Twister Sister Summary - burn the film...and be thankful

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acoustimac

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Jan 8, 2009
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I’ll just start off by saying this was one of the ugliest games the ladies have been involved with all season. There was no flow ever established by the team. It was more a series of fits and starts. Out of the blocks it was a rain of three's by Oklahoma led by Robertson. In the first half alone she hit seven of them. Fortunately she wasn’t that hot in the second half.

The best way to describe this game is chaos. For nearly all of the game it “appeared” OU was the team that wanted this more. They hustled their butts off. The chaos the sisters experienced was a series of missed free throws, missed shots, weird turnovers and strange bounces. Neither team was ever able to pull away. If you watched the last two minutes only you would have gotten a feel for this one. ISU has the ball down three and on the inbounds our player inexplicably falls down. Fortunately OU didn’t score and Ashley Joens hits a shot to pull ISU within one (this was the first basket we had scored in nearly four minutes). On OU's inbounds play the run over Joens and turn the ball over. Joens scores again for a one point lead, but there are ten seconds left with non timeouts, no fouls to give and the possession arrow is in OU's favor. OU misses and after some crazy bounces the ball ends up in the Sisters' hands. Game.

I’m chalking this game up to just being an off night. The shots weren’t falling and we were being outhustled at every turn. The ladies seemed to forget what team ball was at times. BUT they found a way. Karma was obviously saying, “just kidding.”

Observations

Ashley Joens showed why she is an All-American. She went for 32 points and 16 points. Pure guts and determination.

Freshmen - for most of the night they looked like freshmen. Outside of Donarski no one on the team scored in double figures. That was on 4-15 shooting. The rest? Not much good happened. No one had more than one basket.

Seniors - same thing. Not much happened. Scott had ONE point.

Free throws. These fit the mold of the game. The team only hit 8-13. Both the number of misses and the small number of shots says something about this game.

Throw the game film out. Take the win. Time to get ready for Coach Fen's 700th win. Against Texas no less.
 

NWICY

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Sep 2, 2012
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Appreciate the title Acoustimac, it summed the game up well.
 

cycloneML

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Mar 5, 2008
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You beat Baylor then you figure you can just show up and sleep walk. Fairly predictable.
 

Buster28

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Dec 3, 2011
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That was such an ugly game. Definitely the worst ref job of the season. Considering it was a Kantner crew, not surprising. She picks and chooses what she'll pay attention to, rules-wise every game and it's never the same. I was quite surprised to see the box score sport the name "Scott Yarbrough" as well. For those who don't remember, he was one of the all-time worst refs ever to infest the Big 12 from 20 years ago. I haven't seen his name for years, nor have I wanted to. He needed (multiple) someone(s) to explain to him that you can advance the ball at the end of the game. Seems like the type of thing you should understand if you're going to don the zebra suit for a D-1 game. Maybe Covid issues caused the league to scrape him up again? Just a dreadful job in almost every way by the stripes, for both sides, honestly.

As poorly as the shooting went, consider us fortunate to grab the win at the end and move on to the next game. If Ashley was the player of the game, Maddie Wise was for sure runner-up in my book. A big plus for me was that ISU actually changed defensive tactics in the second half. Robertson was burning us over and over by hitting threes off screens (and how many of those screens were moving?!?!?!?!?) in the first half. On the radio, Fennelly said they adjusted in the second so the defenders weren't trying to stay with one Sooner, then losing them behind the screen. The D would switch who they were guarding around those screens and that effectively shut down OU's outside scoring in the second half. That's what gave us a chance to hang around, in spite of offensive woes.

At this point, I'm just happy for ISU to get the win and see them remain in first place. They gotta forget this one and chalk it up as the Baylor win hangover.
 

Three4Cy

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Jan 19, 2010
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That was such an ugly game. Definitely the worst ref job of the season. Considering it was a Kantner crew, not surprising. She picks and chooses what she'll pay attention to, rules-wise every game and it's never the same. I was quite surprised to see the box score sport the name "Scott Yarbrough" as well. For those who don't remember, he was one of the all-time worst refs ever to infest the Big 12 from 20 years ago. I haven't seen his name for years, nor have I wanted to. He needed (multiple) someone(s) to explain to him that you can advance the ball at the end of the game. Seems like the type of thing you should understand if you're going to don the zebra suit for a D-1 game. Maybe Covid issues caused the league to scrape him up again? Just a dreadful job in almost every way by the stripes, for both sides, honestly.

As poorly as the shooting went, consider us fortunate to grab the win at the end and move on to the next game. If Ashley was the player of the game, Maddie Wise was for sure runner-up in my book. A big plus for me was that ISU actually changed defensive tactics in the second half. Robertson was burning us over and over by hitting threes off screens (and how many of those screens were moving?!?!?!?!?) in the first half. On the radio, Fennelly said they adjusted in the second so the defenders weren't trying to stay with one Sooner, then losing them behind the screen. The D would switch who they were guarding around those screens and that effectively shut down OU's outside scoring in the second half. That's what gave us a chance to hang around, in spite of offensive woes.

At this point, I'm just happy for ISU to get the win and see them remain in first place. They gotta forget this one and chalk it up as the Baylor win hangover.

Robertson had 5 points in the second 1/2, a 3 early in the 3rd and two free throws later in the 4th.

That was huge.
 

CyclonesFan4ever

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Jan 10, 2021
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Postgame thoughts.

1) We need to invent new adjectives to describe the greatness of Ashley.

2) Hangover game for sure. Ugly as the dark gray uniforms. I want to see the sisters wear uniforms with brighter colors (if gold is forbidden).

3) I'll take the ugly win any day than a heartbroken loss. I still haven't got over the Iowa loss. This is a sign of a good team getting better because they find a way to win close games and avoid bad losses.

4) Freshmen will learn from the growing pains faster than you know it because they are so talented and there ain't nothing can stop them from improving. I'm confident they will bring their A-game again the Longhorns.

5) As Coach Matt Campbell says, trust the process and the process will love you back. Sunshine always comes after the storm.
 
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acoustimac

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My apologies for not mentioning Maddie as a senior who made a big difference. For some reason I cannot get it into my head that she is a senior. Just doesn’t seem possible. She definitely made some major contributions in this game and deserves to be applauded. I also felt that Coach Fennelly‘s comments about the freshman were dead on. It was one of the few games where they looked like freshmen. They will learn from it and grow. Just seeing the way they are on the floor I cannot imagine how driven each of the freshmen will be to come back hard after this disappointing game. That bodes well for the next game against Texas.
 
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ISC

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Oct 15, 2009
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My apologies for not mentioning Maddie as a senior who made a big difference. For some reason I cannot get it into my head that she is a senior. Just doesn’t seem possible.

I always think the same thing -> seems like she just got here a year or so ago. Time sure flies after you get old ;)

Good teams find a way to win... ladies did that yesterday.

Crowd at Hilton was very silent... even during the run at the end, it felt like only a few of us were cheering and getting into the game. Although TBH, I didn't think we actually had a chance to win during the last quarter... glad to be proven wrong.
 
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farm85

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I always think the same thing -> seems like she just got here a year or so ago. Time sure flies after you get old ;)

Good teams find a way to win... ladies did that yesterday.

Crowd at Hilton was very silent... even during the run at the end, it felt like only a few of us were cheering and getting into the game. Although TBH, I didn't think we actually had a chance to win during the last quarter... glad to be proven wrong.

Tough to be heard as a "large group" when spread apart like that at Hilton. The section that I was in, was doing their best to make "noise". Can definitely hear the band's cheering & jeering.;) I agree that our "normal" crowd noise isn't coming across on TV. I also agree being nervous about the game's outcome especially in the 4th quarter. Guess the ball bounced ISU's way last night & was a lucky W. On to Saturday & the Horns!
 
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Ms3r4ISU

Me: Mea culpa. Also me: Sine cura sis.
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Tough to be heard as a "large group" when spread apart like that at Hilton. The section that I was in, was doing their best to make "noise". Can definitely hear the band's cheering & jeering.;) I agree that our "normal" crowd noise isn't coming across on TV. I also agree being nervous about the game's outcome especially in the 4th quarter. Guess the ball bounced ISU's way last night & was a lucky W. On to Saturday & the Horns!
I was listening on the radio and could hear you/the crowd - made me wish I was there!
 
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AuH2O

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Ashley makes me try to remember the hardest working WBB players. Start with Megan Taylor, Chelsea Poppins, Amanda Nisleit, etc., etc.

Every young basketball player, boy or girl, PG or post, should watch an hour of Ashley highlights on the importance of footwork and use of pivot. Just incredible. My daughter and son are guards in 9th and 7th, but I always use her as an example of the number of times in any game that great use of the pivot and footwork pre- or post-dribble is the difference in a turnover vs. a productive play.
 
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isucy86

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A gritty win by the women. Just caught the 2nd half, but one of those games where nothing seemed to go right on the offensive end of the ball. But they toughed it out and executed when it counted.

Maddie Wise was the difference when the team wasn't playing well. She played great defense and rebounded.
 

isucy86

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Apr 13, 2006
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Every young basketball player, boy or girl, PG or post, should watch an hour of Ashley highlights on the importance of footwork and use of pivot. Just incredible. My daughter and son are guards in 9th and 7th, but I always use her as an example of the number of times in any game that great use of the pivot and footwork pre- or post-dribble is the difference in a turnover vs. a productive play.

There's a men's college basketball team in the state of Iowa that should have its post players watch her tape as well;)
 
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VeloClone

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Jan 19, 2010
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That was such an ugly game. Definitely the worst ref job of the season. Considering it was a Kantner crew, not surprising. She picks and chooses what she'll pay attention to, rules-wise every game and it's never the same. I was quite surprised to see the box score sport the name "Scott Yarbrough" as well. For those who don't remember, he was one of the all-time worst refs ever to infest the Big 12 from 20 years ago. I haven't seen his name for years, nor have I wanted to. He needed (multiple) someone(s) to explain to him that you can advance the ball at the end of the game. Seems like the type of thing you should understand if you're going to don the zebra suit for a D-1 game. Maybe Covid issues caused the league to scrape him up again? Just a dreadful job in almost every way by the stripes, for both sides, honestly.

As poorly as the shooting went, consider us fortunate to grab the win at the end and move on to the next game. If Ashley was the player of the game, Maddie Wise was for sure runner-up in my book. A big plus for me was that ISU actually changed defensive tactics in the second half. Robertson was burning us over and over by hitting threes off screens (and how many of those screens were moving?!?!?!?!?) in the first half. On the radio, Fennelly said they adjusted in the second so the defenders weren't trying to stay with one Sooner, then losing them behind the screen. The D would switch who they were guarding around those screens and that effectively shut down OU's outside scoring in the second half. That's what gave us a chance to hang around, in spite of offensive woes.

At this point, I'm just happy for ISU to get the win and see them remain in first place. They gotta forget this one and chalk it up as the Baylor win hangover.
I was thinking while listening to Coach Fen talk after the game about the game plan being to get over the screens that they did a poor job of that but the officiating didn't help them any. There was little effort to call moving screens and I think they came close to calling more fouls on the player trying to fight over a moving screen than they did on the moving screeners. I think the girls just got gun shy about trying to go over. Switching worked great in the second half since neither team was playing big anyway.

Obviously the officiating was far, far, far from a top 3 problem in this game, however.