I realize it's been a couple of days since the game, but I've been way too busy and just now getting a chance to put down my thoughts. Last week was a critical week for the sisters as they had a home/home opportunity to get back in the upper echelon of the Big 12. They took care of business on Wednesday and Saturday was a chance to move into 4th all by themselves.
For all intents and purposes the first half was a solid performance for the sisters. The team came out playing salty defense and the offense...well...we were seeing motion, passing and it was fun to watch! The ladies would slowly pull ahead in a very workmanlike manner. Rebounding solidly and turning opportunities into points. The two things that were rather weird was our inability to hit the three. The team went a woeful 1-10 in the 1st and improved to 4-10 in the second. A little slow going, but even those misses didn't keep them from getting the job done. Scoring 38 points in a half is just pretty solid play.
As seems to be the case year after year, the ladies had one quarter that was a bust. The third saw them go into neutral on offense and the defense got a bit sketchy at times (but overall was still pretty good). The team hit a grand total of TWO shots in the third as we saw OU get back into the game. OU's offense wasn't exactly a thing of beauty either. It was just a lackluster quarter that saw the Sooners come within 5 points. The scariest part of the second half was seeing Joens go down hard. When she left the court we could see the tears in her eyes and I was feeling like the season just came to an end (and crazily we saw the key player for the men go down later that evening). The place was deathly quiet when she left and when she came back no the court the Hilton crowd (which was a very good crowd) exploded. This kid is one tough cookie. In the end, the fourth quarter was nip and tuck with Sheri's Sooners even taking the lead temporarily. But wouldn't you know it, it was Joens calmly standing at the free throw line with a two point lead and the game hanging in the balance. Two made shots later (the free throw woes are over as the team shot 100%!) and the game was iced.
While the game wasn't pretty all the way through, two things jumped out at me. The offense has shown it can be a motion offense and when that is happening they can be very effective. When the team stays out on the perimeter (As we saw in the second half) it's much easier to defend our players. OU did a good job of neutralizing our perimeter offense and that allowed them to be in the game.
Observations
Free Throws - as I mentioned it was good to see us shoot well from the line. The team went 14-18 (corrected) with no one struggling.
Maggie - after the record setting game against OSU, Maggie dropped her turnover number to 5. Still way too many, but this is a new position she is learning. Not an exceptional game statistically, but she is still helping this team succeed in numerous ways such as her defense.
Wise - got a couple of minutes and still a shell of herself offensively.
Scott - started slow with her inside outside game but heated up fast. She is playing some of her best ball right now. What got me this time was seeing some of her aggressive play on defense. She blocked some key shots without drawing fouls late in the game that were huge. 18 points and 12 boards is nothing to sneeze at.
Joens - here we are again talking about the iron man of the team. A rather slow start on the day, but you know she will get hers. She did. After getting her shoulder popped back into place she came back and gritted her way to 17 and 15...another double-double for one of the best players in the conference.
Rae - Not a great shooting game, but she was aggressive on the court and (as it seems to always happen) took some hard charges on defense that shifted the game in our favor.
AD - she is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. Always hustles. Isn't flashy. But she gets the job done. She is the #3 player on this team and always kicks in a handful of rebounds and points that make a difference. She has become on of our best three point shooters and seems to hit them when we need it most.
What's next? Two road games this week and both are toss ups. Texas and TCU. I think we are on the upswing and wouldn't be surprised to see another sweep this week.
