December 9th, 2018: Florida State at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: A spirited defensive battle went to Florida State, as they beat St. John's 57-53. Kiah Gillespie led all scorers with 22 points, adding seven rebounds. Alisha Kebbe had 17 points for St. John's, with Kayla Charles adding nine points and 20 rebounds for the Red Storm.

For all the usual complaints, lots of rebounds, terrible shooting, needing some more warm bodies, and autographs, join your intrepid and repetitive blogger after the jump.

It's game day at St. John's, as the Red Storm welcome Florida State to Carnesecca Arena, but your intrepid blogger is not quite dressed for the occasion. Long-time readers of the GNoD know who my favorite Johnnie is, and she's an assistant on the other bench today. Long-time readers also know that I wear her jersey (like, literally, because no one wore that number for something like ten years). It seemed inappropriate to do so today, though, so I'm wearing the jersey my husband usually wears and he's wearing another from our stash, after a little trial and error. (Have you ever almost been strangled by a jersey before? Not fun.)

Kiah Gillespie has a very large contingent here. I wonder if they were the ones who chartered the Dattco bus. (The shirts with Gillespie on the back and her picture on the front were a dead giveaway, if you were wondering.)

I don't even see Curteeona Brelove, on the bench or on crutches or anything. Meemo. :( She came out later with the gold laces wrapped around her boot.

The spear down the side of the shorts on Florida State's uniforms is very dramatic. I like the effect, but I always hesitate before complimenting the Native-based imagery FSU uses. I know, I know, they have permission, but it's complicated and I don't know if I should delve into it.

Something about Sky Lindsay's outfit isn't working for me today, and I don't know if it's the lipstick or the color of the top.

Have I mentioned lately how much I dislike when the men are scheduled at the Garden at the same time the women are scheduled at Carnesecca? Because we have to scramble to put together an alumni band, and I don't see either cheer or dance. And DSPN is working, so it looks like the husband and I are the cheer squad today. And neither of us can really pull off the short skirt.

(We ended up with about half the dance team and maybe a third of the cheer squad. Like many things about this game, it could be worse.)

We're shooting 18% from the field and only down two points, I will take this any day of the week and twice on Sundays, which is good, since today is Sunday. It's 19-17, so I'm sort of glad the only people who are seeing this game are the ones who are here, and the ones who have decided to pay for ESPN+. Lots of missed shots. Lots of questionable shot selection for St. John's and bad misses for Florida State. Kayla Charles has all the rebounds. Okay, not literally all of them, but we have 25 and she has 12, so.

I like Coach Semrau's top. I'm a sucker for the gradient look.

If our substitute PA guy doesn't stop mispronouncing Qadashah's name, I will not be responsible for the consequences of my actions, or those of her dad. Qadashah and Kadaja are different names and different people, okay? Why is this so hard? There's even a pronunciation guide on the scorecards this year.

CYO game and dance clinic at halftime. Neither terribly impressive.

I repeat: that is a lot better than I was expecting things to go. It helped that Florida State was almost as shorthanded as we were, and that they didn't have a lot of shooters. But they've got length, and their defense never let up. That's going to keep them in a lot of games.

Sayawni Lassiter is not ready for primetime. The first time she came into the game, she committed two boneheaded plays right off the bat, and didn't improve much from there. I would have thought she'd pick up more ball thought during her redshirt year, but she did not look ready at all. Savannah Wilkinson had a big block on Akina Wellere in the second quarter. She's a little bit more of a widebody than most of their players.

I honestly would not have guessed that Kourtney Weber played the most minutes off the bench for Florida State. Not by much, I grant you, but still. I'm trying to picture her on the floor, but I'm not seeing her clearly. I was very impressed with Morgan Jones, and since she got the second half start over Amaya Brown, I don't think I was the only one. She's quick and lengthy, and used both of these really well on defense. She had a couple of big blocks on Tiana England, because I'm starting to wonder about Tiana's learning curve. Jones seems like the kind of player I could enjoy watching for a while.

Driving against Valencia Myers seems to be a terrible idea. She swatted a lot of weak shots; if she saw hesitation, the next thing the shooter was going to see was the ball coming back at high speed. I think she was the one who had the really nice strip block. Her jumper needs work. A lot of work. But she's a freshman. Someone can work on that with her. (Preferably Wyckoff. I've seen her jumper and I've seen Joy's jumper, and I know which one is more fundamentally sound. There are many things I loved about Joy as a player, and that ain't one.) Kiah Gillespie got off to a very quick start, then became less of a factor until the fourth quarter. I think we were out of gas at that point, and she took advantage. She had a size advantage for much of the game, but elected to use it from the three-point arc instead of pressing it inside.

Amaya Brown started the game, and like many a Florida State player, she brought a lot of length to the floor. But I don't think Coach Semrau was happy with her defense, so Jones got the bulk of the minutes in the second half. Nicki Ekhomu has impressive ups and good speed. I don't think point is her natural position, but she did admirably filling in; she kept the offense moving at a fast pace, even if it wasn't always the most effective fast pace. I'm assuming Nicoletti was supposed to provide some of the outside threat that would complement this team's ability to get to the basket. Nausia Woolfolk (whose first name is, unfortunately, either pronounced exactly how you imagine it or was being butchered all night by our PA guy) provided solid defense and a fantastic offensive rebound in the second half. She charged the ball on that play like a streak of lightning.

I don't know how the short roster will hold out in the ACC, but they've got some really good young players that are going to get a lot of chances to develop this year.

Shamachya Duncan played briefly, and surprised one of her teammates by passing the ball to her. I should be surprised we didn't see more of her, whether it was as a spare set of fouls late in the fourth or as a breather to give someone, anyone, a much-needed rest. But Joe Tartamella apparently doesn't believe that players need rest or anything like that. On the other hand, Machi is inconsistent and Jasmine Sina is nowhere near the player she was at Binghamton, so I can understand Joe not wanting to give them extended time. Kadaja Bailey continues to look lost, which disturbs me. She looked great at the beginning of the season, but now looks like she's forgotten everything she ever knew about our defense and our offensive sets. There's so much potential there, but there's something not clicking, and it worries me.

I like when Tiana England drives, when she doesn't let fear or the pace throttle her game. It's when she stops and kills the clock that things seem to go wrong, whether it's not having enough time to make plays or excessive dribbling that leads to fumbles and turnovers. I think she's in a no-win situation, though, because she's either going to be too slow or she's going to try to do too much. Qadashah Hoppie did a good job of driving the lane and getting fouled. That kind of play comes with drawbacks, and while the box score doesn't track blocked attempts, I think she came in for a fair few of Florida State's swats.

Kayla Charles was a beast on the boards. I love it. She was relentless, whether it was going all the way up or going all the way down (I had my heart in my throat the one play where she brought the ball all the way down to the floor with three Florida State players surrounding her). She's still getting frustrated too easily when she doesn't get the call, and she has to understand that she's not going to get the call. Akina Wellere's in an interesting and not necessarily good spot. She's definitely shying away from the three-pointer, and the ones she takes aren't from her comfort zones. She's stuck somewhere in the middle, and I feel bad for her; I think she's in a no-win situation. I'm sure it's been spun to her as a chance to expand her skill set and potentially play overseas, but I think it's serving the opposite purpose. She's trying to force things she's not comfortable with. Alisha Kebbe has, in these last few games, been the eye of the Storm, the calm center around which the defense pivots, and the person who comes up with big baskets at the right time. She was on fire beyond the arc in this game. She's been solid for us, the leader that we need.

We came out with really good energy, and we fought back at the end of the fourth quarter, but for much of the third and fourth, we didn't have enough left in the tank to counter Florida State. They carry almost as short a roster as we do, but Semrau was willing to use a lot more of it, and that helped them in the end.

The officials let a lot of contact go on both sides, and we got away with more of it than Florida State did, so all in all, I can't really complain too much, except in the generalized way that a good fan of the overall game should.

Gold laces today in support of battling pediatric cancer. Gold and red are a classic combo. Unfortunately, in some cases, it's the fries and a Big Mac kind of combo. The kid they were honoring was adorable, though.

Today was also autograph day, which meant a chance to say hi to the squad, update the flag, and get the snazzy new poster signed. It also meant hearing more about Meemo's ankle than I really wanted to know, and I'm now sorry I asked. Which, for all I know, was the whole point.

Now it's another month until the next home game. I really want to know who designed this schedule, because it seems to make a negative amount of sense. At least we'll have Awkward Bowl.