Amazing! Fantastic! What a time to go on the road against a good team and get a quality victory. Our sisters just beat KSU 58-51 to pull into a tie for fourth place and officially hold the tie breaker over KSU by virtue of having beat them twice.
This was, perhaps, the scariest game (in my opinion) remaining on the schedule. Yes, KU and Mizzou have the ability to beat ISU on any given day, but KSU has always been tough at Bramlidge (sp).
The first part of this game was just plain ugly as some ISU games are. It was a mix of turnovers, missed shots, and…fortunately…having at least one player keep us in it offensively while the defense did its job. In this case it was Jess. While Bolt was misfiring early, Jess was making some hustle plays. Just like last game they all didn’t end up as baskets, but did lead to some fouls and Jess made her free throws. She scored all of her 6 points early, but they were important.
Prins was pretty much a non-factor as she got into early foul trouble. As Arson so aptly noted, the second (right after her first) was more of a phantom foul than anything. I’ve come to expect that as there is always at least one poor official in every crew this year. Its one of those things that you have to find a way to play through as a team.
Even though the team was misfiring offensively, they were playing solid D and when KSU would miss it was rare that they got a second chance. ISU’s team was going hard on the backboards and as a surprise…our guard court led the way tonight with Loz pulling down 6 and CC nabbing 5. Reminded me a little bit of when Heather Ezell played as she was always the little engine that could when it came to rebounds (and like Megan Taylor before her).
This was a back and forth first half with ISU and KSU always staying within sight of each other. WAY too many turnovers by the Sisters and fortunately KSU didn’t take advantage often enough. The last three minutes of the first half saw KSU slide into neutral on the offensive end while ISU used a pair of shots by Cole and Big C and a pair of charity shots by Big C to pull ahead by four at the break. Fittingly, the team ended the half with one more turnover.
The second half started off just as the first did with Bolt missing and more turnovers. Finally…finally the team started to settle down when Bolt struck out the blue with a three. It was like her shooting touch returned magically as she hit threes on the next three times she took a shot. It was like a blow up side the head of the wildcats as ISU moved ahead by 8. The Loz got in on the act and nailed a three.
Then…something happened. Like the western front at a cease fire, it got quiet (figuratively speaking). The scoring stopped as defenses stepped up, turnovers again reappeared, and neither team making a move on the other. During the last 8 minutes of the game our ladies would only score one more basket. If you told me that would happen I’d guess that we would lose. Instead, we had five more turnovers, missed four shots, BUT we got to the line. That’s pretty much all we would do during this time is make KSU pay for fouling us. The ladies would make 11 of 14 down the stretch to ice this one. It seemed like it was all over with one minute left and ISU having stretched their lead to 52-43. Amazingly, in the last minute KSU would close within 52-49 putting a bit of a scare into the Cyclone faithful. Five free throws later it would be over and the ladies had picked up what, to date, is the most important victory of the season.
Thanks to her fireworks in the second half Bolt would lead all scorers with 19 followed closely by Loz with 14. I hope the lid somehow stays off the basket for Bolt from here on out. One and a half games of poor shooting is all I can handle! Loz assist to turnover ratio was nothing to write home about either. Having only one assist and turning the ball over five times doesn’t cut it in our system. Fortunately, Cole really stepped up tonight. I felt like she played well in our last outing and she certainly did so tonight as she hit for 5 points, had five boards and five assists. That is a very nice line for her.
The rest of the team would find a way to contribute as Big C, Schroll, and Pop would toss in 8, 6, and 6 respectively. Unfortunately Prins and Zim would be ineffective having only 3 rebounds, committing 4 turnovers and 2 fouls between them. That has to change.
The signature of this team, as with recent Bill Fennelly coached teams, is defense and rebounding. The margin on the boards was close, but I honestly expected that as KSU and ISU are very mirror-like teams. The difference tonight was something that earlier in the season scared the crap out of me – free throws. Coach F. has always preached that his goal is to make more free throws than the opponent attempts. Tonight we made 18 of 23 shots compared to KSU’s 12 attempts. Earlier in the season we had too many players that were a liability at the line and the worst shooter on the night was Loz at 4 of 6.
So where does this leave us? Here is the run down:
ISU plays KU Tuesday in a payback game. At Mizzou next Saturday. Mizzou has been rather schizo all season so we have to expect their best game at home on senior day. KU is physical so we should be ready for a battle Tuesday. Let’s pack Hilton folks!
KSU next plays ATM which I assume will be a loss and then goes to KU which will be tough.
TTech is at Texas and then has OU at home. They are a game back right now. One loss and they are done unless ISU completely folds. They played both of these teams tough earlier in the season while losing both by about 10 each.
Texas is two games back and has games with ATM, TTech, and at OSU. I’m going to assume they might go 2-1 here. Leaving them out of the hunt.
If ISU takes care of business at home I think that we should have the #4 seed in hand. Win both and we are a solid 4th with an outside chance at tying for 3rd while losing the tie breaker to OU. One game at a time ladies…one game at a time.
This was, perhaps, the scariest game (in my opinion) remaining on the schedule. Yes, KU and Mizzou have the ability to beat ISU on any given day, but KSU has always been tough at Bramlidge (sp).
The first part of this game was just plain ugly as some ISU games are. It was a mix of turnovers, missed shots, and…fortunately…having at least one player keep us in it offensively while the defense did its job. In this case it was Jess. While Bolt was misfiring early, Jess was making some hustle plays. Just like last game they all didn’t end up as baskets, but did lead to some fouls and Jess made her free throws. She scored all of her 6 points early, but they were important.
Prins was pretty much a non-factor as she got into early foul trouble. As Arson so aptly noted, the second (right after her first) was more of a phantom foul than anything. I’ve come to expect that as there is always at least one poor official in every crew this year. Its one of those things that you have to find a way to play through as a team.
Even though the team was misfiring offensively, they were playing solid D and when KSU would miss it was rare that they got a second chance. ISU’s team was going hard on the backboards and as a surprise…our guard court led the way tonight with Loz pulling down 6 and CC nabbing 5. Reminded me a little bit of when Heather Ezell played as she was always the little engine that could when it came to rebounds (and like Megan Taylor before her).
This was a back and forth first half with ISU and KSU always staying within sight of each other. WAY too many turnovers by the Sisters and fortunately KSU didn’t take advantage often enough. The last three minutes of the first half saw KSU slide into neutral on the offensive end while ISU used a pair of shots by Cole and Big C and a pair of charity shots by Big C to pull ahead by four at the break. Fittingly, the team ended the half with one more turnover.
The second half started off just as the first did with Bolt missing and more turnovers. Finally…finally the team started to settle down when Bolt struck out the blue with a three. It was like her shooting touch returned magically as she hit threes on the next three times she took a shot. It was like a blow up side the head of the wildcats as ISU moved ahead by 8. The Loz got in on the act and nailed a three.
Then…something happened. Like the western front at a cease fire, it got quiet (figuratively speaking). The scoring stopped as defenses stepped up, turnovers again reappeared, and neither team making a move on the other. During the last 8 minutes of the game our ladies would only score one more basket. If you told me that would happen I’d guess that we would lose. Instead, we had five more turnovers, missed four shots, BUT we got to the line. That’s pretty much all we would do during this time is make KSU pay for fouling us. The ladies would make 11 of 14 down the stretch to ice this one. It seemed like it was all over with one minute left and ISU having stretched their lead to 52-43. Amazingly, in the last minute KSU would close within 52-49 putting a bit of a scare into the Cyclone faithful. Five free throws later it would be over and the ladies had picked up what, to date, is the most important victory of the season.
Thanks to her fireworks in the second half Bolt would lead all scorers with 19 followed closely by Loz with 14. I hope the lid somehow stays off the basket for Bolt from here on out. One and a half games of poor shooting is all I can handle! Loz assist to turnover ratio was nothing to write home about either. Having only one assist and turning the ball over five times doesn’t cut it in our system. Fortunately, Cole really stepped up tonight. I felt like she played well in our last outing and she certainly did so tonight as she hit for 5 points, had five boards and five assists. That is a very nice line for her.
The rest of the team would find a way to contribute as Big C, Schroll, and Pop would toss in 8, 6, and 6 respectively. Unfortunately Prins and Zim would be ineffective having only 3 rebounds, committing 4 turnovers and 2 fouls between them. That has to change.
The signature of this team, as with recent Bill Fennelly coached teams, is defense and rebounding. The margin on the boards was close, but I honestly expected that as KSU and ISU are very mirror-like teams. The difference tonight was something that earlier in the season scared the crap out of me – free throws. Coach F. has always preached that his goal is to make more free throws than the opponent attempts. Tonight we made 18 of 23 shots compared to KSU’s 12 attempts. Earlier in the season we had too many players that were a liability at the line and the worst shooter on the night was Loz at 4 of 6.
So where does this leave us? Here is the run down:
ISU plays KU Tuesday in a payback game. At Mizzou next Saturday. Mizzou has been rather schizo all season so we have to expect their best game at home on senior day. KU is physical so we should be ready for a battle Tuesday. Let’s pack Hilton folks!
KSU next plays ATM which I assume will be a loss and then goes to KU which will be tough.
TTech is at Texas and then has OU at home. They are a game back right now. One loss and they are done unless ISU completely folds. They played both of these teams tough earlier in the season while losing both by about 10 each.
Texas is two games back and has games with ATM, TTech, and at OSU. I’m going to assume they might go 2-1 here. Leaving them out of the hunt.
If ISU takes care of business at home I think that we should have the #4 seed in hand. Win both and we are a solid 4th with an outside chance at tying for 3rd while losing the tie breaker to OU. One game at a time ladies…one game at a time.
