Fast pace early. Couple of early three's by zags and then our defense settled in. Kept pace with inside outside play and spread the lead to 5 with a sweet 3 by Hal. Pop set a great screen, no wall, to allow Moody to drive the lane for 2. Bill continues to rotate the bigs as he has done in the past few games.
Zags big girl Chezlik went to bench early with 2 fouls. Rebounding on the defensive end was horrid for state. In one possession the Zags got 3 offensive boards and the lead disappeared in an instant with a 3.
The turnovers were just as frustrating. Some really stupid mistakes. We had four turnovers in six possessions while clinging to a 2 point lead. Our two point players were a real mixed bag in the first half. 21-19 with 7 left. If this team settles down and values the ball we will be ok. The zags have 9 more shots than the Sisters.
Had to laugh listening to the commentators saying how tired we looked 5 minutes into the game. Very cool stat shared. Our ladies are the top free throw shooting team in the country for both men and women's ball.
This was a battle with both teams making little spurts. Moody continues to make stupid turnovers. Most appear to be a complete lack of concentration. Not catching passes, throwing the ball where no players except the opponent are. Then she dishes a nifty cross key pass to Pop. Puzzling. Then she does it again and turned it over for another easy zag basket. Timeout and then she turns it over again and the next possession she turns it over again. All this resulted in a 7 point lead disappearing in a flash. We were giving the Zags every break possible.
The ladies were doing a good job of staying out of foul trouble in the first half, while the zags had three players with 2 each.
This half was all about turnovers. The last 5 minutes were just a mass of turnovers as we tallied a dozen. State still managed to lead by 3, 34-31. The Zags had 14 points off turnovers.
The second half started with a bang. A fantastic 6-0 run would put the ladies up by 9 and force the Zags to call a timeout. It was all inside play as Pop and Anna took it to the Zags. Made me wonder if Bill really challenged the post players at half?
After pulling out to the quick lead we got back into the same trend of giving up offensive rebounds. I an early possession the Zags got 4 shots on basket. Fortunately they missed all of them.
It just seemed that after that run we couldn't get it going again. Turnovers started to rear their ugly head and that 9 point lead dropped to three in a heartbeat. 42-39 state with 13:38 left.
The announcers are just stupid. They talk about the noise and environment like it is causing us problems. Have they never heard of Hilton?
Very sloppy play by State for a few minutes allowing the Zags to get back into it. Both Prins and Pop had 3 fouls. This was a very tenuous time for the Sisters.
And they stepped up. A traditional 3 point play by Anna and a nice dish to Anna from Kidd would stretch the lead to 8 again. Unfortunately Prins would pick up her 4th foul with 8 to play AND the Zags started to hit their free throws. Brynn would answer back with a 3 and the ladies would maintain their lead.
I'll say it now and again later...this was a definitive Pop performance. Hard nosed, gritty performance.
The terror tremors set it with about 5 minutes left when Pop went to the bench with her 4th. Our offense died and the Zags started to make a move. They cut the lead to 7 and with 3:22 left Prins came back in. It was a chess match at this point and State needed an offensive push. The offense continued to struggle and the Zags kept cutting away at the lead little by little without enough time coming off the clock. The lead came down to 7 and then 5.
Two minutes left and Pop returned to the game. Our offense was still dormant. Hal got two critical free throws and with 1 minute left State was at the line with a 7 point lead. Moody would step to the line and the lead would be 9 and I could breath again. It was one crazy game, but the ladies did what they needed to do and put this one away at the line. The closing moment? Chants of "Let's go State" dominating the broadcast. Way to go ladies 72-60.
Observations?
Pop. 'Nuff said. This was her game and she played like the senior leader she is.
Free throws - our ladies hit a cool 94% from the line making 17 of 18 shots. Free throws win games and it was never more true than today.
Moody. After a very rough first 30 minutes, she settled down offensively. Played a solid defensive game.
Shots - both teams hit 23 shots, but thanks to offensive boards and our turnovers, the Zags shot an amazing 27 more shots than the Sisters.
I'll stop here. This is long enough already, but wanted to add as much detail as I could for those of you that couldn't watch. Next up will be the winner of the Georgia -Montana winner. More on that later.
Enjoy Cyclone fans!
Zags big girl Chezlik went to bench early with 2 fouls. Rebounding on the defensive end was horrid for state. In one possession the Zags got 3 offensive boards and the lead disappeared in an instant with a 3.
The turnovers were just as frustrating. Some really stupid mistakes. We had four turnovers in six possessions while clinging to a 2 point lead. Our two point players were a real mixed bag in the first half. 21-19 with 7 left. If this team settles down and values the ball we will be ok. The zags have 9 more shots than the Sisters.
Had to laugh listening to the commentators saying how tired we looked 5 minutes into the game. Very cool stat shared. Our ladies are the top free throw shooting team in the country for both men and women's ball.
This was a battle with both teams making little spurts. Moody continues to make stupid turnovers. Most appear to be a complete lack of concentration. Not catching passes, throwing the ball where no players except the opponent are. Then she dishes a nifty cross key pass to Pop. Puzzling. Then she does it again and turned it over for another easy zag basket. Timeout and then she turns it over again and the next possession she turns it over again. All this resulted in a 7 point lead disappearing in a flash. We were giving the Zags every break possible.
The ladies were doing a good job of staying out of foul trouble in the first half, while the zags had three players with 2 each.
This half was all about turnovers. The last 5 minutes were just a mass of turnovers as we tallied a dozen. State still managed to lead by 3, 34-31. The Zags had 14 points off turnovers.
The second half started with a bang. A fantastic 6-0 run would put the ladies up by 9 and force the Zags to call a timeout. It was all inside play as Pop and Anna took it to the Zags. Made me wonder if Bill really challenged the post players at half?
After pulling out to the quick lead we got back into the same trend of giving up offensive rebounds. I an early possession the Zags got 4 shots on basket. Fortunately they missed all of them.
It just seemed that after that run we couldn't get it going again. Turnovers started to rear their ugly head and that 9 point lead dropped to three in a heartbeat. 42-39 state with 13:38 left.
The announcers are just stupid. They talk about the noise and environment like it is causing us problems. Have they never heard of Hilton?
Very sloppy play by State for a few minutes allowing the Zags to get back into it. Both Prins and Pop had 3 fouls. This was a very tenuous time for the Sisters.
And they stepped up. A traditional 3 point play by Anna and a nice dish to Anna from Kidd would stretch the lead to 8 again. Unfortunately Prins would pick up her 4th foul with 8 to play AND the Zags started to hit their free throws. Brynn would answer back with a 3 and the ladies would maintain their lead.
I'll say it now and again later...this was a definitive Pop performance. Hard nosed, gritty performance.
The terror tremors set it with about 5 minutes left when Pop went to the bench with her 4th. Our offense died and the Zags started to make a move. They cut the lead to 7 and with 3:22 left Prins came back in. It was a chess match at this point and State needed an offensive push. The offense continued to struggle and the Zags kept cutting away at the lead little by little without enough time coming off the clock. The lead came down to 7 and then 5.
Two minutes left and Pop returned to the game. Our offense was still dormant. Hal got two critical free throws and with 1 minute left State was at the line with a 7 point lead. Moody would step to the line and the lead would be 9 and I could breath again. It was one crazy game, but the ladies did what they needed to do and put this one away at the line. The closing moment? Chants of "Let's go State" dominating the broadcast. Way to go ladies 72-60.
Observations?
Pop. 'Nuff said. This was her game and she played like the senior leader she is.
Free throws - our ladies hit a cool 94% from the line making 17 of 18 shots. Free throws win games and it was never more true than today.
Moody. After a very rough first 30 minutes, she settled down offensively. Played a solid defensive game.
Shots - both teams hit 23 shots, but thanks to offensive boards and our turnovers, the Zags shot an amazing 27 more shots than the Sisters.
I'll stop here. This is long enough already, but wanted to add as much detail as I could for those of you that couldn't watch. Next up will be the winner of the Georgia -Montana winner. More on that later.
Enjoy Cyclone fans!
