It stayed too close for too long, but the Red Storm of St. John's knocked off NJIT 55-37. Amber Thompson's 14 points and 11 rebounds led St. John's, with Nadirah McKenith adding 13 points and eight assists. Rayven Johnson had 13 of her 15 points in the second half to lead the Highlanders.
For bus issues, exhaustion, distractions, multiple color Sharpies, lonely guards in the corner, and bad shot selection, join your intrepid and Christmasy blogger after the jump.
I'm a bit worried. My phone resurrected itself from having been immersed in a watery grave, and we did lose to Quinnipiac, so I suppose all kinds of miracles are possible during the holiday season. I shouldn't have to worry about NJIT, but after we gave up a halftime lead to Quinnipiac, I reserve the right to worry about anyone and everyone until we prove that we can beat the teams that we're supposed to beat, let alone the teams we're not supposed to beat.
It's cold in New York, dry and sharp with harsh winds that might bring a tear to your eye, depending on how you react to extreme chill. On a Friday night the weekend before New Year's, that probably means that Carnesecca will be cold, not enough body heat rising from the sparse crowd to make up for the winter air that sneaks uninvited into the arena with the doors constantly opening. It probably also means that NJIT friends and family will be numerous, meaning that my observational skills will suffer as I defend our turf.
Of course, I forgot that today was the Girl Scout fest, so there were plenty of people there to keep the arena warm and cheer for St. John's. (Which was good, because the NJIT players were loudly chanting "DE-FENSE" every time St. John's had the ball. Is this becoming a thing now? Because then I have to yell over the other team, and that's always annoying, plus it disrupts the crucial communication between the dance team and the cheer squad to get the chants going.) The Girl Scouts in front of us were loud, and they had signs. By the end of the game, they were even trying to disconcert the free throw shooter. We gave one of them a shirt. It was too small for us anyway, and it's always good to establish friendly relations with the neighbors.
The band was short-handed today, and though they played valiantly, it was clear that they were out of sync. I thought the bandleader was going to let the trumpets have it after the anthem. The drummers made up for it later, but you could tell that there were a lot, a lot of absent folks.
NJIT did a pregame huddle/group hug thing in the corner of the gym that leads to the St. John's locker room. This could have been extremely awkward if the timing had been off, but fortunately, they were out of the way before St. John's went back to their locker room. It seemed like an odd place to do that kind of thing, though.
I cannot say enough about little bitty Alyssa Albanese for the Highlanders. She drove the lane in ways that reminded me a little bit of Becky Hammon. She pulled out one shot through and between her legs that had the people around us oohing and aahing with respect and awe. (You'll see why this was a deal later.) She got into foul trouble more in the second half, upping the physicality of her game somewhat. But she was tough on the ball, too, grabbing passes and making interceptions. Nicole Maticka used her long skinny arms effectively on defense, swatting passes and shots, but hip-checking Briana Brown into the dance team didn't exactly endear her to the home crowd for some reason. Martina Matejcikova provided the PA announcer with a bit of a challenge, which he aced with flying colors.
I don't remember much of what Kimberly Dweck did, to the point where I was starting to wonder if she was only starting because of senior privilege, but everyone's entitled to that one bad game, especially when playing an opponent out of your weight class. Rayven Johnson was spectacularly bad at shooting free throws, although given that the ones she missed were at our end of the floor and she made all the ones she took at the other end of the floor, my husband and I will take credit for defending our home court in that regard. She got more aggressive in the second half, both in the paint and with a jumper. Sarah Olson's three-point shot fell at inopportune times for St. John's, but the part I remember most was her dramatic stagger after a small push. It wasn't quite Mery Andrade or DeMya Walker level- perhaps Danielle Adams, but in a different weight class, as it were. I have a general sense of her being annoying. Melanie Griffin didn't make much of an impression; I think she was more of a spare part during long stretches of the game. Uju Nwankwo was physical for her size, but wasn't able to make anything happen when she had bigger players coming at her. Good heart, just out of her weight class.
NJIT kept the defense coming and exploited some of our defensive lapses in ways that better teams never managed to. I was impressed with their heart and hustle.
Ashley Perez got some extended minutes for the first time in a while, and unfortunately proved why she hadn't been getting them before. She was exceptionally slow on defense, getting beaten badly on two separate occasions because she was out of position and caught behind her assignment. And if she can't get her shot going, then she's a liability until she catches up to the speed of the Division I game. I thought she had, but I guess Farmingdale was a worse team than I initially realized. Sandra Udobi also got a lot of time, since Mary Nwachukwu did not dress (she was wearing a boot, and later reports indicate that she had a foot injury that caused Coach Tartamella to hold her out for precautionary reasons). There were moments when she definitely looked like a freshman, such as when it looked like she was going to put back a missed Highlander free throw, and when the balls went off her hands, but she showed a good eye for rebounding position and a lot of promise. Keylantra Langley's hands were active on disruptive defense, and of course she hit the shot with seven seconds left on the clock that she couldn't hit with twenty-four seconds left on the clock. If it didn't tend to work in our favor, I'd be more frustrated by it, but instead I find it to be one of her more endearing qualities.
Mallory Jones lives! She was out of commission for so long that I thought she had gone home to Virginia or something, but she was back on the bench tonight, keeping Mary company in some very cute shoes. (Not my personal taste, but she wore them well.) And Ced Gibson got to wear her uniform! Somehow she looks even smaller. I thought the baggy uniform would make her look bigger.
Briana Brown got the worst of all the contact. How someone gets hit in the head and isn't rewarded with free throws, I'll never know. Her shot was badly off, but she still hit the deck on the regular. Shenneika Smith was the first one to admit that she didn't have a great game, and she's right. Her shot wasn't falling, though one of those usually-ill-considered floaters of hers went down at the right time. Also really not sure what was up with that high arcing thing that looked like either a deflected shot or an alley-oop pass. The long arms were still there and still deflecting things. I like when she does that. Go-go Gadget Shenneika! Amber Thompson finally got going, which made me very happy. She needs to move her feet better on defense- she got stuck a couple of times and got badly burned by smaller players (I think she was on Johnson, but don't hold me to it). I love when she goes strong to the basket and hits those shots in the paint, and when she goes up strong for rebounds. Go Amber! I believe you can be even more awesome than you already are! Grab ALL the rebounds! Nadirah McKenith looked a little gimpy at the start of the game, going up gingerly on her lay-ups and leaving them short. Whatever she did after Coach eventually subbed her out seemed to work, because when she came back in she was slicing through defenses like she always does, plus going to her jumper (which was smoother than usual). Aliyyah Handford continues to impress me with how quickly she's adapted to the college game. We'll have to see how she plays in conference to see how she really looks, but she's been great on defense and she got the offense going for us today when it looked like no one else was going to be able to hit a shot.
I really hope that Coach Tartamella gets comfortable with his personnel soon and gets a feel for who needs to come in at what point and when certain players need to come out of the game. From where we were sitting in the bleachers, it seemed obvious when Nadirah was hurting, but he kept running with her. I don't know if he's just not sure whether to believe the evidence of his eyes or what his players tell him, or if he thinks that pulling a starter early will forever wreck their confidence and cause him to lose the respect of his team, but if he runs them into the ground, it's not going to end well for them either. I'm just saying.
In general, the effort in this game was sloppy, though it picked up in the second half for a stretch before clock-ball began at about the three-minute mark.
The refs were disappointingly inconsistent; I expect better out of Lonergan and St. Pierre. How are you going to let a player get hit in the head at one end of the floor and not call a foul, and then turn around and call the same player for a touch foul on a loose ball at the other end of the floor? I think the officials were affected by who was playing the game instead of just doing their jobs as impartial observers.
So there were a lot of tall guys in sweats behind me. I think four or five of the guys from the men's team were in the house for the game. Since I don't follow men's basketball, I wouldn't know any of them from a hole in the wall, so I pretty much left them alone, even if I did want to ask if any of them did any fancy stunts on the rim at the last home game, since the aforementioned rim was doing very things all night for both teams. But they were the ones making the loudest impressed noises when Albanese made that crazy shot, so you know it had to be good.
I guess because of Girl Scouts, today was the autograph session. I'm relieved; I was worried that it was going to be the Syracuse game, which I have to miss because my supervisor is on vacation that week so I can't just call out for day games and you don't care. We lingered to throw our pink ducks to Crush Clare Droesch (seriously, St. John's graphics people, can we please abbreviate "Crush Cancer for Clare Droesch Fund" to something that sounds a little less murderous?) and let Girl Scouts go ahead of us on the autograph line. Half the team was out in the promised ten minutes. The rest were held for media obligations and social necessities. I wasn't sure if Shenneika was ever going to escape. Nadirah also got held up by small children thinking that she was awesome. (Which she is. But if you've seen St. John's or read the Game Notes of Doom, you already knew that.) We ended up standing behind Amber's mom in the line. She comes prepared! She had a whole pile of the scorecards from the Chartwells tournament, when Amber was on the poster, and gave them out to all and sundry. It was sort of adorable, especially when Amber's mom starting being all mom-ish on Amber and Amber's response being to sign the back of the team poster.
The big poster goes up somewhere in the house. Somewhere. Maybe if we move Essence and Sue over... oh, the perils of living in a women's basketball fancave. The little poster goes in my cubicle and makes me happy when I want to strangle people at the office. The team seemed friendlier this year, if not quite as effusively outgoing as some past teams have. Then again, it's harder to be more outgoing than Sky Lindsay.
I'm glad we won, but we should have won by more. We can't play like this against Delle Donne. We have to be on top of our game against Delle Donne. This is the last chance we have to make a splash before the conference season starts. I know we can do this. I believe in this team.
Since I expect these to be the last Game Notes of Doom before the calendar year comes to a close and I start tagging things for 2013: I wish you all a happy New Year, a joyous Festivus, a wonderful Kwanzaa, and of course, a merry little Christmas (okay, that one's more than a week and at least one more set of notes away, but still)! Enjoy your five golden rings and four calling birds, and I'll see you all after the ball drops!
Friday, December 28, 2012
December 28th, 2012: NJIT at St. John's
Sunday, December 16, 2012
December 16th, 2012: St. Mary's at Tennessee Tech
Just the Facts, Ma'am: St. Mary's went up by as much as 24 in the first half and held on to beat Tennessee Tech 73-58. Jackie Nared led St. Mary's with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Danielle Mauldin added 10 of her 15 in the second half. Tennessee Tech cut the lead to 1 in the second half, but couldn't get over the hump, even behind 22 points from Jala Harris and 17 second-half points from Diamond Henderson.
For impressive freshmen, grit, loooooong shots, better fashion choices, and AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI, join your intrepid and tardy blogger after the jump.
Good morning once more from beautiful Carnesecca Arena! I’m taking in warmups with about twenty of my closest friends (plus my husband), as we get ready for the consolation game between Tennessee Tech and St. Mary’s. Blowing my theory out of the water, Tennessee Tech is wearing their home white and designated as the home team, while St. Mary’s is in a much more flattering road red with very old fashioned shirts.
I like a player who does a little extra shooting, and Jackie Nared is out on the floor alone for St. Mary’s, getting in a few lay-ups and shots. It was only a minute, but sometimes that means a lot. Now it’s just a half dozen Tennessee Tech fans, a handful of St. Mary’s fans, some arena staff, our ESPN3 posse, and the two of us.
At halftime, St. Mary’s is up 37-23, and we’re being treated to an excellent biddy game. Tennessee Tech went missing for a while, down as much as 24 and unable to hit pretty much anything. Then Jala Harris happened. There’s a New York Life logo on the St. John’s court, between the coach’s box and the halfcourt line. She hit a three from that logo. I was wondering when they would give her the ball. Then they did. Then they pulled closer. Maybe you should give Jala Harris the ball more. St. Mary’s had their chances to pull it out further, but they’ve missed a lot of shots close inside. Both teams are defending the offensive boards well, better than the defensive boards.
That turned out to be a better game than I was expecting in the second half. Tennessee Tech cut it to 1 with the ball, but they couldn’t help but shoot themselves in the foot over and over again, and it got away from them in the last six or so minutes. St. Mary’s and Kate Gaze made the big plays when they needed them.
Kate Gaze hitting back-to-back threes when the Golden Eagles were threatening broke Tennessee Tech’s collective back. Seriously, who leaves an Aussie open beyond the arc? Lauren Nicholson did not endear herself to me when she jabbed Jala Harris in the, er, chest with an elbow. I was happy for Amanda Arter that she got to score a basket after the defensive battles she had to cope with yesterday. The rest of the bench really didn’t do much.
Danielle Mauldin came alive in the second half. Someone must have yelled at her at halftime, because she was mixing it up on the boards more and getting points off offensive rebounds. Carli Rosenthal showed a bit of wear in this one- she was unpleasantly sweaty at a couple of points, and I’m surprised that Tennessee Tech didn’t go at her more when she was so obviously exhausted. She bodied up early and often on Tennessee Tech, which I think threw them out of their game plan. Jackie Nared seemed more focused on pulling down boards and trying to hit her teammates with quick, sharp passes. She really does seem to play the game at a different speed than most of her teammates. Morgan Hatten didn’t get a lot of good shots, but she seemed to make a lot of smart plays that you would expect out of a senior. Little things on defense and on loose balls that don’t go into the box score. I would like to see a +/- for both Hatten and Mia Greco, because either Greco is having a really bad tournament or she’s a defensive specialist.
Quira Demery got into this game, unlike yesterday, but didn’t impress me- three first-half fouls and a noticeable fumble will do that to a reserve. Tia Nicholson’s time was only at the end of the game, because Mariah Dean had an issue with her ankle brace and had to come out of the game to get it fixed, and since it was 15 points with less than two minutes to go, it wasn’t worth bringing her back in. Both Kellie and Kylie Cook came off the bench in this one, and neither of them impressed me. Candace Parson should have known better than to argue that travel. If I can see your feet shift from section 2, it’s a travel. Mariah Dean continues to impress me. She’s got a lot of potential- she makes a lot of freshman mistakes and has to have those mistakes and tendencies sandpapered off of her, but she’s got good instincts. By senior year, she’ll be All-OVC if she sticks around.
I like Lashay Davis on defense, playing the passing lanes and getting loose balls. I don’t like her shooting and shooting a lot. Diamond Henderson was MIA for most of the first half, her shots refusing to fall. She had 16 of her 18 points in the second half as the drives down the lane started to roll the other way and the three-ball started working for her. Molly Heady was nice on the boards- right at the start of the game, she got two offensive rebounds in a sea of three red jerseys. There’s something I like about her. It may just be her stubbornness, and maybe it was just this game, but I like her. T’Keyah Williams played sparingly (I suspect Coach Davis may share my opinion of Dean). Jala Harris wasn’t getting a lot of touches in the first half, and then she did things. She did lots of things. They went away from her more as Henderson got hot, and maybe that was a bad plan, but she was also in foul trouble in the second half. She didn’t make some smart decisions on defense.
The officials in this game weren’t necessarily the best refs I’ve ever seen, but the communication among the crew in making sure that they got the calls right was fantastic. They weren’t afraid to consult with each other or to change their calls. There’s a block/charge I remember with Jala Harris going into Danielle Mauldin; it was originally called a charge that would have been Harris’s third foul at a very bad juncture, then was reversed to a block when the refs noticed that Mauldin was in the circle. We like to think we helped point that out from where we were sitting, but maybe the refs were just on the ball. You know the place is quiet when the players start to get weirded out by you yelling at the refs.
I thought Jim Davis was going to get himself thrown out. I also thought Paul Thomas might get himself thrown out. Those are two very passionate coaches.
After Tennessee Tech made that huge run, I was reminded how much I want to see the match-up between them and UT-Martin. Even with the performance today, I’m not as sold on St. Mary’s.
December 16th, 2012: UCLA at St. John's
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Jasmine Dixon's lay-up off Markel Walker's inbounds gave UCLA a 53-52 overtime win over St. John's. Alyssia Brewer's 14 points and 15 rebounds led the Bruins. Walker added eight points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists. Shenneika Smith had 25 points to lead St. John's.
For frustration, sore vocal cords, pretty colors, winterwear, and unwanted softness, join your intrepid and sweltering blogger after the jump.
Second game will be starting in a few minutes. UCLA is still in their road blue, while St. John’s has busted out the black jerseys. They know this is serious business.
Mallory Jones is still AWOL. If she transfers, I wouldn’t be surprised. She’s got good academics; St. John’s might not be the right place for her.
Aww, Eugeneia McPherson on crutches and still working with the kids. :( for Gina. Why are you making a woman on crutches climb stairs? Come on, man! (Okay, it was to get to the bleachers and get some space for her, but still.)
The Conn-tingent appears to have been evicted from their normal seats. Will have to be careful how I criticize Key and Bri today. Good thing they’ve both matured so much this year. It’s harder to yell at them. (Conn-tingent=Connecticut Contingent, the families of Keylantra Langley and Briana Brown; Ashley Perez’s family sits elsewhere or would also be included in the Conn-tingent)
At half, UCLA is up 22-17, and it was a lot worse- it was 22-6 at one point. Then they got angry. I do have to mention that I am not thrilled with Jasmine Dixon checking Aliyyah Handford into the boards, since we don’t have boards. We can’t shoot for beans. The good news is that Mary Nwachukwu is having the game of the season for her. The bad news is that equals four points and two rebounds. And she starts. :/ We’re letting UCLA control the pace of the game. We need to speed it up and make those big posts with bad knees run. But I am loving Briana Brown’s valiant defense on Markel Walker. She’s out of her weight class, but she’s putting up a fight.
All-tournament team: Markel Walker, Jasmine Dixon, Aliyyah Handford, Shenneika Smith, Danielle Mauldin, with Alyssia Brewer as MVP. No love for Jala Harris, huh? Unsurprisingly, there was little applause for the UCLA players from the St. John’s fans, and less applause for the St. John’s players from the UCLA fans. (Which doesn’t surprise me. You sing your fight song on the road, I don’t expect you to be polite to the home team.)
Cori Close tightened up her rotation for this game. Kari Korver got some brief minutes when Thea Lemberger got in foul trouble. Mariah Williams came in for defense, and her quick hands got in the way of a lot of passes. That more than made up for her lack of height, which was something that we didn’t take nearly enough advantage of. Seriously, she’s shorter than everyone on the roster, including the coaches, we should have posted her up repeatedly. Jasmine Dixon, who claimed the game-winning shot, banged in the post on both ends of the floor. She got a little too physical for my liking a couple of times; see above regarding Aliyyah’s reintroduction to the bench for more on that. I think her knee’s still bothering her, but I’m not sure. There are flashes of the player she was before the injury, but I don’t know if she’ll be that player again.
Nirra Fields was good in regulation. Solid, good- not unimpressive, not outstanding. Atonye Nyingifa had some trouble holding on to the ball, but got in great position on the boards. Her timing on her leaps was good. Thea Lemberger had issues with her shot, but they didn’t really need her to be a shooter, and the one field goal she had was at a crucial time (part of the Conn-tingent was screaming about it because Keylantra Langley, our defensive specialist, had just come out of the game and they felt she would have stopped it). Markel Walker had the shots, and they went awry. Not all of them were contested, but some of them were. She used her height to her advantage to get the boards and make the good passes. She has all the tools. I’m still not sold on her as the fourth pick, if only because she seems more like a tweener than a swingman, and I think she has to sort that out if she’s going to be a serious WNBA player. Alyssia Brewer bodied up strong in the paint and was a crucial part of what got UCLA going at the start of the game and at the end of the game.
Sandra Udobi actually saw a fair stretch of time in the first half. She wasn’t spectacular, but she didn’t look too much like a freshman. Depressingly, she might have been one of our better posts today, because Amber Thompson could barely catch anything. She even fumbled the towel she was supposed to catch at one point. She got a little better in the second half, but then fell apart in the OT. Keylantra Langley played less than I’m used to- maybe Coach T didn’t like the way she drove the lane, maybe he was trying too hard to play UCLA’s game, maybe he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but I think the Conn-tingent might have been on to something.
Aliyyah Handford has matured light years over the last two days. She looked really good today, except when she was on the free throw line. She was making plays at both ends of the floor and driving hard to the basket, taking a lot of contact. I’ve been wondering why she starts; now I understand. Something was off about Nadirah McKenith’s shot for most of the day, though she got her feet under her in the second half. She worked the boards hard and had some ups on her. So did Briana Brown, who was brutalized by the rim. She should have had at least two shots go in. What impressed me most about her today was her defense. She kept ending up on Markel Walker, who’s five inches taller than her and long-limbed to boot, and worked her over hard on D. As always, if there was a loose ball, she was on it like white on rice. Shenneika Smith had an uneven game- some flashes of brilliance and huge shots and big swats, some floaters that she left short a lot and fumbles she should have caught. I think she won the head-to-head with Walker, for what that’s worth, but I didn’t see any scouts, either. (Then again, I think there’s a total of 2 scouts employed on the eastern seaboard right now, so that doesn’t prove much.) Mary Nwachukwu got her blocks, and had that not-awful first half. And then she decided to stop playing post defense, which is a bit of a problem when you are a team’s only starting post, and even more of a problem when you back off coverage on the GAME-WINNING SHOT. She backed off Brewer repeatedly in the second half when Brewer had four fouls; Mary had three at the time and acted like the situation was reversed. It sickened me. Now, one of the girls in the band wondered if she was nursing a hip injury, so if that’s the case, I’m sort of sorry.
There was a point in the game where Shenneika drove the lane and hit a bucket, and Dee Kantner looked exceedingly irked. She made a signal I don’t recognize a couple of times- it looked like a football ref’s call of a juggled ball, no catch- and looked to be arguing with Bonita Spence as UCLA came back down the floor. Briana ended up getting hammered with no call about three whistles later; I assumed that was a make-up call. We got to the line plenty, but there were about five calls in the lane I think got missed. The previously mentioned shot on Aliyyah was the worst.
Part of me appreciates the passion of the UCLA fans as the game got tight, especially as it spurred section 2 to get louder. And we get pretty loud, if I do say so myself. I think my husband and I went through two bottles of soda when we got back. On the other hand, I think it’s a bit less than classy to sing the fight song on the road. Or to clap your hands to disconcert the shooter, Cori Close. It’s one thing for fans, but I’m pretty sure the coach is not allowed to do that nonsense.
We played fourteen minutes of mind-numbingly awful basketball. We played thirty-one minutes of good basketball. It bums me out that playing two seconds of lousy defense made the difference.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
December 15th, 2012: St. Mary's at UCLA
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Behind the double-doubles of Markel Walker and Alyssia Brewer, as well as the second-half offense of Jasmine Dixon, UCLA fought off St. Mary's 76-62. Walker had 15 points and 12 rebounds; Brewer added 12 points and 10 boards. For St. Mary's, Danielle Mauldin led the way with 26 points and 9 rebounds.
For bad first impressions, rough halftimes, laundry mishaps, and raw tools, join your intrepid and less-than-coherent blogger after the jump.
On to game 2, which is pretty much everyone's cue to leave for some reason. Come on, guys, there's another game, you paid for it, you might as well stick around for it.
Johnnies, or at least Jennifer Blanding, are starting to circulate, though I think it'll take longer for people who actually played to come into the bleachers. There'll be plenty of room for them when they get here.
St. Mary's has very depressing gray/off-white home jerseys. Like someone accidentally put them in the same wash with Raiders gear or something. Iona definitely have my favorite Gaels.
Spotted between games: former St. John's star Da'Shena Stevens. I think they're giving her the grand tour of the redecorated areas. She's kind of a big deal.
At halftime, UCLA is up 35-28, and I can't figure out why it's not more. St. Mary's has rarely been able to buy a bucket. When you have a possession with five offensive rebounds followed by a deflection and side-out, you should be able to score on it. I also keep thinking St. Mary's needs to hit a weight room or something. Maybe that's just the type of player their coach recruits because they slip through the cracks, but it's sort of amusing to see all these blocky, solid players- and then Jackie Nared looking like a willow tree.
This didn't turn into anything vaguely like a rout until about the six-minute mark. I think the Gaels just ran out of gas and UCLA got inspired. Somehow.
Please note: St. Mary's wore whiteish and UCLA wore blue, but UCLA sat on the home bench and was announced as the home team. Assuming this was to allow each team to only carry one set of jerseys. Ordering is assuming UCLA as the road team.
Kari Korver took both her shots from somewhere in the vicinity of Suffolk County which really seemed to be unnecessary. Mariah Williams needs to hang out with Shakena Richardson from Rutgers, because seeing the two of them on back to back weekends was like instant replay. Williams has a knack for the flashy pass and the quick play, but needs to get some of her fundamentals down pat. Jasmine Dixon was in and out so often that I was starting to get seasickness. The physiotape on and around her knee is interesting, but I don't know if having enough tape on to build your own basketball net (and even criss-crossing it to look like a net) is a good sign for one's future. She was solid in the second half; she looked like she had gained confidence at halftime and was more willing to go into the paint. I'd just like for her to be healthy.
Thea Lemberger looked good early with her jumper. As UCLA went more to their forwards, she became less of a factor. Nirra Fields made some pretty plays. Atonye Nyingifa started to get it going in the second half close to the basket. Alyssia Brewer was a physical presence in the post, but a very slow one. They found her a little more in the second half, though not as much as I think they will tomorrow. Markel Walker started out the game with a rather dumb turnover, but righted the ship and made a nice showing. I like the way she uses her long arms on defense and the way she cuts into the lane. I don't know if she's a guard or a forward yet, though I think she needs to lean more forward if she wants to make it at the same level. I'm looking forward to getting a better look at her tomorrow.
Regrettably, Kate Gaze did not hit a three, so I had no excuse to break out the "AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI", and that makes me sad. It's St. Mary's, after all. Amanda Arter had the unenviable task of guarding Walker and Brewer at different points in the game. Fouls ensued. Shannon Mauldin got in at the end of the game and did not look comfortable. I don't have any clear recollection of the other St. Mary's reserves, which makes me sad.
For most of the first half, the plan seemed to be to run the old Southwest Missouri State offense- give the ball to Jackie and get out of the way. The fact that it was Jackie Nared instead of Jackie Stiles didn't seem relevant. She was arguably the only St. Mary's player to pass the eye test, which just goes to show what kind of bullhockey the eye test can be. She had a nice outside shots and fired off passes quite rapidly. Then Danielle Mauldin happened, reminding me very much of a young Le'Coe Willingham with her build and willingness to take the ball into the paint, coupled with a nice little midrange shot, adding some rebounding to boot. I like her. Morgan Hatten didn't have a lot of great plays, but I like that she always had a hand up when UCLA went on the fast break. Mia Greco- huh, I wonder if she's related to Michelle Greco- got tangled up in a couple of stupid plays. Carli Rosenthal cleaned up the glass fairly well.
Some screwball officiating in this one, but I've learned not to be surprised by that anymore. At least one of the guys reversed a blatantly bad out of bounds call.
St. Mary's fans were very enthusiastic. It was a pleasant surprise to hear that kind of support for a team on the other side of the country from home.
December 15th, 2012: Tennessee Tech at St. John's
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Shenneika Smith had 15 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists to lead St. John's over Tennessee Tech 58-46. Amber Thompson added 12 points off the bench for the Red Storm. Molly Heady led the Golden Eagles with 12 points.
For offensive rebounding, Nutmeg moments, purpleyness, making up words, vivid hallucinations, and emotional rollercoasters, join your intrepid and perhaps delusional blogger after the jump.
Good morning and afternoon, everyone! I'm coming to you on slight tape delay from beautiful Carnesecca Arena, and since this is two days of double-headers, you're going to be hearing from me a lot. Since I'm borrowing a computer that is the laptop equivalent of Debbie Black, I sneaked it into the arena under my clipboard, so I'm writing up my usual pre-game.
It's sort of discomfiting, or perhaps just strange, to have a team praying on a Catholic school's court and not have it be the home team. Tennessee Tech, aren't you a public school? But I do like the Golden Eagles' purple, and the purple that their supporters are wearing behind the road bench. Some St. Mary's fans have also joined us, despite the early hour.
Mrs. Claus and the elf are here with the band. I haven't seen Santa, but this is a busy time of year for him, so I understand if he can't make it out.
Poor Cedrica Gibson. Still in street clothes. Not how I think she imagined her freshman year.
Looking forward to seeing how Jala Harris fares in her second Chartwell's; she played for UAB when they came here. I remember her being a bit of a wild thang, but liking her nonetheless.
Santa did put in an appearance, and so did Amber Thompson, and so did the cutters of Tennessee Tech. It's 29-24 St. John's at half. Amber didn't get the start, but she's got 10 points and a couple of blocks. Now, if she could just hit free throws. Tennessee Tech has a very fast-moving offense that we haven't been able to rattle as much as I'd like.
To be honest, right now, my biggest concern is that my purse has been missing since before the game, so I've been venting my frustrations during gameplay and sobbing at other times. Stupid hormones. Like I needed any more proof this week that humans are scum. (False alarm. It turned out to be at home. How I managed to hallucinate wrapping the strap around it and putting it in a bag I haven't used in years on top of a computer that isn't mine, I don't know. Hopefully my ability to have detailed delusions won't affect your opinion of my game notes.)
That was a closer game than I was expecting it to be. St. John's turned it up very late in the game, just enough to make it look more like what happens when a Big East team runs into an Ohio Valley team, even a good Ohio Valley team. Both teams were on the ball when it came to picking off errant passes.
Tennessee Tech got good minutes out of Mariah Dean in the post. She went at it in the paint with Amber. I don't know how her shooting is, but I'd be giving her the ball more if she gets in position in the paint as well on offense as she does on defense. Lashay Davis did an impressive job playing the passing lanes- she snagged two steals that might better be termed interceptions in the open court. Katherine Barker was first in off the bench, but left no real impression on me. Pretty much the same story for the rest of the Golden Eagles who came off the bench.
Diamond Henderson shredded the Red Storm defense a couple of times with her crossover. Pretty impressive, since her defender on those plays was the taller and long-limbed Shenneika Smith. I was very impressed with her. I still like Jala Harris and her ability to drive the lane- Tennessee Tech, and the Ohio Valley, are perfect fits for her, especially with the hot shooters of Tennessee-Martin out there. Someone needs to put those games on TV. T'Keyah Williams demonstrated a tendency to throw elbows which displeased me greatly. Molly Heady started the game off hot, and I think they wanted to do more with her, but a five-nine player trying to work the post against a Big East team, even one as short as we are, is not a good plan. I think Kellie Cook was trying to take the long shot, but it might have been Kylie Cook.
They were pesky, those Golden Eagles, and they read plays well. We were just a little bit better than them at the end.
Ashley Perez and Sandra Udobi both played very briefly off the bench, raising and then dashing my hopes that Coach T was going to give them some actual time. Keylantra Langley came off the bench first, bringing her defense and a three-point shot. Odd footwork, though. Amber Thompson finally broke through the way I've been expecting her to all season. I'd like to see her work on her free throw shooting, though that's a long-running problem with St. John's posts. But she went in hard in the paint and had her wonderful shot-blocking going. I love to see her kick butt like that, and I'd like to see her kick even more butt going forward this season.
Mary Nwachukwu was very disappointing today. She had one rebound and was lucky to get that. Too much stuff was going off her hands. Aliyyah Handford is developing very nicely- she had what might have been her breakout game in this one, taking advantage of Tennessee Tech's defensive breakdowns and working the backdoor lane very well. She and Briana Brown also did a lot of work on the offensive boards. Briana never saw a loose ball she wasn't going to dive on the floor and try to tie up. She's grown so much this year- not in height, because that would be awesome- but in maturity and playing to her strengths. Shenneika Smith did not have a great offensive game, missing shots that she should have been putting into the basket, and that one moment that even she knew was stupid when the ball went right between her legs on a pass. But the one thing about Shenneika is that if she's not playing on one end of the floor, she's making things happen on the other end of the floor. Her hands were very active, both high and low. Nadirah McKenith takes a lot of contact for very little reward. She had a rough time from the field, but there's still no point guard in the NCAA I'd rather have on my team than Nadirah. Yeah, that includes Sims; yeah, that includes Diggins; yeah, that includes Goodrich; yeah, that includes Hill.
Have I mentioned that Nadirah took a lot of contact today? And somehow managed to get called for a foul when she got elbowed to the floor? Other than that, the refereeing wasn't too bad. We did give everyone the fair warning that any game with Bonita Spence should receive: watch your footwork, travels will be called. In this game it was more about the double-dribbles; three were called.
I don't like Christmas music, but the St. John's band doing "Carol of the Bells" was awesome. I do miss the flutist, though.
Little things that also pleased me: Keylantra is really stepping up as a leader on the sidelines, even with players who are older than her (yes, Love, Mary, I saw that little conversation during the moment of silence for Newtown that Key hushed you up on).
The big test is tomorrow. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
December 9th, 2012: Duke at St. John's
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Sometimes, size does matter, and it did for the Blue Devils of Duke in their 60-42 win over the Red Storm. Elizabeth Williams led the way with 16 points, seven rebounds, and five blocks. St. John's was led by Nadirah McKenith's 19 points; she added six rebounds, but had eight turnovers.
For hitting the deck, tall people, annoying kids, finger cramps, and pride, join your intrepid and indignant blogger after the jump.
I don't want to say that it was a tight transfer and that they were trying to cut down on the time between games, but they were loading the St. John's band into place during the second half, much to the ire of the people sitting behind them. They also had the Red Storm ready in the tunnel to come onto the court for the courage award presentation thing before the final buzzer was done echoing from Rutgers and Louisiana Tech.
I feel so bad for Eugeneia McPherson. She looked lost and pained, though very well dressed. I had the urge to give her a hug, but I get the strong sense that doing so would be hazardous to my health.
We momentarily lost Briana Brown before the game. Go before warm-ups, Bri.
Duke was up 36-21 at the half, and it could have been better. My initial halftime thoughts were lost to a computer freeze, but they're so hilariously bad in hindsight that I feel compelled to share them so that you can point and laugh and be amused: I was sure that St. John's would improve their free throw shooting once they were away from the disruptive influence of the Duke band (well, percentage-wise, I guess 1-2 is better than 4-10) and the resolute look on Shenneika Smith's face as her team headed back to the locker room made me think that she was going to put the team on her shoulders and will them to victory, or at least respectability (yeah, that didn't happen).
Duke is intimidatingly tall. Why we kept shooting into people who were that tall, I will never know. They know how to use it, too. That makes them even more dangerous. Ka'lia Johnson was first off the bench for the Blue Devils, and she worked us over pretty good. Chloe Wells couldn't hit her shots, but she was still disruptive on defense. Allison Vernerey was an intimidating presence just outside the lane; she guarded the boundaries as if she were on active duty to prevent anything from entering the lane. I'm not sure how good her body control is, though; she looked a little awkward out there. When most of the big Duke players look comfortable in their frames, it makes for a sharp contrast. Sierra Moore played briefly in the second half and drove the lane for her basket.
Pretty much everyone's been kvelling over Elizabeth Williams, so I'll join the chorus. The fact that she's only a sophomore astounds me. She has a great knack for finding the ball and the basket. She finishes underneath. There are veteran posts in the WNBA who don't finish with the kind of consistency that she did. If McCallie can coach a post like her, and if she can keep developing at this rate... wow. The potential is out of this world. Haley Peters did a nice job of working the backdoor lanes as well. She's frighteningly versatile. Tricia Liston banged two threes in a row in the first half, just when I thought we might have a chance to make a bit of a run near the end of it. Chelsea Grey did a little bit of everything, and if she'd shot less, I might have been more impressed with her, but it's hard to be impressed with 3-10 shooting. (As mentioned above, I wasn't thrilled with a 4-10, so... yeah.) Alexis Jones had a cheering section sitting right behind the St. John's band, so we got to hear a lot about her. She wasn't all that great, though. Committed a lot of fouls and only had the one basket.
Ashley Perez played just long enough for Keylantra Langley to get taped up after sustaining a scratch... and to commit a touch foul when one of her teammates had a clean block. Awkwaaaard... no, I'm just kidding; if they hadn't had Ashley to call the foul on, they probably would have called it on Shenneika just to call it. Keylantra played her usual good defense, but her knack for hitting shots at the end of the shot clock backfired; three or four times, she or one of her teammates would let the clock wind down, get the shot ready, and end up with said shot smacked back in their face. This is not a good plan against a big team. Amber Thompson brought good minutes off the bench, aggressive on the boards and solid in the paint. (Shame about that elbow jumper; it usually goes in for her.)
I'm sort of curious as to why Sandra Udobi's not playing; a physical post would be rather useful against Duke, and Coach Tartamella's handling of Aliyyah Handford showed that he was willing to let a freshman muddle through her own mistakes.
Mary Nwachukwu started the game on defense like she thought she was still at Boston College and this was a must-win conference game. Duke adjusted to her a little better, but she was pretty much put in there to box out, get rebounds (which she did rather fail at), and play defense. I don't expect offense out of Mary. To be honest, I've trained myself not to expect much out of Mary, and to celebrate madly when she does something good. Briana Brown was disappointing, especially given her hot start to the season, but a couple of those shots should have gone down and just fell prey to the merciless rims. She's matured a lot, though; we noticed better decision-making out of her on some plays, avoiding getting thwacked by large posts when she would have gone in recklessly her freshman year. Aliyyah Handford got all freshman-y on us and commited some not-bright fouls, though a couple of those were questionable calls. We saw the potential. We just also saw the mistakes. She'll learn. Point guards usually learn. Shenneika Smith just couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in this one. Part of it may have been the energy she had to expend on defense against bigger and stronger players, but she missed shots that she normally hits, and shots that we needed at cusps. I love the blocks, though. I love it when Shenneika reaches up those go-go gadget arms and swats shots. I also love when Nadirah McKenith is awesome, and fortunately, that happens a lot. She was shaky early, but after they took her back to the locker room for brief treatment on her back, she was the same Nadirah we've all come to love. She took charge of her team and made things happen. She drove, she hit threes, she took more body blows than RGIII, and she found her teammates. She showed the grit and the strength that are going to give her a basketball career somewhere, whether it's in the WNBA or overseas. She's bedrock when you get down to her.
There was a stretch in the second half when it looked like Nadirah and Amber were pretty much just digging into the University High playbook and playing their game. Since it was the only thing that was working in that stretch, I'm not going to argue with them.
I'm surprised that Coach kept telling them to run the clock and take the last shot, given how many times it backfired. I'm also not sure whether I would have made some of the subs he did. He seemed dangerously close to Nancy Darsch territory at times, in terms of subbing out players who were in the flow of the game.
The officiating in the first half was deplorable. I thought someone was going to have to get hurt before we got a decent call in our favor. To be honest, I wasn't sure if that someone was going to turn out to be one of the refs. Joe Tartamella was furious. He had to be pushed back into his box by two different refs, and I think the only thing that kept him from getting that technical was that it was two different refs. I might have gone for it if I were him. Fire the team up and show them that you're in their corner. Things evened out a little bit in the second half, but it still felt like no one wanted to see an upset.
Santa, I've been a good St. John's fan. Can you put down the trombone and give me a healthy Gina for next season? Yes, the band had a Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, an elf, and for some reason, a dog. We just pretended that he was a reindeer. Have I mentioned that I love the St. John's band? Because they've grown on me over the years, and the arrangements with the flutist are spectacular.
I'm still proud of my team. We lost, yes, and it wasn't necessarily pretty. But we lost to a better team that knows how to exploit all our weaknesses, and we never gave up. No matter what the headlines tell you- and these notes have suffered some delays while I seethed at headlines- we never gave up. We played our defense. We blocked ten shots from a team that was taller and bigger than we were. We held them well below their previous season low. They worked around us enough on offense and stifled us on defense with their size. If you ever want to tell me that they gave up in that game, watch the replay and tell me how many times Nadirah McKenith hit the deck.
December 9th, 2012: Louisiana Tech at Rutgers
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Monique Oliver's 14 points led the way for Rutgers, which shot 61.5% from the field in taking down Louisiana Tech 73-46. The Lady Techsters only shot 25% from the field, and were led by the 16 points and nine rebounds of Brittany Lewis.
For diving, awkward moments, a mass of Cagers, Bill Laimbeer blocking your view, and an angry Spoon, join your intrepid and snarled blogger after the jump.
Ah, the Maggie Dixon Classic. This is a good tradition, and I’m happy to be part of it.
Any oddities during the next week or so may be blamed on the computer I’m using while my baby is in the shop- this is my mom’s eeePC, and it’s ridiculously tiny. Very portable, with a battery life that would make the Energizer Bunny blush, but with all the speed of Kara Braxton running full court. It has its uses, though. I think I can fit it in my clipboard!
It was pleasant and relaxed coming in, and it was nice seeing all the usual suspects again.
Kym Hampton’s voice is going. It’s getting painful. Can we please kiss and make up with Tari Phillips already?
Sue Wicks was also at the game, and it’s very wrong of me to notice that she still fills out a pair of blue jeans quite well, despite being forty-mumble. That’s got to be an awkward situation, stuck between your alma mater and a dear friend, and MSG didn’t help by putting her on the spot on camera.
It’s 36-22 at the half in favor of Rutgers, and Rutgers is shooting really well. It’s terrifying and somewhat abnormal. I’m surprised Stringer hasn’t let her team hear it for showing such offensive potency. Unfortunately, Louisiana Tech’s most noticeable skill has been flopping with a prowess that would make Mery Andrade blush and DeMya Walker give approval. C’mon, guys. You’re better than this. Right? The whistles have also been pretty wild.
I was very disappointed in Louisiana Tech. I would have expected them to be more in Spoon’s mold, but about the only thing they have in common with her as a player is intense stubbornness and a distinct lack of shooting ability. I don’t know if she’s not getting the recruits, or if she’s just not getting through to these kids, but something’s not right here.
There was a point where I thought Courtney Hayes was a dead woman. She attempted badly to defend a three-pointer, where defense was defined as standing several feet away from the shooter and bouncing once like she was on a pogo stick. The shot went in. Hayes brought the ball up. Spoon called timeout, slapped the ball out of Hayes’s hands, and started ripping her several new orifices. Tavasha Anderson was the first player in off the bench, if my scribbled math is correct, but other than one good defensive stand against Monique Oliver, I don’t remember what she did. Kelia Shelton came off the bench to drive the lane, and she did a good job of exploiting RU’s foul issues to get to the line- all but three of her points were from the line. Jelena Vucinic came into the game late and proceeded to prove why she didn’t come into the game until late- she was extremely wild on her drives, and she did look lie she was trying to Force Choke one of the Rutgers players. Savanna Langston was the last Lady Techster in, and she seemed obsessed with shooting the elbow jumper. Seriously, hon, you’re 6-2, that doesn’t have to be your only shot.
Whitney Frazier’s shot was badly off in the first half, and even after she finally got one to fall early in the second half, she was still fairly wild, and I think she lost confidence in her shot by the end of the game. Lulu Perry brought it on defense- she’s mighty quick. Got caught up in a couple of quick fouls in the second half, though. Janay Borum kept going for long shots, out by the NBA line. She hit some closer, especially in the second half. Jasmine Bryant was unremarkable. We were very impressed with Brittany Lewis, who hit the boards on both ends of the floor and had one resounding block. She did a little bit of everything. I think my favorite was the offensive rebound and putback that bounced hiiiiiigh off the rim, then fell softly and sweetly through.
Seriously, though, La Tech. Y U NO BETTER?
Everyone played for Rutgers, I think. No, seriously, everyone, including Brittany Lapidus, who I refuse to believe is a senior. I would have issues believing you if you told me she was a senior in high school. Anyone and everyone affiliated with Rutgers in the building, and possibly a few other people in a few other places, was rooting for her to hit one of the shots she took, and it was clear that everyone wanted her to score when one of the posts (Butts, I think) gave up an easy shot in the lane to flip it over her shoulder to Lapidus. Shakena Richardson has an incredible knack for the flashy play, whether it was a dramatic steal off the inbounds or a flip over her shoulder to go in the basket. Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t able to finish either of the and-1s. I’d say she’s adorable, but I think she’d hurt me. Ariel Butts showed nice moves in the lane, but committed the sorts of fouls one finds in freshman posts. Very popular with her teammates, though; they were screaming and cheering whenever she scored. Rachel Hollivay looked good, but was prone to defensive lapses and careless mistakes. I can see why she was such a highly rated recruit. Chelsey Lee was first off the bench and came on strong in the second half. She and the other posts really did a good job of finding each other. Kahleach Copper played a bit in the second half and had one block that must have impressed me at the time. Precious Person played well, but to be honest and horribly wrong, I was too distracted by her name to take much note of her play. Surname as a noun/given name as an adjective is a very distracting combination. I’m sorry. She really does look like a good player, but I’m going to have to do a lot of growing up to take her seriously.
Look, I told you everyone played for Rutgers, so the bench paragraph is going to be long.
Christa Evans started the game, and did a lot of scrappy work underneath, setting screens to get her teammates free. Near as I could tell, that was her job. Monique Oliver took a little bit to get started, but when they gave her the ball, stuff pretty much got done. She’s a load down there. She’s a little scary. Betnijah Laney kept trying to get long shots, and I don’t know if that’s her forte or not. I don’t think she’s as comfortable in the Stringer system as she thought she would be. But I could be wrong. That happens to me a lot. Erica Wheeler got into foul trouble early in the first half, and never really let the refs get out of her head. I don’t know why Syessence Davis got the start, but I don’t remember anything major that she did. I guess she did that sneaky point guard thing where she dished out assists without me noticing.
Late in the second half, Rutgers showed flashes of why I used to like them- the defense created offense, and offense that was crisp in its passing. Richardson had a steal that led to a rapid-fire four-pass sequence ending in a lay-up.
I think the officials got bored with Louisiana Tech's flopping, because the calls were not as favorable to them in the second half. It was a rough game by the end; the defensive styles of both teams lend themselves to rough play.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
December 1st, 2012: Iona at Wagner
Promises were kept, hills were climbed, sets were completed, and young players impressed in Iona's 74-64 win over Wagner.
If there's anything unusual about these notes, it's because I took a brief side trip to Los Angeles (for reasons which will become clear on March 28th) and within two hours of landing in the City of Angels, my laptop died and is currently awaiting diagnosis and repair in Kentucky. So I am currently borrowing my husband's Mac and typing up notes far too long after the fact for my liking.
For all of my travels throughout the metro area covering women's basketball in pretty much all the places, I still didn't technically have a full set in New York City. For whatever reason, I just never ended up at Wagner. Either it was because they had a bad team, or because they weren't playing anyone good, or because everything conflicted with something else. This time, the stars were aligned. We got an open day, we'd promised Iona's coach as much support as we could give him, and since Sheree Ledbetter graduated from Towson, we had no reason to go see them at LIU, so there were no conflicts.
Unfortunately, Wagner is way up on top of a hill. Even more unfortunately, the bus that runs through campus and connects the major transit centers of St. George and Port Richmond only runs on weekdays. By the time we reached the top of the hill, I was pretty sure that at some point I was going to die. My lungs hurt. The back of my throat is still slightly sore. And apparently that's the only way to get to Wagner on a weekend without a car.
The ticket lobby, which is separated from what appears to be the main entrance, is decorated in program history, with a huge display case devoted to Andrew Bailey. There's also a somewhat dissonant note of jingoism in there, with the emphasis on alumni who died in service. Maybe that's just the emphasis from the fraternity that sponsored most of the plaques, though. The gym is nice- it would be a top-notch high school gym, but as a college facility it leaves a bit to be desired. Well, until the game starts and it turns into a veritable cauldron of noise. The acoustics are painful. There's a Hall of Fame on the second floor, and it was open to the public, as far as I could tell, but they didn't seem to be taking as much advantage of the windows up there as they could have been. If I were a booster, I'd think that was a pretty awesome place to watch a game.
I'm pretty sure the scoreboards are older than I am. When they include the word "bout" on them, either they come from a time when boxing was a collegiate sport or they predate some changes in wrestling terminology.
The staff was a bit disorganized, no one being sure of who was working and who knew whom. When the doors opened, there was a bit of a delay because one of the doorstops got stuck behind the door. In general, it seemed like most of the people at Wagner didn't have much interest in strangers, especially those who seemed lost, or who didn't drive.
We got the time of the game wrong at our end, so that was a little awkward. But we got to spend some time in the student union and shop at the fairly awesome bookstore. We brought home a magnet.
The anthem was sung by a pair of sisters who really did some work on it. Nicely done. I think they sing in the choir or something.
Wagner wanted five bucks for a magazine with a roster. I don't have five bucks right now. That's part of the delay as well. I had to pull up rosters before I could get started. As of 10:11 PM, the box score is not yet up, either, so you're really working off my impressions.
It was 33-30 Iona at half, in a game that started out as a duel between Wagner's Stephanie Blais (10 points at half) and Iona's Joy Adams (nine early points). When Adams went to the bench with her second foul, more Iona players got involved in the offense, but the offense also broke down a little bit. It was a very physical game with some questionable calls or lack thereof. The late whistle on Sabrina Jeridore's second foul, which came after the next play was almost off, was inexcusable. Iona's ball control was atrocious and Wagner's Canadians like to throw elbows. (Though, since all four of them are from Quebec, perhaps I should call them Canadiens.)
Shonice Hawkins was the first sub in, but she didn’t make much of an impression on me. Diana Hubbard had some big shots and did some work on defense, but I think she might have been a little reckless and a little more prone to mistakes than a senior on a young team should be. Aaliyah Robinson put in good time. Cassidee Ranger, who has such a Wild West name that I half-expect her to end up at Wyoming or Oklahoma State or something, got hot late in the first half. Her first shot was a miserable failure, but then she had three threes. Her defense needs work, especially for her height (though, to be fair to her, she ended up guarding a 6-3 player a lot of the time), but that's the kind of thing that comes with time. Kadesia Johnson was in and out of the game, but I don't remember much of what she did. Jiya Dorcas-Eya was in just long enough to commit a lane violation that got Wagner an extra free throw.
Haley D'Angelo runs the offense with a fairly steady hand. I like the way she finds her teammates. She knows her role, and her role is to be a facilitator. She's almost too hesitant to shoot- it makes things harder for her teammates. Sabrina Jeridore impressed me with her length- if she didn't have at least three credited blocks in that game, the scorekeeper was either asleep or a blatant homer. Her long arms were everywhere, both for good on blocks and deflections and for ill on fouls. Aleesha Powell had a nice on-ball presence; the defense seemed to suffer when she was out of the game. Damika Martinez turned it up in the second half, which made the husband very happy- he's been talking her up a lot, and she started to show it. She also had two shots rim out, so her numbers look a little worse than they were. But the player I was most impressed with was Joy Adams. I think she won a tiny little piece of my Red Storm red heart when she went coast to coast for a lay-up off a defensive play. She's got a lot of potential. She does need to stop grabbing the net. Some ref is going to be a lot less patient than these guys were, and she's going to get a technical, and I'm pretty sure that getting technicals is Coach Bozzella's job on this team.
We got to chat briefly with Coach before the game. He seems like a really nice guy. Very energetic. And for energetic read "I'm not sure if what runs through his veins is blood or coffee".
Chanez Robinson really worked the lane and the line. She got to the line more than just about anyone. I love Ugo Nwaigwe's hustle- she was like a bloodhound going after rebounds. There's something about the set of her shoulders that tells me that she's a serious player. She came on stronger in the second half. One of her baskets came on a fourth-chance shot after she chased down three rebounds. Jordyn Peck came out of nowhere in the waning minutes of the game with a soft shot that got a lot of net and made things a lot more interesting. There was a very brief Emily Adams cameo, but I think she was just there for height.
Veronick Fournier was solid, if unremarkable. Stephanie Blais (or, as the announcer would say, Stephanie B-b-b-b-b-blais) played a great game all over the floor. She went out early in the second half, and I wonder if that threw her off a little bit- she was deferring more to her teammates later in the game. I like her shot. I don't know if I like the elbows and body checks that are somewhat more suited to hockey than basketball. (I'm sorry, Wagner, but you start four Canadians, you're going to get hockey jokes.) Jacqui Thompson seems to be more of a distributor and defender than the rest of her teammates. I don't remember much about her. Marie-Laurence Archambault showed off the long shot that I remember from when Wagner played at St. John's a couple of years ago, and she also brought length on defense. Laura Amarosa was more of a factor on both ends in the second half than in the first half.
I'm not sure what was up with these refs, but they were inconsistent with their calls and inconsistent with the timing of their calls. I don't think I've ever seen a crew both blow the whistle early and late in the same game. Of course I'm biased, since I was cheering for Iona, but it did seem like Wagner was getting the benefit of the doubt on most of the calls. I thought Coach Bozzella was going to have a conniption, at the very least. I know he tends to be demonstrative, but this was intense.
Going down the hill was easier than going up the hill. It wasn't just that it was downhill instead of uphill, but we also knew where the hill ended instead of going "are we there yet?" I'd still rather not go out to Wagner on a day that the bus isn't running, though. But promise made, promise kept, and set complete. I've now been to every D-I school in New York.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
November 17th, 2012: Hofstra at St. John's
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Shenneika Smith's 18 points and 15 rebounds, and Nadirah McKenith's 24 points, powered the Red Storm to a 73-47 win over the Pride of Hofstra. Shante Evans had 12 points to lead Hofstra, but she was the only Pride player in double figures.
For freebies, full body sacrifice, the development of Briana Brown, bottle caps, and satisfaction, join your intrepid and somewhat succinct blogger after the jump.
I love a good home opener, don't you? I definitely liked this better than last year's game against Hofstra. Now with 95% less food poisoning!
Military appreciation day, in honor of Veterans' Day at the beginning of the week. We went in before they had the tank simulator set up, which is one of the only regrets I have about going into the game early. Big ROTC contingent in the center court sections, but their noise was not necessary this time around. There was also a contingent from one of the NYS veteran's homes, and words cannot express how much we appreciate their service. St. John's had military-themed warm-up shirts; last year's jackets were cooler, but apparently the NCAA made them not be so awesome. It's nice to have the names on the back of the shirts, even if the freshmen are fairly easy to tell apart (Ced's tiny, Sandie's a post, Ashley's Latina, and Aliyyah is, well, the one left over).
Ced Gibson and Keylantra Langley are still hurt. I've heard foot injuries for both of them. Ced's was a bit more obvious when she was wearing the giant foot brace.
Live anthem and color guard in honor of the military. Band's a little rusty, but I love them anyway.
Hofstra seems uncommonly fond of the hook shot. Both Sydni Epps and Shante Evans hit one. We got to see a bit of Dee Thomas-Palmer after Evans fouled out, as she was being used heavily in the post. Anma Onyeuku did a nice job of getting offensive rebounds with effective positioning and good boxing out. I wasn't impressed with the rest of the Hofstra bench.
Andreana Thomas shot well in the first half, but she got into foul trouble and became less of a factor in the second half. Candace Bond, who is now my last favorite left on this Hofstra team, had a disappointing game, but one nice block worth noting. Annie Payton picked up a lot of the garbage and made things happen on the second and third chances that Hofstra got. Shante Evans had her usual power, and when she didn't have a guard poking the ball out of her hands, she was able to get to the basket mostly unimpeded. But she was harassed and bothered for most of the game, and I think it got to her when she was on defense. Asia Jackson's not bad for a freshman, but you could tell that she was a freshman and she was getting nervous when faced with more experienced players.
I don't know why Amber Thompson isn't starting. It annoys me that she's not, because I thought at the beginning of the year that she was going to be the crucial player, the difference maker, the one whose play would determine how things went. It's easy to say that about Shenneika Smith or Nadirah McKenith, but Shenneika and Nadirah will pretty much always be awesome. Amber is inconsistent, but has strengths that can buttress our play and weaknesses that can undermine it. She ripped down three rebounds in rapid succession when she first got into the game, but cooled off after a little bit. She needs to be more careful with her shots and put a little more oomph into them. We also got to see Ashley Perez a little bit, more near the end of the game (though the first time she came in, in the first half, was kind of funny- it came right after they did a timeout feature on her). She's got to learn to watch her feet when she's shooting- putting her feet on the line is not a good plan. Sandra Udobi got a fair stretch of time in the second half, and while her shoting touch could use a little work, I love her physicality. I love a big post who's not afraid to be big. But we all know this. Aliyyah Handford saw a fair amount of time at the point, backing up Nadirah, and I like her. Her vision will develop, and I'd like to see some development on her shooting motion- she throws it up there too hard, though that did result in one very cool shot that spiraled into the basket. Jennifer Blanding and Mallory Jones, the last two off the bench, got in at the end of the game- Jennifer played surprisingly good defense and forced turnovers from the Pride players, while Mallory snagged herself a steal.
Mary Nwachukwu got the unenviable task of having to defend Shante Evans at the start of the game, and she was not up to the challenge. She's not physical enough to challenge someone who actually plays as a center. She had good moments of boxing out and getting long-range boards, but she needs to use her frame properly if we're going to get anywhere, especially if Amber's not going to be the impact player I expected her to be. Eugeneia McPherson seemed to be trying her three-point shot on for size. It's not a good look for her at this point in the season, but she did what we needed her to do. Briana Brown has been playing out of her mind to start the season, and I love it. She was fearless, she was physical, she was hitting shots from all over the floor, she was bringing the defense, she was banging with Evans- I'm so glad to see her come out like this, you have no idea. Shenneika Smith was all over the boards and hitting all kinds of interesting shots from inside the paint. Her hands were exceptionally quick. She deflected a lot of passes in addition to coming up with the steals and the block. And Nadirah McKenith did that thing where she's awesome and runs the team and hits all the shots and sacrifices her body whenever necessary.
I like that Coach Tartamella has cranked up the defense and has high expectations for them as a defensive team. I don't like Coach's unwillingness to substitute in the first half. He didn't have Amber ready in the bullpen until about the 10:30 mark, and by the time she actually went into the game, just over half the half was over. The starters barely got any rest at all in that first half. As they opened up the lead in the second half, we got to see more of the bench, but it still bothered me that Coach T was running them so hard in the first half, and then yelling at them for not chasing loose balls. You're playing a high-speed running game and not resting your players, and you wonder why they're not chasing loose balls? But maybe he was just nervous and wanted to make sure that we put on a good show in the home opener.
Officiating was frustrating, especially with Denise Brooks as crew chief. I expect better of one of her crews than to miss two blatant push-outs. I mean, no one got badly injured, so you can't say the officiating was too bad, but it annoyed the daylights out of me.
The banner wasn't completely raised, merely unveiled and left to hang behind the basket on the far side. I don't know if it was a psychological tactic to throw Hofstra off their stride, or they don't know where to put it, but it sat there all day. They gave out miniature replicas of the banner as well. THEY ARE SO CUTE! Little tiny baby banners!
Coach Tartamella also got a celebratory game ball for his first win as a head coach, against UCF. His kid seemed fascinated by it.
I'm going to miss the next game, and that makes me sad. Go Storm!
Saturday, November 3, 2012
November 3rd, 2012: Farmingdale at St. John's
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Freshman Ashley Perez made a splash with 22 points, while Shenneika Smith flirted with a triple-double, and St. John's hammered Farmingdale State 99-24 in their exhibition game. Smith finished with 20 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists.
For brrrr, wind damage, impressive freshmen, and getting back into the swing of things, join your intrepid and chilled blogger after the jump.
It was so good to have basketball back, you have no idea. I know there are tall people in long shorts playing basketball for large sums of money right now, but I'm not much of an NBA fan. This was my team, and it was good to see them all again.
All things considered, it was also good to touch base with people and see that they were all right. We got to chat with Nadirah McKenith's mom before the doors open- they made it from Newark. The Conn-tingent was also in the house (Keylantra Langley and Briana Brown's families, from Bridgeport and Norwalk). A surprisingly large crowd for an exhibition game on a campus that was technically closed and got hit a bit harder than the rest of the neighborhood. The banners at the soccer stadium were ripped from the fence, except for the one furthest east, and one of the flags dangled upside down. We could hear the rumble of machinery- maybe generators, maybe pumps- as we came onto the campus. The side streets got hit worse. There were at least three uprooted trees, and pieces of power line and cable were scattered across the sidewalk on one block.
St. John's had a donation box for food and clothing. We gave. How could we not?
Nice anthem. I don't even know if she needed the microphone.
When do we get a video? I mean, I'm sure it'll be ready for the 17th, but it's always nice to have it, and always fun to watch the kids watching the video.
I like the shadowing on the new jerseys. We also have the fancy back panels on the jerseys- it's just basketball netting, but it's there, instead of being plain like the jerseys were last year, and a closer match for the men's jerseys.
I'm working on the assumption that Wabiyn Ati and Waberte Ati are twins, on account of having the same build, being the same class, and coming from the same city. Both of them played, and both of them showed a little bit of power, but not much more. The only bench points came from Amanda Masson very late in the game.
I wouldn't be surprised if at some point someone approached Nicky Young about participating in field events involving throwing things. She has a very hard shot and can put some distance on it. I like her fire, but I'm not sure if she's always going to direct it in the right direction. She threw a lot of wild passes. Nikita Green was the only real offense Farmingdale could muster. She wasn't bad. Siohban Purvis did work on the boards. Lushanta Savadel did well getting to the basket, but couldn't finish.
It was pretty clear that Farmingdale was in over their heads and they knew it. But they kept fighting, and I like their coach. He stayed on them for the whole game.
*sigh* Big Love, we all love you. You're adorable and charming. But it's a bad sign when you look lost, awkward, and over your head against a mediocre D-III team. She got credit for two steals, but at least one of those was when someone else batted a ball into her hands. She's got to step up in some way this year, and to be honest, it ticks me off that she's shown no improvement- and even some regression- from her freshman year. Mallory Jones has no vertical. It's kind of scary. It's also counterproductive for a jump shooter, since there's a certain amount of altitude implied in the word "jump". I like her instinct on the boards, though. Sandra Udobi (it's hard to call her Sandie right now, all things considered) showed a lot of power and surprisingly good finesse for a freshman. I like her. But I love Ashley Perez's shot, her range, her slashing ability, her court vision, and her hustle. Yeah, I know, I know, we whooped a D-III team, and maybe it's a little early to anoint a freshman, but I like what I've seen of her.
Amber Thompson is looking great. I think she put on some upper-body strength, and it's helping her put some of the off-balance shots she missed last year on line. She's the barometer for this team, in my opinion; Shenneika and Nadirah will be Shenneika and Nadirah, and Gina will always be inconsistent, but if Amber can be the player she has the potential to be, there won't be the drop-off after this senior class graduates. Briana Brown hit the floor early and often diving for balls, and she had the shot working (however, take the step back next time; she had two different two-point shots with a foot on the line). Eugeneia McPherson was less involved on the offensive end than I would have expected, but it's not like she was needed to win this one. Keylantra Langley had the defense working, and got a little flashy on offense. Shenneika Smith filled all the stat columns, and it was glorious. The blocks were especially impressive, and then she was making an effort to find her teammates- she had one beautiful pass to Ashley in the first half that was right under the basket.
I don't know what Bri did to tick off the refs, but she ended up getting called for a couple of odd fouls in the first half. A lot of what my esteemed colleague at Swish Appeal refers to as "game management calls" in the second half.
I do wish Ced Gibson and Aliyyah Handford had been able to play. Ced's got a giant brace on her left foot, and that makes me sad. She's too adorable to be injured! Nadirah was limping, but it didn't look like anything lingering. Mary Nwachukwu also sat out, though I don't know why.
Somewhere around 72-12, I turned to my husband and said, "So this must be what it's like to be a UConn fan." When you have to do advanced arithmetic to figure out the deficit, you might be up a lot.
The guys came out and watched in the second half. We scared two of them away. Hey, we're going to chant and cheer. We have to be ready for the season too, you know. /hugs jersey
This was fun. Hofstra will be less fun.
Friday, October 5, 2012
October 5th, 2012: Indiana at Connectict
Just the Facts, Ma'am: 18 points and 15 rebounds from Tina Charles powered the Connecticut Sun to a 76-62 Game 2 win over Indiana. Katie Douglas led the Fever with 27 points. Connecticut broke open a 30-30 tie with a 22-13 third quarter.
For free stuff, things that rock, large shoulder chips, tempting donuts, all glory to Jesus Katie Douglas, and bus commentary, join your intrepid and slightly older blogger after the jump.
I didn't plan this out in advance. Well, I did. Sort of. You see, it so happens that when I was planning out my vacation days at the beginning of the year, my boss told me to schedule all of them, we could move them around later if needed. So I took a couple of random Fridays, plus my birthday- October 5th. Some did get moved around, but this one stayed in place.
So here I am sitting in Geno's, the only place I can find an outlet anywhere near a chair, with a large Diet Coke and an unimpressive cinnamon sugar pretzel (too crunchy), enjoying the heck out of my mumble-mumble birthday. (Let us just say that in the grand scheme of jerseys, an Elena Baranova jersey would be appropriate.) Things have been wonderful so far- the lovely young lady who gave me my comp ticket made a last second switch and set me up in style on the sideline, third row. Ben and Jerry's definition of a small cone is somewhat more akin to enormous. I have so far managed to make a grand total of four cents, thanks to some spectacular payouts pulling me up from twenty down, though depending on how long my battery takes to charge, I may end up losing more in the slots. But at least I found my old friends Open the Vault and All That Glitters. Ah, cascading slots, the wonder of your multiple chances to win.
A reminder to all Swish Appeal readers: if you are under twenty-one, none of this gambling talk pertains to you. Skip it. I mean it. We're not trying to promote debauchery here.
I'm really looking forward to this game. Two good teams, two teams with history against each other, and a Friday night at a casino. This is going to be a blast.
More pregame birthday freebie notes: the staff at Michael Jordan's was fabulous (even if the 23-layer cake only had nine layers). Props to the staff at Krispy Kreme, who were the only ones to correctly ask for my Player's Club card and ID. I like when people dot their I's and cross their T's. (Granted, the little "today is my birthday and this is all I got, thanks" badge may have convinced most of them.) And thank you to all the random people who wished me a happy birthday. You are very sweet, each and every last one of you.
Anthem could have used a little work. Breathe through your nose, hon. But maybe she was panicking.
I kind of want Lin Dunn's jacket, or at least a jacket that's that color. What a pretty blue!
Jeannette Pohlen did a lot of looking lost and a little bit of getting lectured by Katie Douglas. I suspect she was out of position on a couple of plays on both ends of the floor, in order to get yelled at like that. She wasn't much of a factor tonight. Tammy Sutton-Brown played better than I've seen her play in a long time. She was on point on the offensive rebounds, with one nice tip and one that should have been even nicer, other than the fact that it didn't go down. She actually looked like a former All-Star and a former starter. Why couldn't she have looked that into the game when I was rooting for Rutgers back in the day? I remember being very frustrated at her! Shavonte Zellous shot about as well as she did that one time during Pop-a-Shot when I managed to tie her. Yeah. That good. And I do love when players act surprised that they get called for a foul after hitting someone in the face with their forearm. Zellous pulls that off very well. She's picked up some of Catch's flair for the dramatic as well. At least you can't say she's not fearless.
Surprised not to see Jessica Davenport in this one. Getting a little size on Charles in the second half might have helped.
Forgive the blasphemy, but Jesus Katie Douglas. Until such time as she proves herself to be merely human, I'm going to end up calling her Jesus Katie Douglas. That personal run of shots in the second half was phenomenal, especially the long two with three seconds left on the shot clock that was a heave. No, it wasn't a three, and you don't get points for difficulty, but it was still an amazing shot. And she defended as fiercely on the other end. On the other hand, I really didn't appreciate her trying to ref the game as well as play it, and I don't know if Lin Dunn appreciated her mouthing off during one of the timeouts (it looked like she was trying to say that a miscue on the offensive end of the floor wasn't her fault). Briann January took a lot of contact in this one, and I found it fascinating how well she took her falls. I know it has to do with her martial arts experience, but seeing that kind of... grace isn't the right word, perhaps expertise is... in action, four rows off the court if you count the scorer's table is something else. She should give lessons on how to fall. She had a little bad luck with the rim and a little bad luck with Charles in the lane. I like how she plays coming to the ball on defense, though. Erin Phillips really looks so wrong with a ponytail. She just looks wrong. Judging from the way she played, she might not have felt right, either. The one drive down the lane for the scoop was vintage Sun!Phillips, but they shut her off after that. I love seeing the improvement in Erlana Larkins in person. She's still got the same energy that she had when she was with New York, but she's added a little bit of speed and a little bit of vertical to it, along with a greater willingness to go up against bigger posts. Her problem is always going to be her size and her judgment in using her aggressiveness, though. As energetic as she is, she's still going to end up getting balls taken from her by bigger posts and she's still going to rack up the foul count like she did tonight because she doesn't have brakes. Someone needs to teach her how to set better screens. Since she's always going to be that short and that wide, she might as well put that build to use. Tamika Catchings was herself on defense, and she stole away countless rebounds because of her willingness to do anything and everything her team needed, but her shot was ice cold. Some of them were bad luck with the rim, but she was just taking desperation shots that didn't go in.
In the second half overall, Indiana took a lot of quick panic shots. For players not named Jesus Katie Douglas, those shots generally didn't work well. They didn't work the ball and try to find the open player. Really, in the fourth quarter, the offense should have been "give the ball to Douglas and get out of the way, and if she gives it back to you, find her again after setting screens". The ball went away from her late in that quarter, and while I don't know if that would have been the 14 points, it might have been enough to rattle Connecticut.
The Danielle McCray Experiment, October 5th Iteration, was a failure. I don't know what she was doing, but it was not particularly effective. This time, Thibault recognized it and yanked her before she could make too many mistakes. Mistie Mims came in for her physicality, wondrously incredulous facial expressions, and dirty work. That makes her sound like a goon, and she wasn't really out there for that. She found position in the lane, just didn't get the ball a lot. Most of what she was doing was getting in people's way on both ends of the floor so that her teammates could work in open space. Boxing out, screening, being an option- that was her job, and she did it quite well. Tan White had a great game as a jolt of pure energy off the bench. The corner three was working, and so were her drives down the lane. Her defense was also solid. I think she wanted to make a point to Lin Dunn, and if she did, she made it quite effectively. Renee Montgomery took a lot of abuse in the paint form the Indiana defense, hitting the deck a couple of times and not always getting the call. She made things happen for the Sun, though, especially on the break.
Asjha Jones warmed up in the second half, but mostly took a lot of long shots that put me in mind of the questionable offensive judgment of Sancho Lyttle. If she was trying to open up the inside more for Tina Charles, that wasn't the way to go about it. I'd have liked to see her go into the paint more, and maybe for Connecticut to get her going on some backdoor plays. Kalana Greene started for her defense, and that blocked shot of hers was splendid. I like when Kalana does well. She's still a Lib to me a little bit. Allison Hightower did have some deplorable defensive lapses (how do you leave Douglas open on the left side?) but got the job done when they needed her to. I really like how she handles herself on the floor. I think that's what it comes down to, because I always get a good impression of her when I go to a game, and it's not always one that the stats back up. Kara Lawson did what she always did, with an added dose of defense that reminded me of what the White Line is supposed to look like. She helped a lot. That comes off as a stunningly stupid sentence, but I meant on defense. The offense was helpful too, but she always seemed to be the one switching and moving. And then there was Tina Charles, who came on like gangbusters in the second half. She was rebounding well even in the first, but she got her outside jumper and her offensive putbacks going in the second half. The rim robbed her on two shots, too. There was one that she was fouled on that I was so sure went in that I signaled the made field goal. I think she also had two blocks on one play in the first half. You don't realize how long her arms are until you see her in real life.
The officiating was... interesting, but I expect nothing else out of Blauch and Stevens. Unfortunately, Simpson was the most inconsistent of the three, making a trio of dicey calls against Connecticut that had the crowd enraged. Not that Blauch and Stevens didn't come in for their share of hearty boos, but Simpson was the worst, in my book. Connecticut fans do have a tendency to overreact when the calls don't go their way, but there were some holds that were blatantly missed- if I see the jersey get pulled that taut, it's probably a foul, and I don't want to think about why Erlana Larkins had her hand in a Sun player's crotch.
More dusty yellow towels! No idea what use they are, since they tend to spray dust like a walking asthma attack, but they whirl nicely, and I do like free stuff.
Okay, this guy across the aisle from me is way creeping me out and needs to stop making weird noises before I break my clipboard over his creepy old head. It's midnight, most of the bus is trying to sleep, stop whistling. At least we're at New Haven. I can tell by the way the traffic is slowing down. We're at New Haven during construction season.
Didn't snag a t-shirt, but I got closer to them than usual, and that's awesome. Someday. I can't go on with just one real Sun shirt and my camiseta del Sol.
I absolutely loved the people I was seated with. Longtime fans- I felt kind of embarrassed sitting between a couple of them because they had their rituals on three-pointers and shot clock violations- but they were very friendly and very welcoming. They knew their stuff, they had their favorite players (the guy on my left cheered loudest for Tan White, the lady on my right for Kara Lawson), and either they didn't mind that I was loud or put up with it well.
Seriously, dude, you're deciding to turn on the light and read your paper at 12:02? The guy in front of you is trying to sleep and I think you just woke him up. You are many unprintable things. STOP WHISTLING.
Connecticut's version of the Usual Suspects needs to work on their reaction time. If, by the Eastern Conference Finals, you don't recognize your own players' body language, you need help. I'm just sayin' as an ink junkie.
So tired, but I can't sleep. Sigh.
I'd have liked the rest of the crowd to get as much into the game as the people around me. For a relatively large crowd, it was mostly quiet. Maybe if it goes to Game 3, or if they make the Finals again. I hope they do. I think they will if Dunn doesn't adjust, because I don't think anyone in this league strategizes better than Mike Thibault.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
September 29th, 2012: Connecticut at New York
Just the Facts, Ma'am: The New York Liberty started the game on a 12-0 run, but the Connecticut Sun finished on a 14-0 run to win the game 75-62 and the series 2-0. Tina Charles led Connecticut with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Asjha Jones added 20 points and eight boards; Kara Lawson filled the stat sheet with 15 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. Cappie Pondexter's 20 points led New York. Connecticut held a 44-28 rebounding edge.
For fond farewells, New York on a Saturday night, MOAR barbeque, indecision, high kicks, the end of all things, and slight exaggeration, join your intrepid and serene blogger after the jump.
So this might very well be it. And if this is it, I'm okay with that. We fought just hard enough to make the playoffs and just hard enough to look respectable in Game 1. If we win, we win. If we lose, then Connecticut deserves to advance.
The Liberty and Dinosaur Bar-B-Que hosted an all-you-can-eat for Liberty season subscribers. After yet more miscommunication with the poor unfortunate wretch detailed to handle our account, we did get our tickets and our wristbands, and then there was deliciousness. I think I'm going to be oozing barbeque sauce after the fifth day of BBQ, though- we're still working through the leftovers from Connecticut! Organized, it was not, but at least there was a little bit of camaraderie.
Oh, Essence's music video! This is interesting. Hey, there are kids here! I keep thinking she's got Cappie in there somewhere as an extra. Not sure if want. At least she's better than Angel McCoughtry in that respect. I shouldn't be thinking that I want the headphones that keep popping up, though. And we immediately MST'd the "I'm Sorry" message on the Garden marquee with "your game is in another arena".
The thundersticks are uninspired. They will not be going on the wall unless we need to fill the whole thing.
I'm really hoping attendance picks up, but I think it will. A lot of the Usual Suspects are probably still loading up on BBQ. Om nom nom.
There do not appear to be any shinies in the arena. No awards for you, Libs. Not that you deserved any.
Definitely not one of the usual stable of announcers. Could be worse. We'll have a better idea when the game gets going.
There's a lot of lost-looking people in the aisles. I think they're trying to get a lot of comps out.
The girl group that did the anthem has done a Garden performance before. They were just as awful the second time as they were the first time. Please, either coordinate your outfits or be completely different. A matching jacket does not an outfit make. I'd just generally prefer if they didn't perform at Liberty games at all.
Hey! We were promised the Shabazz band. Why are there guys on trampolines in the middle of the court? I want awesome high school band music, not jumping Canadians. If I wanted jumping Canadians, I'd be watching Indiana.
The first five minutes of this game, when the Sun didn't have a field goal and the Liberty were out to a 14-point lead, were the most energetic I've heard the Prudential Center in a while, possibly ever. The place was rocking. The energy dimmed a bit when the Sun counter-punched, but it feels like a playoff game in here. 33-27 at the half, and it was a patchwork of good performances. Kara Braxton started well, Kia was doing work in the middle, everyone was hitting. The Sun seemed a little frazzled, though the second timeout stabilized them a bit, and I don't know why Thibault stuck with McCray so long when she was in over her head.
The latecomers in this game are really starting to rub me the wrong way. Why would you wander in at halftime? Either get here on time or get out of my line of sight.
And that's the end of it. And I'm okay with that. I don't know if it's that I've reached serenity or if it's that we gave it all we had or if I want Connecticut to get closer to that elusive title or if I'm just tired of going to Newark, but I'm not angry, except maybe at PATH and this train that's terminating at Journal Square.
The Danielle McCray experiment ran entirely too long this game. She missed her shots badly, she missed passes badly, and generally just looked out of place and in over her head. I was surprised he kept her in for as long as he did. He usually doesn't give her that many chances to make mistakes. Tan White brought a little bit of theatrics and a lot of hustle. Mistie Mims found herself open at times I felt were a bit inopportune, and she took advantage of them pretty much every time. She mixed it up in the paint, as well. Renee Montgomery was mostly an energy player in this one, though I think part of how she fired her teammates up was by running her mouth and throwing her body at Liberty players. Someday, someone's not going to take her behavior well and is going to send her into the third row. She had one exchange with Leilani Mitchell where an elbow was thrown- not a full-fledged "would you like a side of concussion with your headache?" elbow, but the sort of nudge you give someone when they're attempting to steal your armrest in a tight airplane seat.
Allison Hightower just finds ways to get things done. She only had the one make, but it was a beauty. She just kept on keeping on, working the boards and playing D. Kalana Greene didn't play much- she got a little shaken up early, so maybe that had something to do with it, but it might just have been that Renee Montgomery was more effective and he liked what White was bringing to the table more. We kept leaving Kara Lawson open beyond the arc for no reason I could discern, and she kept hitting shots from beyond the arc for the obvious reason that she is a really good three-point shooter. She stole away a lot of rebounds, too. The assists were harder to notice. I think Asjha Jones maybe heard the whispers that she'd lost a step and wasn't the All-Star player she used to be, because she absolutely abused us from the free throw line extended area. Her turnaround jumper was on fire. All-around, she was solid- and solid may seem like an underwhelming word for what she did, but we're talking vein of granite reaching deep under the earth's crust solid here, the foundation on which the Sun built their game. And Tina Charles topped it all off by going into full beast mode. The guy behind us kept screaming, "Guard Patrick Ewing!" and I think he was talking about her. I don't know if the comparison beyond "dominating center who mostly plays in the paint" is accurate, especially since this was a bit of an anomaly in terms of Charles actually parking in the lane, but she was quite overpowering today. She played like an MVP and a #1 pick. But we just had to have Sidney Spencer...
We got to bring out the dive cards for DeMya Walker- if she's back in the league anywhere, in any capacity, next season, I'll put up the template and you too can have a set of DeMya Walker Dive-O-Meter cards to gauge your team's ability to hit the deck. She was using her body hard in the paint, but mostly to clear space and on defense. Leilani Mitchell was not as bad as she was on Thursday, but she was still in over her head, and I don't think there's much room for her with the Liberty if Pondexter's going to be the starting point guard and Carson's going to be the starting off guard. (Or vice versa.) Alex Montgomery gave us ten unremarkable minutes, with her only shot coming off a deflection by Lawson (we joked that Lawson should get credit for the assist). I'm looking at the plus/minus here on the train, and I just don't get it. It didn't feel like she was responsible for us being -12 with her in the game. Kia Vaughn worked hard on the boards- sometimes a little too hard, with fouls of questionable sense- and I'd have liked to see her be more aggressive trying to score. But she gave us a lot, and I appreciate it.
Cappie Pondexter, you don't have to be the hero all the time. She played well in the first half, but when Connecticut took over in the second half, she started panicking and taking long shots early in the clock. And throwing that interception into double coverage late in the fourth quarter was just ridiculous. She's been asked to do a little bit of everything, and I appreciate that she didn't have an Asjha Jones like Tina Charles did, but sometimes you can't do everything. Kara Braxton started both games like someone had lit a fire under her, going to the hole at one end and snagging passes on the other- I think both halves started with Braxton getting a basket and getting a steal in Connecticut's frontcourt on the ensuing possession- but wore down and got frustrated. It was nice to see Kara get going, but she doesn't have the stamina to keep up that kind of awesome. Or the stamina to keep up that kind of anything, really. That's an issue we're going to have to look at for 2013. I don't know what to think about Nicole Powell. She wasn't bad, per se, but she had a couple of bone-headed plays in the second half that looked like they were turning the tide. It also looked like Lawson had her number the way she had Lawson's number on Thursday. I think some of the close defense got to her. I also don't know what to make of Plenette Pierson. It might have been that she was working hard against Charles and especially Jones all night and therefore didn't have much left in the tank on the other end, but we didn't get to see nearly enough of that ridiculously high jump shot or that sweeping scoop. At least she didn't seem to be in as much pain as she was on Thursday. Essence Carson kept leaving shots in odd places on the rim, but her defense was better than it was in Game 1.
Wonderful, we've got a loud, crazy, racist woman on the train. I am so glad I'm not coming back from Newark late at night again for several months.
The officiating was uneven, a surprise for a crew that included Tom Mauer and Felicia Grinter. (Then again, it also included Roy Gulbeyan.) There was one play where three players hit the floor after someone got pulled down going for a rebound, and there was nothing called on anyone. They were also letting everyone get away with the NBA's extra step, which surprises me with three veteran WNBA refs. It could always be worse, but it wasn't great.
The crowd was loud and into it for almost all of the game- we really only ran out of steam when Connecticut took over. Been a long time since a Liberty game rocked that well. Reminded me a little of those Eastern Conference Championship years. Not completely- you'd need twice as many people in the arena and a better team on the floor- but it was nice.
I caught a t-shirt! But it was a medium, so I gave it to the girl two rows in front of me. Her parents were both appreciative.
It was hard to say goodbye to all the Usual Suspects, and that's the hardest part of the end of the season. The best part of having season tickets is fellow fans and good neighbors. We'll see many of them again in college season, I'm sure- if nothing else, the Maggie Dixon Classic in December will gather everyone up again- but it's not the same. There isn't the same sense of shared neutral ground, because people cheer for different college teams. There isn't the depth of history and knowledge that comes from fifteen years of cheering for the same team.
We gave it all we had and it wasn't enough. In the end, that's all you can ask for. You can only give what you have. Good luck, Connecticut. You deserve it.