The first game of the season is officially over and I have one observation to share. This team is young. I mean very young. In a different way from past seasons, the freshmen class is being thrust into the fire and they are making things exciting. I mean…wow…while in the past I might tend to pick them apart or just talk about how they aren’t ready for prime time…this time all I can do is smile and see the potential of the group Bill has brought in. There is a degree of athleticism in this team that I’ve not seen in about 10 years. No, I may have never seen this level of athleticism on a Bill Fennelly team. But I digress…
The game started out rather rough for the Sisters. Houston Baptist (HBU) drew first blood by nailing a three and I thought we were ok when Moody answered right back at the other end. But there just wasn’t much happening offensively for the Cyclones in the first 8 minutes. HBU slowly pulled away as the ladies in red continued to miss every type of shot possible. Layups rolled over the rim. Three pointers clanked in every direction possible. Ugly was what I saw. At the 12 minute mark the women were down 15-8. As the coaches would say afterwards, we were lucky we were playing a team that we could come back against. After a timeout the Sisters clamped a full court press on HBU. When asked, postgame, if she imagined ISU would be a pressing team coming into the season, Jess simply stated, “No.†People, this is a pressing team. Situational yes, but a pressing team. Turnovers started to happen as HBU couldn’t handle the pressure. Our defense clamped down. When I say clamp down I’m talking about squeezing the throat and not letting go. By the time halftime arrived the ladies had gone on a 30-1 run. It was fun to watch. The ladies never looked back. I stopped keeping track when the run extended into the second half by a 39-3 margin. Perhaps the one key to realize is that it wasn’t the three that allowed us to do this. It was steals and inside scores. Junkyard stuff. Scrappy. Keep in mind that during this entire run (including the beginning of the game) ISU had gone 4-25 from beyond the arc. Ugly. Final score? 73-33.
Lets talk about the players. There is literally something to share on each so I’ll just go through the roster and provide highlights. Have to start with one person – Moody.
I have to come up with a nickname for this gal. Flash comes to mind. Here’s her line. 8 points. 7 assists. 1 turnover. Let me be clear. She should have had 4-5 more assists if Poppens wasn’t fumbling the ball all over tonight. This young woman is going to be something special. She has court vision unlike anyone I’ve seen in a long time. She makes passes that no one should be making. It’s like she is playing 2 seconds ahead of everyone else. And…she plays defense. Keep an eye on this padawan.
Pop. Perhaps one of the worst nights I’ve seen her have except for one thing. Where did that free throw shot come from? The woman who has struggled mightily over the past two years now has a very sweet free throw. No rim. No net. Just clean through each time. That was her highlight as it seemed she couldn’t hang on to the ball for anything. No finish when she did. She was clearly frustrated. Scored six points and had four turnovers. Want to know what I liked? She never stopped working hard. TEN rebounds. Gotta love that.
Jess. She gets the Yeoman’s award. She fought for every point she scored. They were the junkyard type coming off of steals during the press. She is rock solid on defense. She rebounds. She works hard. 9 points, 4 boards, 2 steals, 3 blocks. Love ya Jess.
Big C. Wasn’t exactly her night from deep, but this girl is playing older than her sophomore name tag. 13 points from short range tonight along with hustle defense and what I sense as leadership. I see her slowly emerging as one of the signature people on this team.
Loz. Played off guard tonight and couldn’t hit the three at all. Think she bent the rim with a couple of them. Still tallied 9 points. Hope to see more from this senior.
Harris. I’m seeing a sophomore Kelsey Bolte here with one exception. She plays better defense and isn’t afraid to go to the floor after balls. She’s growing up fast and she is my primary hope for outside scoring. Only 2-7 tonight but she’s putting them up there. She needs to get a screen and have a little space to score right now.
Mays. I was so excited watching her play tonight. Took my dad to the game and he couldn’t stop talking about her. Not a big scorer yet, but she hustles in everything she does. Big girl that plays lock down defense and is a ball hawk on the boards. Big upside.
Williamson. This is my future favorite player. Well, can’t really say that as I like ‘em all. But you have to love watching her play. Long and rangy. Started the surge of three pointers when the rest of the team was drawing iron. Wasn’t always pretty, but she has the shot.
Cole. She is reminding me more of Denae Stuckey all the time. She is a defensive stopper. Manages the ball ok. Will not shoot the ball. She had several open looks tonight and shied away from taking it. She took ZERO shots tonight. No acceptable.
Ellis. You have to see this girl to believe her. She has a banger body. Hips and a solid base. She’s all of 5’ 11†and she goes after rebounds like my dog goes after tennis balls. Thirteen minutes and 10 boards. Fun, fun, fun. She hustles and jumps. When she gets a board it ain’t going anywhere else.
Arganbright. Ran the offense late in the game and did ok with it. Had one bad turnover, but directed things just fine.
Youngblut. Gave autographs tonight. Got in and had two steals, a rebound, and one assist. She works hard every second.
Zimm. She is obviously still recovering from her ankle injury. You can see it in the way she moves. Getting limited minutes, but she made the most of them tonight. Nice move to the basket when the ball came inside. 7 points in 10 minutes is a pretty good average. Can’t wait to see more of her.
The good? Team defense. This team is a clamp down, step on the throat, defensive team. This will be what we depend on to stay in the game against some of the heavy competition we will be facing this season.
The good part II? We have depth and athleticism.
The bad. Seventeen turnovers.
The bad part II? Lack of 3 point shooters. Sounds strange when we made 8 of them, but it took 33 tries. Not good.
Upgrade from last year? Free throw shooting. We were 13-17 which is only 77%. But seeing Pop swishing them is a major upgrade. She is going to get fouled and she needs to make ‘em pay.
Next game is Tuesday versus Drake. Upgrade in competition and on their court. Remember what happened there a couple of years ago? It’s a double header night as the men play after the women. Come watch and support the Cyclones!!
The game started out rather rough for the Sisters. Houston Baptist (HBU) drew first blood by nailing a three and I thought we were ok when Moody answered right back at the other end. But there just wasn’t much happening offensively for the Cyclones in the first 8 minutes. HBU slowly pulled away as the ladies in red continued to miss every type of shot possible. Layups rolled over the rim. Three pointers clanked in every direction possible. Ugly was what I saw. At the 12 minute mark the women were down 15-8. As the coaches would say afterwards, we were lucky we were playing a team that we could come back against. After a timeout the Sisters clamped a full court press on HBU. When asked, postgame, if she imagined ISU would be a pressing team coming into the season, Jess simply stated, “No.†People, this is a pressing team. Situational yes, but a pressing team. Turnovers started to happen as HBU couldn’t handle the pressure. Our defense clamped down. When I say clamp down I’m talking about squeezing the throat and not letting go. By the time halftime arrived the ladies had gone on a 30-1 run. It was fun to watch. The ladies never looked back. I stopped keeping track when the run extended into the second half by a 39-3 margin. Perhaps the one key to realize is that it wasn’t the three that allowed us to do this. It was steals and inside scores. Junkyard stuff. Scrappy. Keep in mind that during this entire run (including the beginning of the game) ISU had gone 4-25 from beyond the arc. Ugly. Final score? 73-33.
Lets talk about the players. There is literally something to share on each so I’ll just go through the roster and provide highlights. Have to start with one person – Moody.
I have to come up with a nickname for this gal. Flash comes to mind. Here’s her line. 8 points. 7 assists. 1 turnover. Let me be clear. She should have had 4-5 more assists if Poppens wasn’t fumbling the ball all over tonight. This young woman is going to be something special. She has court vision unlike anyone I’ve seen in a long time. She makes passes that no one should be making. It’s like she is playing 2 seconds ahead of everyone else. And…she plays defense. Keep an eye on this padawan.
Pop. Perhaps one of the worst nights I’ve seen her have except for one thing. Where did that free throw shot come from? The woman who has struggled mightily over the past two years now has a very sweet free throw. No rim. No net. Just clean through each time. That was her highlight as it seemed she couldn’t hang on to the ball for anything. No finish when she did. She was clearly frustrated. Scored six points and had four turnovers. Want to know what I liked? She never stopped working hard. TEN rebounds. Gotta love that.
Jess. She gets the Yeoman’s award. She fought for every point she scored. They were the junkyard type coming off of steals during the press. She is rock solid on defense. She rebounds. She works hard. 9 points, 4 boards, 2 steals, 3 blocks. Love ya Jess.
Big C. Wasn’t exactly her night from deep, but this girl is playing older than her sophomore name tag. 13 points from short range tonight along with hustle defense and what I sense as leadership. I see her slowly emerging as one of the signature people on this team.
Loz. Played off guard tonight and couldn’t hit the three at all. Think she bent the rim with a couple of them. Still tallied 9 points. Hope to see more from this senior.
Harris. I’m seeing a sophomore Kelsey Bolte here with one exception. She plays better defense and isn’t afraid to go to the floor after balls. She’s growing up fast and she is my primary hope for outside scoring. Only 2-7 tonight but she’s putting them up there. She needs to get a screen and have a little space to score right now.
Mays. I was so excited watching her play tonight. Took my dad to the game and he couldn’t stop talking about her. Not a big scorer yet, but she hustles in everything she does. Big girl that plays lock down defense and is a ball hawk on the boards. Big upside.
Williamson. This is my future favorite player. Well, can’t really say that as I like ‘em all. But you have to love watching her play. Long and rangy. Started the surge of three pointers when the rest of the team was drawing iron. Wasn’t always pretty, but she has the shot.
Cole. She is reminding me more of Denae Stuckey all the time. She is a defensive stopper. Manages the ball ok. Will not shoot the ball. She had several open looks tonight and shied away from taking it. She took ZERO shots tonight. No acceptable.
Ellis. You have to see this girl to believe her. She has a banger body. Hips and a solid base. She’s all of 5’ 11†and she goes after rebounds like my dog goes after tennis balls. Thirteen minutes and 10 boards. Fun, fun, fun. She hustles and jumps. When she gets a board it ain’t going anywhere else.
Arganbright. Ran the offense late in the game and did ok with it. Had one bad turnover, but directed things just fine.
Youngblut. Gave autographs tonight. Got in and had two steals, a rebound, and one assist. She works hard every second.
Zimm. She is obviously still recovering from her ankle injury. You can see it in the way she moves. Getting limited minutes, but she made the most of them tonight. Nice move to the basket when the ball came inside. 7 points in 10 minutes is a pretty good average. Can’t wait to see more of her.
The good? Team defense. This team is a clamp down, step on the throat, defensive team. This will be what we depend on to stay in the game against some of the heavy competition we will be facing this season.
The good part II? We have depth and athleticism.
The bad. Seventeen turnovers.
The bad part II? Lack of 3 point shooters. Sounds strange when we made 8 of them, but it took 33 tries. Not good.
Upgrade from last year? Free throw shooting. We were 13-17 which is only 77%. But seeing Pop swishing them is a major upgrade. She is going to get fouled and she needs to make ‘em pay.
Next game is Tuesday versus Drake. Upgrade in competition and on their court. Remember what happened there a couple of years ago? It’s a double header night as the men play after the women. Come watch and support the Cyclones!!
