This was another game I had to watch again. I got too emotional and got on the bad officiating, rough ATM play bandwagon. Did I change my mind? Yes.
1st qtr
The threes were falling...all game. Right out of the chute they were falling. The ladies tried to go under against the big and got blocked twice in a row. The ladies needed to be smarter. The inside game was forced all quarter. We missed at least 5-6 layups. We still look slow adjusting to drives on defense and this would be a recurring theme. Then there was that turnover bug...silly mistakes. Forced passes or bad decisions.
Kane had a couple of nice strong boards and we saw good ball movement. (Note - We are REALLY slow defending drives)
Despite the turnovers and all the missed layups, things looked good at the end of the first. Six treys in the first. Next to last play of the quarter with Joens driving was the perfect example of how forced the inside game was. Aubrey Joens hit a looonnngg three to close the quarter with a nice 22-12 lead.
2nd
The ladies started off with another botched inside play (unforced turnover) Wow...the inside game continues to be a big mess. Bad passes, bad shots, bad results. ATM came out and started hitting and all of a sudden the lead was down to a single possession after 6 straight. ATM was sticking around until the offense started to smooth things out inside. Mainly Joens. As the announcer said...it was about splitting the defense versus going at the defense. Then Donarski went right back to going at the defense. I should have been tallying the missed layups. There were a bunch. I have to give ATM credit...their defense is quick and aggressive. Last possession of the half was a mess. 35-30 cyclones.
3rd
The Ladies started in a zone which ATM promptly scored on. ISU answered back with another trey from Scott. For limited minutes she really made the most of it. The unforced turnovers continue. Some are mystifying. Again..."what are you thinking" type of stuff. The big threes edged the sisters out to a ten point lead 45-35 with six to go.
It seemed we deferred to the three sometimes out of desperation. Midway through the quarter our made shots was 2-1 treys. Another trey by Donarski pushed the lead to 11 with three to play. Another trey would put the lead to 12. That was as good as it got. The run was led by Donarski.
The last two minutes was the first time I saw refs really missing any calls. A charge should have been picked up by Joens that instead led to two ATM points. End of three and it was 57-48. So far so good.
4th
ATM scored the first 6 points of the quarter and the turnover bug hit us again. I mean how do you explain a pass to no one or Joens taking her eye off a pass and see it slip through her fingers? This was when I really started noticing some missed calls. Push offs, slaps, mugging under the basket. They did miss a travel on Joens too. If we had the officiating from game 1 I think things would be a little different
With just under six to play ISU enjoyed a 66-57 lead thanks to another three. If I didn’t know the outcome I’d be thinking we were in good shape. Then ATM pulled within 3 on free throws with two minutes left. ATM just couldn’t miss. They took good shots and made them. And lordy....the 20th turnover was another unforced shot clock violation. The lead shrank to one after that with :58 left. Joens powered to a shot and one to make it 4 points with :35 left. ATM answered quickly thanks to a one on three rebound. ATM had to foul and did. Everything was going our way. Joens made both free throws and we led by four with 20 seconds left. ATM hit again after an offensive push. They just didn’t miss. Ok...the tied ball on Donarski was never actually tied up. Was she fouled? Perhaps. ATM took advantage of the slowness of our team to score in only 4 seconds on a drive to the hoop which left our defender in the dust. Tie game. There was another bad no call moment as Joens got fouled on the inbounds play. No call was made. Joens appeared to be fouled under the basket, but the camera shot was so far away I couldn’t tell for sure. Overtime we come.
Ok...so how did we lose the 4th? We were playing good D and rebounding fairly well. We answered shots ATM made. The blocked three by Ryan was mystifying. An offensive foul turned the ball over again. We put ATM in the bonus. Remember that speed difference I mentioned earlier. It cost us. On offense we looked like mice scattering during the last three minutes. No screens. Lots of standing around. The tied ball was questionable at best, but all Donarski had to do was dribble when she got the inbounds. Giving ATM another chance was just the coup de gras. ATM out scored us 27-18 in the fourth.
Overtime
This was just hard to write about. Much like the Texas game we battled. LIke Texas, ATM took the lead right away with a three. For the first time we were battling from behind. The ladies responded and Joens made a nice dish to Kane for the lead. Kane made two huge rebounds to help ISU to a 2 point lead. We got beat on another drive for two and the unforced turnover bug hit again at the worst time. ISU got a stop at the other end and Kane grabbed another board. Then...another unforced turnover...this time by Joens. On our last possession Joens kept the ball and everyone knew she wasn’t going to pass...that included ATM. She tried to force up a shot through two defenders and turned the ball over. I wish I could say I saw a foul. But again the camera shot was so far away I could tell. What was worse was allowing ATM to go full court with next to no defensive pressure and score from about six feet. Quickness anyone? Sad way to end, but the overtime was a snapshot of the game - turnovers and being smoked by faster players.
Observations
The inside game was a bit of a mess. Lots of missed layups and part of those were technique and others were poor choices. It often reminded me of mosquitoes looking for a way into a room through a screen door. We just kept running into the screen instead of waiting for the door to open.
Inside game part II - there were very few effective screens set to open up drives. Our drives were more of the one on one or one on two variety
Turnovers - ok...this was a mixed bag. We had a bunch of plain old unforced, dribble off your foot type of turnovers. The "what were you thinking" type of turnovers. This is what cost us the game.
Speed - In both NCAA games we looked slow. Especially on defense. We can’t handle drives or screens well. If you look back at some of my write ups during the conference season I mentioned the same thing. In both NCAA games we allowed the opponent to go full court in less than four seconds and score. ATM did this at the end of regulation and at the end of overtime.
You have to appreciate how the ladies battled. We were shorter, slower and less experienced. While those factors contributed to the loss, we just kept fighting and had chances to pull the upset.
We were down two players. Not having Scott or MnM hurt.
Officiating. Yes, there were some suspect calls (the ref calling the tied ball couldn’t even see it) and a few blown calls, but overall this game wasn’t a typical “we got mugged” ATM game. Yes, ATM was aggressive. But, overall I didn’t see what I thought I had seen. Were there some missed calls at critical times? Absolutely. BUT I’ll still point the finger at 24 turnovers...most of which were unforced as the biggest factor in the loss.
The season ends...no matter what you have to admit it was entertaining. The freshmen def lived up to their hype and still have lots of growth to do. Joens was Joens and the seniors may not have been as heralded as other senior classes, but they provided leadership. Scott continued to be a scoring threat while Wise and Johnson had their moments here and there. It’s def been a fun year. Looking forward to next year being even better.
1st qtr
The threes were falling...all game. Right out of the chute they were falling. The ladies tried to go under against the big and got blocked twice in a row. The ladies needed to be smarter. The inside game was forced all quarter. We missed at least 5-6 layups. We still look slow adjusting to drives on defense and this would be a recurring theme. Then there was that turnover bug...silly mistakes. Forced passes or bad decisions.
Kane had a couple of nice strong boards and we saw good ball movement. (Note - We are REALLY slow defending drives)
Despite the turnovers and all the missed layups, things looked good at the end of the first. Six treys in the first. Next to last play of the quarter with Joens driving was the perfect example of how forced the inside game was. Aubrey Joens hit a looonnngg three to close the quarter with a nice 22-12 lead.
2nd
The ladies started off with another botched inside play (unforced turnover) Wow...the inside game continues to be a big mess. Bad passes, bad shots, bad results. ATM came out and started hitting and all of a sudden the lead was down to a single possession after 6 straight. ATM was sticking around until the offense started to smooth things out inside. Mainly Joens. As the announcer said...it was about splitting the defense versus going at the defense. Then Donarski went right back to going at the defense. I should have been tallying the missed layups. There were a bunch. I have to give ATM credit...their defense is quick and aggressive. Last possession of the half was a mess. 35-30 cyclones.
3rd
The Ladies started in a zone which ATM promptly scored on. ISU answered back with another trey from Scott. For limited minutes she really made the most of it. The unforced turnovers continue. Some are mystifying. Again..."what are you thinking" type of stuff. The big threes edged the sisters out to a ten point lead 45-35 with six to go.
It seemed we deferred to the three sometimes out of desperation. Midway through the quarter our made shots was 2-1 treys. Another trey by Donarski pushed the lead to 11 with three to play. Another trey would put the lead to 12. That was as good as it got. The run was led by Donarski.
The last two minutes was the first time I saw refs really missing any calls. A charge should have been picked up by Joens that instead led to two ATM points. End of three and it was 57-48. So far so good.
4th
ATM scored the first 6 points of the quarter and the turnover bug hit us again. I mean how do you explain a pass to no one or Joens taking her eye off a pass and see it slip through her fingers? This was when I really started noticing some missed calls. Push offs, slaps, mugging under the basket. They did miss a travel on Joens too. If we had the officiating from game 1 I think things would be a little different
With just under six to play ISU enjoyed a 66-57 lead thanks to another three. If I didn’t know the outcome I’d be thinking we were in good shape. Then ATM pulled within 3 on free throws with two minutes left. ATM just couldn’t miss. They took good shots and made them. And lordy....the 20th turnover was another unforced shot clock violation. The lead shrank to one after that with :58 left. Joens powered to a shot and one to make it 4 points with :35 left. ATM answered quickly thanks to a one on three rebound. ATM had to foul and did. Everything was going our way. Joens made both free throws and we led by four with 20 seconds left. ATM hit again after an offensive push. They just didn’t miss. Ok...the tied ball on Donarski was never actually tied up. Was she fouled? Perhaps. ATM took advantage of the slowness of our team to score in only 4 seconds on a drive to the hoop which left our defender in the dust. Tie game. There was another bad no call moment as Joens got fouled on the inbounds play. No call was made. Joens appeared to be fouled under the basket, but the camera shot was so far away I couldn’t tell for sure. Overtime we come.
Ok...so how did we lose the 4th? We were playing good D and rebounding fairly well. We answered shots ATM made. The blocked three by Ryan was mystifying. An offensive foul turned the ball over again. We put ATM in the bonus. Remember that speed difference I mentioned earlier. It cost us. On offense we looked like mice scattering during the last three minutes. No screens. Lots of standing around. The tied ball was questionable at best, but all Donarski had to do was dribble when she got the inbounds. Giving ATM another chance was just the coup de gras. ATM out scored us 27-18 in the fourth.
Overtime
This was just hard to write about. Much like the Texas game we battled. LIke Texas, ATM took the lead right away with a three. For the first time we were battling from behind. The ladies responded and Joens made a nice dish to Kane for the lead. Kane made two huge rebounds to help ISU to a 2 point lead. We got beat on another drive for two and the unforced turnover bug hit again at the worst time. ISU got a stop at the other end and Kane grabbed another board. Then...another unforced turnover...this time by Joens. On our last possession Joens kept the ball and everyone knew she wasn’t going to pass...that included ATM. She tried to force up a shot through two defenders and turned the ball over. I wish I could say I saw a foul. But again the camera shot was so far away I could tell. What was worse was allowing ATM to go full court with next to no defensive pressure and score from about six feet. Quickness anyone? Sad way to end, but the overtime was a snapshot of the game - turnovers and being smoked by faster players.
Observations
The inside game was a bit of a mess. Lots of missed layups and part of those were technique and others were poor choices. It often reminded me of mosquitoes looking for a way into a room through a screen door. We just kept running into the screen instead of waiting for the door to open.
Inside game part II - there were very few effective screens set to open up drives. Our drives were more of the one on one or one on two variety
Turnovers - ok...this was a mixed bag. We had a bunch of plain old unforced, dribble off your foot type of turnovers. The "what were you thinking" type of turnovers. This is what cost us the game.
Speed - In both NCAA games we looked slow. Especially on defense. We can’t handle drives or screens well. If you look back at some of my write ups during the conference season I mentioned the same thing. In both NCAA games we allowed the opponent to go full court in less than four seconds and score. ATM did this at the end of regulation and at the end of overtime.
You have to appreciate how the ladies battled. We were shorter, slower and less experienced. While those factors contributed to the loss, we just kept fighting and had chances to pull the upset.
We were down two players. Not having Scott or MnM hurt.
Officiating. Yes, there were some suspect calls (the ref calling the tied ball couldn’t even see it) and a few blown calls, but overall this game wasn’t a typical “we got mugged” ATM game. Yes, ATM was aggressive. But, overall I didn’t see what I thought I had seen. Were there some missed calls at critical times? Absolutely. BUT I’ll still point the finger at 24 turnovers...most of which were unforced as the biggest factor in the loss.
The season ends...no matter what you have to admit it was entertaining. The freshmen def lived up to their hype and still have lots of growth to do. Joens was Joens and the seniors may not have been as heralded as other senior classes, but they provided leadership. Scott continued to be a scoring threat while Wise and Johnson had their moments here and there. It’s def been a fun year. Looking forward to next year being even better.
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