December 28th, 2017: Hartford at Fordham (Fordham Holiday Classic)

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Fordham got off to a strong start and was never truly threatened in their 69-44 win over Hartford. G'mrice Davis had 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Rams, who also got 18 points from Johanna Klug and 17 points from Lauren Holden. Lindsey Abed and Darby Lee each had nine points to pace the Hawks.

For loud families, hitting the concession stand, piercing cold, injury concerns, paying attention to the little details, and boxing out, join your intrepid and partially frozen blogger after the jump.


So, how were all of your holidays? Mine were very nice, with lots of baked goods. But it's back on the grind now, and how best to round out the year but with a couple of double-headers? It's back to Fordham today, for the first day of the Fordham Holiday Classic. The Rams are first up, hosting the Hartford Hawks.

I don't know how I feel about the more aggressive Hawk on the warm-up shirts for Hartford. But I don't think the gray and black warm-up shirts work for them at all. Under Armour's usually pretty good, but this was a swing and a miss for them.

It is cold today. So very cold. So, so cold. I wondered why it felt like my legs were going to break off at the knee and my fingers were turning into small shriveled sausages, and then I saw it was 15 degrees out, so I guess that makes sense. Who approved this weather? I certainly didn't.

I have been warned that you can bring a kid for free to this game, so there will be very many children here. Fortunately, they mostly seem to be on the other side of the arena. I'll have to brave them at some point because they're over by the concession stand, but this too shall pass.

Oh, dear. Is that Mary Goulding in a cast? That's not a good thing. She's our glue player and so crucial to our frontcourt. That probably explains why Halei Gillis is back in uniform for the first time in a long time. (Speaking of Halei: pull your shorts down. That's a very nice tattoo, but I feel like I'm prying if I can see that much of it. At least it's outer thigh, not inner thigh like Kyra Dunn had.)

You can't say Fordham doesn't know how to pack the house- lots of kid-based promotions through this stretch of the season.

Anthem was nice, but trying too hard.

At halftime, Fordham is up 36-13. G'mrice Davis has 12 points and nine boards (including my favorite, an offensive spike right into the hands of Johanna Klug, who put it right back in the basket). I'm not thrilled with our boxing out- most of our fouls have been over-the-back reaching fouls on Hartford rebounders.

I have to admit, it's weird not seeing Rizzotti on the Hartford sidelines. I keep being like, "who is this person?"

My God, Hartford fans, or at least the fans and family who followed them to Fordham, are a whiny bunch. I realize there were calls that didn't go their way, but you'd think Halei Gillis was out there with a switchblade and a Joker grin from the sounds of them.

I was impressed with Hartford's halfcourt trap and press. They were able to use our slowdown tendencies to their advantage. When our ballhandling got sloppy, they capitalized.

I keep wondering if Brielle Wilborn is related to Amani Wilborn at Marquette, but probably not. She's a big post, who needs to work on her defensive positioning and her hands. That being said, the fifth foul called on her that took her out of the game was a ridiculously cheap call, which was rather a theme of the day. She's only a freshman; there's room for her to improve, if this coach knows how to teach fundamentals. Jada Lucas sneaked in at the end of the game, and I am drawing a complete blank even on what she looked like on the floor. I can usually at least summon up an appropriately sized silhouette wearing a jersey. Mary Pattison got her points in the second quarter, on a nice drive to the basket.

Jade Young might list as a guard, but she's got the kind of length that makes her very versatile- there were a couple of stretches where she was guarding G'mrice Davis and doing quite a nice job of it. I'm impressed with her toughness. Alexia Douglas saw more time in the second half than in the first, or at least it seemed that way. She broke out for some impressively fast breaks off steals. It was like foom! and she was gone.

Don't think I didn't see that shove in the back, Lindsey Abed. Don't think I didn't see you pushing on defense. She had a nice three-point shot once she got into a rhythm, and was one of the catalysts to their run to start the third quarter. I suspect she's the kind of player I would appreciate more if she weren't playing against my team. Sierra DaCosta brought speed, but her defense was inconsistent, which I think is why Hartford's coach relied so heavily on Young off the bench. She was the first one subbed out in the first half when Fordham started out with a 9-0 hole shot. I remember being surprised that Kelly Douglass spelled her last name that way, but I don't recall anything else particularly memorable about her.

I actually don't understand why Janelle Harrison was the player benched to start the second half so that Young could start. I'm not saying Young shouldn't have started, but I thought Harrison had a pretty solid game inside, starting strong on offense and staking out her space on defense. She rebounded reasonably well in the time that she was given (though she did have trouble with ceding position to smaller Fordham players, which might be the thing Hartford's coach was concerned about, given how well they boxed out in the second half). Darby Lee had some nice twisty moves inside (when you're getting compliments from Fordham fans, they're very good moves) but showed a propensity to foul on shots that were going in- I think she gave up two or three three-point plays that way. She's a tough cookie.

The thing about Fordham is if you get down to them, the odds are usually against you coming back, Penn State at home excepted (and that still rankles, almost physically, almost literally). The way Fordham milks the clock, and does a reasonably good job of forcing the opponent to take their time on offense, there's simply not enough time to put anything together.

The freshmen played! Oh joy! Oh ecstasy! Oh, the thrill of it all! Okay, so for the most part the deep bench is not ready for prime time, with shaky passing and weak shooting, but I actually like the chemistry they're developing together. They're going to be stuck with each other for a while, so that's probably a good idea. I still think Ralene Kwiatkowski needs to be worked into the rotation more- she's not great, but she's not terrible, and sometimes that's all you can ask for in your backup point guard, someone who can hold down the fort and not lose too much of a lead.

So because of the absence of Mary Goulding, we got an extended look at Halei Gillis. It's the first look in a while, since the preseason. There's a lot of work that needs to be done with her. She's a big girl with a big body, and seeing her all but cringe away from a rebound is not a good look. She did pull some down, but she was as likely to pick up the low-hanging fruit that the guards usually go after as she was to body up for a board. She has to move her feet and not her hands. I know she's a freshman and maybe I'm being hard on her, but it's going to be a long road to get her to where she needs to be, and I don't know if she's willing to get there, and I don't know if this staff can get her there. I love Zara Jillings's awareness of what's going on out on the floor- she saved Fordham a substitution late in the game when she corrected the foul count on Halei (a foul was announced as Halei's fifth when it was really her fourth, and Zara was right on top of it). She brought the defense and got low for rebounds.

Kendell Heremaia got the start in place of Mary, and I think that changed the dynamic of the offense. Kendell provides an additional ballhandling option, but we lose size. She looked a little tentative out there. Bre Cavanaugh couldn't buy a bucket, but she was rebounding so fiercely out there she and G'mrice accidentally tied each other up in something that would have been a held ball if they were on opposing teams and was technically a travel since they were teammates. I would also appreciate if people would not hit Bre in the head. There is a very good brain in that head and she's already had enough issues. Her hair, though fabulous, isn't quite fluffy enough to be an effective crash helmet. If Lauren Holden doesn't stop shooting threes from somewhere in the vicinity of Delaware Bay, I may throw something, and I'm not completely certain I won't actually be in Rose Hill when I do it. Just because you're from as south in Jersey as it is possible to be without being a mermaid does not mean you have to constantly shoot from there. I like when she uses the long ball as a more selective weapon, because it makes her more of a threat; if she's just going to throw it up, whatever, the opponent just might let her. I like when she drives, or when she drives and dishes.

Maybe Hartford was outmatched, but Johanna Klug looks like she might just have climbed over the freshman wall. She got good position down low and finished strong at the rim. She's not the fastest player on the floor, but she's big and she's tough. She smooshed DaCosta on a block. Like, smoooooosh. G'mrice Davis finished well at the rim and ripped down rebounds like her life depended on it. Someone seems to be out of place in the defensive scheme- I'm not sure if it's her or Halei, though. (Halei is... Halei... but I've seen too many communication issues with G on the floor to make me wonder.) She and Johanna had a nice two-man game going in the psot.

Pace of play continues to be a bugaboo, but Coach Gaitley certainly isn't going to change for me.

Officials were lax on contact for both teams, and the fifth fouls on both Johanna Klug and Brielle Wilborn were weaksauce calls. Those are not calls you make to foul someone out of a game.

I say this as a semi-professional ref-rider: Hartford, y'all need to chill.

If Johanna can be consistent in the post, we might just survive without Mary. But someone else has to step up too, to replace her leadership and her hustle. Maybe that's Kendell, maybe that's Zara, maybe that's Halei. I don't know.

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December 4th, 2011: Hartford at St. John's

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Amber Thompson's 19 points and 13 rebounds powered St. John's in a 70-45 win over the visiting Hartford Hawks. Daphne Elliott led Hartford with 12 points.

For imaginary Girl Scouts (and no damn cookies), validation, adventures with Sharpies, swag, and short-term jersey loans, join your intrepid and most squeeful blogger after the jump.

Hartford is not the Hartford they once were. Maybe somebody didn't pan out, maybe Rizzotti didn't get someone she was expecting to get, maybe the pipeline shut down, but this bunch of Hawks didn't impress me. Something seems not right about it, though. But I'll take a 25- point win anywhere I can get it.

The anthem singer definitely knew how the anthem should be done. I don't know if she had the voice for it, but she had definitely gotten some training. I think after last time, they weren't going to stand for a bad anthem, especially when ROTC was presenting colors. (The ROTC instructor doesn't tend to appreciate that kind of disrespect, and he's the only person at Carnesecca Arena louder than we are.)

There was supposedly a Girl Scout event going on that day, but I didn't see many Girl Scouts. /Girl Scout salute from Junior Troop 4839/ Apparently my high school's team put in an appearance too. Nostalgia day much?

Hartford got some rough play off their bench. Alyssa Englert has one of the fastest free throw releases I've ever seen, and she uses her elbow brace like a weapon. I'm minded of how Barry Bonds used his pads and protectors to draw HBPs. She took Nadirah down pretty badly with no call, and got a little bit of her own medicine right back when Eugeneia ran into her and drew a block on her. Milana Gilbert was not making friends with her elbows and physical play down low. Cherelle Moore came on as an offensive spark, but didn't spark very much. I seem to recall Taylor Clark being small, fast, and annoying, but not much else.

Daphne Elliott fired off three quick baskets in the first half, the second off a gorgeous Ruthanne Doherty screen, but we clamped down on her in the second. Doherty has the strangest pronunciation of her surname I've ever heard. She went in on us in the second. Amber Bepko sounds familiar from somewhere, which is really odd, because she's a freshman and I haven't seen Hartford this year. I'm wondering if she has an older sister or something. She's got a nice little shot. Nikkia Smith has the most potential out of those starters, in my opinion. I'd like her to lay off the elbows when she makes that strong spin move to the basket, but as a basketball fan, I like strong spin moves to the basket. Alex Hall didn't do anything that I recall. I assume that Jennifer Rizzotti looks for distributing point guards.

I like Hartford's drills with the weak hand, and if their three-point shooting gets hot, they could be a dangerous opponent, but while this is a team that can compete against any non-BCS team you care to name, they look like they'll have trouble with teams that either have more size or more talent.

It was nice to see all the kids get into the game. Given how physically Hartford was playing, I might have put Mallory Jones in earlier- she's a big guard, and she's not afraid to use her body, so the Hawks might have thought twice about some of their shenanigans. Briana Brown didn't score, but pulled down a couple of nice defensive rebounds. Keylantra Langley brought clutch shooting, including a buzzer-beating three to end the first half, and strong defense. I think this is the kind of game I'd like to see from her on the regular- I don't necessarily need her to beat the clock every time, but I'd rather she take fewer shots and have them count, then focus more on her defense, than go crazy shooting. Jennifer Blanding and Zakiyyah Shahid-Martin worked together on one offensive rebound that chewed up a lot of time and resulted in a lay-up for Jennifer. Tesia Harris was back to looking lost, simultaneously not assertive enough and too aggressive.

I'm starting to think that Eugeneia McPherson is getting a reputation for diving and throwing up junk to draw a foul, because she was getting fewer calls than usual in the first half. She's starting to step up her offense, and if she can stabilize her shots, she might get more respect on them from officials. It was nice to see Mary Nwachukwu back in town, and I hope things are better for her. She looked a little tentative, which makes sense given how long she's been away from the team, but she seemed to adapt to that and focused more on boxing out and doing the little things to help her team win. Shenneika Smith's rebounding has been great, but her shot's been off. I think she's trying too hard to make herself an outside shooter, and that's not her strength. She's a slasher- she needs to slash to the basket and use her height and long arms to get things in there. Good things happen when she goes to the hole. Nadirah McKenith had one of her “how many columns can I fill in the stat sheet?” games, even if she wasn't getting the shots to fall. It didn't help that she was playing long stretches without a break- I think that wore her down faster than getting regular rests, but I'm not Kim Barnes Arico. It was kinda obvious when her reaction time slowed.

But this game belonged to Amber Thompson. This was her coming out party. (Not like that.) Da'Shena Stevens had UConn; Amber had this game. She was more assertive than I'd seen her in the first seven games; if she hadn't had some odd rolls and missed free throws, she could have gone for 25. As a freshman, she's producing as well as the senior we lost to graduation, Coco Hart. If she can develop, she could become a Crystal Langhorne kind of player. I'm psyched about her. It's been a while since I've been this psyched over a freshman, and even longer since I've been excited about a post.

This was the post-game autograph session game, so we lined up with the Girl Scouts and the random passers-by and waited our turn with poster in hand. Eugeneia ribbed us a little bit- “how many of these do you have?” (The answer, by the way, is five including this year's, or six if you include the signed scorecard from the big Georgetown game {which is in my cubicle}, or seven if you include the roster and the signed ball, or twelve if you count all the signed college posters, or thirteen if you also include the Mystics poster.) Da'Shena's thinking Chartwell's for her return, which is about right. I do not think it would be a good idea to bring her back against Baylor. Keylantra came in late, so we had to double back to get to her. Then my loving husband figured that we might as well get some of the coaching staff while they were glad-handing, so he grabbed my spare Sharpie and the poster and worked with them.

Meanwhile, I got official approval from the former owner of my jersey to keep it. Hey, I kept saying that if Joy McCorvey wanted her jersey back, she could have it. I got a chance to ask her today, and it was settled. And I was happy. (We all have our favorite exceedingly obscure player. We all stan for someone. Leave me alone.)

These officials... I think there's a Twitter slang for where they can go, but I don't remember which direction the arrow goes in. But honestly, how much undercutting do you allow before enough is enough? It got to the point where Kim Barnes Arico gave the three of them several large and PG-rated pieces of her mind before going into the locker room. I think they had the fear of Kim in them at the end; the calls were much more plentiful against Hartford in the second half. I expected better from that crew; Lynch, Lonergan, and Aliberti are experienced refs, and they're usually pretty solid.

If this wasn't an anomaly for Amber, and if we can work on our free throw shooting, and if we can find someone to be the outside shooter so our slashers can slash, and if Nadirah doesn't fall over from being run into the ground, we're going to be good.

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December 4th, 2006: Hartford at St. John's

Hartford 58, St. John's 46

Nikki Jo Rotolo is a maverick colt, things can actually get worse for St. John's, and referees suck in an epic fashion.


Another day, another loss. Looks like the 2006 Liberty were a good run-up for the 2006-07 Red Storm.

The band felt the need to play Christmas music. I hate them right now, although some of them are making themselves quite amusing by dancing to various musical interludes during the timeouts. Still, I don't need more Christmas music.

The cheerleaders have stopped doing their Thumper impression with their pom-poms during the national anthem, which is a relief, as I can now stop bursting out in giggles at the sight of little white poufs bouncing in time with the drumrolls.

Wow, Ikea Witt is awesome to watch. Knows how to shoot, knows how to drive, and has a nice burst of speed. Would not be surprised to see her in someone's training camp next spring. She royally abused the St. John's defenders assigned to cover her (for most of the night, it was our 'Bama girls, Joy and Angel, who were so painfully burned). Oh, and she was quick on the ball, too, with five steals. Damn, that girl really *is* good. I hadn't realized how many steals she had until I looked at the box. I was also impressed with Danielle Hood, and the one Hawk I was pleased to see have a not-bad game was Lisa Etienne. I may have deep-rooted issues with Hartford (it's a Rutgers thing), but they've got some talent there, and Rizzotti knows how to handle a team.

Much to my dismay, I have discovered that Nikki Jo Rotolo, who I enjoy watching play, has some serious issues with authority. There was one point in the game where Coach was screaming at her and she wasn't listening, at which point Coach yelled, "If you're not going to listen, you're going to sit down!" and sent in Charisse. I am minded of the breaking of the maverick colt in The Same River Twice. Charisse, unfortunately, wasn't very helpful; six turnovers, tentative on offense, and lost on defense (well, okay, most of them were lost on defense, but she was really bad). Allie… oy. She did hustle for a couple of loose balls, but she's still making a lot of bone-headed mistakes that really make her look "special". Nikki Jo, in addition to her "la la la I can't hear you!" moments, was taking some bad shots. She took a lot of good ones, too, that didn't go down, and some that did. She needs to shoot more often and quit playing silly buggers with the ballhandling. Joy had what might have been her best game of the season so far. She seems to be much more a second-half player; she takes a while to get warmed up, but when she does, she's hot- she had a quick run by herself. I like the way she plays- she's all about the hustle and the tips. All of her rebounds were offensive. She's also a leader, or at least good at keeping track of what she and her teammates are supposed to be doing. Angel needs to work on her hands; this was a really bad night for her, and let's face it, we can't afford really bad nights from anybody this season. Tiina kinda got stymied in the post by Delva and Kelley, who seem to be more familiar with this notion of playing inside the paint than she is, but she had a solid game. Prove me wrong about blonde Euros, woman! Monique was in full "Baby Shameka" mode; lots of nice shots and a solid offensive game coupled with some ugly defensive lapses and ballhandling that she should not have been doing- but then, it would have been ballhandling that Kia Wright should have been doing.

Why wasn't Kia doing it, you might ask? According to the game notes, she's reaggravated a sports hernia; the recap gives it as a muscle strain, but whatever the reason, she was in streets today, a long-sleeved black top and black slacks. Kelly was pretty in pink, Victoria was stylish in white, and Recee has earned the DeTrina White Memorial Fashion Award for "please get a new dress shirt, I shouldn't recognize the same one four games into the season!" There are way too many people in street clothes on the Red Storm bench. It makes me sad.

I don't want to harp on the fact that the refs were bad, but seriously? They were awful. The guys calling my school's homecoming game were better, and I go to a D-III in a crap conference. One rather egregious error happened during a set of free throws. Angel Tate was fouled, went to the line, and as is her wont, missed the first. Hartford called time (not sure why; how can you ice a cold shooter?) and when they broke the timeout, the refs tried to usher Monique McLean to the line. Rizzotti and her bench threw a FIT, which was understandable, since it was a foul in the act, and Angel was the one who had been shooting. Order was restored, but how do you mix up 5-11 #20 and 6-2 #45? Travels went uncalled, poor Joy got wrassled to the ground with no call, Kelley of the Hawks was almost growing roots in the lane, and the refs honestly had no control over the game. DEATH.

There were a few people in the building rooting for Hartford, but I know at least one of them to be a UConn fan who came because of Rizzotti. I hope there were at least some Hartford fans who actually care about the team and would still follow them if Rizzotti weren't the coach. That's what still bothers me about their fan base, and has been since the screw job in the 2005 tournament. How many of these people would care about the Hawks if their coach were Dana Wynne or Beth Record? Those players deserve better than people just in Husky love with their coach.

We also spotted some of the SJU men lounging about in the section behind the St. John's bench. Sadly, there was plenty of room to lounge. Attendance today and Saturday was dreadful. Come ON, New Yorkers, the tickets are seven bucks and the freshmen are pretty good, plus we've got Little Sister Christon here.

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March 21st, 2005: NCAA tournament

travels among the pod people

Like hell are the Game Notes ever going back to Storrs.


Went to Storrs yesterday with my bf. Having done it, I would need to be paid handsomely to go back there, and even then only if it were a truly neutral game.

Temple-LA Tech- 66-61, Temple. The Lady Techsters got up big early, but couldn't hit lay-ups for love or money. Candace Dupree turned it up in the second half, and they took control late. Horrible refereeing, horrible game. It was almost more painful than Villanova and BC in the Big East Tourney. Dawn Staley looks quite, QUITE different with her hair down and styled. She got T'd up because of one of the MANY blown calls in that game. If Erica Taylor (formerly Smith-Taylor) isn't careful, she's going to end up playing the wrong role in a redux of LJ and LL in the 2000 Olympics- she's got hair to her waist, and it looks like extensions.

Rutgers-Hartford- 62-37, RU. *fist pump* When are UConn fans- oh, sorry, I must have meant Hartford fans who just "happened" to be wearing Husky colors- going to learn that booing someone like Cappie Pondexter pisses her off and makes her play better? I'm sorry that the Hawks got stuck in the middle of this stupid grudge match UConn and Rutgers have going on. They played hard, but they didn't have the speed to keep up with the Knights, and this with Matee Ajavon having a bad game.

UConn-Dartmouth- 95-47, UConn. Dartmouth came in like they knew they were just sent there to give UConn an opponent. They didn't play like they cared, and that's sad. The young'uns looked good for Connecticut. Turner was less of a focus of the offense than I remembered. UConn fans seem to be a bloodthirsty bunch; up 35 and they're screaming for the team to shoot when it's clear that they're under orders to pass as much as they can. It also struck me as tactless that a starter was shooting a 3 with under 6 minutes to go, or even that the starters were still in. Maybe I'm just embittered because some of the fans felt the need to scream "Rutgers has no class!" at me and my bf, or because someone asked me where my conference loyalty was when I applauded the men's team losing to NC State- someone who then turned around and cheered against a Big East representative.

(This is NOT meant as a rant against all UConn fans, just the ones who taunted us or shot us dirty looks for wearing our team's gear. Some of them were nice. One of them even gave us directions to a Chinese restaurant.)

Richmond-Florida State- Florida State whomped Richmond. We left before halftime.

Celebrity sightings: Manute Bol, folded over several chairs; the Diana in the stands, schmoozing with various and sundry; possibly Patty Coyle (definitely one of the Coyle sisters, but there are three of them who all look alike).

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