump.


Hey, y'all! How y'all doin' on Daytona Day? Well, for your intrepid blogger, it's not Daytona Day, it's Iona Day. We're at the Hynes Athletic Center for my last Iona game of the season. (Possibly ours, but definitely mine. I had a crazy idea, so my honey may be doing a cannonball run next week.) The Gaels host St. Peter's, giving us another opportunity to vent our spleen upon Patty Coyle.

It's PinkZone at Iona, and they're offering free admission if you wear pink. I haven't seen anything for donations yet, so I'm a bit irked, but maybe they're just not set up yet. We had a miscommunication with our ticket supplier, so I ended up in pink, which also annoys me. (I don't believe in "raising awareness", I believe in raising money. Pink shirts mean nothing without support for research and treatment.)

Iona's struck up a deal with ESPN, so everything's on ESPN3, which means they had to adjust the lighting. (It's about time.)

I see the milestone ball for Aaliyah Robinson's 1000th point. Iona does a good commemorative ball.

I don't know what happened, but they just replaced the net in front of the road bench.

At halftime, Iona is up 36-22. Alexis Lewis and Joy Adams each have 10 for the Gaels; Sajanna Bethea has eight for the Peahenscocks.

I forgot my wi-fi card today and Iona's guest network isn't letting me sign on, so I am a very frustrated Johnnie. And a very frustrated Pirate. And a very frustrated Ram.

They honored a trio of breast cancer survivors at half, and they're selling shirts with the proceeds going to breast cancer research, but apparently they got, er, shirty with my husband for wanting to donate without buying a shirt.

The biddy game went a smidge overtime, and the Peacocks looked like they were about ready to start clearing the kids off the court themselves.

Woo-hoo! Autograph day! And a win! That's the best combination. We got our scorecard signed- Iona uses the variety pack of Sharpies, so we have all kinds of colors. (Treyanna Clay knows: purple Sharpie is best Sharpie.) They didn't quite have enough tables, so by the end you had all the seniors clustered with Alexis Lewis and Philecia Gilmore at the last table. I mean, I was okay with that because, hey, that's the cool kids' table.

You get the feeling St. Peter's might be a better team if they had a better coach. At least I do, but I've had misgivings about Patty Coyle since she took over the Liberty. I know I'm biased. But there were personnel decisions she made that affected her team and were questionable at best.

Breana Spencer came off the bench late and had a nice and-1 on Kristin Mahoney. She might have potential if she's able to turn those long limbs into a defensive asset. Marcia Senatus played in the first half, had one spectacular steal, and then never got in the game in the second half. Alyssa Velles put in the last basket for the Peacocks, a free throw line jumper, but never got the ball in position to fire up a three. Bridget Whitfield mostly seemed to be frustrated. Imani Martinez has a big body, but no touch.

Samantha Meier started the game, got two quick fouls in the first quarter, then fell into the Bermuda Triangle and was never seen again. Hala Mostafa got the second-half start and went to work. Every game, she'll pull out one beaut of a hook shot, usually late in the game. She's not my idea of the ideal ballhandler, but she did the job well enough, even against the Iona pressure. She positions herself well on the boards, too. Sajanna Bethea will be brilliant if she finds a coach and learns to handle herself down low on defense without fouling. She's got some pretty, pretty offensive moves, and no fear. I love to be frustrated when she gets open for the midrange jumper.

Rebecca Sparks slashed through the lane for pretty much all her moves. That started to work against St. Peter's in the fourth quarter- Iona's defense had toughened back up, and the Gaels got two offensive fouls against her (one charge, one push-off, I think, but it might have been two charges). I don't know how thoroughly her head was in the game, though; there was a sequence where it looked like Bethea had to talk her down, and it seemed like an odd dynamic to have the sophomore talking the senior back into the game. Talah Hughes tried to get going in the second half, but when she got more aggressive, she started getting called for fouls. We'll talk a little more about the refs later.

Kristin Mahoney is kind of adorable. Still wet behind the ears, but adorable nevertheless. Casey Wortley went back and forth between not setting the screen strongly enough (thus letting the defender get around her with ease) and trying to set it too hard (which led to the offensive foul on the moving screen). Iida Ahvenainen really needs to hit the weight room, or do whatever is necessary to get more oomph on her shot- all her shots fell short. She still looks lost out there, but you can see the effort. Treyanna Clay was very active on the boards, even if she didn't come down with a lot of them. I think she needs to get a little more experience working with her teammates in order to be the screener and setup person she needs to be. Alexis Lewis was fantastic. I love watching her shoot. I love watching her rebound. She's a game-changer, and she could be something special one of these days.

Marina Lizarazu was not making good decisions with the ball today. She had some good passes, but her shot selection was really bad, and if the officials had been paying more attention, she would have gotten dinged for a boatload of turnovers. She and Aaliyah Robinson rocked the backcourt pressure. A-Rob was solid on defense and hit a three early. She'll always make at least one heady play on the ball that makes me love her. Philecia Gilmore brought the offense in the second half and helped bring the ball up. Sometimes she got a little shot happy- she and Lexi both have a tendency to heat-check themselves and come up lacking. I'll never fault Fee's passion, though.

Karynda DuPree was back to being passive today, soft on defense and tentative on offense. She had a pretty sweet block on a Sparks drive, though. At least she wasn't throwing up three-pointers, which is what used to happen when she was playing like that, so that's an improvement. And I've learned that we're getting her for another year, so that's big. I never thought we'd miss her, but she's grown on me. Joy Adams came on strong as the game went on. She's at her best when she's driving, using the jumper to shake things up, instead of relying on the jumper and then driving. At least that's my opinion. She's phenomenally athletic, and if she could shoot straight she'd be a sure-fire draft prospect.

Strange personnel decisions on both sides. I understand Iona going deeper into their bench earlier on, given the opponent, but I wasn't expecting to see Iida or Casey in the first half. As for St. Peter's... Senatus plays passing lanes well. You'd think that would be useful when Iona's ball movement amongst the forwards was sharp. So of course she didn't play the second half. And then there was the Bethea foul situation: with 3:25 to go in the second half, Coyle put Bethea back in with two fouls. On the next possession, six seconds of game time later, Bethea picks up the third foul. Why, why, why, why would you put your top scorer back into the game in that situation? (And why would you not drive at her in the second half after she picked up the fourth, Iona?)

Iona got the benefit of most of the whistles today. There were a couple of sketchy out of bounds calls, but Denise Brooks says those are the hardest calls in the game, and I'll believe her. But on travels, on fouls, on contact, Iona was getting the calls. I'll take it. I won't be happy about it, but I'll take it.

Buzzer beaters are in the air. Even tiny children can hit them now.

For some reason, the PA announcer kept including Jenny Palmateer on the St. Peter's coaching staff. Who has been at Monmouth for five years. Who has never been affiliated with St. Peter's in any way, shape, or form, from what I can tell from her bio. Pat Coyle's WTF face was utterly priceless. And then they issued a correction. That still included Palmateer.

Iona did what they needed to do, and Lexi's going to be a star. I hope. She's streaky, but I think she just might be okay.

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Sunday, February 14, 2016

February 14th, 2016: Georgetown at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. John's never trailed in a steady pacing of Georgetown, 63-55. Danaejah Grant had 20 points to lead the Red Storm, with Aliyyah Handford contributing 13. Dorothy Adomako's 12 off the bench led Georgetown.

For deflections, steals, disruptions, chaos under heaven, too much pink, slight disorientation, and knowledgeable folk other than me, join your intrepid and sleep-deprived blogger after the jump.
Happy Valentine's Day, readers! I'll save you any trite doggerel about Johnnies being red and Pirates being blue, mostly because I can't think of a good rhyme for Iona. Your intrepid blogger is off to St. John's once more, this time for the Gorgetown half of the Eastern Seaboard pod. Ironically, today of all days, I'm flying solo, as my very significant other is off to Seton Hall to (one hopes) witness Pirate history. (Tabatha, if you don't score 23 today, we are going to have words. And those words are going to be "what is wrong with your shot?")

It's cold out. I just thought you should know that.

Instead of t-shirts, today's giveaway is a pink winter hat. They said I could take one, instead of foisting one upon upon me. So I didn't take it. I did, however, bid on Selina Archer's BHA jersey from last year. Let's see if I win. I'd like to have a pink jersey I can wear, if nothing else so I don't get people guilt-tripping me over my refusal to pink.

The St. John's BHA gear is eye-searing. Dry-highlighter pink on the uniform, a shade or two brighter on the accessories, Day-Glo pinkish-orange on the coaches' shirts. At least some of the accessories are in the black accent. My eyes might actually start bleeding if everything were the pink of Danaejah Grant's arm sleeves.

At halftime, St. John's is up 31-25. Danaejah Grant has 16 for the Johnnies. It's a bit more balanced for Georgetown; Dominique Vitalis and Yasmine Belk have seven each. It's been a fast game, but not a terribly well played one- lots of turnovers, lots of inexplicable passes from St. John's and lots of missed shots from Georgetown.

Georgetown's defense is ferocious. They have some of the most active hands I've ever seen. You don't get a moment's peace with them. It costs them in the long run, because they're going to get called for fouls, but they're super disruptive. They just need a little more discipline to temper the enthusiasm.

Dorothy Adomako came off the bench today, which surprised me a little. She uses her length pretty well on defense- her shots just were not falling. Tyshell King has a really pretty jumper. Katie McCormick put up threes and scrapped for loose balls, but her shot wasn't falling, and it seemed like that got to her a little bit. Jasmine Jackson played in the first half and defended at the point, and she got very physical with Aaliyah Lewis.

Jade Martin saw a little bit of time in the first half and was unremarkable with it. Yasmine Belk made an impact both on the boards and with her shot- she was very physical with our defense, but was also able to step out and hit a jumper or two. She was relentless. She also needs to pick on people her own size- she fouled Aaliyah hard going up for a shot, which led to Aaliyah looking like she had to aim for the basket in the middle when she took her free throws.

Dionna White is sneaky fast and has some serious ups for a little bitty guard. She read the passing lanes really well and got Georgetown's offense moving on the fast break. So did DiDi Burton (though someone is going to have to tell me the backstory of why her name is pronounced like "Da-Da"). I think White made smarter decisions with the ball, which surprises me a little, given that White's a freshman and Burton's a sophomore.

Logan Battle lines up as a guard, but she plays more like a forward, so she's over here with the frontcourt type people. She facilitated a lot of the offense, not in the point guard sense, but in being in the right place at the right time for people to move around her. She had a really nice block on Imani Littleton that she was able to keep in play. Faith Woodard made good plays at the rim but couldn't get the shots to go down. Georgetown either needs to work on their shooting fundamentals or needs to get some better puck luck- they had a lot of shots go wide off the rim. Dominique Vitalis showed why she's so important to Georgetown- she brings senior leadership. She's a stabilizing force. She does a little bit of everything for them, but she's also important to keep everyone's ehad on straight.

Now I understand how and why they gave DePaul fits.

We went pretty deep into our bench today, which was refreshing and somewhat needed. Akina Wellere seems to have gone back to her reticence to shoot, and that informed the rest of her game today- there was a play where she was woefully out of position on defense (think it was a boxout), and that led to Jordan Agustus being forced into fouling. I was disappointed in her today. I was also a little disappointed in Tamesha Alexander, but that's becoming sort of a habitual thing. I like Sox, if only because, well, socks, but she really hasn't stepped up this year. We got good defense off the bench from Crystal Simmons, and at least a little offense, though the technical flaws in her shot were pretty obvious. Jordan Agustus got some extended run, and she looked good- she has the confidence to take the shot that I wish some of her teammates had. I like her potential. Jade Walker rebounded well, and she was confident in her jumper, bu she didn't move well on defense.

Either Aliyyah Handford is having a bad case of bad puck luck, or there's something wrong with her shooting hand that she's not admitting to, because her shots are going the same direction off the rim when she drives, and it bothers me. She looked a little more like her old self, though. She had the speed and quickness. Danaejah Grant had the touch. She's just so quietly, calmly, effective and efficient. Aaliyah Lewis ran the show and took a lot of hits.

Sandra Udobi was back in action today, and while she's not real quick, she gets the job done down low. She played well on defense, and there was great rejoicing when she put up a shot and got the basket. Imani Littleton still needs to work on her defense and her ability to grab passes, but she seems to have decided that defense will be her caling card, and I'm okay with that. I wear the jersey of a rebounder/shot-blocker/grit player, do you think I'm going to get mad about a player choosing that as her focus?

General issue with the team today: too many extra passes. Georgetown was reading the passing lanes way too well to be trying to find the perfect shot at the pefect time. Playing like this made it clear that we can't have Sandie and Crystal out there at the same time, or either of them with Akina. Too many players trying to follow, not enough to lead.

There were some curious choices of call to make on the baseline, but my biggest issue with the crew was that they seemed to be calling the foul on the wrong player much of the time. I'd be sure it was on Jade, and then it was on Imani. Or Aliyyah, which was super annoying.

I won the auction! And it came with shorts! Now I have a couple of options for what to wear to the gym! (As long as Selina doesn't want her stuff back.) (This meant that I didn't buy ducks this year. Next year, perhaps, we'll see a little flock of Wildwings and Jillians.) (Yes, I name my ducks. Yes, I name them after Ducks.)

This was the wakeup call we needed. Now it's off to the Old Northwest Territory, and perhaps history for Aliyyah. Gotta keep rolling. Can't afford any bad losses against the back end of the conference.

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Saturday, February 13, 2016

February 13th, 2016: LIU at St. Francis NY

Just the Facts, Ma'am: LIU gave up as much as a seven-point lead, but execution down the stretch in overtime gave the Blackbirds victory in the Battle of Brooklyn at St. Francis, 65-62. Shanovia Dove led all scorers with 24 points, while Shanice Vaughan contributed 22 off the bench. Cassidy Derda led St. Francis with 16 points on 7-7 shooting, adding seven rebounds.

For putting some step in your pep, a cauldron of noise, cultural mismatches, forgetting to write about intersectionality, offensive rebounds, free throws winning ball games, and confusing layouts, join your intrepid and cozy blogger after the jump.
A blogger's work is never done, not when the city pods are home both for the NEC and the BEast. We're at St. Francis today for the rematch of the Battle of Brooklyn. LIU's already got a fairly large contingent in the house, including at least some of the dance team.

LIU might have as many as eight players today! This is exciting news! Some teams get bitten by the injury bug; some teams get bitten by a swarm of them.

PinkZone at St. Francis today. The petty part of me notices that even SFC's t-shirts are lighter than everyone else's.

Apparently SFC's cafeteria is not fail. Good to know if I ever decide to give them money.

I think the dance team may actually perform in the stands, the way they do at home games, and the way I've seen dance teams do at some rivalry games (Lafayette-Lehigh, and the Seton Hall game at Villanova).

At halftime, LIU is up 32-25, but you'd never know it from listening to Coach Oliver. Sitting behind LIU's bench is quite revealing. I really should not be saying things like this about the person who gives me tickets, but the way she handles herself with her team, I would run away screaming. Imagine the relentless commentary of Harry Perretta combined with the control freak tendencies and habit of talking at people who have not done the anger-making thing on the bench of Joe Tartamella, with a dash of Brenda Frese's wandering around the court, and maybe Kim Mulkey's taste in footwear.

(Speaking of shoes, Coach Oliver was like a little kid with a new toy when she discovered the resonance of her shoes against SFC's court.)

Clock over the basket in front of SFC's bench went out in the first quarter. LIU was not amused. "We should have played this at our place. Our clocks work." (We did play this at our place. We lost.)

It's good to have Shanovia Dove back- she has 12 and is taking a lot of the pressure off everyone else. Cassidy Derda came on strong in the second quarter for all 11 of her team-high points.

Now that is a Battle of Brooklyn. Lots of hard work, lots of hustle, lots of big plays from senior players. I'll say that St. Francis choked a little down the stretch, missing three or four shots right at the rim. LIU came up with the shots when we needed them.

Shanice Vaughan is a trooper- this is the second game I've been to where she's gone down hard, come out of the game- and gone back in to kick some ass. She drove fearlessly, sometimes carelessly, and threw up a lot of shots. I don't know if all of them were the called play. Jolanna Ford came on stronger in the second half, decent on defense and hitting her free throws down the stretch when it counted. Gosh, it's nice to have a bench, even if it's only one player longer than the last two times out- but we're in a better position with the players we have back. (Uh, sorry, Lily.)

Ashley Brown ran point with some hiccups- there was one sequence where she came out after a spectacularly dumb play and pretty much blew off Coach Oliver. It's good to have experience available, though. Shanovia Dove was a crucial outside threat- not all of those shots might hve been in the game plan, but most of them seemed to be in the flow of the offense. She was fearless. It's really good to have a decent outside threat again. SO MUCH OFFENSE YAY. Stylz Sanders was free-styling a lot on offense, and not always hustling after shots, but she worked the baseline well on loose balls.

DeAngelique Waithe rebounded pretty much everything to start the game- I think she had three of the first four rebounds- but fell off the cliff so sharply that I wonder if she's under the weather and doesn't want to admit it. She got pushed around a lot by Levey and Derda, to the point of frustration both from her and the coaching staff. Brianna Farris brought the tough defense, but St. Francis remembered her shooting tendencies from the last game and guarded her pretty closely.

I love my teams, but either I have really high stndards that are unrealistic, or I cheer for some of the dumbest teams in Division I. In LIU's case, I understand part of Coach Oliver's frustration- no one ever seems to look back to the bench to run the play. I think they still have old habits to break out of and old dependencies to shake.

St. Francis ran more of their bench players out there than LIU did, almost as if Thurston were experimenting. We got really brief looks at Tori Wagner, Blair Arthur, and Dana DiRenzo, none of whom really made an impact. (I actually hadn't even realized that DiRenzo entered the game until she committed a foul.) Rachel Iozzia came in earlier and scored a little bit. I feel like she carried herself with more confidence than some of the younger players around her. Becky Pund came in to play point a little bit and steady things down. I really don't remember much about her, but that might be as much because it's hard to tell apart all these girls with ponytails as it is because of her play. Olivia Levey threw her weight around down low and picked up baskets in the paint.

Leah Fechko needs to switch sports already. Her future is clearly in football. Are the Sharks still around? She tackles well and she's very physical. She's not afraid to go to the rack. I should respect that, but I don't like people who tackle in basketball. Cassidy Derda was a flat-out match-up nightmare. She was physical enough to move around the more slender LIU posts, but she had nice stroke from outside as well. She used her height to pull down rebounds even when she was boxed out. If they'd gone to her more, they might have pulled it off. Maria Palarino had some nice moves inside, though she had one less basket than the St. Francis announcer thought she did (I figured it was going to be a long and perhaps uninformative day when they misattributed the first basket).

Alex Delaney rebounded decently and hit free throws late in the game to force the overtime. I don't remember much else about her. Derda was a bit distracting, forward-wise. Kat Phipps was strong in the third quarter to get St. Francis right back in it, but I don't remember much else about her. I know I just said that, but when it's an endless array of ponytails without names attached, and most of those ponytails aren't doing anything different from any of the other ponytails.

St. Francis had good ball movement, and they were able to get some wiiiiiiiide open looks in the paint. I cannot fathom how we kept losing Derda. She's enormous for the NEC.

Refs were counting things quick today- five seconds, three seconds, that sort of thing. Nothing really egregious.

The team seemed fascinated by the Battle of Brooklyn plaque. Then again, the last win in the series was four years ago- I don't know if any of them have held the plaque.

I'm really excited for this team, even if I want to love them with a 2 x 4 sometimes... I just can't shake the feeling that something's going to explode if one game goes wrong.

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February 12th, 2016: Villanova at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Clutch three-point shooting spurred Villanova to a 71-59 road win over St. John's. Alex Louin had 18 to lead the Wildcats, with Caroline Coyer adding 17 and Megan Quinn putting in 15. Danaejah Grant led St. John's with 22.

For mild frustration, playing into someone else's hands, defensive lapses, three-shooting, seething with rage, dance, historical facts, and choral performances, join your intrepid and hustling blogger after the jump.


Good evening! We're coming to you from Carnesecca Arena on the grounds of St. John's University, where the Red Storm play host to the Wildcats of Villanova University. It's currently halftime, and the St. John's mixed chorus is performing, which is certainly better than most of the non-dance team halftime entertainment we tend to get.

Today is the Red Storm's celebration of Black History Month, so a lot of black student groups and organizations have put in an appearance. One of them is currently doing a dance performance, which is also way better than most of the non-dance team entertainment we get. (Ah. It looks like all of them will be doing quick performances.)

One thing we noticed about some of the Villanova shooters during shootaround was how far back the shooting hand goes- it was especially noticeable with Alex Louin and Katherine Coyer. With Louin, it looks almost like an old-fashioned set shot. I think they might maybe need to examine shooting film of someone other than Shelly Pennefather (not that Pennefather wasn't an epic shooter, but she was double-jointed {I read a lot, okay?} and that's not realistic for most humans).

Everyone on Villanova shoots threes, except maybe Harry. We could maybe guard the arc a little more? Just a thought?

I try not to throw the word "hate" around lightly. It's a nasty word. It's not just the next level of dislike or distaste or loathing or disdain or any of those other words. It should be reserved for special occasions, for a given value of special. It should only come up when it genuinely affects one's judgment.

God damn, I hate Villanova. I hate the way Harry Perretta yells at everything, and I hate how their fans usually behave like Philadelphia sports fans (though today I didn't see any issues), and I hate the way they strangle the life out of the shot clock, and I hate when possessions become the Watch A Guard Dribble For Twenty Seconds Show, and I hate when they hit shots at the end of the shot clock, and most of all I hate that they usually beat us when they do it. There are very few institutions of higher learning that engage in athletic activity at the Division I level in the NCAA that cause me to shake with rage when I see their athletic teams engaged in such endeavors. Ohio State is one. Villanova is another. So I'm not sure these notes can be as fair and balanced as they should be. But I'll try.

Adrianna Hahn is tiny but fierce. Her shot has that ridiculously high arc you so often see from short players. She needs to work on her defense and positioning, though; at least that's what I gleaned from Perretta yelling at her. Jordan Dillard wanted more calls than she was going to get. Kendall Burton played briefly in the first half, as did Kavunaa Edwards. I was surprised to see so little of Edwards, but they relied so heavily on Caroline Coyer that Coyer was switching guard positions instead of coming out.

This is probably not going to surprise anyone, but I don't like Alex Louin. No, it's not just the four three-pointers. It's not even the ridiculous wind-up. She's very physical- there was one play where her arm was so thoroughly around Danaejah Grant's waist that I thought she'd have to buy her a drink afterwards. She comes off as very oddly sized- almost too bulky for the position she plays, but maybe it's just in comparison to smaller guards around her. Katherine Coyer gets the little things done, and when she's presented with an open lane, she'll certainly take advantage, but tonight was not her night offensively. She's a damn strong defender. Caroline Coyer is annoying and frustrating and really good. She takes ridiculous shots and hits them. She takes threes and hits them. She's a steady hand and a hard worker. She's the kind of player you want on your team and love to loathe if she's not. I got tired of watching her dribble, but maybe we could have fought through screens a little more to not let Villanova run away with the game from beyond the arc.

Megan Quinn sets really tough screens- she freed up Coyer more than a few times. She's convinced she can shoot threes, but I'm not so sure- her form isn't great. Samantha Wilkes went to the basket hard and came up big in the fourth quarter.

We spent entirely too much time watching guards dribble at the top of the key. It's really depressing.

Jade Walker brought offense and rebounding off the bench, but also brought a bit of her tendency to make boneheaded plays on defense. If you're going to get called for a foul, don't let it be a cheap foul. Akina Wellere lost some of her reluctance to shoot, though I don't know if this is the game I would have had her launching threes; I really don't think we should fall into the trap of playing to the other team's style.

Crystal Simmons got the start tonight, which made sense from a match-up perspective. (I think Sandie Udobi was a scratch as well, but we didn't even think about it until around the third quarter.) She brought a lot of defensive intensity, but not much else- she's got to be more assertive on both ends of the floor. Aliyyah Handford started off strong, but by the end of the game, those drives were going wild off the front or the left of the rim. I'm worried about her. She still has that phenomenal slashing ability to cut through defenses like a hot knife through butter or a bat out of hell, but she's been less accurate. Plus she's committing stupid fouls, and we all know how I feel about stupid fouls. Aaliyah Lewis was hot early, and seemed to enjoy having Hahn on her, but got stuck on a lot of bad defensive mismatches because of her size.

Danaejah Grant continues to be solid shooting- she had a few really bad defensive lapses that led to easy baskets for Villanova, though. Can't be having with that. Imani Littleton got caught off her man one too many times- she had to come out for what we like to euphemize as "teaching moments" (which is code for coming out of the game after a dumb mistake to get yelled at). She and Jade both did well recovering broken plays.

We can't fall into the trap of playing the other team's style. We're not a three-shooting team by nature. We shouldn't be a slowdown team, no matter how much of a control-freak Joe likes to be about the offense. And we need to hit our free throws. I found it unconscionable that the team taking threes also ended up with more free throws, but at the same time, 3-9 from the line is inexcusable.

I find it interesting that almost pulling a player's arm out of its socket is a jump ball. I really do expect better from Denise Brooks and Dennis DeMayo. Louin was grabbing and holding all night, with barely half the calls she earned. I am still cranky.

Tomorrow is another day. We've got to come back strong against Georgetown. There's no other option. We need to play like ourselves.

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Sunday, February 7, 2016

February 7th, 2016: St. John's at Seton Hall

Just the Facts, Ma'am: A second-quarter push propelled St. John's to a more-or-less comfortable 72-64 win at Seton Hall. Aaliyah Lewis had 22 points to lead the Red Storm, with Danaejah Grant adding 20. Tabatha Richardson-Smith led Seton Hall with 18 points, while Lubirdia Gordon notched a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

For awkward seating arrangements, singular signs, SO MUCH AWKWARD, double standards, abusing Simmonses, Brick City Ballers, and big games in small packages, join your intrepid and distracted blogger after the jump.

Hello from Bowl Day in New Jersey! Your intrepid blogger comes to you from historic and hard-wooded Walsh Gymnasium, as we start off Super Bowl Sunday with the Awkward Bowl.

I've already gotten the thumbs-down from Tab and Bird. Look, I was a Johnnie before y'all were Pirates. (Especially you, Miss "I Transferred From West Virginia And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt".) Bad enough y'all stole my husband. You can't have me. Day would kick my ass anyway.

Look, scary trainer dude, it's a little late to start trying to stretch Aaliyah Lewis for some extra height. Should have started that last year.

Eric Thibault in the house, so we know the Mystics are interested in someone- maybe Tab, maybe Liyyah, who knows.

I think we might have picked up a transfer. There's someone unfamiliar in a women's basketball jacket.

Oh, just fantastic, someone's dumped a youth group behind our bench. There's an entire damn arena to sit in, can't you go so sit somewhere else? That's the disadvantage of general admission, though, it's a lot harder to designate visiting seats. But tweens. Why did it have to be tweens? At least that's better than the really little ones, I guess.

I've been informed that the St. John's managers beat the Seton Hall managers by 18. Not that this is a rivalry or anything.

At halftime, St. John's is up 32-28, but I'm worried about the two fouls on Aliyyah and Danaejah. Aaliyah Lewis is having herself a day for the Johnnies- she's already got 12.

I guess Sarah Olson from Monmouth is a better person than I thought from her style of play- she's Monmouth's representative at this student-athlete thing at halftime.

Spotted in the crowd: Nadirah McKenith and Amber Thompson (who looks very different without both her braids and her expression of "Mom, you are the most embarrassing person in the universe, please stop").

So, thanks to both Jersey traffic and this confounded group of tweens parked behind the visiting bench, guess what? RedZone's in the upper deck above the Seton Hall bench! Well planned, y'all. Brilliant. Now no one's happy. There were a lot of words between Tony and Joe before the game, and apparently words between Joe and one of the SHU assistants as well.

(Note: I have to work off the Seton Hall box score, since the St. John's box score has conflated Seton Hall and Sacred Heart, and Tab is suddenly Greek.)

Jordan Agustus played briefly, and her primary role seemed to be causing Joe Tartamella to curse (which he really does more than he ought to, said the woman who once dropped 37 f-bombs in a postgame rant). Jade Walker was very present and very active, but missed a lot of shots she should have hit and passed up a couple she should have taken. She had some huge blocks. I can't say enough about Crystal Simmons's defense off the bench. That was a key, key part of the game- not only did she occupy Tabatha Richardson-Smith, that meant that we didn't have to have Danaejah playing full two-way, and that loosened her up to be an offensive threat. Crystal took a lot of hits, and ended up fouling out, but that was the push we needed to preserve Nae and her fouls. Akina Wellere needs to be less timid with the ball, but that will come with time, one hopes.

Sandra Udobi took a hard hit from Lubirdia Gordon early in the game and went down holding her knee- the one that she's got an injury history with already. She came out of the game after that- came back in near the end of the quarter, but then got caught up in a five-woman pile-up, and it was back to the bench. She recovered enough for the second half, and did some good work boxing out and rebounding. Imani Littleton was frustrating- beautiful when she got good looks at the basket, hair-pulling-out-inducing when she spun out of position on defense and ended up either fouling or causing someone else to have to foul. Biggest play of the game for her might have been deflecting Tab's shot at the end of the first half.

Aliyyah Handford had some rough puck luck, and I'm starting to wonder if she's got the yips. There are still flashes of the player she was in the first half of the season- the defensive hustle, the steal and score, the seemingly effortless penetration- but she's seeing more defenses and I think she's wearing down. Fortunately, we have a spare Aaliyah. Which is a terrible thing to call Aaliyah Lewis, since she's pretty freakin' awesome on her own merits, but it maks for a pretty easy joke. She had herself a day today- she was able to use her speed against Seton Hall, and her lack of size isn't as much of an issue when she's about eye to eye with Aleesha Powell and has a slim height advantage on Shakena Richardson. She made space for herself, and then when the Pirate defense rotated to cover everyone else, she sneaked into empty spaces. It was remarkable how she got to the basket. Danaejah Grant roared to life in the third quarter, penetrating and scoring. It's funny- I often find myself with a lack of words for what Nae does, even when she's the star of the show. She's simply solid- she scores well, she rebounds well, and she's really picked up her defense.

Claire Lundberg played briefly and situationally. I think the only reason she was in to start the second quarter was because Coach Bozzella was hoping to have a stoppage near the end of the first. Jordan Molyneaux played spot minutes in the first half, and did pretty well offensively- St. John's overlooked her and she got two open looks, though she missed one. Taylor Byrne picked up those bench post minutes in the second half, and she stretched the floor with her range. I like her hustle. Jordan Mosley came on to hassle the ballhandler and generally bring the defense. LaTecia Smith played a fair number of minutes and helped run the Seton Hall pressure defense that got them back in the game in the middle of the third quarter.

I like Lubirdia Gordon a lot better when I'm rooting for her team. She's physical, and sometimes a bit too far. Judging from this game, Seton Hall shouldn't run plays for her- she's not ready for offense to go through her. But she did a great job of picking up offensive boards and repairing broken plays. Tabatha Richardson-Smith had a hard time getting the points she did, closely guarded as she was for most of the game- she needed a lot of help from her bigs' screens to get space. She had to rely more on her ability to create in the paint, which is still pretty incredible. Tiffany Jones has come back down to earth- she's still putting in work on the glass, but she's being more closely guarded on her shot, and I think it's gotten into her head a little bit- she's been committing a lot more offensive fouls, whether they're on illegal screens or other forms of motion.

Aleesha Powell is tiny but fierce. I mean, y'all knew that already, but she showed no fear today. She was crucial on both sides of the floor, and she did her best to pull Seton Hall back into the game in the second quarter. She played Aaliyah Lewis very tough. Shakena Richardson got off to a good start, but then she was involved in the five-player pile-up, and she took the worst of it. Having Imani sit on you is probably not good if you're 5'4". Or anyone, really. And she fell on her hand as well, so she had to come out of the game while the trainer took care of her. She has such an amazing ability to create space for herself with her ballhandling. And you know she doesn't back down from anyone, or anything, even the stanchion. (She ended up halfway wrapped around it at one point, it was pretty spectacular.)

The officials decided to inject themselves into the game in the third quarter, and for much of the fourth. Traveling was a bit difficult for them, and they were having trouble keeping an eye on the sidelines on the Seton Hall side of the floor. So, you know, we'll ignore the shot to the throat, but we'll call the ticky-tack touch foul. (Although, dude in the Astros cap, don't yell at the refs when they're making calls in your team's favor. Just sayin'.)

I like the guy during the shootout contest who assumed he had to try for a halfcourt shot. Never be satisfied, man.

Seton Hall never seemed to answer the emotion that St. John's brought to the game. This has become a pretty big rivalry, at least for the kids from Newark and Piscataway and Maplewood and Staten Island, and the Red Storm rose to the occasion.

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Saturday, February 6, 2016

February 5th, 2016: James Madison at Hofstra

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Jazmon Gwathmey had 34 points and 13 rebounds to power James Madison over Hofstra, 71-54. Angela Mickens added 20 for the Dukes. Ashunae Durant led Hofstra with 20 points.

For buses, trains, automobiles, rebounds, transfers, losing track of time, precise dance moves, a lack of pins, and finishing through contact, join your intrepid and sleepy blogger after the jump.


The sun is out. The snow has stopped falling from the sky and is now falling from the trees and pretty much everything else it managed to stick to. This is fantastic building snow, so get out there and make snowmen or have snowball fights before it's all gone. Then again, by the time these notes go up, it'll probably all be gone anyway. Never mind. Carry on. As you were.

Taking the long way around, since the 45 bus I caught laid up short at the Metro-North station. Currently winding my way through the Pelhams, and they're beautiful.

45 to the 42 to the 2 to the Q44 to the N6 to the N72. To the izzo, I suppose. But I'm here. That's what's important. So are several members of JMU's Crown Club, though it looks like their tickets haven't been fully sorted out.

It's a PinkZone game for Hofstra, though because Kilburn-Stevesky is an NC State alumna, they tend to do a lot of PinkZone games. JMU brought their pink tees, which I thought was a nice touch.

The erstwhile Johnnie, Ashley Perez, traveled, but did not dress. She's wearing a very cute dress and tragically mismatched boots. Awww, Ash. :(

Hofstra gave me a scare by closing the campus early- nothing quite like passing a sign flashing "University Closed" at you on the last leg of a four-hour journey.

There's something slightly galling about Hofstra doing a PinkZone game on National Wear Red Day, but that might just be my inherent seething hatred of PinkZone talking.

I WANT JMU'S PURPLE NIKES SO MUCH I AM CAPS LOCKING OF GLEE.

The difference between the music Hofstra plays when the players are on the floor and what they play when they're not is... marked. A little disturbing, the more I think of it.

I assume they're staging the Girl Scouts, since it's half an hour before tip and there are still a fair number of empty sections.

At halftime, JMU is up one, basically because Angela Mickens and Jazmon Gwathmey are awesome and you are not. Ashunae Durant is leading the way for Hofstra, with a phenomenal ability to finish through contact.

I like the Hofstra experience. The band is good, and they get into the game. There isn't a large student section, but they make noise. The dance team is competent, if boring. It's not the worst arena food I've ever had, but also not the cheapest. The souvenir stand is well stocked. Everyone's really nice.

(I'm also a little in love with hanging banners for presidential debates, and the way they do retired numbers, and the fact that the basketball banners are strictly chronological, not separated by women and men.)

Talent will tell in the end, and JMU did more good things better, especially down the stretch. Also, Jazmon Gwathmey is really good at basketball, but you should know that already.

I'd heard a lot about Savannah Felgemacher from an acquaintance down in the Shenandoah Valley, so I was looking forward to seeing her, but she only played very briefly in the first half, and I never got an impression of her. Destiny Jones threw her weight around down low and on the ball, and got called for a fair number of fouls doing it. Hailee Barron loves her three-pointers, sometimes a little too much- she took that caused me to yell, "You don't have to take it from Charlottesville!" She's more of a scrapper on defense than I expected from everything I read about her. Logan Reynolds gave Angela Mickens some brief relief in both halves, but wasn't much of a factor.

Y'know, I could have sworn I just spent the morning watching a forward who couldn't hit a shot because she kept shooting them off the inside of the rim, but boy howdy can she rebound and hustle after loose balls. In the morning it was Joy Adams; in the evening it was Da'Lishia Griffin. Kayla Cooper-Williams found herself limited early and often by foul trouble, and she seemed to get in her teammates' way a lot when she was trying to rebound. Jazmon Gwathmey was awesome. When did she make three-point shooting such a crucial part of her game? Because she's strong slashing to the basket and making moves in the lane, but in the second half the threes started going down. She's so tough. She's so good. I'd love to see her in the summertime.

Angela Mickens owns the floor when the ball's in her hand. I love her footwork and her swiftness. She was hot early, and she called her own number often, but for good reason- she was getting the pull-up with impunity. Hofstra put stronger defenders on her in the second half, forcing her into more of a distributive role. Tasia Butler got the start, but was pulled early in both halves for Barron.

The passing got a little sloppy in the second half, but JMU generally did more things smarter and better than Hofstra did, and that was enough for them to pull away.

Sandra Dongmo gave some good minutes in the post off the bench. Jakelle King-Gilchrist saw a little bit of time in the first half and contributed a bucket, but not much else. Asia Jackson was tenacious on defense- she was making Angela Mickens's life miserable in the fourth quarter, sometimes to the point of excess (I'm pretty sure that the best way to stop a player from hitting a layup is not to wrap an arm around her waist).

It really feels like Darius Faulk played less time than she did, although that perception might have been skewed by her missing much of the first half with foul trouble. Kelly Loftus was quick to shoot, and not always accurate about it. Krystal Luciano is really fast and makes her decisions very quickly. She seemed fond of the overly deep three.

Anjie White would probably drive me insane if I were a Hofstra fan. There's so much there to like- positioning on rebounds, setting screens, boxing out, all the little things that make a player endearing- but those hands would probably cause me to bruise my forehead with the repeated slaps that would surely occur. She just could not seem to catch a pass cleanly. Ashunae Durant has a phenomenal ability to finish through contact- pretty much all the shots she hit were contested. I don't think it was until the fourth quarter that she hit a shot that didn't come with an accompanying free throw. I really like her- and she's only a sophomore, so there's every chance that she could get even better and well-rounded.

The officiating was mostly even-handed, though I think the game might have ended just in the nick of time- Hofstra was starting to object to this whole losing the game thing, and Jackson and Mickens were starting to get into it a little bit. I don't know if there's history between them or if someone was running her mouth or something, but it was definitely an interesting dynamic. People need to be more careful with their footwork, though. There were a lot of travels uncalled.

I think Hofstra's a year away. I think JMU's going to be okay (though in my biased opinion, they do miss Ashley Perez).

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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.

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