Just the Facts, Ma'am: Stephanie Reid's basket and free throw with 5.2 seconds left sealed a 73-72 win for Buffalo at St. John's. Reid finished with 16, while Autumn Jones led the Bulls with 17 points off the bench, including three triples in the fourth quarter. Maya Singleton had 15 points to lead St. John's.
For frustration, friction, a distaste for children, people not understanding schedules, exhaustion, and general crankiness, join your intrepid and culinary blogger after the jump.
You're probably heartily sick of me at this point, and I can't say I blame you. All things considered, I'm starting to get sick of myself. This long crazy streak of games ends today, with Kids Day at St. John's as the Red Storm welcome Buffalo downstate.
It's too bright for this. It's too early for this. I don't like mornings, okay? Especially if you peep the timestamp on the Fordham-UCLA notes. I'm running on fumes, adrenaline, and entirely too much sugar. But it's almost over now, almost over now. One more game, three batches of cookies, and then sweet blessed temporary oblivion. On the plus side, these should be fairly entertaining notes. Sleep deprivation makes me act like I'm drunk and filters out the filter.
All, right, I guess if Q is on the floor we have to still count Staten Island as a borough. ;)
They're starting these kids off with such easy trivia questions that you'd think softball was sponsoring the event. I mean, really. How many days in a year and they don't have 366 as a curveball?
Lies. Coca-Cola is the most important drink of the day. Mama needs her caffeine.
Some of the Buffalo players seem fascinated by the emcee and the trivia going on in the stands in the upper deck. I guess it's something to keep yourself entertained while stretching.
The braids/dreads are working for Andrayah Adams.
Oh, dear. The annoying emcee is the same dude from Red Storm Tip-Off. At least he doesn't seem to have brought his air horn.
:/ If you're going to have a trivia question at a women's basketball game where the answer to "what sport does this team play?" is "basketball", I feel like the question should be about the Liberty, not the Knicks. A small thing, I know, but it rankles. It normalizes men's sports as the default, and I don't like it.
Someone on Buffalo seems to have dumped her hair in the Kool-Aid by accident. Grape, from the looks of it. Stefanie Dolson she is not.
I hate kids days. Camp, field trip, school, whatever. I hate kids using my leg as a backrest and kids' knees in my back and no space to put anything down. And I really hate day games like this when we lose, when the game turns suddenly, and sharply, and cruelly.
Ayoleka Sodade had a quick flurry of points in the first half on an and-1. I like her moves, but I can't say I'm surprised she didn't play in the second half- Buffalo was getting what they needed from the players who were in. Mariah Suchan was the one with the grape-stained hair. She did her best down low, but that wasn't saying very much.
I've never seen a player go from hero to goat on the same play before, but Autmn Jones just about managed it. She hit the three to put Buffalo up four- and then got called for a technical (I think she was taunting, but I didn't see the play). That led to a five-point possession from St. John's and Andrayah Adams. She was stroking threes from the corners in the fourth quarter, and had a nice steal and lay-up to give Buffalo their first lead near the end of the third quarter. Brittany Morrison is solid for her height. She set solid screens to open her teammates up for jumpers, laid a monster block on Akina Wellere, and scooped up a big steal. She's solid for them; if she were just a little taller, she'd probably be playing somewhere further up the food chain.
People don't usually flip the script and drop the thunder on Maya Singleton, but Summer Hemphill did as part of Buffalo's run and stand in the fourth quarter. She's slim and quick inside. Cassie Oursler was a match-up problem all night- we struggle with height, and she knows how to get close to the basket. If she had been hitting through the slightest bit of contact with any consistency, Buffalo wouldn't have had to have fourth-quarter heroics to win the game. Speaking in general, as a fan of many teams, I’m getting real sick of this two-man game wherein the other team collects offensive rebounds like they were going out of style
Stephanie Reid was the hero of the day for the Bulls, with the basket and the foul to give them the winning points. She's so tiny, but she's so fierce, and she knows how to leverage her size for steals. Cierra Dillard is somewhat less delicate, to put it lightly, but she has a good rapport on the floor with Morrison. They seemed to set each other up better than average (one of her passes was to assists was to Morrison, while Morrison got her loose for a three). I'm completely blanking on Katherine Ups, save the charge call.
I can't honestly say I was impressed with Buffalo. They were opportunistic, and they never gave up. That might win them more games that they have no business being in, but I don't see anything special about them.
For the first time since the exhibition game, Joe gave Kayla Charles some extended run, and I can't say the results were terrible, though one could argue that this was a sign of how lightly he was taking this game. She still needs to work on being in the right place at the right time, both on the boards and on defense, but I saw the potential that was there in the preseason game. But knowing Joe, he'll take this game as a sign that she needs to keep moldering on the bench with Machi and Sox. Andrayah Adams was fantastic, playing to her strengths as a shooter while also getting into the lane for free throws. It's actually a little refreshing to see a Johnnie prioritize offense. Qadashah Hoppie seems to be playing a little bit scared. A cynical part of me is wondering how badly she miscalculated where she would fit in at St. John's. I'd love for her to stay, but I don't know that I'd blame her if she left.
And again I say: Akina Wellere has got to be more careful with her footwork. And I'm getting tired of yelling "FOLLOW YOUR SHOT!" every time she backpedals after putting up a three. No one's shot is so automatic that you can assume it's going in, and no rebounder is so good that you can assume they'll save your bacon. She's not ready to carry the heaviest part of the offensive load the way Jade or Danaejah did, and I don't know that she'll ever be that kind of player. The more I see of her, the more I'm convinced she's a fantastic complementary player and absolute pants as a star. Imani Littleton has got to stop missing the fast break lay-ups, but I don’t mind if she keeps dropping the boom like she did on Katherine Ups. I love her defense and I love her rebounding, but I just wish she had more confidence on offense. (Which... is pretty much the story of being a St. John's fan, come to think of it.) Maya Singleton took it to the hole in the fourth quarter and got free throws, but Buffalo worked to box her out, and she wasn't able to pull down all the rebounds like she did against Kansas.
I'd love to see the +/- for Alisha Kebbe, because I remember her being quiet for long stretches, but the line is fairly efficient, so I'm wondering if something else is going on. It's been a day by now and my brain is still extremely tired; not only that, but it is full of cookies. So many cookies. Tiana England has got to stop with the endless dribbling, but we've covered this in other rounds of the GNoD. She can find the right person in the right place, but she's running the clock too far down for my comfort. And I realize my comfort is irrelevant in this situation. I'm also starting to understand that people are not necessarily in the right place and that's not Tiana's fault.
Oh, my dear sweet hot mess of a team. I love y'all, but y'all are a mess.
Refs overlooked an awful lot of travels, and I think St. John's got the benefit of the doubt on a lot of contact.
So that was our chance of an at-large up in smoke. Woo. Does this team not understand that Maya can't be the only person rebounding? That someone actually has to score points? We pride ourselves on our defense, and that's a thing I love, but even that's not working for us. We have a week to get our act together before starting Big East play with one of the toughest road trips in the conference. No pressure, kids.
Friday, December 22, 2017
December 21st, 2017: Buffalo at St. John's
Monday, November 27, 2017
November 27th, 2017: Toledo at Iona
Just the Facts, Ma’am: The Rockets took off in the fourth quarter to beat Iona, 74-57. Mikaela Boyd had 14 points and 11 rebounds to lead Toledo. Treyanna Clay had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Iona in the loss.
For transportation issues, a little help from my friends, the final countdown, point guard comparisons, being distracted by shiny objects, and the perils of being a fan, join your intrepid and detoured blogger after the jump.
It’s almost over now, almost over now...
Iona doesn’t seem to like me, but tough. I like them well enough, so it’s off to New Rochelle for their early game against the Toledo Rockets. It helps that I like Toledo, too.
“This is 14th Street-Union Square.” No. No, it is not. It’s 3rd Avenue-138th Street. I think our conductor has had a long morning. Or possibly a very interesting weekend. (Also, it is 10:10 and I am at Brook Avenue. I don’t think I’m going to make the 10:20 bus at Pelham Bay Park, which is... um, a lot of stops away.)
Spoiler alert: I did not make the 10:20. And then the 11:20 broke down about four stops into New Rochelle. The two-kilometer walk was good for my cardiovascular health, and I was able to find a cab to shoot me up North Avenue, but I still missed all the pregame and the first four minutes of game time. Fortunately, the stat board and some statistical anomalies helped me catch up to the stats. But I didn’t get to see the anthem.
I walked in when it was 14-4 Toledo. It’s halftime and the score is 33-30. You’re welcome, Gaels. If we could rebound, we’d really be in this game. Mikaela Boyd is out there for Toledo like she’s Brittany Boyd, with seven points and six rebounds- for a while she was outrebounding our whole team. Alexis Lewis has 12 points for Iona, but it’s on volume.
I do not envy the person whose job it is to take care of the jerseys, especially when bodily fluids are involved. Treyanna Clay got blood on her jersey and spent the rest of the second quarter wearing #11. Poor staffer was scrubbing that jersey like she was Lady Macbeth.
Guys. It’s halftime and this is the third time you’ve played “Jumpman” already. For the love of God, play literally anything else.
Have I mentioned that I love Toledo’s “Embrace Diversity” shirts? Because those shirts are amazing and we have a request out to Toledo to see if we can acquire one. This is another time I want to yell at a school “SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY” like I did with the St. John’s skyline socks.
(These kids on the bus have been seriously debating what happens to characters’ hair in Dragonball Z when they go Super Saiyan, and they are so deadly serious about it. What decade am I in?)
I’m starting to think Iona might not be a good team. I love them, but they are so very much a work in progress at best.
Toledo’s fun. They rolled fairly deep in the first half, though I didn’t even realize Michaela Rasmussen played until I looked at the box score. Sara Rokkanen hit a three in the first half just when Iona looked like they might really get back into it. I remember hearing Tatyana Davis’s name when she subbed in, but not anything she did on the floor.
Tanaya Beachem brought size on defense, bouncing Iona players off her and bringing the pain. Jada Woody was an immediate offensive spark when she came in- I think I had just collapsed on my spot in the bleachers when she hit a three, and her buckets in the second half were also right after she came in. Olivia Cunningham had a hot fourth quarter, hitting on a couple of shots, including a nice lay-up on a sweet feed from Mariella Santucci. She started the second half, which does not seem to have been the case for the first half, if Iona’s box score is to be believed.
Once again according to that box score, Santucci got the start. There were some rough patches where it looked like she and her teammates were having some communication issues. (With all the international guards I’ve been seeing recently, I’m starting to recognize the gesture of arms outspread wide and a facial expression of utter WTF.) She had some slick passes out there. Late in the second quarter, it looked like Sarah St-Fort had momentarily forgotten what sport she was playing and was trying to live out some lifelong dream of playing for les Canadiens by body-checking people. Spoiler alert: this does not usually fly in basketball. Mikaela Boyd was fantastic for the Rockets- I made the Brittany Boyd reference in the first half and I’m going to do it again here. She scrapped for offensive rebounds, she hustled into tables (and was polite enough to at least try to put the rolling board back into place on her way back), she drove the lane (though her drives are somewhat less pell-mell than the Liberty’s Boyd), and she was even inconsistent at the line like my favorite Boyd. (Heck, her coach even just calls her by her last name, same as Bill did with the Liberty’s Boyd.)
Kaayla McIntyre hit back to back buckets as I was buying my ticket and racing up the stairs, and set herself up for another bucket on a solid rebound. She’s very strong. That sometimes worked against her, as she picked up a couple of fouls in the second quarter. Jay-Ann Bravo-Harriott is an interesting sort of hybrid player, with the build of a post player but the instincts, or at least desires, of a small forward. In this one, her success at that was mixed at best. But I can imagine her leveraging that size on a good shooting day into becoming a match-up nightmare.
I was impressed with Toledo’s ball movement, especially against the press. Iona tried to rattle them, and it didn’t work all that well. The turnovers were mostly procedural and on fouls- Iona had a few steals, but they were mostly when Toledo was setting up the offense.
Rebekah Justice was on the floor when I arrived. I figured that was probably a sign of desperation, or of size. I may have to move my seat as long as she’s at Iona; otherwise these are going to be four confusing years wherein I keep thinking Coach is calling my name (even though I know the odds of that are slim).. I figured Kristin Mahoney was the white flag when she came in. She hasn’t played much. Coach seems to have lost some of the faith she had in Adrienne DiGioia earlier in the season, since Adrienne got benched. I think I understand why, though; while she did have the one jumper, she looked out of place on both ends of the floor. I think she’ll settle into a steady point guard, but she’s not there yet.
But I’m impressed with how Amelia Motz has stepped up as a playmaker, or at least a play initiator. She brought the ball up a lot, and while she sometimes ran into trouble, she was able to get the offense started. She did her scoring at the rim, and she played hard on both ends of the floor. I was not expecting such extensive run for Tilasha Okey-Williams. I think this is the longest look I’ve ever gotten at her. I didn’t realize just how much spin there was on her shot- it looks almost like she’s firing a knuckleball when that three goes up from the corner. She brings a different look at forward- one more offensive-minded- and I think we can develop her into a good change of pace player. (Video from this game might help with that. Woody’s offensive surge is a good example to follow.)
I do not know why Jayden Eggleston started, though I can make a couple of guesses: she might have been trying to get more size into the starting lineup, because Treyanna Clay at center is not going to work, or she might have thought she matched up better with Toledo’s front line. I don’t know. Whatever she was trying to do, I don’t think it worked. Jayden didn’t even start the second half. Treyanna Clay is already starting to look worn out, and it’s November. That’s not a good sign. Trey plays a lot of minutes, and we need her to play a lot of minutes, but at the same time, Coach needs to rest her at some point, even if it’s just for a minute here or there. Take her out to end the first or third quarter, the way Laimbeer used to do with Tina Charles. She’s starting to look slow on defense, and it’s not of the good. I do like her leadership on the floor, too. She’s very vocal. Alexis Lewis scored a lot, but her three-ball was all over the place. I like that she’s taking it to the rack when her jumper isn’t going down, but I’d like to see better form on those floaters. If her inside game can be more consistent, and if she can bring the rebounding like I saw earlier in the year, she can be something special.
Toyosi Abiola has to speed up her decision-making. She was scared to shoot today, and that’s a problem when you have open looks. Those moments of hesitation allowed the defense to collapse on her, and caused turnovers, whether they were lost balls,travels, or steals. I get that she’s a freshman and rapid decision-making is not yet a thing, and I think she has the potential to grow, but the early going has been a little bit rough. I like Tori Lesko’s hustle, and I love that she’s vocal on the bench, trying to keep her team’s spirits up. She brought a lot of grit to the floor, but she couldn’t keep up with Toledo’s talent.
While I’m not normally a fan of coaches changing things up without an apparent rhyme or reason, I like that Coach Chambers is willing to experiment with her lineups and try new things. I’ve been hard on her in the past for not adapting, so I should give her credit for trying to.
Officiating was unremarkable, except the fourth quarter was dragged out longer than it had to be because there were issues with both the shot and game clocks- they just wouldn’t stop running.
I’m amused that the blood jersey is #11, but you’ll have to go back into the Iona archives to understand why.
There are pieces, but I’m not sure we know how to make them fit. And meanwhile I think the losing is starting to get to the kids. The energy level on the bench was much lower than it was against Temple. I like them. I don’t want to see any of them leave.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
November 9th, 2013: Bowling Green at Iona
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Jillian Halfhill's lay-up with eighteen seconds left gave Bowling Green a 51-50 lead, and a last-second scrum for the ball secured the Falcons the win over Iona. Alexis Rogers led Bowling Green with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Damika Martinez of Iona led all scorers with 25 points, while Aaliyah Robinson added 14 off the bench.
For disagreements, bright colors, intensity, pride, point guards, and a possible question of mental fortitude, join your intrepid and blanketed blogger after the jump.
On to the second game of our double-header, which features Iona and Bowling Green for whatever marbles may be relevant in a miniature tournament. Shut up, grammar check, Bowling Green is correctly capitalized.
Bowling Green's uniforms are really orange. I think TV mutes the color a lot.
Iona's been working with their academic font instead of the old athletic font. Doesn't make for a dramatic court, but it looks good on the uniforms.
We're now changed into our maroon and gold. The extra layer was warming in the cold weather.
Oh, hey, cool, the mascot decided to show up. That's a change from last year.
Iona has a very tiny cheerleader with the most impressive thigh muscles I've ever seen (however, if I can see how built your thighs are, your skirt is way too short).
Bowling Green managed to get four balls in the basket. They tried to knock them out from the bottom, but only managed to get out one. It took a bit of doing to get them all out. That's either a good sign or a bad sign. So far it looks like a good sign for BGSU's shooting. It's 30-23 BGSU at the half, and the Falcons have looked stronger as the half has gone on. It also deeply disturbs me that Damika Martinez has gone full ballhog in the second quarter. There's a definite element of Lori Ann to her game tonight, if you follow what I mean.
As one would expect from a MAC team, Bowling Green's fans are out in full force. I really do love the MAC. Not when one of my teams is playing one of their teams, but other than that I love the MAC.
That was an amazing game. It wasn't the prettiest game in the world, but it was intense, and everyone was into it. The only way it could have been better, in my admittedly biased view, would have been if Iona had pulled it off at the very end.
Abby Siefker was a big body in the middle, and threw her weight around very effectively. Jasmine Matthews brought a little bit of offensive touch. Jennifer Roos almost seemed to be looking to see which guards she thought she could trust later in the season. Judging from the minute counts, she was not impressed with what she found, but they gave the starters a break when they needed it, which might have been enough coming down the stretch.
Alexis Rogers looks like a BCS player. She has the height and the build, as well as more quickness than one would expect from a woman of her build. She dissected Iona on the inside, because they had no one who could really match up with her. (And just for the record: yeah, that offensive foul for the moving screen was a bad call. Aleesha ran headlong into her without looking.) Jillian Halfhill ran a fine offense. I love to see a good floor general doing her stuff, even if she didn't show that element of her game statistically. Sometimes a player looks like she's the person in charge when she walks out onto the floor and it's clear her teammates defer to her. Jill Stein was tough in the middle. Miriam Justinger always seemed to be in the middle of the play; I remember that 30 jersey being all up in a lot of plays, especially going after loose balls. Erica Donovan had a solid game, if not one that was particularly memorable.
Very smart play by Bowling Green. We wailed and gnashed our teeth at the lack of free throw attempts that we were given, but the Falcons really didn't commit a lot of contact that would have resulted in free throws. Jennifer Roos is one of the most involved coaches I've ever seen. She yells almost as much as I do, at least when it comes to getting her team's attention. That's not a bad thing, though I wonder if it might wear on a player after a while.
Spencer Gray intrigues me. She reminds me very much of Kia Wright from St. John's, and of the freshmen she looked the least out of her depth. She might be able to move into that point guard slot when Haley D'Angelo graduates, if she learns with some speed. Cassidee Ranger looks like she's bulked up a little bit, and with the lack of height on Iona's roster, she's being called upon as a reserve post. Given that Cassidee's strengths are three-point shooting and on-ball defense, I do not think this is a very good plan. Aurellia Cammock shows a bit of promise with her size, though it's hard to get a fair assessment as to whether she can shoot, since her minutes were all in the first half and therefore no one other than Damika Martinez was touching the ball unless they happened to rebound it. Christina Rubin looked lost, which surprises me, since she was with the team last year. Aaliyah Robinson fired up the big threes. She's instant offense. (Reminds me of another Robinson in that regard.) And Iona needed everything she had to offer.
I don’t know what's wrong with Aleesha Powell, but I've met her and she seems like a nice kid, so I really hope that she's able to shake it off. But her shot was all messed up. It's like her arm strength completely evaporated over the offseason. She's always been slightly built (think Leilani Mitchell, but at 110% scale), but she looks even thinner now. Joy Adams was strangely passive today, and she didn't get down low nearly as much as I've come to expect from her. She was bringing the ball up more, too. I don't know if she's trying to diversify her game to be more of an overseas prospect, or if Coach Godsey is trying to switch her to the three because of her build, but in either case, it's not a good idea. Sabrina Jeridore was fierce on defense and hit the boards hard- I think she had four rebounds before the first media timeout. She's got to finish at the rim, and she's got to improve her stamina- she got winded a lot, and it's always apparent on her face when she's utterly gassed. Unless someone unexpected steps up to take some of the load off in the paint, she's all they have down there, and she needs to accept that responsibility as a senior and as the tallest healthy player on the roster. Haley D'Angelo has never been a shooter, and the one shot she took in this game reminded us of why she generally doesn't shoot a lot, but she needs to be a little more aggressive and force players to guard her. She's still the unquestioned leader of her team and the floor general for the Gaels, but she needs to be more of a threat. Damika Martinez was the offensive star for Iona, but she did it by volume, and the misses were bad misses. She got into a bit of a heated discussion with the coach in the middle of the first half, and her answer to whatever it was was to completely dominate the ball for the rest of the half. She brought it up, she dribbled, she shot. Not a good look. She got over it in the second half, though, and her shooting at the end of the game got Iona right back in it.
The officials in this game were not so good with the out of bounds calls. I'm really not sure how you can miss a player who's six-three and bright orange, guys.
For a mostly empty arena, the ambiance was fantastic. By the end, both groups of fans were really into the game. Iona's entire bench spent the last two defensive possessions standing and chanting. It was a heartbreaker (especially since Iona apparently tried to call timeout during the last rebound and didn't have it granted) but it was the kind of heartbreaker they would have lost heart during the second half of last year.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
November 28th, 2010: Toledo at Iona (Iona Thanksgiving Classic)
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Two spirited double-digit comebacks by the Iona Gaels weren't enough for them to win their holiday tournament, as they fell to the Toledo Rockets 68-60. Naama Shafir led the way for Toledo with 16 points and six assists, getting help from the 15 points of Melissa Goodall and the 13 points and 10 rebounds of Lecretia Smith. Kristina Ford led the home team with 16 points and nine boards. Tomica Bacic and Marissa Flagg scored all their points, 12 and 11 respectively, in the second half to help erase a ten-point Toledo lead.
For true confessions, a lack of old awesome, knee-related trauma, and a half dozen free wings, join your intrepid and reliable blogger after the jump.
After that game, it was on to the next one, and to the game that we were really there to see. No disrespect meant to UMBC and Brown, but Iona's a better team than either, and we've been dying to see Naama Shafir since she was a freshman. This was the matchup that we scoreboard-watched all day, hoping would happen. This is the reason why we hiked up to New Rochelle.
Apparently, it was the whole reason that Iona came too. The concessions never did open up, but the fans started to show up during the intermission between games. (Of course, this cut both ways; a bunch of UMBC people left during introductions. This is not a good idea when Iona does their home intros in a darkened arena.)
Since Iona doesn't have a band, we didn't have to worry about a skeleton crew brutalizing the national anthem- the PA announcer did double duty as the DJ, playing and pausing the various tracks on his computer. This was all right when the tracks were traditional arena rock. It was somewhat less all right when he played Miley Cyrus during a timeout, then followed it up with two straight timeouts of Justin Bieber. I had to be reminded that giving someone a swirly in a urinal is considered assault and is therefore a felony. But my ears are still bleeding, and someone needs to pay for that.
Toledo got some very good minutes from Haylie Linn. I like her hustle. She had a good knack for being in the right place at the right time, my favorite sort of player. Yolanda Richardson was also a key reserve in this game. Big girl's got moves. I approve of this message. Andola Dortch, who biked when she wasn't in the game, saw time in the second half when Coach Cullop went for the offense/defense swaps.
For the Rockets, they went to their starters to get darn near everything. Lecretia Smith had a bad habit of getting in her own way on rebounds and loose balls, but she made things happen on the inside. Don't recall much about Courtney Ingersoll. Jessica Williams got into foul trouble late in the game, but I don't recall if she did anything worth mentioning or not. Naama Shafir is a really good point guard who shows flashes of being a great point guard. She doesn't quite have that complete mastery of the floor that the greatest point guards have, not quite that sense that as soon as she walks onto the floor the game is hers, not quite the feeling that the ball will always go exactly where she wants it and exactly when she wants it to. There were times in that game when the feeling was there, but only times. She has got to watch her footwork, because three or four of her turnovers came on travels that could have been avoided with a little more care and forethought. I like her shot and her scrappiness, though. Melissa Goodall was the player who impressed me that I wasn't expecting to impress me. She just found her way to the basket and put the ball in. It seemed that simple.
Iona likes to go deep into their bench. I think everyone who was eligible played. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but if it is, it isn't much of one. I can't shake the feeling that Cat Lutz should go by the full form of her name. A hard C plus the surname Lutz is not going to end well. I miss Milica Paligoric's eyeblack. (At least, I think it was hers. It was awesome, whoever had it, and I miss it.) She brought a very physical presence, sometimes too physical. (Don't elbow your opponent in the face. It's not polite.) Lutz was a common tag team with Kopp. I'm not sure the combination worked. My memory is failing me, and so are my notes- their bench must not have done that much.
Anda Ivkovic went down hard at one point, and let me tell you, there are some serious disadvantages to being in a small, sparsely populated arena. You get to hear every scream of agony and every whimper when a player crumples to the floor, clutching the knee that she's already suffered a torn ACL in. The weird thing was that after a few minutes on the bench, she was standing up and getting all taped up, and she even played a couple of series after that before calling a timeout and getting out of the game. That was the last we saw of her. I wish her all the best. No one deserves to spend even a second of their senior season curled up in pain. Her role as shooter was admirably picked up by Kristina Ford, who I sort of had to root for, because she's from my nabe. It felt like she was shooting more threes than the boxscore suggests, and her presence on the boards was strong as well. I like her. This game would not have been nearly as interesting as it turned out to be if Tomica Bacic and Marissa Flagg hadn't shown up in the second half. I've seen games where one player has a second-half run that beats all. I've never seen a game where two players were silent in the first, then went off in the second half. Bacic decided she was going to take over, and she started going inside with a vengeance. She had a dramatic injury moment as well, when she twisted her ankle a few minutes after Ivkovic went out with her knee injury. She got up faster, and though she was limping for a minute or two, she was fine fast enough for me to be a wee bit skeptical of her. Flagg got a lot more aggressive and assertive in the second. Whether it was because Toledo forgot about her or because she decided to step up, I couldn't say for certain. Suzi Fregosi, despite being the poster girl for today's game (*holds up scorecard poster* See?), didn't produce very much- a couple of shots when Iona was trying to make one of their early comebacks, but nothing after that.
Stat combination of the game: 21 Iona turnovers. 15 Toledo steals. The Rockets were on them like white on rice.
The refs for this game let a lot of contact go, which falls into Iona's game. Iona has a tendency to lose their cool and play very physically. When you're wondering whether Iona has a football team, and if they do, whether they'd be cool with a Serbian center, things might have gotten a bit out of control. Shame; Aliberti and Lonergan usually call a better game than that. If you've been reading previous Game Notes of Doom, you might recall the epic saga of the gender-swapping ref, the linesman Aliberti who was listed as Janice last year but as John in a St. John's boxscore from this year. I'm thinking now that that was the Red Storm's mistake, because Aliberti was once more a Janice in the NCAA boxscore for this game, and she definitely sounded like a Janice. I really like how she handled herself with the coaches (who are both fairly intense and argumentative) and the scorer's table.
Shoutout to the small but very vocal contingent of Toledo fans who sat behind the visitors' bench. We could feel their stomping one section over. They outdid the few Iona fans who were there.
Iona has far too many cheerleaders. They're the old-fashioned kind, so maybe that's why- they're not doing stunts, just trying to impress by choreography. But we saw them coming in, and they just kept coming.
There was no tournament team. There were no post-game honors at all. We had to get out of there before they rolled up the bleachers on us. It was a good trip. I'll be happy to do it again next year, just as long as I remember this time that the trains get you there at 11:30 and 12:30, or thereabouts.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
December 21st, 2008: Houston at Buffalo (Chartwells Holiday Classic)
Houston Cougars 80, Buffalo Bulls 62
Houston holds a lead this time, and long skinny posts are all the rage.
Okay, we've now established that Houston likes to build big leads and Buffalo isn't all that good. Sorry, Coach Hill-McDonald. You were really nice to the strange Liberty fan, and those bony posts of yours are fun to watch on the boards, but your team's got a long way to go.
Courtney Taylor is something else, I'm starting to think. Around the face a little, she looks like Thompson, and she's got game with some range. A nice array of moves, and killer on the boards, too. I'm still liking Brittney Scott, too. If nothing else, it always amazes me when a sophomore jumps the queue to become a team captain. We got to see a little more of their bench today, as Houston let up on the Bulls. I like Jasmine Johnson a lot. But just in general, they've got a good passing game- I'd say most of their turnovers were on technical violations, not on bad plays. With only the one senior, I think the next couple of years will be good for the Cougars- which is good, women's hoops fans in Houston could use a boost.
Despite allowing 80 points, Buffalo did have some great defensive plays. Brown, Matthys, and Kendricks all had nice blocks, and Hedderson and Kendricks were all over the boards. Holmes dueled well with Houston's Landry- I do love to watch the small guards go at each other. Am I wrong for that? Hitting their free thows might have made a difference, and I'll give Hill-McDonald a lot of credit for adjusting her lineup as quickly as she did- she almost completely shuffled her starting lineup from the St. John's game, taking the players who played well in that game and giving them the start this time 'round.
Play of the game for Houston: Roxana Button's steal and fast-break layup. It was a thing of beauty.
Play of the game for Buffalo: Brittany Hedderson's rebound and save on the baseline.
Extremely inconsistent refereeing. And the crew chief was behind some of the worst calls.
Apparently, I spent more time pondering the folks in the stands than I did the game. Recee was hanging out with one of the Houston families, and the crew for the next game was watching from a corner. I was very tempted to ask them about some of the questionable calls, but I thought that might be either tacky or creepy. Still, there's nothing quite as heart-warming as Denise Brooks-Clauser watching the halftime biddy game and cheering on the little kids, at one point yelling "Shoot it!" to one of them.
It's going to be a long season for the Bulls in the MAC, but I think it'll be a good season for the Cougars in C-USA.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
December 20th, 2008: Buffalo at St. John's (Chartwells Holiday Classic)
St. John's Red Storm 81, Buffalo Bulls 57
Monique McLean brings enough awesome for everyone as St. John's rolls up their sleeves and shows 'em how it's done.
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful, except for that bit where we let them back in for a little while. That's how you beat up on a mid-major. Um, sorry about that, Buffalo.
We got to the game late, so we didn't hear the anthem. Or originally find the scoresheets. The staff at St. John's is really epic fail at knowing terminology. We ended up begging a sheet off a very nice guy from the Houston contingent… only to find them on the table after the second game. Good job, guys.
OH HAI DERE ROCKER. What's with the SUNY schools picking up original WNBA coaches? Linda Hill-McDonald, much to my surprise, coaches Buffalo. We were really loving the reserve guard Ephesia Holmes- a small, very stocky guard we dubbed The Little Engine That Did because she was like a miniature freight train. Rachelle Matthys opened the scoring for the Bulls, and that was her last contribution of any use for the game. Bridgette Kendricks was amazing on the boards- she has a wingspan that, much like DeLisha Milton-Jones's, allows her to alter a lot more shots than she has any right to, snare rebounds that she really shouldn't, and get all over the passing lanes. Fortman also brought down a tough board that was worth noting. Semalulu had a big block. Their bench really outplayed their starters today.
Daaaamn, Little Sista, what have you done? This was the kind of game we need to send out to WNBA scouts to get Monique some love. When she's getting to the line in addition to hitting her -teens from the field, she's a beast, and today she went 10-11 from the line. She was all over the place on defense, too, and her rebounding was strong. And also? 4/0 A/TO. Seriously, I could probably end it there, but I won't, because I was feeling the love for Sky, who had a nice, solid game. And for Da'Shena, who got hit again because the universe likes to break our freshman, but who really rocked on the boards. And for Kelly, who had so much confidence in her game inside the arc that it was heartwarming- and who put up a killer block. And for Joy, who goes to the floor for every loose ball and keeps stupid teammates out of trouble. And for Britney, who quietly and efficiently made things happen off the bench (5/0 A/TO, a steal, and a pair of free throws- good midget, you can have a name now). Recee crashed the boards hard in her two minutes, and I like Victoria more and more every time I see her play. Coco, however, needs to get her head out her ass in a hurry, though she did play a part in one of the best plays of the game.
Speaking of, best play of the game: Coco's screen setting up Kelly's jumper.
Recurring theme of the game: Joy on the floor, scrambling for a loose ball.
Denise Brooks couldn't do a thing to save this crew. The pace was awful. Some of the calls in our favor were pretty bad. Some of the non-calls were pretty bad. Da'Shena was as confused as I was on one play that was initially called on Buffalo's Christensen, then reversed and put on the poor freshman.
But yeah. I'm happy. Now, let's see what we can do against Boston College and that firecracker they've got...