December 10th, 2017: Lehigh at LIU

Just the Facts, Ma’am: LIU outlasted Lehigh in a 72-69 win. Four Blackbirds scored in double figures, led by 17 points from Denisha Petty Evans, a 16-point, 10-rebound performance from DeAngelique Waithe, and an all-around line from Drew Winter (12 points, nine rebounds, six assists). Camryn Buhr for Lehigh took game-high honors with 18 points.

For inexplicable calls, friendly security, Pokémon priorities, overpriced concessions, offensive miracles, unsung heroes, and defensive stands, join your intrepid and dual blogger after the jump.

Hello, Brooklyn! And other parts, of course, but this afternoon we’re coming to you from the Barclays Center, where LIU is playing their annual men’s/women’s doubleheader. The women are first up, playing Lehigh.

The security at Barclays is a little more elaborate than most arenas I’ve been to, but the people are really nice, as if to make up for it.

Fun fact: you can just barely reach the Barclays Center Pokégym from inside the arena. My new Machamp and I both appreciate that. (The Machamp may not have appreciated the windy weather that boosted my psychics, though.)

The anthem singer has a nice voice, but she took forever.

These officials seem to have forgotten, or perhaps never learned, about the existence of the charge circle. LIU’s had two baskets called back as charges for defenders who were thoroughly embraced by the arc. I am annoyed by this, especialy since we’re down five at the half, 40-35. Denisha Petty-Eavans has had herself a second quarter, with 11 points. Camryn Buhr has 14 to lead the many ponytails of Lehigh.

It got a little more exciting than I really felt it had to be, but we were able to pull it out. Lehigh made more mistakes than we did, at the exact wrong times.

Look, I’m going to be gauche here and say it: if your team is fairly monochrome, and no one has an unusual hairstyle or hair color, can y’all please put names on your jerseys? Please?

Lehigh seemed to be fairly reliant on the three, with going to the tall forwards as a second option. Camryn Buhr was a partial exception to the rule, but for everyone else, that was pretty much what the options were.

Mariah Sexe has a really unfortunate last name. She brought good height off the bench, getting offensive rebounds close to the basket. She was one of the players who was able to jostle rebounds loose from shorter Blackbirds. Cameryn Benz also brought height off the bench, finishing at the rim but wildly off on her three-pointers. (Lehigh found all kinds of new and interesting ways to miss three pointers- off the back iron straight, off the back iron at an angle, off the backboard, short, long, and the usual shots off the rim.)

The Mountain Hawks went fairly shallow on their guard rotation- to be honest, I didn’t even realize that Mary Clougherty was in the game, unless she came in at the end to help eat up fouls and pressure the LIU ballhandler. And I don’t think Bernadette Devaney reappeared after the first half. I could be wrong. She was certainly busy in her minutes.

Camryn Buhr was the star of the show for the Mountain Hawks. She scored on long-range shots and on drives to the rim, as well as backdoor cuts. She’s got good quickness, which served her well on defense, including a big block against Denisha Petty-Evans. She got intercepted and picked a few times, though, because when I fall in love with teams, I fall for defensive teams. Quinci Mann was bombing threes most of the night, with less than optimal results. She seemed to like the corners better than other spots, but didn’t seem to object to other spots. Hannah Hedstrom had a big fourth quarter- she was part of the pressure that caused LIU to cough up the ball late in the game and keep Lehigh in it until the final possession. Very active on defense.

I thought they ran the press and the trap very well, and went to it at the right time to take advantage of our dubious ballhandling. Good job by the Mountain Hawks to take advantage. Of course, I can be more gracious about it because we won the game.

Seneca Richards was called upon both for her three-point shooting and her height, since these refs had some kind of height jealousy issues about all of our forwards. She had a big block on Devaney and is not as tall as her teammates seem to think she is sometimes. Ella Vaatanen looked like she was out of position all night. She’s too much of a tweener for my tastes, though I may feel differently about that if she has a good game. We needed someone, anyone to bring height, and she did that a little. Destoni Willock committed a couple of stupid fouls and one that should have been called a block (but boy howdy will we get to that later). She’s got good size, but she still needs a lot of work, as most freshmen do. I was very impressed with Tia Montagne in this one. I really like her defense (though she’s got to be careful with the reach-in fouls) and her speed. Her shot needs work- it’s a little wild and very high, but that’s something that might be teachable. I think she’s got a lot of potential.

Where did this offense come from for DeAngelique Waithe, and how can we convince it to stick around? The shots she could never get to fall are falling, and I think she actually hit a jumper at one point. Her rebounding suffered early in the game, but she buckled down in the second half and started seizing the boards with her usual determination. Plus we got to see her doing her marvelous inbounds defense, which is worth the price of admission all by itself. If this is what the rest of her senior year is going to be like, I very much look forward to it. Stylz Sanders did not foul out of the game, though there was a play where she thought she was going to get called for her fifth for the audacity of being in the way of someone falling on her ass, and she let the entire arena know how she felt with a loud “Oh my God!” (Turned out to be Tia’s fourth, which wasn’t much better.) She’s always undersized for her position, and always somehow makes it work, finding the right spot and holding it against opposition. I think she ended up defending everyone on Lehigh at one point or another.

If Jeydah Johnson is going to drive the lane and take floaters, she’s going to have to shoot them with a little more discipline, or else you might as well just throw the other team the ball. I like that the three-point shot is part of, or perhaps is becoming part of, her arsenal. It really gives her a lot of options on offense. Drew Winter’s ballhandling needs to improve, especially if she’s going to be the one bringing the ball up the floor, but I like her shot and I love her ability to get low for rebounds. She chases them down and makes sure they’re hers. She’s just got to do a better job on the next phase. I’m not exactly sure where or how Denisha Petty-Evans fits in this offense, but she finds a way to do so. It looks like she’s improv’ing a lot of her offense, to the point where I’m not always sure what was drawn up and what she decided to do on her own. Sometimes that can be a good thing. Sometimes, I don’t know.

So now we’re going to talk about officiating. I’m used to bad refs by now. I’m used to missed calls, and bad calls, and calls that make you wonder if the ref is watching the game you are. I think this might be the first time I’ve ever seen an entire crew that was blatantly ignorant of a rule. Twice, LIU drove on defenders who were planted directly in the charge circle. Twice, it was called a charge instead of a block. There was no ambiguity of positioning, no chance that there could have been an understandable mistake. No, these three acted like the charge circle didn’t exist. And I have a problem with officials who either don’t know the rules of the game they’re supposed to be calling, or behave in such an incompetent manner that it looks like they don’t know the rules. This is, of course, on top of the usual diet of dubious hand-checks and “we didn’t actually feel like getting involved in the scrum” calls. I was fully expecting Coach’s heels to be red with the blood of her enemies by the end of the day, instead of their more mundane red.

I’m a little bummed- it looks like LIU either lost the spirit squad, or merged them with the dance team. I kind of liked that element, even if I never had enough rhythm to essay their chants.

It’s nice to really start seeing the potential of this team. Their flaws are still very evident, but their passion on defense is undeniable, and if they can get the offense to click... this could be a fun team in the NEC.