Can anyone ever get used to watching good basketball? That’s all we’ve seen this year from the twister sisters – good basketball. This group plays as a team and we are seeing assists, rebounds, and ball movement like we have not seen in quite some time. I think of all The times are used to grouse about watching players stand and set spots around the three-point arc. In recent years I complained about Carlton being a volume shooter. I complained about the lack of an inside presence. No more. Well mostly.
I’ve said it before and it’s worth saying again, this group puts a capital “T“ in the word team. They play well together. They play off of each other. They are always looking for that extra pass to an open teammate. For once we have depth on the batch with very little drop off. Coach appears to have found a rotation that just works.
The game today was more of what we have been seeing. As usual our star senior Carlton lead the way doing a little bit of everything. She had some amazing drives inside and scored when she was covered like a blanket. She stepped outside to hit from deep. She rebounded. Kristin Scott continues to show that she is a force to be reckoned with. She’s not really a post player even though that’s where we often find her. She is undersized, but still finds her baskets underneath and steps out and has one of the prettiest three point shots of anyone on the team. Currently she leads the nation in two point basket percentage. Wow. Today was not her best shooting day, but she still managed to put in 17 points. It was fun to see Joens show that she is more than just a three-point shooter. She had several nice drives inside that kept the Oklahoma State defense on their toes. Middleton rebounded with a fine game. Was also nice to see Burkhall get some quality minutes and make the best of it.
It’s kind of surprising that the team really pulled away in the second half and it wasn’t by using the three-point shot. As a matter of fact, the three point shooting in the second half was really pretty bad (14%). What we did see was a team that was moving up and down the court, passing the ball, slicing the lane, and scoring. The team dominated on the boards and in my opinion, the best part, met the maxim of our coach by making as many free throws as the other team attempted.
It’s really been difficult to try to write my normal summaries because typically you can highlight one or two players who were outstanding. While we all know that Carlton is a step above most anybody else in the conference, these are simply team wins. There were very few mistakes.
Every time you listen to a post game interview with the opposing coach there is a common thread. “This is one of Iowa State’s best teams.“ We can hope the winning goes on as long as possible. If the ladies continue to play in the manner we are currently saying I have no doubt they will do some damage in the big 12 tournament and in the NCAA tournament. I would not be surprised to see this team reach at least the round of 16 or better. It’s going to be fun watching it unfold.
