Just the Facts, Ma'am: Quinnipiac started strong and was never challenged in their 74-38 win at Iona. Taylor Herd had a team-high 16 points, 12 in the first quarter, to lead four Bobcats in double figures. Alexis Lewis had 13 points off the bench to lead Iona.
For injuries, a leadership void, dubious handling of players, a persistent source of positive energy, and train wreck jokes, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.
The recurring theme of the GNoD, until such time as polar vortexes and bomb cyclones release their cruel hold upon us, is that it is too damn cold for any of this. And yet, here we are at the Hynes Athletic Center, about to discover for ourselves just how bad Iona has gotten this season, as they take on Quinnipiac.
I do not understand why Quinnipiac has blue plaid on the shoulders of their warm-up shirts. It is not a good look for them. The academic font and colors clash too badly with their athletic colors and font.
I don’t see Treyanna Clay out there for warmups with the rest of the team. I'm not panicking, you're panicking.
I will try to keep the "soulless ginger" remarks to a minimum, but Quinnipiac has two redheads now, so this is going to be difficult.
Well, I'm starting to understand some of Iona's problems right now. Tori Lesko's on crutches, Treyanna Clay looks like she's fighting through a bad hamstring, and arguably the team's most vocal leader isn't actually on the roster.
(Side note: in about twenty seasons of college basketball, there have been three, maybe four players for whom as people I would ride or die, whose enemies are my enemies and whose team is my team: Joy McCorvey at St. John's, Janee Johnson at Seton Hall, and Philecia Atkins-Gilmore at Iona, and if you talk trash about DeAngelique Waithe at LIU Imma fight you, but Angel is not quite on the same level as Joy, JJ, or Phee. So, no, Billi Chambers is not my favorite person this year.)
It's 33-22 Quinnipiac at halftime, which is actually about as good as I could have expected, all things considered. Taylor Herd hit four threes in the first quarter to get the Bobcats off to a hot start. Toyosi Abiola has nine, mostly in a late second-quarter flurry, and Alexis Lewis is doing Lex things with nine.
Y'all probably think I'm exaggerating aobut the leadership in the stands versus the leadership on the bench, but if I had to go to war with a couple of Iona guards at my side, I could do a lot worse than Philecia Atkins-Gilmore and Shonice Hawkins. (Shonice is helpfully wearing her road jersey for identification.)
Cheerleader didn't have quite the voice to do the anthem she was trying to do, but it could be worse. Yesterday's anthem singer managed to gum the word "spangled" near the end of the song. Yes, the word that is a quarter of the title.
Poor Adrienne DiGioia. I swear Coach practically dislocated her wrist yanking her back after she came back to the bench.
We're having a bit of trouble finding the Quinnipiac shooters. This is, granted, exacerbated by pretty much everyone on Quinnipiac's roster being a shooter, but perhaps the people who have multiple threes should be watched somewhat more closely than the others.
I reiterate and elaborate on my previous point: the most vocal player on this team isn't on the team, the second most vocal is injured, and the third most is a freshman who hasn't played. There sure as hell seems to be a giant leadership void in the heart of this team that no one seems inclined to step up into, and someone's going to need to do that if this team has any intentions of doing anything other than going down in the failboat.
Apologies for any typoes I miss- my fingers are still numb. Iona game times and the Bee-Line bus schedule don't play nice together and the first few stops of the downtown 6 are outdoor stops; I can still see my breath on the train.
Quinnipiac works together really well, which is perhaps more evident when playing a team that seems to have communication issues. Their doubles on the ballhandler were quick and crisp, they set screens well for each other, and they ran good fast breaks (and all gods knew we gave them plenty of opportunities to run fast breaks.
By the end of the game, it looked like Quinnipiac was just trying to light the tree, which is the only good reason for Danielle Bradley to be chucking threes up 30 in the final two minutes. She's got some touch for a big girl. Chiara Bacchini is quick- got to the basket for a lay-up off a steal. (Also, I am strangely fascinated by a redheaded Italian. I know it happens, but it's still unexpected.) Katie Grant is a big body in the middle, and I think she might be the heir apparent to othe role of "screen setter and maker of misery for opposing defenders" that Paula Strautmane fills so well right now.
I honestly didn't realize Jaden Ward played in the first half until I was told she was coming back into the game. She provided some interior defense that was more apparent in the second half than in the first. Paige Warfel had some strong rebounds in the middle, but there were a couple of plays where her mistakes almost cost Quinnipiac. (One of the many differences btween these two teams: Quinnipac mostly recovered from their mistakes, while Iona either compounded their mistakes or squandered their opportunities.) Edel Thornton has a very pretty shot. We let her get entirely too many open looks. I should not be this aware of how pretty a single reserve's shot is. Brittany Martin was able to take advantage of the foul count and get to the line. She's long, and uses her length well defensively.
There is no excuse for anyone to be able to hit four threes in a quarter, I don't care how good you are, I don't care how good your team is, I don't care how bad the defense is. Don't give me any of those excuses or reasons or whatever you want to call them. What Taylor Herd did in the first quarter to the Iona defense is inexcusable. At least her threes went cold in the second half, though that just meant she moved closer to the basket to score. Carly Fabbri did most of her damage in the fourth quarter- for long stretches Coach Fabbri used her bench instead of her starters, because that's how Quinnipiac rolls. It felt a little like she was kicking us while we were down, but, well, what are you going to do, stop playing?
As long as Jen Fay hits big threes in the most obnoxious way possible, and deflects anything she can get her hands on, and is generally both annoyingly good and good at being annoying, I'm going to continue referring to her as the soulless ginger. Consider it a mark of respect, in a twisted way. She's relentless on the ball, and spearheads so much of what Quinnipiac does on both sides of the court. I'll be immensely glad when we don't have to play against her anymore. Aryn McClure is disruptive, especially on the glass, but also on defense. She cuts well, even if she doesn't always finish well. She's ridiculously tough. Paula Strautmane has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. She passes well for a big. She needs to leave Toyosi alone, though.
I've already touched on Quinnipiac's teamwork, and on the double-teams they were able to bring. There are a lot of interchangeable parts, and there are a lot of direct substitutions (Thornton and Herd come immediately to mind).
Oh, my Gaels. Oh, my dear sweet summer children. I don't know what you've gotten yourself into, but I'm pretty sure it's not going well for you.
Tilasha Okey-Williams was given the green light in the fourth quarter to start shooting, and she was streaky, but not too terrible when she got going. I don't know what else we were expecting from her, which is good, because other than a boatload of turnovers, we didn't get much else. Ball security was bad for most of the squad, but it was especially bad for her. Adrienne DiGioia is not ready for prime time, though I felt really bad for her when Coach yanked on her wrist like that to get her attention. That was uncalled for. She's got to be a better passer, both in terms of throwing the pass and knowing what pass to throw to whom when.
I love the hustle Amelia Motz brings to the floor. She's undersized for the work she does, but somehow she makes it happen. I'd like to see her work with a shooting coach, but I'd like to see a lot of Gaels work with a shooting coach. We'll get more into that later on. She's scrappy on the offensive glass, and I love that about her. Alexis Lewis runs hot and cold, but when she's on, no one's going to stop her. Even when she's not on, she gets into the middle of the paint and either pulls down rebounds or deflects them to her teammates, or she's able to scoop up her teammates' deflections. She scored her 1000th point in this game, and I couldn't be prouder of her- at least we got something good out of this flaming dumpster fire of a game, and at least there's something to celebrate in this dumpster fire of a season.
Something's not right with Treyanna Clay. She didn't come out for warm-ups with the rest of the team. When she did come out for the lay-up line, she was on the bike to nowhere. She's moving stiffly, and slowly, and with all the mobility of my mother during her rehab from various joint replacement surgeries. (Hi, mom!) This is not the Trey I remember from her first two seasons in New Rochelle. To turn a phrase from the Lobo era, she was never that fast but she was never this slow. If she's trying to power through an injury, I admire her heart but not her good sense; if Coach is trying to make her play through an injury, me and her are going to fight; if it's a conditioning issue or an undiagnosed injury that the training staff has somehow missed even though it's obvious to people in the stands, then someone on the training staff is stealing money from the institution. There is a lot I am not okay with here. If someone can work with Rebekah Justice on her shot, and on her conditioning, and on her positioning, she could be a very good MAAC center. But right now she's throwing the ball too hard off the glass and the rim, and she's about as fast as a glacier with all the turning grace of a Sherman tank, and she has no idea where she's supposed to be when she's rebounding. She's a freshman, and I acknowledge her youth and inexperience. But I have no faith that she's going to get better with this staff, and I have no faith she's going to seek out enough help outside this group to get better by herself. (Also, gesundheit. She went into a bit of a sneezing fit on the bench at one point.)
After four years, Kristin Mahoney looks no readier for Division I play than she did when she arrived in New Rochelle as a freshman. We called her "deer in the headlights" for a reason, and she hasn't stopped looking scared yet. She freezes when the double comes at her. She doesn't, or can't, or won't, shoot. She doesn't, or can't, or won't, pass out of the double-team or the trap or the press. She went from back of the rotation to starting lineup in the space of two months and I have no idea why, other than her senior status. And I guess if everything's on fire, it doesn't matter who's starting, so you might as well give it to the senior. Toyosi Abiola had the green light for much of the game, which is a problem for a freshman who is all speed and gangly limbs and not nearly enough fundamentals on her jump shot. I think she has the potential to be a game-changing type of player, but someone needs to work with her on her fundamentals, and I don't know if this staff is willing to put in that kind of work on players. I haven't seen any evidence of it yet. Don't get me wrong, I love when she cuts to the basket and scoops it in, or when that hiiiigh-arcing jumper goes down, but the awkward way she lands gives me nightmares. Jayden Eggleston rebounds well, but she's a liability on offense.
I don't understand these lineups. I don't understand the lack of fundamentals from players who did actually have fundamentals once upon a time. I don't understand how a coach can be so calm under these circumstances. I don’t understand a lot of things about Iona, and frankly, one of the things I don't understand is why I still want this to be one of my teams. But damn it, Phee still believes in them, and I believe in Phee, so I spent most of the game banging my clipboard and screaming at the top of my lungs to support this team, whether they want me around or not.
Officiating was tolerably mediocre, and if there was any favoritism it mostly went towards Iona. (Though that does not mean arguing with the ref when you're up 30 is reasonable, Coach Fabbri.) We did almost get jobbed out of free throws because the ref couldn't count to five. That was a fun stretch.
Shoutout to the kid who won the shootout, and did it in style.
This game was such a train wreck it had memetic effects on the MTA. We've been in transit since 3:30 and I'm still not home yet. The dude next to my husband has been snoring since Long Island City. This is ridiculous and I'm tired.
We got a t-shirt! There weren't a lot of options to throw it to, so I'm not surprised, but it fits!
(Also, that official attendance is laughable.)
So that was a thing that happened. I understand now why Iona's such a disaster this season. There are enough bad teams in the MAAC that we might yet steal a win, but hell, if you're going to be this bad, you might as well drop the table and have done with it. Go big or go home.
Saturday, January 6, 2018
January 6th, 2018: Quinnipiac at Iona
Sunday, January 29, 2017
January 28th, 2017: Quinnipiac at Iona
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Big performances from Alexis Lewis and Marina Lizarazu powered Iona to a 58-44 win over Quinnipiac. Lewis had a game high 22 points and 15 rebounds, 15 and 12 of those in the first half. Lizarazu finished with 24 points, 14 of those in the fourth quarter. Sarah Shewan's 10 points and six rebounds off the bench led Quinnipiac.
For line changes, soulless gingers, big games, defensive stands, not finishing at the rim, and making statements, join your intrepid and exhilarated blogger after the jump.
Good afternoon from the Hynes Athletic Center on the campus of Iona College. Today is a good day for MAAC action, as the Gaels host top-of-the-table Quinnipiac.
Bee-Line seems to have the slowest wheelchair lifts in all the land. We must have lost a good five minutes to that thing's grinding.
Okay, dude, your fellow Bobcat fan has explained to you that you are sitting behind Iona's bench. Why have you not moved? Go away. Just because your team's shooting over here doesn't mean you're actually welcome. Stay on your own side of the arena.
Looks like it's cheer clinic day. There are many children with pom-poms mixed in among the regular cheerleaders. This might be painful.
At halftime, it's 29-13, which I rather sort of expected. I didn't expect Iona to be at the 29 end, though. Alexis Lewis has had herself a day, with 15 points and 12 boards at the break.
Quinnipiac is most definitely a hockey school. You can tell not just by the line changes but by the physical play. It doesn't help that one of the chippier players, who got in a shot to Marina Lizarazu's face and got a little bit of a shove in return, is Carly Fabbri, daughter of Tricia Fabbri, Quinnpiac's coach.
The cheer and dance clinic actually wasn't too bad. They kept it simple enough to be doable and complex enough to look cool. The kids who are now playing the biddy game have been fun and noisy, so we're enjoying their play. Helps that they wear Iona colors. Someone might want to get these kids off the floor before the players come back, though.
No, Jen Fay, I am not okay with you tripping Trey and then laughing at her. Or with you checking Tori into the scorer's table. You know even women's hockey doesn't have checking, right? (Which is the primary reason it's hard for me to get into women's hockey, even though I love hockey and support women in sports.)
Come at the queen, you best not miss. And Quinnipiac missed a lot... of free throws. The Bobcats played good defense, but you know what happens when a team misses fifteen free throws? They lose by fourteen. Iona didn't need to be perfect, which is good, because heaven knows we weren't. We did enough, behind two super efforts, and made hustle plays.
I've mentioned that teams that play a lot of players are the hardest to write game notes about, right? Have I also mentioned that Quinnipiac rolls deeper than pretty much everyone else in the NCAA? They played more players today than Iona has on their roster, period. So we'll try to give everyone a little bit of shine, but no guarantees.
Vanessa Udoji didn't play in the first half, but started the second half. The ways of Fabbri are strange. She brought height, but not much else. Aryn McClure was tough defensively, and I think she's got a lot of potential to grow, and I'm not just saying that because her family was sitting near us (and shouldn't have been, but I'm not going to tell someone's grandma with a cane to move after she's already climbed stairs). Sarah Shewan really shone on offense- she stepped up to rebound missed shots and missed free throws. But she was the worst offender among the many Bobcats who missed free throws.
Brittany Martin was great on on-ball defense- really intense, really agile, really good at positioning herself to disrupt the ballhandler without committing a foul. Carly Fabbri carried herself like she knew she was the coach's daughter and thought that would shield her from getting fouls called on her. We got lucky leaving her open- she's usually a better shooter than she was today. It is probably impolitic to refer to someone as a soulless ginger when you're at an institution with an Irish heritage, but Jen Fay's behavior on the court earned her that kind of moniker, and anyway, this part of the notes got written on a bus. But I can find nothing to like about a player who laughs about tripping another player, and less to like about someone who throws a player into the boards. I admire physical play, but there's a line, and Fay left the line behind her.
Honestly, I thought Quinnipiac got stronger play out of their second unit than their first unit. The first unit seemed to run the system better, but the second unit had better overall play.
Paula Strautmane probably got her last name mispronounced a few times in this one, and I'm pretty sure I perpetrated most of them, so sorry about that. She boxed out well and set good picks. Paige Warfel got the start, but she didn't play a lot- much as Udoji was a DNP in the first half and started the second, Warfel was a DNP in the second half. Morgan Manz pulled down a couple of late rebounds.
Edel Thornton has to be a little more careful with her feet, both in terms of not traveling and in terms of not tripping people. She had some nice drives to the basket. Adily Martucci was the focus of the Quinnipiac offense, scoring in the lane and from the midrange (which was a sharp contrast to the long-range shooting Quinnipiac seemed to be trying to lean on).
I think the Bobcats are a year ahead of where they wanted to be. I don't think this team of mostly freshmen and sophomores is ready to be at the top. Next year, with a strong senior class and some experience under their belts, I'll be terrified of them. This year, they're still vulnerable- talented, suited to the system, but vulnerable.
Tori Lesko brought the hustle, but she's got to finish at the rim. Tori, have you met Maya Singleton? Maya, have you met Tori? I feel like you guys might have a lot in common for some reason. Kristin Mahoney was called upon to pick up a few minutes in the fourth quarter when it seemed like everyone except maybe Coach had four fouls, and while she was tentative, and she committed a stupid foul, she held down the fort, and that was all we asked of her and of Tilasha Okey-Williams. Tilasha's shot still needs work... a lot of work... or at least it needs to not hit the side of the backboard.
Philecia Atkins-Gilmore was not in top form today- her knee was clearly bothering her (she kept fussing with her knee brace, and we saw her after the game wearing a boot). She brought the intensity, but her range of motion was sharply limited. She spent a lot of time on the spinner cycle, and one of these days I'm going to figure out how to hook a battery charger to that thing. Marina Lizarazu was the fourth quarter hero, hitting her jumpers and sealing the deal with free throws. She was calling her own number a lot in general (though I noticed Phee was bringing the ball up more, so maybe Coach is using her more off the ball). Her judgment didn't seem as sound in the first half as it was in the second half, but I think the applicable phrase here might be "confirmation bias".
Alexis Lewis started the game on fire; for the first fifteen minutes, she was single-handedly outscoring Quinnipiac, and possibly out-rebounding them as well. She was solid beyond the arc and utterly tenacious on the glass, tipping rebounds away and never giving up the fight. Treyanna Clay had trouble finishing on the inside, but held it down on defense down low. Karynda DuPree seemed to spend a lot of time running away from the ball, which is not a good look. It was like she didn't want any part of anyone passing her the ball. She rebounded well, and she was instrumental in stopping the Bobcats on defense, but I just can't get over a player- a senior!- literally dodging out of the way of the ball like she thought she was playing dodgeball instead of basketball.
The defense came up with huge plays. So did Marina and Lexi on offense. I'm worried about the lack of balance on offense, especially Tori and Trey's issues finishing lay-ups, but I'm okay with getting a couple of big games to offset that.
Officiating was uneven, especially from the first quarter definition of traveling to the fourth quarter definition of traveling, but I suspect Iona was committing a lot of their fouls because they were gassed. It's not easy having a short roster against a team that rolls as deep as Quinnipiac does.
Crowd got really into it, which is one of the things I enjoy about Iona. When we get loud at St. John's, we tend to scare people off; when we get loud at Iona, people join in.
And it was an autograph day! So we got into line behind all the kids and got our poster signed- and then went back and did it again because they started the session while Marina and Lexi were doing media. We don't have the same rapport with them that we do with our Big East teams, but that takes time, and Iona weeknight games are virtually impossible to do.
So that was fun. Always good to get the big upset.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
November 20th, 2013: Quinnipiac at St. John's
Just the Facts, Ma'am: Another sterling performance from Aliyyah Handford fueled the Red Storm in their 76-66 win over Quinnipiac. Handford posted game highs of 27 points and 11 rebounds. Briana Brown added 16 points for St. John's. Brittany mcQuain and Gillian Abshire each had 14 points for Quinnipiac.
For slashing, signs of the end of the world, distractions, miscounts, and revenge, join your intrepid and avenged blogger after the jump.
It's been two whole days since you've heard from me. You guys must be going through withdrawal or something. Tonight we're back at Carnesecca Arena for the revenge match, St. John's hosting Quinnipiac and hoping to explain to the former NEC team that they don't get to sweep them.
Decent crowd tonight, though part of it is because a lot of the student athletes are in the house. The men's basketball team, with their awesome letter jackets, sent several representatives, and I've also seen gear from track and field, baseball, volleyball, and golf.
Amazing anthem from a freshman. Almost had a country feel to it.
At halftime, St. John's is up 36-27, and Aliyyah Handford is doing what Aliyyah Handford does, with 15 points at the break. Quinnipiac really does seem to be a hockey school- Fabbri sends her players in in full waves, like a hockey line change. Calling them the collection of misfit toys sounds harsher than it should, but by that I mean "body types that do not fit neatly into a positional mold and therefore are not highly sought after, but are still talented". They play very well together, and coming in waves means that they're always fresh.
I think I was expecting St. John's to put up more of a fight, even in the win, but I was definitely expecting Quinnipiac to come with the kind of fight and ferocity they showed. Do not sleep on the Bobcats, because they will claw your face off if you do. I love the Gaels, don't get me wrong, but I suspect Quinnipiac and Marist will be the ones fighting for the MAAC title when you get right down to the real nitty-gritty.
Camryn Warner showed some moves in the paint, but seemed surprised that using her posterior to clear out space would be considered a foul. Nikoline Ostergaard got a bit grabby. Shaina Earle was part of the wave in the first half; Morgan Manz was part of it in the second half. I think I had a recollection of speed from Maria Napolitano. Adily Martucci picked up a nifty poke check on what would have been a fast break by Ashley Perez. The bench players in general worked together really well as a unit (which I guess is the point of that system) but it makes it hard to remember specific things about specific players.
Jasmine Martin went to the paint without fear for a guard of her size. Brittany McQuain used her build well on the inside- size is the wrong word, because she's not necessarily tall, but she's thick and broad-shouldered, and she's not afraid to barrel in after rebounds, on either end of the floor. Samantha Guastella showed off a little bit of range and a little bit of flair. She and Gillian Abshire both put up pretty floaters in the lane that were good. Abshire went in hard and often.
Quinnipiac crashed the boards exceptionally well. They were after everything. I think I would have liked that better about them if they weren't playing us.
Jade Walker does exist! Like many a freshman post, she needs to get into the weight room and do some conditioning, but I like what I've seen from her so far. She had a really nice block in the first half, and she got into position reasonably well on both ends of the floor. Sandra Udobi's knee has been bothering her, so I'm not surprised that she wasn't as effective as she could be. She wasn't chasing rebounds at all, and that makes me sad. Kelantra Langley did that thing where she hits the shot at the endo f the shot clock, because that's what Key does. She took some of the ballhandling pressure off the smaller guards late in the second half, too.
Amber Thompson started the game off like a house on fire, but cooled off later on. Looking at her, I sort of felt like I was looking at an incomplete jigsaw puzzle- you could see the picture forming, and where the pieces were missing, but it's hard to tell where the pieces were. Ashley Perez was a hot mess tonight. I like her, but she's either got to improve her ballhandling or her ability to handle pressure. Bad things happened when she tried o bring the ball up against pressure, and I think the frustration got to her all over the floor. Her shot wasn't falling, her passing was suspect, and she generally seemed irritated with all things related to the game. Coach had to take her aside during one of the timeouts for some one-on-one time. Aaliyah Lewis is so very tiny, and needs to put a little more oomph into some of her shots, but I like the way she runs the team. I think once she's got a little more seniority and confidence, she'll be even more solid. Briana Brown is sneaky. I can't quite get behind calling her "the captain" the way the St. John's Twitter does, even though she's team captain, because The Captain is either Derek Jeter or Mark Messier, depending on the season, but I love her composure and poise, and her defense, and her willingness to go up against anyone and anything, even players bigger than she is by a lot. And then there was Aliyyah Handford, who continues to slice through defenses like a hot knife through butter. She even hit a jumper, which is known far and wide as one of the signs of the apocalypse.
The only thing that worries me about Aliyyah continuing to be awesome is that most of her teammates seem to be looking to her to bail them out instead of shooting. Briana is immune, for the most part, because she's not afraid of anything. But as awesome as Aliyyah is, she can't do it alone.
The officials had both coaches hot under the collar, Fabbri because she wanted travels, Joe because he got sick of his players being called for charges. I don't think there was a single block called in the game. Everything was player control.
I am immensely jealous of the guys' letter jackets. Old-fashioned and awesome. I want one, but I know what I would have to do to get it, and I think my husband would object.
That being said, what do I have to do to get my hands on the skyline socks that come with the team uniform? Because they are awesome and New York and I love them.
There are no more easy ones. It's on the road to the SEC for two games with a Harvard game in between. Let's see what these kids can do. We're going to need everyone in the game, everyone with their eye on the ball, everyone looking to contribute.
Monday, April 14, 2008
January 21st, 2008: Quinnipiac at St. Francis NY
The Terriers need to be hit with a cluestick, Connecticut fans are Connecticut fans no matter what school they follow, and there's just something disconcerting about a man of the cloth recognizing a New York Liberty t-shirt.
Our Grand Tour of New York basketball continued today in Brooklyn Heights, as we visited St. Francis for their game against Quinnipiac. Was quite a wander getting there from the train we were on; you'd be better off taking the M, R, 2, 3, 4, or 5, and not the A like we did. Even then, I'm still used to the concept of the gym being in a separate building, not in one of the main facilities, so we still almost missed it.
For lack of a more appropriate word, St. Francis really does play in a gym. Looks a little better than my high school gym, though take this with a grain of salt, because my school used an auxiliary gym that had a few inconveniently placed columns. Faded flag from a pole in the corner, sterile walls, cheap pads on said walls… clearly a facility for a school on the lower rungs of Division I. The seats were nice, though, being as they were actual seats. We didn't dare the concessions; if you have to go to the student cafeteria for your food, bring your own.
I will speak no ill of the anthem, because Brother Joe is a man of the full cloth and liked my 2000 Eastern Conference Champions shirt.
I really don't like Quinnipiac. Rough team, very rough, and the fans they brought along with them were downright obnoxious. Please not to be bitching about blatant calls on your team when you're up seventeen points with three minutes remaining, or thereabouts. If you want your team to stop being called for fouls, then tell your team to stop hacking, fair? For the Bobcats, senior forward Monique Lee played tough, and shooter Erin Kerner utterly went off in the second half. It got to the point where I was begging her not to score not just because I wanted St. Francis to have half a chance but also because I was running out of room to put points on my bootlegged scoresheet (bootleg in the sense that they didn't *have* scoresheets, and therefore I had to keep tallies on the program, although I stumbled upon a very nifty way of tracking first versus second half). The St. Francis coach just could not or would not adjust her defense, and Kerner burned the Terriers so badly that the ASPCA should have been put on the case. Quinnipiac just went on the attack in the second half, capitalized on every mistake St. Francis made, and made it clear that they were going to be the class of the league this year whether anyone liked it or not.
Frustration, ladies and gentlemen, is a six-eight Euro who can get after the ball like nobody's business but couldn't finish a shot if you gave her a guide to the basket. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if Katja Bavendam were on some German national team at some point in her career. Her countrywoman Karla Babica was a source of much frustration for anyone cheering on St. Francis; the Terriers committed nine fouls, and she had three of them. Her defense on Kerner was reminiscent of Yamasaki on Sales. I'm very surprised Tiffany Hill ended up at a school as low on the food chain as St. Francis- she's got real game, decent range, no fear, nice spin moves. I'm not saying she's a BEastie, but she should be in the MAAC or even the America East. But most of her points came late, after the Terriers had rolled over and played dead sufficiently- oh, the scoreboard only shows a fifteen-point swing, but St. Francis was down by more than twenty at some points; only the foul differential kept them respectable. If Deanna Petrucci had the courage to shoot, or perhaps a shot to shoot, she'd be pretty awesome- she's a scrapper, a rebounder, a playmaker, and a leader on the floor, but she's absolutely terrified to shoot, judging from what we saw today. She makes a good determined pair with Linda Warrington.
Honestly, I wore a Liberty shirt because it was the first clean and comfortable thing on the pile, and not because of the All-Star post tandem riding the bench for St. Francis. There were quite a few moments in that game where you could almost see Sue thinking, "I left Rutgers for THIS?!" Nothing seems to piss off an old-school Liberty player like giving up, and when St. Francis got lazy, Sue and Kym were both seething. At one point, Sue kicked a water bottle under her chair. (I'm sure the chair was thinking, "It could always be worse; look at my cousin in Indiana.") It looked like the two of them were doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the huddles, with Sue talking shop and Kym verbally going one on one with the players. I get the sneaking suspicion that the head coach will be around as long as they're mediocre, but as soon as they have a truly appalling season, she's out the door- assuming that Sue and Kym stick around there.
The thing that ticks me off, and the thing that I'm sure infuriated the folks at St. Francis, was that the Terriers pretty much controlled the first half. They were getting the shots they wanted, and they hadn't even gotten Hill going yet. But Quinnipiac started revving up at the end of the first half and just blew them out of the water in the second, and that's down to coaching, methinks. Time will tell if St. Francis can remedy that.