Just the Facts, Ma'am: Fordham dealt with Rhode Island in the first round of the A-10 tournament, 75-53. G'mrice Davis had 23 points and 16 rebounds to pace Fordham. Elemy Colome's 15 points off the bench led Rhode Island.
For many flocks of Rams, the sound of one hand slapping, holding your teammates accountable, messing with the kid, tripping, clipping, and slick passing, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.
The postseason is upon us! Your intrepid blogger is at Fordham for the first round of the A-10 tournament, as the Rams host... er, the Rams. The ones from Rhode Island, that is.
Protip: do not take buses in the Bronx anytime near rush hour. I didn't get to the game until quarter to seven. (On the plus side, I caught a shiny event Pikachu!)
I'm not used to seeing Bre Cavanaugh's hair this color- she's completely washed out the dye. I think she also freshened up the sides. She looks very sharp.
Fantastic choral anthem. I mean, I should expect Catholic schools to have good choirs, but they were especially good.
It is 41-14 Fordham at halftime. G'mrice Davis already has a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, along with some of the best facial expressions of disbelief I have ever seen. (Jalissa Ross wanted to start something with her, and her reaction was truly something to behold. I missed what Ross said, but it earned her a technical.) The hot passing under the basket has been great for Fordham. We're playing at a speed they can't keep up with.
Well, we gave back more of the lead than I would have liked, but much of that was on the backs of the deep reserves, who are deep reserves for a reason. I think this Fordham team is ready for Richmond, and I don't know if Richmond is ready for them.
We saw Gabrielle Green very briefly in the first half, and she did not nothing of note. Kasey Gagan had a tendency to sneak into games after timeouts, which was very confusing. It's like, c'mon, I already don't know you people from a hole in the wall, don't confuse me like that. Ednaija Lassiter, who was going by a shorter form of her first name that I didn't fully catch from the PA guy, got extended run in the first half, but I don't think we saw her again in the second half. I wasn't impressed with what I saw of her. I'm trying to remember which terrible three-point miss was hers- Rhode Island missed a lot of three-pointers badly.
Laura Perez saw a good amount of time in the second half. I think she was running point, but I won't swear to it; if nothing else, observation has shown that point guards aren't even a thing anymore. Elemy Colome got the second half start in place of Jalissa Ross, possibly so Ross would have a little time to calm down after the shenanigans with G'mrice Davis. She's feisty. She drove hard to the basket. I don't think I like her on defense, though. She seemed awfully fond of playing way too low, going after knees and laying out trips. I realize some of the falls may have been exaggerated for dramatic effect, but there was a particularly blatant one that Lauren Holden suffered that she was trying to play off. Dina Motrechuk got most of her points in the fourth quarter, scoring on our subs. That's not to say anything against her turnaround, mind you. She was physical, and called on for perhaps more time than she was expecting with the foul trouble that Jorgensen got into.
Maia Moffitt's a New Yorker, and she had family at the game, so part of me is glad she got a couple of buckets to go down. She's scrappy on the boards- she chased down a couple of loose balls in impressive fashion. I think she did actually wrestle one away in the first half. Her freshman-ness shows a bit in her offensive positioning. Abby Streeter was the designated three-point shooter- there was one possession where she was wide open in the corner and her teammates managed to miss her. It ended up in a Rhode Island basket anyway, I believe, but I was astonished someone could be so open and be so ignored. Marta Vargas was a playmaker, but only in spurts. I think she was one of the many players from whom G'mrice drew charges.
I have absolutely no idea what got under Jalissa Ross's skin or why she fouled G'mrice so hard and then proceeded to try and stare her down. There may also have been words. I didn't hear them. As mentioned earlier, I was a wee bit distracted by G's facial expressions. I didn't think it was possible to pull off the "don't you make me take my earrings off" look without actually wearing earrings. Ross had a nice block, though I didn't correctly notate who she smooshed, and if this were football I think Moffitt would have gotten half-credit on it. I think we frustrated her by not letting her inside, and she lost her cool. Nicole Jorgensen is a load down low- if she can get the shot up, it's probably going in. She's got a little bit of outside touch, but she seemed to be at her best going to the basket. She had a big block on G'mrice in the third quarter. Foul trouble kept her off the floor a lot, and I don't think that exactly helped the other Rams.
I was impressed with Rhode Island's defensive intensity. They couldn't keep it up all game, and we were able to use some really crisp passing to get ahead of them and get open looks. If they had any ability to shoot from the outside, they might have given us more of a fight, but they just couldn't hit a jumper to save their lives for most of the night.
The deep bench for Fordham is not yet ready for prime time. Nice kids, good hustle, but definitely not ready a nice hustle play on the glass, though. Katie McLoughlin needs to get her to the weight room- she just doesn't have the strength to stop stronger guards from diving on her, and she gets knocked over way too easily. The foul on Kristen Ryan should in no way have been called excessive. Yes, she fell on the opponent, but it was not intentional and it was not unnecessary contact. It wasn't the kind of play that merited serious review with two minutes left in a 25-point game.
I was surpised to see Ralene Kwiatkowski playing alongside Lauren Holden for stretches in the third quarter- usually Ralene subs for Lauren. I don't think either of them was expecting it either, because the offense looked a little ragged with both of them out there. It was adorable to see everyone's reactions when Ralene hit the three, though- she's usually the one running up and down the bench to give out the high-fives. (That responsibility devolved to Kendell Heremaia while Ralene was on the court.) I do think she's got potential as a point guard, but I don't see her being able to play with Lauren Holden for long stretches, which could be a problem next year, unless Coach commits to Ralene as the backup point guard and Lauren and Bre as the starting backcourt. Zara Jillings continues to make heady plays on the floor, with the occasional unnecessary foul. She had a fantastic hot pass to G'mrice underneath, right near the end of the shot clock when we thought for sure she'd have to be the one to take the shot. I would still like to see her be a little more assertive offensively, but her passing has been fantastic, so there's only so much I can say about that. I'm not sure how I feel about Kendell Heremaia taking nothing but threes. She's strong enough that she might be able to get easy points on the inside, but I'd have to watch her drive to know for certain.
Mary Goulding makes so many plays happen by being in the right place at the right time. She looks incredibly awkward doing it, but somehow she always seemd to be able to come up with the loose ball or the steal. I don't know if I'd call the steal and lay-up a fast break, per se, but it was definitely a break. Johanna Klug picked up a couple of early fouls and never really seemed to be in the flow of the game- she stayed in with the deep bench at the end of the game, which was when she got most of her shots off. She'll be fine next year, IMO; sometimes the freshman wall just hits you that way. G'mrice Davis was on fire. Rhode Island was keying on her inside, very physically, and she still got buckets. She ripped down rebounds with her usual "this ball is mine, like it or not" ferocity and laid a block down on Lassiter that was resounding. Rhode Island knew she was the player to beat, proceeded to try to beat her up, and still couldn't stop her, because that's how G rolls.
Lauren Holden was launching from three, and while sometimes I questioned her shot selection (yes, it's possible to shoot too quickly in the Fordham offense) I can't deny that her three-pointers really broke Rhode Island's collective back. She's so quick, and she does a lot of smart things on the floor. Bre Cavanaugh is cold-blooded. She took over in the second quarter to really push the lead. This wasn't one of her superstar days, but it didn't need to be. She needed to be a threat, and she was, but this was G's night.
There were times when we were out of control on the speed, and I'll credit Rhode Island's defense for that. But there were more times when the interior passes worked, or when we were able to find the open player faster than they were able to react. I think we were on a mission after the loss to St. Joseph's- and now we get the rematch in Richmond. No, that's not going to have a tinge of revenge to it, not at all.
There was a stretch when I was convinced that Jeffrey Smith had the spread at under 30. That would, of course, be unethical, and I would never truly believe a game official would be betting on games. But there were some putrid game management calls in the fourth quarter that kept Rhode Island closer than they had any right to be. If the people in the stands can hear the slap of a hand against an arm, you should probably call the foul.
It's worth mentioning that this game was technically an A-10 tournament game, despite being hosted at Fordham, so certain tournament rules were in effect- introductions alternated between the teams, there was a generic A-10 video before introductions instead of Fordham's video, and all graphics were tournament-based instead of being Fordham's usual ones. However, Rhode Island brought neither band nor cheer, and I don't know if that was by choice, by lack of the appropriate spirit squads, or by tournament by-laws. It would be interesting to get reports from other sites.
Shoutout to the dude who won the timeout shooting contest, including the halfcourt shot. No shoutouts to the students who came, got their free food, played their contests, and fled as soon as they could. Support your school, man.
I miss the band's old arrangement of "Seven Nation Army" (which, given our international nature, should be our theme song of sorts) where one guitar picked out the lyric line while the rest of the band did the usual refrain. That's not to say that the dude whaling on the electric guitar wasn't good, but it was nice to have something different.
The Fordham cheerleaders actually led a cheer! Miracle of miracles! Seriously, I would be louder at Fordham games if I knew their specific cheers.
I think Fordham's on a mission, and I hope they do steal that A-10 title. It would be awesome.
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
February 27th, 2018: Rhode Island at Fordham
Sunday, December 13, 2009
December 13th, 2009: Rhode Island at St. John's
Comments are closed on this entry- please comment on the mirror entry at Swish Appeal.
The things I do for my team. :D I slog out in the rain, put up with a gods-awful anthem from the regional bad anthem singer, hit myself in the head with my clipboard, and get stuck behind a Rhode Island player's family. But would it sound horribly cheesy if I said that the beam and wave from our team captain when she spotted us in the stands during warm-ups was worth it?
The things I do for my team. :D I slog out in the rain, put up with a gods-awful anthem from the regional bad anthem singer, hit myself in the head with my clipboard, and get stuck behind a Rhode Island player's family. But would it sound horribly cheesy if I said that the beam and wave from our team captain when she spotted us in the stands during warm-ups was worth it?
Dear my team, I love you so very much, but please don't chat during the anthem. Yes, I saw you. Not cool. I don't care how lousy a rendition it is, and for the love of all that is sweet and holy do not play around with the lyrics for 'emphasis'. I have a clipboard and I'm not afraid to use it.
Cathy Inglese came out late from the locker room during warm-ups. Since I know Carnesecca has cable, I'm going to assume she was watching the Maggie Dixon. You can guess for yourself whether BC's former coach was rooting for or against the Eagles.
Heartwarming Lynx link moment before the game: SJU assistant Megan Duffy and URI assistant Amber Jacobs chatting it up on the sidelines. Glasses are quite flattering for Ms. Jacobs.
Coach Louis's suits continue to impress me. Any sharper and she'd cut someone. GNoD approved!
We were sitting behind family and/or friends of reserve guard Anisha Wilson, a stocky combo guard who played the bulk of the bench minutes for Rhode Island with, ah, mixed results. Lara Gaspar was the primary offensive spark off the Rams' bench, hitting some little shots in the lane. We weren't very thrilled with Julia Barac's physicality, but given that she's Canadian and we kept comparing URI's defense to a hockey game, I'm less surprised than I was before. Inglese didn't go very deep into her bench, relying mostly on Gaspar to give her frontcourt players a break and on Wilson to step in for the backcourt players.
Rhode Island couldn't buy a basket in the first half, and not all of it could be credited to our defense. A lot of shots that had all the reason in the world to go in spun out or bounced off the rim. Megan Shoniker drove the lane a lot, and when our defense started to soften in the second half, she got more shots out of it, but she also committed a lot of turnovers. Sort of the same for Ashley Rivera, but more intelligently and to a lesser extent. Lindsay Harris reminds me in appearance of a miniature Erlana Larkins, but other than the rebounding, I can't say the resemblance goes much further. No one really stood out for Rhode Island. I think there's a correlation between that and their 4-6 record.
If Coco Hart keeps this up, I may have to apologize to her. Okay, she still commits dumb fouls and tends to fumble the ball in open-court situations, but this is the second game in a row she's come in and given good minutes without Da'Shena Stevens available- in this case, the problem was three first-half fouls, so Coco only needed to be a temporary stopgap, but she was still solid. And when it came to the offensive boards, she was more than solid. I think she followed everyone's shot but her own. I don't know what's gotten into Kelly, but despite the turnover problems and badly-missed two-point shots, I think more of it would be a good idea. She showed much more moxie than I've seen from her in a long time. Her steal and fast break were beautiful, even if she did blow the lay-up because she couldn't take the contact (but that was all right, because Coco was there for the putback). Eugeneia showed off her range, and set up Kelly on her only three. The play that impressed me most, though, was a save on the endline that she rifled like radar to Nadirah, even if the play ended in a turnover. Buzz continues to bring hustle and enthusiasm, though she couldn't hit her shots. Jennifer continues to bring on the urge to smack someone over the head with my clipboard. She's got to stop being so passive, hold on to the ball, and use her size. Also, not bouncing a rebound off a opponent's head is highly recommended. I find it interesting how her physical passivity contrasts with her vocal aggression- she's one of the loudest players on the team, and she's the ritual greeter during introductions. (You know- the player who's at the end of the line as the starters come out and with whom each starter does their handshake/high-five/secret dance? Like Maddie does for the Liberty.)
Whatever had Da'Shena shivering and looking miserable against LIU must have cleared up by tip-off today, because while she looked ready to go all Jessie Hicks on us during warm-ups, she was on her game in the first half, and then in the second half, with foul trouble somewhat less daunting, she went from two points to double figures in a matter of a few minutes. Sky showed a distressing tendency to lose track of her assignment on defense- she had to be reminded of where she was supposed to be at least once. She, like most of the team, spent a lot of time on the deck after loose balls, though. Shenneika, follow your shot. Follow your damn shot. I mean it. Shenneika has a very funky shooting motion, so her shots can be pretty unpredictable, but she was going back on D every single time without even waiting for the shot to hit its apex. I applaud the dedication to D, but FOLLOW YOUR SHOT. Joy can't do all the offensive rebounding around here. That being said, Joy's work on the boards was phenomenal- she snaked her way through and around everyone time and time again for rebounds. We knew she had a lot at the arena, and we figured that she would have a double-double, but 15 rebounds is unreal. Just about all of her shots were contested putbacks, too. Now that I'm completely certain her listed 6-0 is malarkey, I'm even more impressed with what she manages to accomplish at the 5. Nadirah also had a really good game. I love having her at the point- the offense flows much more smoothly when she's playing the point than when Sky or even Eugeneia is running things, because everyone's moving without the ball.
Most memorable sequence of the game: Shenneika cans a three while Lara Gaspar knocks over two SJU players. After a long consultation, it is determined that the foul was after the shot, which means the shot counts and we retain possession (as opposed to before the shot, which I think would be two shots and the ball, or during the shot for a four-point play, but I'm not a ref). On the ensuing possession, Da'Shena goes to the hole and is fouled by our kind benefactor Gaspar again. She hits the free throw to complete a six-point trip down the floor.
The rims were kinder, the defenses somewhat less intense, and the offenses more potent in the second half; the Red Storm's splits were 26/43 for a total of 69, while Rhode Island's were 13/31 for a total of 44 (and a lot of those came in the last one-eighth of the game; until about the seven-minute mark, URI was on pace to score less than a point per minute for the game, which I deem to be the absolutely minimum acceptable scoring rate for a Division I basketball team.
The refs. I just. Make up your minds, people, are you going to call every little touch, or are you going to let 'em smack each other around like hockey players? Learn to count. That goes double for you, Mr. Holds Up 3-0 When 3-2 Has Committed The Foul And 3-0 Hasn't Even Played For Rhode Island Yet.
I would have stayed for the men's game against Fordham and written somewhat less detailed notes for my blog, but they wanted to exile the women's fans who didn't have tickets to the men's game into the corners of the upper deck. I'm not so interested in free basketball that I want to stare at the stanchion for two hours, so we left. The doubleheader was badly organized, so whatever. No tiny scrap of free press for you. I appreciate not being thrown out on my ear into the pouring rain, don't get me wrong, but I don't think there would have been that many people there that we couldn't be given seats with a real view.
I'm happy with my team, though. The defense was pretty solid, we got good minutes out of the freshmen, we did well without Sky contributing much, and all of that is good, but the thing that really stands out for me is the rebounding. Just about everyone was crashing the boards, almost to each other's detriment. Good place to be as we head into a holiday tournament.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
March 8th, 2008: Atlantic 10 quarterfinals
The Atlantic 10's new slogan: We know where our towel is.
I don't want to say that I was psyched up for this road trip, but I was up at three in the morning the day we were scheduled to leave, and I haven't slept yet, except for the occasional catnap in the car. So if these notes are a little loopier, a little less coherent, and a little more oddly phrased than you're used to seeing from this prolific note-taker, there's a very good reason for it- I've been up for almost twenty-four hours straight. At least for the first three games of the fourplay. The balance are being written from the familiar confines of the 718.
Part of why I'm a little disoriented is because the quadruple-header tipped off almost two hours late because there was a leak in the roof that came down right over the lane in front of the high seed's bench, and a secondary leak near the scoreboard. Fun times for all as one brave gentleman went up on a cherry-picker several times to sort out what the problem was. He first attempted to hang a bucket from the rafters, but it didn't stick. Somehow, though, stretching a towel between two rafters seemed to do the trick without sagging into collapse for seven hours. I wish I knew what kind of material that thing was made of…
It was very hard to take the PA announcer seriously, because he sounded like a slightly higher-pitched Bullwinkle J. Moose. Same intonations.
Don't know how many teams sent representatives, but even from a distance, we recognized Catherine Proto and Nick DiPillo from the Liberty's coaching staff. Methinks they were scouting Beck; DiPillo was definitely taking more detailed notes in game 3 than he was the rest of the time.
First game was #1 Temple versus #8 Richmond. Richmond brought a fair contingent, and their mascot (who's revamped their costume and looks more like Jessica Drew than Peter Parker, if you follow what I mean) was very animated. The Temple fans were out in force, of course, what with this being Philadelphia and all. One of them brought a title belt emblazoned with the A-10 logo and they hollered "YOU CAN'T HAVE THIS!" when the Spiders came out for practice. Temple, like the other high seeds in the tournament, brought their band, as well as their mascot. Made for a nice loud crowd.
Richmond found themselves forcing shots against the tenacious and physical Temple defense- but I'm definitely not saying that Richmond was innocent in these matters. There was a lot of hitting by both sides. I got the distinct sense that neither team was particularly fond of the other. Unfortunately, the Spiders got the worst of a lot of the calls. Temple's extremely physical style… well, put it this way: if they weren't coached by a Philadelphia legend who's also an Olympian and a WNBA All-Star, I sincerely doubt the Owls would get the benefit of the doubt as often as they do. I was all set to cheer for Temple- home team of sorts and a Board Junkie on the bench- but I was so put off by the rough play that I threw in my lot with Richmond.
For Richmond, I loved me some Brittani Shells- nice aggressive shooter, filled the stat sheet decently. I also liked Christina Campion's all-around game. Most of the offense went through those two in the first half, and in much of the second half, although Joanna McKnight saw fit to make her presence felt in the second, scoring all ten of her points in the second half. I think Crystal Goring has potential if she can put a little meat on her frame and work on her footwork. Also, dear Spiders, please stop going over the top to people who can't catch passes. IT DOESN'T WORK.
Temple was rough, as I've mentioned; the ironically named Lady Comfort, along with the more normally named Shanea Cotton and Shenita Landry, were throwing their weight around freely. Cotton kept putting me in mind of a loaf of Easter bread with her thick plait of hair that kept coming undone, to the point where she actually had to be subbed out to retie her hair. I was impressed with Staley's careful balancing act in handling her post rotation, as Cotton and Comfort both picked up four fouls early in the second half, while Landry played with three fouls for most of the game. She managed to keep all three of them in play for most of the game until Cotton picked up her fifth on a really stupid attempted block. Ashley Morris, while I like the way she runs her team and fears nothing, is not 5'5". 5'3", maybe. On a good day. With Dawn Staley's stilettos on.
I knew Richmond was done for with about twelve minutes left in the second half, when they had four chances to tie or take the lead on this one possession (I don't remember the exact score at the time) and completely blew it. They would keep drawing closer, and then they would lose it. And they don't have time, because while Shells is only a freshman, Campion is a senior. I think Richmond will stay competitive in the conference, though, because they keep getting players and their coach does know how to use them- of course, a solid coach in the A-10 always has the chance to move up on the ladder, if you know what I mean.
Dwalkfan did a superb job mopping up during a set of free throws when the towel dripped slightly. Excellent job camouflaging the Richmond-blue sweater with that jacket, chica.
Gulbeyan worked this game as crew chief, and I think that did affect the officiating in Temple's favor, as mentioned earlier. I'd love to take apart Temple's record and check out the foul differential in wins and losses, see whether that's one of the critical factors.
Game two of the fourplay was #5 Dayton versus #4 Charlotte. From a fashion standpoint, I almost wished Charlotte had been the lower seed, if only because their road uniforms are far more attractive than their home whites. But then they wouldn't have been able to bring their most excellent cheerleading squad and a band that could transpose "Iron Man" into something for marching band and still make it recognizable, so there's that to be said for tiebreakers.
This was a much faster-paced game than the first- it was one of the fastest of the four. Both teams liked to run it a lot. Made it more interesting. Unfortunately, the refs did their damnedest to make it less interesting as a game and more interesting in terms of tournament seeding. Not amusing.
Charlotte goes full throttle in everything they do. They brought a sizeable, if not very loud, fan base; their cheerleaders were the most athletic out there (and at one point, they proclaimed themselves to be fuckin' metal); their band was among the most enthusiastic; their team, until approximately the fourth quarter of their game, left it all on the court. Remind me again why the Sting couldn't draw in the same effing town? The 49ers, at least in the first half, went after every loose ball and played tough, sticky one-on-one defense. I loved senior forward Sabrina Gregory, who had a way of running her team and was the linchpin of their defense. Guard Shannon McCallum also impressed me; I liked the way she looked for her shot. In general, though, Charlotte played a very balanced game; everyone scored, and looking at the boxscore, everyone played at least ten minutes, so there's that to be said for their coach's style. On the other hand, Charlotte doesn't seem to know what to do when things go bad. They got a lot of crappy calls against them on the offensive end, and when Dayton started to pull away on the strength of free throws and three-pointers, they just wilted. You could almost see the intensity level drop. It was a sad, sad thing.
Dayton looked like they weren't quite sure what to do with prosperity. Even at the end of the game, when they were running away with it by damn near thirty, they were taking threes with time on the shot clock. This is not on, people. This is not on. Running up the score on Charlotte is not going to make Temple quake in their sneakers; it's going to make Lady Comfort flatten you against the stanchion. Dayton looked to be a "live by the three, die by the three" team, and they survived by the three. That being said, I loved sophomore forward Kendel Ross, who came alive in the second half on the offensive boards- she had two that spring to mind as fierce follows, and one amazing pass to Nikki Oakland that resulted in an assist. I think she recognized the urgency that her senior teammates were playing with, recognized that Dayton needed this game to be even seriously considered as a tournament at-large, and kicked it up a notch, and I like that in a player.
Sometime during the game, the refs just turned on Charlotte like the 49ers owed them money or something, and it got ugly fast. At one point, when the foul differential was something like 8 to 3 with a lot of time left in the second half, I caught Gregory looking at the scoreboard and shaking her head in frustration. That was about the time that Charlotte took it down a notch, and it's a crying shame to see a team brought that low that easily, though I'm sure the onus is as much on the coach as it is on the uneven calls.
The worst part about the way the first half of the fourplay shook out is that I don't want to root for Temple, I don't want to root for Dayton, and I can't even root for the flaming abyss, because I don't want to end up in the flaming abyss myself, and also, where would they play the second game? I like GW. I don't want them to end up in a flaming abyss.
Speaking of George Washington, game three pitted the #2 Colonials against #10 Rhode Island (who, fortunately for GW's sanity, knocked St. Bonaventure out in qualifiers). GW does things right, man. Their band has jerseys with their class number on them, and they rocked out pretty hard. A big loud fan base came down for the game- makes sense, because they were pretty certain that they'd be around for the whole weekend- but it's still pretty damn awesome. They brought their mascot, and while they didn't have their cheerleaders, they did have their dance team, and strangely enough, I can see parallels between the dance team and the basketball team: they go about their business competently and classily, they're very good at what they do, they work well with each other, and there is a minimum of wasted motion in everything they do.
Rhode Island was in over their heads, and I think they knew it, but that didn't keep them from trying to make it interesting, and I salute them for that. Definitely didn't help their cause that their leading scorer was held to 1-12 shooting and got into foul trouble early. That all being said, I loved LaQuanda Brandon, who decided in the second half that she was going to do her level best to make this a respectable game. She seemed to be everywhere. This is a good thing. They also got great shooting out of Amanda McGrew, although GW seemed to figure her out after her third three. I enjoyed the bench play from Rhode Island more than their starters, actually; Brandon, Sierra Cooper, and Ebony Evans brought a lot more intensity and passion than the starting five.
Kimberly Beck. Mother of mercy. WANT. SO MUCH WANT. She could do with some muscle, especially on her toothpick legs, but WANT. She's one of those players who, as soon as she walks on the court with her team, owns the game and is clearly and totally in control of her team. Love her court vision. Love her defense. Love her shooting- she had one amazing clutch three as the shot clock was winding down, although I hesitate to use the word clutch when it comes to a game that was won by 27. Love her hustle. Love her intensity. I hope she's around with our second first-rounder. I think she'd be a great complement to Loree Moore. But George Washington brought a full team effort, and I think Whitney Allen may have played herself into the attention of WNBA scouts with her shooting and rebounding. Sarah-Jo Lawrence started off hot, but she got hurt in the second half and never came back in (though, granted, that might just have been because there was no reason to bring her back, but we'll know more about that during the semis). The Adairs are… well, the boy described them as a poor man's Paris twins, and I suppose that's true in a sense, but McKeown seems to have a rule that there must always be an Adair on the court, but almost never more than one; either that or he likes to screw around with PA announcers, because they were almost constantly in and out for each other. I think the better one came off the bench, but both of them seemed to be in the mold of big girls who are simply just big. I also don't think GW is going to lose as much as people think in terms of point guard play when Beck graduates, because I like Rivera; she just needs to get some of the rough edges smoothed out.
On to game four, Xavier versus St. Joseph's. If you're exhausted from reading these notes, don't worry; I was just as exhausted the day of the game, and by the time this matchup rolled around, there were kids asleep in the bleachers. This was a game that I thought St. Joseph's had a decent chance of stealing, since I wasn't sure how good Xavier was, and St. Joseph's has pulled interesting upsets on their home floor in the A-10 tournament before. The crowd wasn't as big as I would have expected it to be, but then again, there was that giant delay, and Hawk fans might have considered it a lost cause. Besides, a fair number of GW fans stuck around, so the arena looked halfway decent.
I really don't like the way these Musketeers handle themselves. I don't remember them having this kind of arrogance the last time I saw them, in the A-10 tournament two years ago. I'll admit that I'm a little biased because I don't like the way Xavier's been recruiting lately- the Purdue situation, the transfers from Rutgers- it all makes me uneasy about what McGuff is doing or promising. But they seem to carry themselves with a large chip on their shoulders. Honestly, if I were a Purdue fan and I saw this team, I'd be relieved that Ta'Shia Phillips wasn't on my team. She's nasty. Talented, don't get me wrong, but she plays dirty. She and Amber Harris seriously seemed to have it in for one of the Hawk forwards, and I don't understand why. Harris… she's freaky. She looked so out of place on the court because of her size that it was frightening. She reminded me a little of Garnett in her build. St. Joseph's had no answer for her, or for Phillips. Bear these words in mind. I liked the backcourt tandem of Taylor and Jennings, especially Taylor's shooting. On the other hand, while I enjoyed watching her on the court and the way she ran her team, I cannot take anyone named Special seriously. Yes. Special Jennings. I wish I were kidding.
Most of the Hawks had been wandering through the building throughout the elongated quadrupleheader, so I grew quickly fond of the tall, eccentric redhead who spent a lot of time shaking her booty to the music coming over the sound system. She turned out to be the hustling and oft-whacked freshman center Sarah Acker, who did her best against the bigger, stronger, and more aggressive Harris and Phillips. I'll say this for St. Joseph's: they embodied the essence of their school, the whole "The Hawk will never die" thing and the motto on all the banners around the campus- "The faith and strength to dare". They never gave up, even when Xavier was up big at the end of the game and showboating. Amy Wold's shooting and Loschiavo's playmaking impressed me- I think St. Joseph's, if they didn't have the rest of the Big Five to compete against in terms of recruiting, could do very well for themselves with the coach they have, if she doesn't decide to leave for a better position.
So after the second day, four teams were left to dance for the A-10 title: Temple, Dayton, George Washington, and Xavier.
Awards for the first day, from yours truly:
Best players: Ashley Morris, Temple; Kendel Ross, Dayton; Kimberly Beck, George Washington; Amber Harris, Xavier
Best coaching job: Dawn Staley, Temple
Best cheerleaders: Charlotte, by a mile- their squad was classy and athletic.
Best band: George Washington by a hair- the jerseys put them over the top. But all four top seeds brought great bands.
Best mascot: Richmond. Spidey actually worked with the Richmond cheerleaders on a couple of routines.
Best fan contingent: Close between Dayton and GW. Sorry, Philly fans, but you're going to have to do a lot more than you did to get the award.