I just have to start this by saying Frau Bluder's win count is still at 800. I do that with a smile as this was one of the most exciting WBB games I've been to in a long time. As I said in my previous posts, this was bound to be a chess match. What I saw tonight bore that out, except the chess master was the coach in Ames.
The beginning of the game had to have Coach Fen screaming, "this is what we practiced this week!" as Iowa's post Czinano scored two quick buckets making her presence known right away. All the pre-game chatter talked about the one-two punch of Czinano and Clark. The former being the recipient of many of Clark's assists. But after falling behind early, the sisters played clamp down defense and scrapped back into the game. Midway through the first quarter they took the lead and the battle was on. By the time the first ended the sisters had grabbed a two point lead 19-17 and Hilton was going stark raving crazy. During this time something that happened last week against LSU had happened again. Ryan got into foul trouble. Off to the bench she went with two fouls. But this time...in comes M&M. What a difference it makes having her around. This became a critical part of the chess match as Coach Fen skillfully monitored Ryan and periodically inserted M&M to keep things in check.
Let me talk about Hilton for a second. The student section was at capacity and the house was definitely a rockin'. The noise was so loud in the place that my ears were ringing when I left. Was it full, heck no...it never is for a women's game these days. But those that were there made their presence known and it made a huge difference to the ladies. After the game, Donarski mentioned how the crowd pulled them through the rough spots and willed them back on their feet.
The second quarter looked like a battle of heavyweights. The sisters would lay a haymaker on Iowa and pull out to what started to appear to be a comfortable lead. But back would come Iowa. Usually it was one of those amazingly silky three point shots of Clark. I have to give her credit and badger her as well. She has one of the most beautiful shots I've ever seen. From release to the swish through the net it is pure heaven to watch (even if you're not an Iowa fan). On the downside, she takes a ton of shots. Some she shouldn't take. She also tries to get too flashy at times and it cost her on several occasions. Tonight it was to the tune of six turnovers. She is the heart of the Iowa team and also is a weakness. But I digress...By halftime the sisters had pulled out to one of those seemingly nice leads when here came Iowa again. This included a quarter ending shot under the basket that never should have happened...but this is the nature of this game. In any case the sisters had a five point lead. That's good.
The second half was nearly a mirror of the first. Bodies flying, passions flaring, Hilton going crazy and the teams trading blows. For every lead ISU would take Iowa would find a way to battle back. At one point Iowa even took the lead and fortunately the sisters never let them extend it in any way. Once ISU retook the lead they never relinquished it. The game came down to fouls with Czinano getting into further trouble picking up her fourth foul. This gave her more time on the bench. Quite honestly, it seemed Iowa actually performed better...maybe it was increased team speed...when she was gone. The game likely would have been iced sooner if something that rarely ever happens happened. ISU started missing free throws. Fatigue? Possibly. Stress? Maybe. But on several opportunities the ladies only made one out of two attempts and it was definitely nerve wracking. The good part was they kept getting to the line. What really iced this one was the defense. Man...there was nothing easy for Iowa and in the closing minutes the basket wasn't friendly to them. When the last free throw fell the sisters would come out triumphant 77-70.
Observations
Two words - resilient and whiny. Both teams were incredibly resilient in this game. Each threw haymakers at the other and both teams bounced back. BUT...the difference in mentality of this one is the second word - whiny. The Iowa players have taken on the personality of their coach. They whined and stomped around the floor like junior grade brats whenever something didn't go their way. That's not something you see from the sisters. That is a break in the Iowa psyche and it hurt them.
Ashley Joens - Can we clone her? There is no one that flings her body around the floor with more abandon than she does. There must be a miracle ointment the trainers use on her to heal the bruises. She played all 40 minutes. Scored 26 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 0 turnovers. Like Clark, she takes a lot of shots. Yes, some of them leave you scratching your head. But its the physical nature of her play that really makes the difference in games like this...and separates her from a player like Clark.
Aubrey Joens - tonight I saw something from Aubrey I hadn't noticed before. It's the way she plays team ball. Her head is on a swivel all the time. She puts herself in the right spot and sees things on the court. The little engine that could garnered 12 points and...surprise (not)...pulled in 11 boards. I'm loving this young woman.
Donarski - ok...nothing flashy on the offensive side tonight. Going into the 4th quarter she only had put up one three pointer. Then she hit a critical one. Went off for sixteen points. But what she really did was play defense. Oh my...she was something to behold. Wasn't always perfect, but she hustled her butt off on that end of the court.
Kane - She had her hands full out there and boy did she play well on the defensive end. She gave up some to Czinano, but she gave as well as she took. She put in 9 points and pulled down 7 boards. Tipped a few other balls to teammates. She was solid.
Jordao - didn't score. But you know what? Like Kane she battled in the middle. Four boards and two blocks. Both of our posts were like middle linebackers out there. No one was going to push them around.
Ryan - the foul bug hit early again in this one. Against LSU this spelled disaster. But she's a smart cookie and so is coach. Her minutes were valuable and she was put into a position for most of the game where she wouldn't pick up fouls. Not a stellar game, but without her we likely don't win.
M&M - Maggie was a breath of fresh air. She came in like the veteran she is and just did her thing. There was no drop off. I said before the game that if we could get ten solid minutes from her it would be critical. We got eleven. Like last game she hit for five points and one board. Nice.
The refs - man...either they were horribly inconsistent or they just decided to let the teams play for the most part. If one were to call all the fouls that actually occurred out there I'm not sure there would have been any players left to finish the game. It was physical. On the other hand, some of the calls made were mystifying. This crew was just inconsistent on when traveling occurred and when it didn't. Oh well...you sometimes have to beat more than just your opponent to win...and we didn't whine about the missed calls.
This was a good one folks. If you didn't catch it and can watch a replay its definitely worth it. These are two very good teams and both are going to do some damage throughout the season. Iowa definitely learned some lessons (I hope they did) tonight that will make them better. ISU continues to show a maturity that is going to benefit them throughout the season.
Next up...UNI on Sunday. Somehow UNI always gives ISU fits. I hope this time we come out firing on all cylinders and just put them away. See you then.
The beginning of the game had to have Coach Fen screaming, "this is what we practiced this week!" as Iowa's post Czinano scored two quick buckets making her presence known right away. All the pre-game chatter talked about the one-two punch of Czinano and Clark. The former being the recipient of many of Clark's assists. But after falling behind early, the sisters played clamp down defense and scrapped back into the game. Midway through the first quarter they took the lead and the battle was on. By the time the first ended the sisters had grabbed a two point lead 19-17 and Hilton was going stark raving crazy. During this time something that happened last week against LSU had happened again. Ryan got into foul trouble. Off to the bench she went with two fouls. But this time...in comes M&M. What a difference it makes having her around. This became a critical part of the chess match as Coach Fen skillfully monitored Ryan and periodically inserted M&M to keep things in check.
Let me talk about Hilton for a second. The student section was at capacity and the house was definitely a rockin'. The noise was so loud in the place that my ears were ringing when I left. Was it full, heck no...it never is for a women's game these days. But those that were there made their presence known and it made a huge difference to the ladies. After the game, Donarski mentioned how the crowd pulled them through the rough spots and willed them back on their feet.
The second quarter looked like a battle of heavyweights. The sisters would lay a haymaker on Iowa and pull out to what started to appear to be a comfortable lead. But back would come Iowa. Usually it was one of those amazingly silky three point shots of Clark. I have to give her credit and badger her as well. She has one of the most beautiful shots I've ever seen. From release to the swish through the net it is pure heaven to watch (even if you're not an Iowa fan). On the downside, she takes a ton of shots. Some she shouldn't take. She also tries to get too flashy at times and it cost her on several occasions. Tonight it was to the tune of six turnovers. She is the heart of the Iowa team and also is a weakness. But I digress...By halftime the sisters had pulled out to one of those seemingly nice leads when here came Iowa again. This included a quarter ending shot under the basket that never should have happened...but this is the nature of this game. In any case the sisters had a five point lead. That's good.
The second half was nearly a mirror of the first. Bodies flying, passions flaring, Hilton going crazy and the teams trading blows. For every lead ISU would take Iowa would find a way to battle back. At one point Iowa even took the lead and fortunately the sisters never let them extend it in any way. Once ISU retook the lead they never relinquished it. The game came down to fouls with Czinano getting into further trouble picking up her fourth foul. This gave her more time on the bench. Quite honestly, it seemed Iowa actually performed better...maybe it was increased team speed...when she was gone. The game likely would have been iced sooner if something that rarely ever happens happened. ISU started missing free throws. Fatigue? Possibly. Stress? Maybe. But on several opportunities the ladies only made one out of two attempts and it was definitely nerve wracking. The good part was they kept getting to the line. What really iced this one was the defense. Man...there was nothing easy for Iowa and in the closing minutes the basket wasn't friendly to them. When the last free throw fell the sisters would come out triumphant 77-70.
Observations
Two words - resilient and whiny. Both teams were incredibly resilient in this game. Each threw haymakers at the other and both teams bounced back. BUT...the difference in mentality of this one is the second word - whiny. The Iowa players have taken on the personality of their coach. They whined and stomped around the floor like junior grade brats whenever something didn't go their way. That's not something you see from the sisters. That is a break in the Iowa psyche and it hurt them.
Ashley Joens - Can we clone her? There is no one that flings her body around the floor with more abandon than she does. There must be a miracle ointment the trainers use on her to heal the bruises. She played all 40 minutes. Scored 26 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 0 turnovers. Like Clark, she takes a lot of shots. Yes, some of them leave you scratching your head. But its the physical nature of her play that really makes the difference in games like this...and separates her from a player like Clark.
Aubrey Joens - tonight I saw something from Aubrey I hadn't noticed before. It's the way she plays team ball. Her head is on a swivel all the time. She puts herself in the right spot and sees things on the court. The little engine that could garnered 12 points and...surprise (not)...pulled in 11 boards. I'm loving this young woman.
Donarski - ok...nothing flashy on the offensive side tonight. Going into the 4th quarter she only had put up one three pointer. Then she hit a critical one. Went off for sixteen points. But what she really did was play defense. Oh my...she was something to behold. Wasn't always perfect, but she hustled her butt off on that end of the court.
Kane - She had her hands full out there and boy did she play well on the defensive end. She gave up some to Czinano, but she gave as well as she took. She put in 9 points and pulled down 7 boards. Tipped a few other balls to teammates. She was solid.
Jordao - didn't score. But you know what? Like Kane she battled in the middle. Four boards and two blocks. Both of our posts were like middle linebackers out there. No one was going to push them around.
Ryan - the foul bug hit early again in this one. Against LSU this spelled disaster. But she's a smart cookie and so is coach. Her minutes were valuable and she was put into a position for most of the game where she wouldn't pick up fouls. Not a stellar game, but without her we likely don't win.
M&M - Maggie was a breath of fresh air. She came in like the veteran she is and just did her thing. There was no drop off. I said before the game that if we could get ten solid minutes from her it would be critical. We got eleven. Like last game she hit for five points and one board. Nice.
The refs - man...either they were horribly inconsistent or they just decided to let the teams play for the most part. If one were to call all the fouls that actually occurred out there I'm not sure there would have been any players left to finish the game. It was physical. On the other hand, some of the calls made were mystifying. This crew was just inconsistent on when traveling occurred and when it didn't. Oh well...you sometimes have to beat more than just your opponent to win...and we didn't whine about the missed calls.
This was a good one folks. If you didn't catch it and can watch a replay its definitely worth it. These are two very good teams and both are going to do some damage throughout the season. Iowa definitely learned some lessons (I hope they did) tonight that will make them better. ISU continues to show a maturity that is going to benefit them throughout the season.
Next up...UNI on Sunday. Somehow UNI always gives ISU fits. I hope this time we come out firing on all cylinders and just put them away. See you then.
