Sorry for the delay, but I just finished watching the first half of the TCU/Michigan game (which i'm rather enjoying. So here we go...
Coach Fen told us we might look a bit sluggish out of the gate today. After all, the ladies haven't had a game in two weeks. The first quarter looked like it. The good part was the defense was playing quite well and frustrated Tech. Especially gratifying was watching Soares owning the middle. Tech learned early what happened when you encroached into her reach. Because of the defense the game was close throughout the quarter and ended up with a 14-14 tie. And believe me, the offense looked extremely out of sorts. Turnovers galore, bad passes, etc often leading to no shot attempted on a possession. So, being tied felt ok at the time.
Then the second quarter started. All of a sudden it seemed like the sleeping offense woke up and man things came to life. The ladies worked out to an 8 point lead before Tech would answer back. The lead would stay there for some time before the ladies really blew the top off with an amazing offensive output to end the quarter. What was happening? It was a combination of Soares, Donarski, Joens and Ryan working INSIDE for the most part to break this game open and build a comfortable halftime lead. It was a dominating 26-12 quarter that included three things. (1) tight, effective defense. (2) rebounding. (3) three of the rare (more on this to come) threes for the night. The aggression included getting Tech to draw multiple fouls that put three of their players in trouble for the rest of the game. What was different from quarter one? Most of all it was player movement and effective passing. Players were rotating, setting screens and making pinpoint passes to find open players. It wasn't that Tech was shooting better or worse, but the nine free throws by the Sisters were crucial. At the half the ladies were leading 40-26. They were dominating the boards. They were dominating the line. The only stat that was concerning were the double digit turnovers.
So, I bet many of you took at deep breath at the half. We've seen the ladies do exactly what they did today - have a dominant quarter and build a comfy lead at the half. And then...fall flat on their keasters in the second half. What would happen?
The third quarter saw some hitches and starts as the ladies would build a 20 point lead and then watch Tech slowly whittle away at it while the ISU offense went stagnant from time to time. The big difference between the 2nd and 3rd quarters was three point shooting. Everything else was just about the same. We made some shots hitting a decent 42%. We were still dominating the boards. We got to the line and made free throws. But the threes? They were as absent as an extinct dodo bird. For too long the ladies continued to pump up threes when there were other options. Now, don't get me wrong. When you are a member of the ISU team AND you have an open look at a three...you have the green light. The light was blazing green today, but man...as the dad said in A Christmas Story...its a bunch of clunkers! Zero for six in the third after going 3-14 in the first half. Yep..that's a whopping 3-20 through three quarters. The quarter ended up much like the first mainly due to rebounding and pretty solid defense. In other words it was pretty much a draw as Tech outscored the sisters by 1, 18-17.
The fourth quarter saw some cool things happen. The not so good first...the three point shooting woes continued as ISU would hover around 12% from three for the entire second half. One late three would give the ladies a terrible 4-26 for the game. Ugh. The fourth saw ISU go on two minor scoring droughts of about 2 minutes each. During that time Tech scratched its way back into the game with some nifty plays under the basket. They would draw Soares out to double or hopefully block a driving player and someone else would slide in from the side, take a dish and score. Tech would actually get that once 20 point lead down to 9 and it was a bit nerve wracking. Coach Fen called a time out and then it was like he waved a magic wand. I bet it was more like he reminded them of who they were. The ladies put the clamps on Tech defensively. They started driving the middle. They began running the court very effectively. AND they kept Tech fouling. Nine more points at the line contributed heavily to breaking Tech as that nine point lead blew wide open to the final margin. Just like the second quarter, ISU would dominate 24-14 and win going away 81-58.
Observations
Four players were in double figures - Soares (14), Ryan (15), Donarski (21) and Joens (22). That's a really good sign of a multi-headed hydra that can take you from anywhere. I'm not sure what happened with Fritz' game today as she had a single point in 26 minutes of play.
POG. Have to give this to Soares. Another double-double as she had those 14 points, 16 boards and 4 blocks. Very effective in her 30 minutes.
Kane - gave some very good relief minutes for Soares. She had a tough time matching up with the Tech post (who was a BIG woman). Still had three important boards.
Joens - Not her day from deep (1-4), but that's the beauty of it. Her points didn't come from the old dribble, dribble, swivel, fake, shoot moves she used to do. She was running the court and her teammates found her when she did. Her movement on the court was fantastic. A few too many turnovers, but that's nitpicking.
Ryan - double figures and she still makes this boat go, but the seven turnovers were very uncharacteristic of her.
Donarski - cold shooting from outside the arc (1-9), but she changed tactics and started driving. When she did she benefitted from some great screens by Soares and also pulled up for some nice mid range jumpers. She was deadly once she started carving up Tech inside.
Fritz - she just...disappeared. Twenty Six minutes and defense was ok, but was a non factor otherwise. I was hoping for more.
It was nice to see M&M and Diew get some major minutes in this one. Their energy and contributions were very positive. What was awesome was seeing a sub come in and nothing dropped off. Yes...they struggled scoring, but the defense was there.
Turnovers - This one wasn't good. Eighteen. That many turnovers will cost you. It led to Tech scoring 18 points. That's big in any game. Especially when Tech only had 8.
Three point shooting. I can't remember the last time I saw an ISU team shoot this horribly from deep. It's been a concern all season and this ugly beast not only reared its head today, its entire body made an appearance. Against a top level team shooting 15% from three on 26 attempts will lose many games. This HAS to improve for this team to have a chance of winning the conference.
Let's close the observations with a major plus. We know the ladies are traditionally a great free throw shooting team. Today? Wow. They got to the line a whopping TWENTY-SEVEN times and made TWENTY-FIVE of them. Folks that's 93%. Ka-ching!
The upside? Even though the ladies shot that horrible, nasty number from deep...they won going away. This was a great lesson to show that working inside, setting good screens, and running the court will give dividends. Think about it. As the title says, "If I told you..." the ladies only went 4-26 from deep on the road...you'd think it was a loss, not a 23 point victory.
What's up next? The ladies get WVU at Hilton on Jan 4. They were blown out in the second half by that high scoring OU team. I'd like to see a dominant win by the ladies at home, but we all know how physical WVU can be. Will be interesting to see how it goes. What am I looking for? I want that three point percentage to creep back into the 30% range to complement the other positives this team is doing.
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