If you were looking for the type of play we’ve all expected from a highly touted team then you saw it in the first half. We got to see a little bit of everything in this half.
Ball movement? Check
Three point shots? six out of ten. Check
Inside game? Soares and Kane Fourteen points and nine rebounds. Check
Defense? Villanova shooting 30% and only 3 for 9 from deep. Two blocks. Two steals. Check
The big key? Balanced scoring. The five starters have 5, 10, 7, 7, 9 and Kane has 4. Check.
Rebounding? Wowza. 31-13 ISU. Big check.
We’ve seen these types of first halves before. Remember Iowa? (ok…that one wasn’t pretty, but we were ahead of a top 20 team). How about dominating North Carolina? Pretty familiar with Soares exerting herself and our outside shooters having found their touch.
At the half it was ISU up by a big 42-23 score. What would the second half bring?
Well, the first four minutes of the second half were a very familiar disaster as Iowa State committed four fouls and turned the ball over multiple times while not scoring. They allowed Villanova to close the gap a little bit. Soares would go to the bench with three fouls and the offense just went dysfunctional. So far this seems way too familiar. Way too familiar.
There were unforced turnovers. Lack of movement. Fortunately for the sisters, Nova has missed several shots. The big 19 point half time lead was down to 11 and ISU hadn’t scored a basket with four minutes left in the quarter. At this point it looked like the second half meltdown was alive and well. The frustrating part was the ladies at times weren’t even getting shots off.
Fritz finally hit a trey with 3 min left for our first score. It was 45-33 and nothing felt comfortable. Ryan then drove strongly and picked up the foul and made the free throws. Sadly, the rest of the team was just icy cold. Meanwhile, Nova has done just enough scoring and hitting free throws to close within ten.
The ladies had 14 turnovers and 8 in the third quarter alone.
Donarski finally hits an open three to slightly stem the bleeding. For the quarter, the sisters made a whopping four baskets. Yet the somehow survived with strong rebounding and mostly solid defense.
End of the third…52-37 sisters.
The fourth starts with Soares back in for all of ten seconds and gets her fourth foul. Back to the bench she goes. Sadly, this is one of the ingredients of our collapses against Iowa and NC. We lose a big part of our offense and defense when she goes out.
Ryan made a POWERFUL traditional three. It was by far the most impressive play of the game. At this point onward it seemed like she had decided to take the team on her back and get things done. The rest of the team went cold again…but the defense remains salty
I was nervous as Kane was picking up fouls as well. For much of the fourth the lead bounced between 17 and 13 points. When the sisters didn’t score Nova did. When Nova didn’t score, the sisters pushed the lead.
Soares was back with 6 to go. Just her presence changes everything from the opponent’s defensive approach. A prompt trey by Joens and a rebound put back by Soares and the lead jumped to 18 leading to a Nova timeout. At this point, I felt the ladies seemed to have settled down after weathering the tough third.
No sooner did I start to feel comfortable than Nova made another push after four empty ISU possessions including two dumb turnovers. Lead shrinks from 21 to 13 in a big hurry.
Two FTs by Ashley help a bit and time is starting to run out on Nova. Two minutes left and the lead is 15.
Crazy part of the fourth…unreal foul on Soares. She was MUGGED and she gets called for the foul. Wow. Soares is done. There was ione minute left and the lead is 15.
Nove would slap on a full court press and for the first time this year it seemed that the ladies didn’t know how to handle it. We made several turnovers and mistakes that allowed Nova to close the score again before finally settling down again.
Overall the second half wasn’t as bad as the ones agains Iowa and NC, but the half was still offensively challenged getting outscored 39-32 by Nova. The ladies went from shooting 60% from deep to a cool 40% in the second.
Second half was a Nova "win," but they were in too deep a hole and ISU played salty defense to help them stay at bay.
Final 74-62
Observations.
MVP. No doubt in my mind today. Ryan nearly had a triple double with 16 points, 9 boards, and 10 assists. I’ll take that from a point guard every day of the week.
Fritz seems to have found her shot! Woo hoo. Double figures for her with 13 points and 3-3 from deep. That’s a much needed change.
Soares was a one half wonder. Strong first half and grew splinters in the second for the most part. 14 points and 11 boards (yay!), but with 4 turnovers and 5 fouls (boo!). Her limited minutes in the second and the positives she did while in show how critical she is to this team.
Donarski. I was hoping she would do some damage against Nova’s Siegrist. Siegrist put up 32 points, but didn’t get help from much of anyone else. Meanwhile, Lexi struggle off and on while netting 10 points, four boards, and four personal fouls. only shot about 27% from the field.
Joens. Sometimes you just have to smile and enjoy watching her do her magic. There were a few times where she still tried to force things. But, she just gets things done. 17 points and 10 boards to take scoring honors for the team.
And by the way….All five starters were in double figures! When is the last time that has happened?
Impressively, the team dominated the boards as they out rebounded Nova 52-27. Wow…especially when you consider Soares only played just slightly more than two quarters.
As usual the ladies his their free throws going 14-17.
The bad? NINETEEN turnovers. The majority in the, again, horrid third quarter.
So…the ladies picked up their first big win against a ranked team on what was essentially their home court. Even with a bad third they held their own and won solidly. We saw the shooting from deep return. Incredible rebound margin.
What’s next? Another big game this Thursday against Drake. Drake is salty as always. They pushed Iowa to OT before losing, trounced a top 25 Nebraska team, went to overtime against UMass (remember them?), and was barely edged by that pesky Creighton team AT Creighton. If you think being at home makes this a win…think again. We are going to need a solid FOUR quarters of ball to beat this team. Let’s pack the house folks. See you there.
Ball movement? Check
Three point shots? six out of ten. Check
Inside game? Soares and Kane Fourteen points and nine rebounds. Check
Defense? Villanova shooting 30% and only 3 for 9 from deep. Two blocks. Two steals. Check
The big key? Balanced scoring. The five starters have 5, 10, 7, 7, 9 and Kane has 4. Check.
Rebounding? Wowza. 31-13 ISU. Big check.
We’ve seen these types of first halves before. Remember Iowa? (ok…that one wasn’t pretty, but we were ahead of a top 20 team). How about dominating North Carolina? Pretty familiar with Soares exerting herself and our outside shooters having found their touch.
At the half it was ISU up by a big 42-23 score. What would the second half bring?
Well, the first four minutes of the second half were a very familiar disaster as Iowa State committed four fouls and turned the ball over multiple times while not scoring. They allowed Villanova to close the gap a little bit. Soares would go to the bench with three fouls and the offense just went dysfunctional. So far this seems way too familiar. Way too familiar.
There were unforced turnovers. Lack of movement. Fortunately for the sisters, Nova has missed several shots. The big 19 point half time lead was down to 11 and ISU hadn’t scored a basket with four minutes left in the quarter. At this point it looked like the second half meltdown was alive and well. The frustrating part was the ladies at times weren’t even getting shots off.
Fritz finally hit a trey with 3 min left for our first score. It was 45-33 and nothing felt comfortable. Ryan then drove strongly and picked up the foul and made the free throws. Sadly, the rest of the team was just icy cold. Meanwhile, Nova has done just enough scoring and hitting free throws to close within ten.
The ladies had 14 turnovers and 8 in the third quarter alone.
Donarski finally hits an open three to slightly stem the bleeding. For the quarter, the sisters made a whopping four baskets. Yet the somehow survived with strong rebounding and mostly solid defense.
End of the third…52-37 sisters.
The fourth starts with Soares back in for all of ten seconds and gets her fourth foul. Back to the bench she goes. Sadly, this is one of the ingredients of our collapses against Iowa and NC. We lose a big part of our offense and defense when she goes out.
Ryan made a POWERFUL traditional three. It was by far the most impressive play of the game. At this point onward it seemed like she had decided to take the team on her back and get things done. The rest of the team went cold again…but the defense remains salty
I was nervous as Kane was picking up fouls as well. For much of the fourth the lead bounced between 17 and 13 points. When the sisters didn’t score Nova did. When Nova didn’t score, the sisters pushed the lead.
Soares was back with 6 to go. Just her presence changes everything from the opponent’s defensive approach. A prompt trey by Joens and a rebound put back by Soares and the lead jumped to 18 leading to a Nova timeout. At this point, I felt the ladies seemed to have settled down after weathering the tough third.
No sooner did I start to feel comfortable than Nova made another push after four empty ISU possessions including two dumb turnovers. Lead shrinks from 21 to 13 in a big hurry.
Two FTs by Ashley help a bit and time is starting to run out on Nova. Two minutes left and the lead is 15.
Crazy part of the fourth…unreal foul on Soares. She was MUGGED and she gets called for the foul. Wow. Soares is done. There was ione minute left and the lead is 15.
Nove would slap on a full court press and for the first time this year it seemed that the ladies didn’t know how to handle it. We made several turnovers and mistakes that allowed Nova to close the score again before finally settling down again.
Overall the second half wasn’t as bad as the ones agains Iowa and NC, but the half was still offensively challenged getting outscored 39-32 by Nova. The ladies went from shooting 60% from deep to a cool 40% in the second.
Second half was a Nova "win," but they were in too deep a hole and ISU played salty defense to help them stay at bay.
Final 74-62
Observations.
MVP. No doubt in my mind today. Ryan nearly had a triple double with 16 points, 9 boards, and 10 assists. I’ll take that from a point guard every day of the week.
Fritz seems to have found her shot! Woo hoo. Double figures for her with 13 points and 3-3 from deep. That’s a much needed change.
Soares was a one half wonder. Strong first half and grew splinters in the second for the most part. 14 points and 11 boards (yay!), but with 4 turnovers and 5 fouls (boo!). Her limited minutes in the second and the positives she did while in show how critical she is to this team.
Donarski. I was hoping she would do some damage against Nova’s Siegrist. Siegrist put up 32 points, but didn’t get help from much of anyone else. Meanwhile, Lexi struggle off and on while netting 10 points, four boards, and four personal fouls. only shot about 27% from the field.
Joens. Sometimes you just have to smile and enjoy watching her do her magic. There were a few times where she still tried to force things. But, she just gets things done. 17 points and 10 boards to take scoring honors for the team.
And by the way….All five starters were in double figures! When is the last time that has happened?
Impressively, the team dominated the boards as they out rebounded Nova 52-27. Wow…especially when you consider Soares only played just slightly more than two quarters.
As usual the ladies his their free throws going 14-17.
The bad? NINETEEN turnovers. The majority in the, again, horrid third quarter.
So…the ladies picked up their first big win against a ranked team on what was essentially their home court. Even with a bad third they held their own and won solidly. We saw the shooting from deep return. Incredible rebound margin.
What’s next? Another big game this Thursday against Drake. Drake is salty as always. They pushed Iowa to OT before losing, trounced a top 25 Nebraska team, went to overtime against UMass (remember them?), and was barely edged by that pesky Creighton team AT Creighton. If you think being at home makes this a win…think again. We are going to need a solid FOUR quarters of ball to beat this team. Let’s pack the house folks. See you there.
