Just the Facts, Ma'am: Rutgers raced out to a big first half lead and held on against Texas Tech to win the consolation game fo the Barclays Women's Invitational, 61-52. Tyler Scaife had 18 points to lead the Scarlet Knights, with Kahleah Copper adding 14 and nine rebounds. Audrisa Harrison and Jasmine Caston each had 11 for Texas Tech.
For mottos, rebounding, sweet fast breaks, winces of pain, and the never ending Rutgers fight song, join your intrepid and impatient blogger after the jump.
Basketball never stops, and neither does your intrepid blogger. It's only six or seven blocks from LIU to the Barclays Center, so after sandwiches and cheesecake at Junior's, we walked from the Turkey Classic to the Barclays Invitational, pleasantly surprised to find out that our tickets were in fact ready during the Texas Tech-Rutgers game. We missed the very beginning, but at halftime it's 36-25 Rutgers. Tyler Scaife has 12; no Lady Raider has more than four.
Another game of bad shooting, in which the urge to shout "guns up, UR DOIN IT RONG" grew ever stronger with every blown offensive rebound. Rutgers does that to teams, but they really need to not do it to themselves. On the other hand, Rutgers fans should really be used to it by now. Coach Stringer's been there for how many years? Brought in how many defensive-minded athletes who can't or won't shoot to save their lives? Relied too much on a single player to do all the scoring while everyone else passed the ball around? I used to be a Rutgers fan. I know what I'm talking about.
Syessence Davis sparkled off the bench. Her hands were very active on defense, and she hit some big shots in the second half. She rebounded well as well. Precious Person has somehow, inexplicably, along with Essence Carson's number, inherited Essence's inability to recognize the longer three-point line, despite the fact that Essence only figured this out in her W days wearing a different number. I didn't say it was logical. Christa Evans gave some minutes when Rachel Hollivay got in foul trouble, and with an offensive foul proved why she hasn't been getting minutes. Ariel Butts was solid in the middle, setting picks and screens for her teammates to get around and pass the ball to each other through.
Kahleah Copper took the worst of a hard collision with Amber Battle and came up holding her back, walking as if she wasn't sure how the whole walking thing should be working. She got back into the game and proceeded to continue hitting shots, so it wasn't as bad as it looked. (Either that, or she's made of iron, not Copper.) Rachel Hollivay earned the eternal rage of the people behind us for repeatedly missing chippies- she didn't have a field goal in the second half until something like the last two minutes of the game. She made up for it with her resounding blocks down low. Betnijah Laney rebounded well, but couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. The red sleeves make her stick out (yes, I know they have to be the same color as the rest of the uniform, but they become more noticeable when they're red). Briyona Canty couldn't get her shot to fall, but made a couple of nice defensive plays. Tyler Scaife looked fantastic. I think she got the start, but I'm not completely certain. Her passes were slick and quick, and she drove the lane well. In the first half, she looked like the only Rutgers player who wanted to score, which makes sense, given that she's a freshman and therefore hasn't had the idea of offense being anathema drummed into her head yet.
Whittaker changed things up a little bit with the posts, going more with the Schneiders (even before the injury to Shauntal Nobles). Haley Schneider missed entirely too many shots that a woman of her height has no excuse for missing. Ivonne Cook Taylor got into the game and immediately launched a shot. I'm starting to think this is her game. Diamond Lockhart's speed seemed to get away from her- she was a little out of control. Jasmine Caston brought the offense in the second half, firing up threes to keep Texas Tech close.
Shauntal Nobles was rebounding well on the inside before a stray forearm caught her in the face and left her holding a towel over the vast majority of her face as she came off the court after being stuck in an awkward kneeling position for quite some time. It looked like she suffered a badly broken nose, but she was back on the bench (in a new jersey) by the end of the game, though she never went back in. She wasn't able to get her shot to go down, but she corralled a lot of offensive rebounds. Audrisa Harrison was a master of drawing contact and getting to the line. She didn't end up with a lot of shot attempts, but that was because she ended up at the line so often. Minta Spears went inside more than she did in the Michigan game, but that might have been because her threes weren't falling. She took a hard tumble into a couple of the flimsy chairs in the first row. They went down like dominoes. She was the one who insisted on fouling when Texas Tech was down double digits with thirty seconds to go, and those us in maize and blue were just waiting for the game to be over so we could get on with our late tip. Amber Battle's shot wasn't falling, though she was able to get decent shots off, but she rebounded well and got into defensive position. Marina Lizarazu was still taking too many risks, but had her game more under control than the other day.
Rutgers will always make a team play out of control, make them freak out, make them hesitate at the wrong times and hurry things up at the wrong times. Texas Tech fell right into that trap. Only the three-point shooting kept them in the game, and when those didn't fall, they were doomed.
I wasn't thrilled with the officials, but not to the extent that the Rutgers fans were. Of course, they're never happy with officials.
That was a good bounceback game for the Scarlet Knights. They needed a good game, and I think they also needed Scaife to assert herself more for the team's future. She's a talented, creative guard, and she needs to stay that way.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
November 30th, 2013: Rutgers at Texas Tech (Barclays Invitational)
Friday, November 29, 2013
November 29th, 2013: Texas Tech at Michigan (Barclays Invitational)
Just The Facts, Ma'am: Michigan withstood an early challenge and a second-half run from the Lady Raiders of Texas Tech to come away the victors, 82-71. Siera Thompson led all scorers with 24 points, adding five assists. Amber Battle led Texas Tech with 23 points and seven rebounds.
For crankiness, free shirts, a lack of respect, mild confusion, and lots of family, join your intrepid and blue blogger after the jump.
Good morning, Internet! We're coming to you on our usual tape delay, this time bright and early from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the Barclays Women's Invitational.
We are not, however, coming to you quite as early as we would like, as the Barclays Center was not ready for us until 10 AM. Well, we're still not sure about that, given that we were told three different opening times before they finally let us in at 10. One security guard decided to take pity on us and try to let us in, but another one turned around and made us go out again. My legs are still cramped. Then they tried to tell me I couldn't use my laptop in the seating area, but a guest services person named Candice and I negotiated it down to not using it during game play (which, duh, my favorite Michigan women did not hook me up with tickets to stare at a computer during play). Still. Barclays does not seem thrilled at having to deal with fans this early in the morning. Fine, I'm not thrilled with dealing with power-tripping security staff this early in the morning. We're even, and you're not getting money from me.
Anne Donovan is here (so ha, my laptop wouldn't be the most view-obstructive object in the seating bowl anyway).
Excellent anthem. Was amused that the color guard was facing the completely empty side of the arena across from the benches.
Michigan is up 12 at the half, on a solid team effort. Siera Thompson has 13, Shannon Smith 11. Amber Battle has been very impressive for Texas Tech.
Funniest moment of the day so far: they played the Michigan fight song, your dashing reporter led a sing-along… and the security guard posted behind Michigan's bench said, "What the [firetruck] was that?" Poor Guest Services Candice... maybe that's why she rotated to another section. Note that the Texas Tech fans didn't reciprocate at the next timeout.
Something smells really good, but I'm still not giving these people money. Even if they do have the hardwood equivalent of a Zamboni. That gives my heart glee, but I'm still not giving them money.
The game got a little too interesting in the middle of the second half, but one good run helped Michigan regain control, and when it got close again it was because Michigan had gone to their reserves. Saw a couple of young players this time around that I didn't see at the Iona tournament.
The Schneiders (who I'm assuming are sisters) are awfully skinny. Everything might be bigger in Texas, but not necessarily thicker. Haley Schneider had a couple of nice defensive tips. Jasmine Caston got the second half start, coming off the bench in the first half, and provided a little boost of offense with both long-range shooting and moves in the lane. She's got pretty good speed. Audrisa Harrison played more in the second half, mostly committing fouls on defense- very handsy overall. Ivonne Cook-Taylor came in when the game was already decided and took a quick three.
Minta Spears started the game shooting well from beyond the arc, but she seemed to press her shot more in the second half- her followthrough was much more exaggerated, and I think it threw off her shot. The one time she attempted to slash to the basket was epic fail, compounded by a bad foul call. Tiny Diamond Lockhart showed a lot of fire and ran her team well. I think they were trying to run the offense through Marina Lizarazu early on, but she was in over her head- bad passes, unnecessary turnovers, poor judgement. Shauntal Nobles was a decent presence on the inside, but she didn't get a lot of shots up. I liked her rebounding. But the one Lady Raider who impressed me on both ends of the floor and drew almost all of my attention was Amber Battle. She went hard after rebounds, hit shots from all over the floor, and displayed impressive foot speed on defense. She pretty much kept Texas Tech in the game single-handedly. In build and playing style, she reminded me a little of a miniature DeWanna Bonner, but with somewhat more awareness of her shot.
Rebecca Lyttle got called for two quick fouls when she finally got in in the second half, the second of which I felt was completely uncalled for. There's something I like about her, and not just her name. Danielle Williams showed good hustle in her second half minutes, but again, got dinged for a foul that seemed to come out of the blue. Don’t break the underclassmen, officials, we're going to need them for tomorrow. Val Driscoll really needs to work on her footwork, but was solid defensively- she had a beautiful block/deflection that led to a Nicole Elmblad steal that I'm pretty sure led to a Michigan fast break. Kendra Seto played late, and was not memorable other than an ill-advised attempt at a trap on the sideline. Paige Rakers had her shot going off the bench, and mixed it up inside on the boards- a lot of the time, only the headband made it possible for us to tell her apart from Nicole Elmblad, who is at least nominally a forward. But Michigan can't rely on Rakers to be their entire bench, especially not wih the injury to Shannon Smith.
I'm starting to wonder if Madison Ristovski hit a late growth spurt and she's still trying to adjust to it. She dribbles like she expects to be about three inches shorter, and it sort of makes her look like a young horse, all arms and legs and falling over. She shot well in the second half, though. Shannon Smith shot really well, both from outside and in the lane. She left in the second half with an apparent shoulder injury after a collision landed her hard into Elmblad's leg. She was holding her right arm absolutely motionless when we saw her after the game, and that's going to be a problem for tomorrow, because she seesm to be the only player with the confidence to bring the ball up the court. Siera Thompson shot lights out, especially in the first half, and always seemed to come up with the big shot whenever Texas Tech made a run in the second half. Cyesha Goree had to deal with some very tough fouls (I'm really not sure what that fourth foul was, other than inaccurate) but seemed to take the right message from the refs getting into her head and took the ball strong to the basket once she got back into the game after the fourth foul. (It also amuses me that she seems to be in charge of carrying young Aricos; that job used to belong to Joy McCorvey at St. John's. I assume Joy gave her pointers on how not to drop Coach's kids.) Nicole Elmblad was solid all around- didn’t necessarily stand out, but didn't screw up.
There were a distressing number of times when Michigan seemed to ignore the play that had been called, ignoring open players and going one-on-one to the basket. Repeatedly ignoring the coach's play calling is not a good plan when that coach is Kim Barnes Arico. She tends to shriek. Use your teammates, guys. Good things happen when you use your teammates.
We were not impressed with the officiating crew. It got really tiresome whenever Whittaker started complaining about the officiating, given that Michigan usually started out in a deep hole, foul-wise. I'm pretty sure one of them was an Enterline, and it was funny when he photo-bombed someone in the front row, but referees aren't supposed to be funny, they're supposed to be ignorable.
Minimal timeout entertainment, so no real commentary on that.
Depth worries me for Michigan tomorrow. For Texas Tech against Rutgers, I'd be concerned about their shakiness at the point and how one-dimensional their offense seemed to be.