Where to start? Well, I’ll go with the thoughts I was having as the first half unfolded. Two words. I believe. I BELIEVE. I watched a first half that was a thing of beauty. Underdog Iowa State took control and was taking MSU behind the woodshed for a classic beat down. We had a point guard that looked like an All-American. We had players hustling, moving, weaving, and driving to the basket. We saw a zone defense thoroughly frustrate a team that many picked to trounce us. This was a masterpiece.
The first half stated with two teams playing excellent defense. MSU offered wall to wall full court pressure. The thing is, the sisters never blinked. They were prepared and time after time they defeated the pressure. MSU’s defensive pressure reminded me a bit of ATM. And like ATM they got away with lots of contact. The refs were kept busy in this one and if there had been one more on the court I suspect half of MSU’s team could have fouled out.
Our defense was exceptional. We went into that signature floating zone (my term) that Fennelly used so well in the early days at ISU. There just weren’t any openings for MSU as the sisters floated like bees and shut everything off. On offense, the sisters were moving and passing effectively. They drove the lanes and either scored or dished to the open player. A big one was Durr’s trey that allowed the sisters to creep out to a 24-16 lead in the 2nd. They held MSU scoreless for about five minutes. The ladies got MSU into foul trouble and were masters at the line making all nine free throws in the first half. The ladies were pure focus. I honestly can’t remember the last time an Iowa State women’s team played this well. At the half they were leading 44-26, shot about 63% from the field, hit 9 of 9 free throws and rebounding was pretty much even. Jadda led the way with 17 points.
The beginning of the third started with the ladies appearing to push too hard. It was like they so wanted to put the lid on this baby and it led to mistakes. Passes thrown too hard or too high for example. There was a brief moment of fear when Nia Washington, after turning the ball over, tried to make a hustle play under the basket, went flying through the cheer squad and crashed into a chair. She later returned to the game. What we saw during this time was MSU slowly whittling away at the lead. The turnovers were giving them just the opportunities they needed and at the end of the third it was 58-47. Still comfortable, but close enough to be nervous.
The fourth period illustrated a cyclone team that literally ran out of gas. Always facing full court pressure. Feeling the stress of the big lead slowly disappearing. What I saw was the offense of old appear. Jadda dribbled, dribbled and dribbled some more as players mostly stood and watched. The movement and passing of the first half gave way to last second desperation shots that sometimes barely drew iron. I remember thinking at the 3:30 mark that there were three minutes to many left. Our defense slowed down and all of a sudden the big inside players for MSU were scoring. Their little guard who had 2 points at the half and was 1-11 on the season from three was hitting everything. The lead went from 7 to 5 to 7 and after more turnovers and MSU scores it was a 2 point game with less than ten seconds left. Seanna got fouled. Make two and the game is over. Clank went the first one. Swish the second. Next up their little guard hit another three from deep to tie the game and the big lead was gone. Overtime.
The overtime was an exercise of exhaustion and MSU pulled out to a 4-5 point lead. During the first 3 minutes all ISU could muster was 2 points. As we started to foul their little guard swished one after another. Their bigs would clank just enough. With too little time left Washington would bank in a deep three to cut it to two. But that was as close as we would get. MSU would ice it at the line and pull out the huge win on the road 85-81.
Observations
Jadda Buckley is for real. She was a monster on the court, but at times appeared hurt. I hope it was fatigue. The first half was an All-American half, but she only scored 2 points in the second. She is definitely a leader, a confident one, on the court.
Seanna was quietly her usual self. Double figure points. Check. 8 boards check. While she was the only person that missed free throws on the day, without her we aren’t in this game.
Rebounding. We held our own against a much bigger team. We ended up on the short side of the battle 31-27, but most of that for MSU came late with lots of our misses.
Free throws. Did you know your ladies are leading the country in free throw percentage? Men…are you watching? 19-21 on the day. Man I wish we had that one miss at the end back!
Turnovers. Only 5 in the first half. 18 for the game. There is your difference.
Durr is definitely earning her keep coming off the bench. She has a sweet three point shot, is playing excellent defense and I expect to see her minutes increase.
TeeTee. I’m not sure what is happening here. 29 minutes played. Not an offensive threat. Played good defense. But made a couple of deer in headlight mistakes. I keep telling myself she is just a freshman and is showing positives. I just want to see her become a bigger part of the offense.
Mere. When she is in and on, the entire offense is better. When she is in and off or on the bench the offense suffers. Which leads me to…
Bowe. I honestly think she would have been the difference maker in this game. With her on the court in relief of Mere or side by side with her we get more points, more defense, more of everything.
In the end, I don’t think it was so much depth as the style of play that did us in. Having to face that pressure wears on you. MSU didn’t play any more women than we did. Yet, we ran out of gas. It will be a good lesson learned and will help us in the future.
The shining light? We played with the #6 team in the country and should of, could have beaten them. It quite literally was one play here or one play there. That is a confidence booster. Any future opponent that thinks we are going to be easy pickings had best be on notice.
The future? Getting Bowe back and putting together four quarters will be something to see. We still have a couple of tough non-conference games ahead so it should be fun to watch. A challenge will be getting ready for New Orleans tomorrow with tired legs galore.
Ladies, you’ve given us something to be very excited about. Keep it up.
The first half stated with two teams playing excellent defense. MSU offered wall to wall full court pressure. The thing is, the sisters never blinked. They were prepared and time after time they defeated the pressure. MSU’s defensive pressure reminded me a bit of ATM. And like ATM they got away with lots of contact. The refs were kept busy in this one and if there had been one more on the court I suspect half of MSU’s team could have fouled out.
Our defense was exceptional. We went into that signature floating zone (my term) that Fennelly used so well in the early days at ISU. There just weren’t any openings for MSU as the sisters floated like bees and shut everything off. On offense, the sisters were moving and passing effectively. They drove the lanes and either scored or dished to the open player. A big one was Durr’s trey that allowed the sisters to creep out to a 24-16 lead in the 2nd. They held MSU scoreless for about five minutes. The ladies got MSU into foul trouble and were masters at the line making all nine free throws in the first half. The ladies were pure focus. I honestly can’t remember the last time an Iowa State women’s team played this well. At the half they were leading 44-26, shot about 63% from the field, hit 9 of 9 free throws and rebounding was pretty much even. Jadda led the way with 17 points.
The beginning of the third started with the ladies appearing to push too hard. It was like they so wanted to put the lid on this baby and it led to mistakes. Passes thrown too hard or too high for example. There was a brief moment of fear when Nia Washington, after turning the ball over, tried to make a hustle play under the basket, went flying through the cheer squad and crashed into a chair. She later returned to the game. What we saw during this time was MSU slowly whittling away at the lead. The turnovers were giving them just the opportunities they needed and at the end of the third it was 58-47. Still comfortable, but close enough to be nervous.
The fourth period illustrated a cyclone team that literally ran out of gas. Always facing full court pressure. Feeling the stress of the big lead slowly disappearing. What I saw was the offense of old appear. Jadda dribbled, dribbled and dribbled some more as players mostly stood and watched. The movement and passing of the first half gave way to last second desperation shots that sometimes barely drew iron. I remember thinking at the 3:30 mark that there were three minutes to many left. Our defense slowed down and all of a sudden the big inside players for MSU were scoring. Their little guard who had 2 points at the half and was 1-11 on the season from three was hitting everything. The lead went from 7 to 5 to 7 and after more turnovers and MSU scores it was a 2 point game with less than ten seconds left. Seanna got fouled. Make two and the game is over. Clank went the first one. Swish the second. Next up their little guard hit another three from deep to tie the game and the big lead was gone. Overtime.
The overtime was an exercise of exhaustion and MSU pulled out to a 4-5 point lead. During the first 3 minutes all ISU could muster was 2 points. As we started to foul their little guard swished one after another. Their bigs would clank just enough. With too little time left Washington would bank in a deep three to cut it to two. But that was as close as we would get. MSU would ice it at the line and pull out the huge win on the road 85-81.
Observations
Jadda Buckley is for real. She was a monster on the court, but at times appeared hurt. I hope it was fatigue. The first half was an All-American half, but she only scored 2 points in the second. She is definitely a leader, a confident one, on the court.
Seanna was quietly her usual self. Double figure points. Check. 8 boards check. While she was the only person that missed free throws on the day, without her we aren’t in this game.
Rebounding. We held our own against a much bigger team. We ended up on the short side of the battle 31-27, but most of that for MSU came late with lots of our misses.
Free throws. Did you know your ladies are leading the country in free throw percentage? Men…are you watching? 19-21 on the day. Man I wish we had that one miss at the end back!
Turnovers. Only 5 in the first half. 18 for the game. There is your difference.
Durr is definitely earning her keep coming off the bench. She has a sweet three point shot, is playing excellent defense and I expect to see her minutes increase.
TeeTee. I’m not sure what is happening here. 29 minutes played. Not an offensive threat. Played good defense. But made a couple of deer in headlight mistakes. I keep telling myself she is just a freshman and is showing positives. I just want to see her become a bigger part of the offense.
Mere. When she is in and on, the entire offense is better. When she is in and off or on the bench the offense suffers. Which leads me to…
Bowe. I honestly think she would have been the difference maker in this game. With her on the court in relief of Mere or side by side with her we get more points, more defense, more of everything.
In the end, I don’t think it was so much depth as the style of play that did us in. Having to face that pressure wears on you. MSU didn’t play any more women than we did. Yet, we ran out of gas. It will be a good lesson learned and will help us in the future.
The shining light? We played with the #6 team in the country and should of, could have beaten them. It quite literally was one play here or one play there. That is a confidence booster. Any future opponent that thinks we are going to be easy pickings had best be on notice.
The future? Getting Bowe back and putting together four quarters will be something to see. We still have a couple of tough non-conference games ahead so it should be fun to watch. A challenge will be getting ready for New Orleans tomorrow with tired legs galore.
Ladies, you’ve given us something to be very excited about. Keep it up.
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