BRONCOS AND DONS ON TAP, WILL ZAGS DEFENSE IN WCC AND AGAINST COVID CONTINUE?

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Lets look at our first opponent Santa Clara. Lot of familiar faces with a few new ones and some making more of a impact this year.

*#23 Vanallen (5'9") in her last game scored 25 points, was 16-18 free throws, 9 rebounds. Wow CLF watch some tape how did she get to free throw line 16 times? Averaging 13.2 Points and 4.6 rebounds per game. She's having a breakout year.

*#22 Herlihy (6'1") Last game 2-5 on three pointers. Averaging 11.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.

*#5 Wiehl (6'1") last game 3-6 on three pointers. Averaging 8.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.

* #3 Pritchard (5'10") Averaging 7.5 points a game.

* #12 Maldonado (5'7") Averaging 5 points a game, last game scored 11 points.

#33 Stafford (6'1") Transfer from community college who can score and rebound. Last game scored 9 points, 6 rebounds, and then fouled out of the game.

#31 Hiraki (5'7") Freshman averaging 4 points a game.

#34 Hollingworth (5'10")

#13 Edmanson(6'0")

Ok another sister act but not twins one year apart listed below:

#10 Harris (6'6") Transfer Redshirted last year, playing limited minutes this year so far.

#14 Harris (6'7") Freshman this year. Behind her sister as far as court time.

* Denotes Starters

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Next up the San Francisco and the Award winning Freshman. So lets start out with the Freshman.

* #21 Krimili (5'10") Averaging 18.2 points, 4 rebounds a game. Is 31-75 on 3 pointers. Was awarded player of the week honors once and Freshman of the week honors 3 times already. Attempted 137 FG.

* #13 Hoskova (5'10") Last games was 14-18 FG and scored 32 points. Averaging 13.5 points, 5.6 rebounds a game. Attempted 122 FG.

* #5 Langer (5'9") averaging 8.7 points.

* #55 Rathbun (5'11") Averaging 6.3 points, and 4.5 rebounds. Awarded player of the week honors once.

* #24 Kostic (6'2") Averaging 4.9 rebounds.

#14 McDowell (5'6") Last game scored 10 points, 2 for 3 on 3 pointers. Averaging 6.5 points a game.

#2 Vaalavirta (5'8") Last game 2-3 on 3 pointers.

#3 Galic (6'0") did not play last game. Averaging 6.8 points a game.

#32 Nielacna (6'0") did not play last 2 games. Averaging 8 points a game.

* Denotes starters.

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Was thinking about taking this week off on the scouting report, but then I saw the San Diego postponed and said have fun you can't take no games for granted.

Glad to see the Wirth twins had a nice celebration on the court today in honor of their birthday. What didn't you watch you were all invited to the party.

Thursday can't come quick enough. JT 4 days starting tomorrow make them count.

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Watched the last Santa Clara game and two players stood out and I watched them closely.

#23 Vanallen (5'9") she loves hanging on the left side. Her patent move is to dribble from the left side across the key to the right side get hang time and toss up right handed layup or off the back board while kicking her foot, knee body in the air attempting to get a foul. If guarded her shots often miss but she usually comes away with a foul shots. She really gets up high in the air while shooting this cross body shot. When their in the bonus they will also try to get her the ball. She does have quick hands and feet, saw her steel the ball a couple of times (Stat Guy Pacific did not give her credit for steals). And thats how she got to the foul line 18 times last game and made 16 free throws.

#33 Stafford (6'1") Really is good on defense underneath basket, very physical player, good rebounder, in this game she fouled out but many of her fouls could have gone both ways. She is a transfer from Arizona Community College who played one year their averaging 17.2 points game and 15.7 rebounds at AZCC. I think the Zags will being seeing a lot of her on Thursday. Definite starter in the making plays like a true Center.

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

77 New COVID Deaths In Santa Clara County; Officials Warn ‘Deaths May Be Temporarily Undercounted’
January 10, 2021 at 7:00 pmFiled Under:Coronavirus, COVID, covid deaths, Santa Clara County

SAN JOSE (CBS SF/AP) — The surge of new deaths from the current steep rise in COVID-19 cases in California continued Saturday with a state-wide record one-day total of 695 fatalities associated with the virus including 41 in Santa Clara County.

“Due to the high volume of deaths under investig​ation and delays in reporting to the county, deaths may be temporarily ​undercounted,” officials warned in bright red letters on their COVID dashboard page.

The heart of the Silicon Valley continues to be the hardest hit of all Bay Area counties. Over the two-day stretch, the county reported 3,387 new confirmed cases with 217 new hospitalizations.

The county also reached the standard maximum capacity in its ICU units.

California’s death toll since the start of the pandemic rose to 29,233, according to the state Department of Public Health’s website.

Meanwhile, hospitalizations are nearly 22,000, and state models project the number could reach 30,000 by Feb 1.

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Lets talk transfers playing this year for the WBB ZAGS

Cierra Walker comes from Vanderbilt where her last year they were 2-14 in conference. Cierra wanted to come to a winning program and she got to experience the Kennel loaded with Zag Fans last year. Cierra has started to light it up in every faucet of the game for the Zags. Last game in the first half she was beyond impressive. How lucky are we this year 3 Seniors starting, joined by a 4th Senior starter (Cierra) all with talent and tremendous will to win. CLF gets a A+ on this transfer she has it all.

Abby O'Connor comes from Loyola Chicago where she was the 2nd player in that school history with over 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, and 100 blocks. Abby like many transfers this year is able to get thrown right into the competion. That being said she is rough around the edges and is learning a new position. CLF has a definite plan for her though and has implemented that the last 4 games. Abby in now the 8th person coming off the bench, averaging double digit minutes the last 4 games.
Did I mention she has JT as a mentor (nice). Last game we saw some improvements, she had 2 nice dribble drive layups, 3 rebounds, 2 assist, and a steal. We will be looking forward to her continuing maturation as a player.
Can't wait for Abby to experience Zags Fans at the Kennel next year.

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

WCC WBB Zags up to date Critique of state of our team:

Overall our team has been able to count on scoring from various players, and a lot of players are making their shots count in the last 3 games. Rebounding, assists, teamwork have seemed to take a step forward in that time frame also.

CLF coached her best WCC game this year against Portland.

Thoughts on CLF coaching last game and games going forward. Would like to see CLF have the same mentality for every game played. That being stick to your rotation get up by 30 points and keep it, empty your bench last 5 minutes of game if up by 30 points.
Right now have only one complaint that about Ejim. Ejim only played 3 minutes last game and Barfield played 5 minutes, whats wrong with that picture? If your up by 30 points with 8 minutes left in the game you might want to bring Ejim in to get a little more experience, she looks very talented, let her get seasoned a little more CLF.

Is anyone mentoring Ejim? Don't you think its a good idea to take advantage of all that Senior leadership we have this year. Thinking one of the Wirth twins would make a ideal fit.

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

2020-21 UCU #WCCHOOPS Women’s Basketball Player of the Week

January 11: Jenn Wirth, Gonzaga
January 4: Haylee Andrews, Portland
December 28: Abby Rathbun, San Francisco
December 21: Valerie Higgins, Pacific
December 14: Ioanna Krimili, San Francisco
December 7: Alex Fowler, Portland
November 30: Shaylee Gonzales, BYU

2020-21 UCU #WCCHOOPS Women’s Basketball Freshman of the Week

January 11: Ioanna Krimili, San Francisco
January 4: Ioanna Krimili, San Francisco
December 28: Ioanna Krimili, San Francisco
December 21: Finau Tonga, Saint Mary’s
December 14: Ioanna Krimili, San Francisco
December 7: Ioanna Krimili, San Francisco
November 30: Finau Tonga, Saint Mary’s

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

So SF Freshman Krimili now has been named WCC WBB Freshman of the week in 5 weeks already. One week she was player of the week and Freshman of the week sweeping honors.

Going to have a couple looks more deeply at Krimili this first take will be not from visual, but past history.

#21 Krimili is from Greece. She played last year as a Freshman for San Francisco she played in 9 games before getting hurt and taking a Redshirt for the year. She made quite a name for herself in those first 9 games last year. In Krimili first game last year she scored 32 points and was 18 for 20 at the charity stripe. In two other games she scored 20 points, and 6 out of 9 games she scored in double figures. She averaged 15.6 points a game, and was 33-37 at the free throw line.

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Don't know if I'm going to take the time to watch a SF game so I just looked at their schedule and one positive stood out in the WCC play. That was they played a tight game against San Diego 61 San Francisco 54. San Diego was picked to finish 4th this year in WCC and did beat BYU this year, before going in Covid limbo for 14 days.

[seacatfan]

40-23 Zags at the half. Looks like they jumped all over SCU from the get go and haven't let up.

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Zags win 71-52. Observations Zags were shooting 100% when CLF started making substitutions. Jill was on fire hitting nothing but net. We were about to wipe out Santa Clara, but CLF went back to her old bad habits making subs more the sake of subbing habits. I just hate this letting teams back in the game. CLF needs to adjust to the game flow. It don't take a rocket scientist to figure out when your team is shooting 100% leave them on the court, at least until they miss some shots or show some signs of slowing down. Against a good team this would have created the opportunity for them to win. Even Santa Clara was able to get back in the game getting the lead down to 10 points, until the Zags went on a run midway 4th quarter.

Ejim got good minutes (16) tonight and she looks like a starter next year. Only flaw tonight was 3-6 from free throw line. Practice those free throws Ejim. Other than that though Yvonne looked great playing with the starters. Love how she follows her misses, ala Zykera Rice. Ejim scored 7 points tonight. Looking good Yvonne!

Hollingsworth got her first minutes on the court, good to see her healthy again. When #12 came into the came my first response was, thats a tall girl coming in for Santa Clara. Then I was watching her and said wait a minute thats my team. Have to say thought the Zags really looked good in their blue uniforms tonight. The way they shot in the first quarter maybe they should keep wearing them hey?

Before CLF subbed out JT in the first quarter, she looked like the old JT from last year. Again it really gets in my craw how CLF takes out players when they are hot. Especially players like Jill who are not fed constantly under the basket like the taller Zag players. If it was Katie she would not have been pulled when she was red hot.

That being said welcome back JT keep doing what you did in the last 4 days off because it came out golden for you. Seeing JT hit that first 3 with nothing but net had me dancing, then was thrilled when JT began hitting every shot until getting pulled. Definitely was the highlight of my year so far.

Zags were 7-13 on 3 pointers tonight. Kaylynn had 2-3 great again coming off the bench. All the starters had good shooting percentages. After tonight I'm feeling more confident in this team.

Another good team win for the Lady Zags.

Good job CLF getting Ejim good minutes tonight, you can see she plays great defense, lots of controlled energy. Remember CLF be adjustable to how your players are playing, don't have your game plan written in granite.

[seacatfan]

Looks like USF led almost the entire game but Portland escaped w/ a 1 point win over the Dons tonight.

[ZagDad84]

Looks like USF led almost the entire game but Portland escaped w/ a 1 point win over the Dons tonight.

Portland could not shoot tonight, about 33% overall and from 3. USF had them by shooting 41.7% overall but their 3-point shooting (2-12 @ 16.6%) and 12-18 (66.7%) from the charity stripe did them in. Portland runs a lot of pick and rolls and back door plays to get Andrews and Fowler lay-ups. If you take the key away from them and make them shoot from distance (contested of course), they become a somewhat average team.

USF has a freshman (Krimili) who has won freshman of the week 5 times and player of the week once. When you have a freshman that leads the team in minutes played by a bunch and points per game by a bunch, what does that say about the other four starters on the team? Portland held Krimili to 13 points today (36 minutes) on 4-12 shooting (overall) including 1-6 from 3. If Krimili is having an off night or the opposition takes her away, it is very difficult for the Dons to muster up enough offense to beat the other team.

ZagDad

[SkipZag]

Another fun game with a lot of players getting time.

Player time management ZAB... two game road trip and it was great to be able to rest the starters.
With Portland and SF playing to the buzzer, it may be to GUs advantage.

Nice to see EH getting some time... and AV getting better by the game. Three blocks... and a pretty good looking stat line.
Speaking of stat lines... 23 assists

And last... great defense, had them in the 40s when the bench was cleared.

Finish the trip strong.

Go Zags!!

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Portland 56 San Francisco 54 tonight.

San Francisco got key contributions from two bench players tonight.

#3 Galic (6'0") is back and coming off the bench. She was 5-6 FG tonight and scored 11 points. She is from Croatia

#2 Vaalavirta (5'8") was 4-5 FG, scoring 9 points. She is from Finland.

[ZagDad84]

No detailed analysis tonight.

First quarter and 1st 4 minutes of the 4th quarter, great offensive basketball by the Zags. The rest of the game was below average by starters and bench alike.

16 turnovers overall, not good. Seven turnovers in the 3rd quarter, each and every one by a guard. Terrible guard play in the 3rd quarter cost the Zags a chance to put the game away and made the starters play into the 4th quarter to build up the lead. Passing into double and triple teams, driving into the lane with no where to go or pass, lobs to the big when the big has no where to go unnecessary fancy dribbling and getting the ball stolen. Zag guards are better than this.

Scored 2 baskets in the last 6+ minutes and none in the last 4 minutes. Come on CLF, let the subs run the offense, they need to learn to. Having the subs run the clock down to 10 seconds and then try and make a play is ridiculous against the SCU starters. If the SCU starters can't stop the GU subs, that is on them. Let the subs run the offense so they get experience. They put the time in practice, they deserve to play.

Defense was not too bad today, let SCU get to the hoop way too many times for easy lay-ups which lead to SCU shooting 43.5% overall. In addition, SCU made some contested 3s but also made several uncontested 3s shooting 42.9% from long range. Both numbers are way over the Zag season average. Not quite the bounce in the Zags step after the 1st quarter. Quit scoreboard watching and play 4 quarters, somebody is going to get hot and beat you with a 75% effort on defense. You are lucky the Broncos turned the ball over more than the Zags.

Announcer said MK was not available today, anybody know why? It was nice to see EH on the court tonight (probably due to MK's absence). She definitely needs to get her court legs back and the only way to do it is time on the court.

Still no KG.

A win on the road, subs got some minutes, some subs got a lot of minutes and a new player saw the court for the first time this year.

It was a good day.

Rest up and prepare for the Dons

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

For those who did not pick up on Saturday's game time against the Dons (that would be me).

Tomorrows game is at NOON not the usual 2:00 PM.

Now back to your original programming.

ZagDad

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Zags won 76-57.

Player of the game Kayleigh Truong 17 points, 7-11 FG, 3-5 3 pointers, and 5 assists.

Ejim had 10 points, 5-5 FG, in 15 minutes. CLF get that nomination in for Ejim for Freshman of the week. Yvonne looks better the more minutes she plays.

Have to get a shout out to Forsyth 2-2 FG both 3 pointers nice way to finish a game. Good job Louise.

Congratulations to Eliza Hollingsworth scoring her first 2 points. Good to see you back on the court Eliza.

13 players played and 12 scored for the Zags. Bench scored 30 points today.

Another good team win for Lady Zags.

Duke, Virginia, San Jose State have all decided to close down their WBB basketball programs for the year due to Covid. Just another reminder your toughest opponent this year is Covid, keep up your defense 24/7 Lady Zags.

[seacatfan]

Santa Clara bounced back to thump Portland today.


I didn't watch the GU game but tracked the score on line. Kinda strange with only 1 starter in double figures and it wasn't one of their usual leading scorers. But as mentioned a whole bunch of Zags played and scored so they didn't need big contributions from the usual suspects.

[ZagDad84]

Noticed today's game was played on the USF campus.

So, you can play BB games in San Francisco, but can't play BB games in Palo Alto (33 miles away-South) or in Santa Clara (17 miles further South) but we can play in Santa Cruz (42 miles to the Southwest on the coast) and in Moraga (22 miles to the East of San Francisco).

Got It.

I realize the rules are by county, but still.

At least the Lady Zags had a nice drive up to USF on Highway 1.

ZagDad

[CG3Dad]

Speaking of Highway 1 LMU barely squeaked out a win over our PCH 1 rival Pepperdine yesterday 53-50 in the annual PCH cup tournament.

I actually haven’t viewed the game as of yet because I ended up getting the times mixed up and went on a motorcycle ride with a friend up Pacific Coast Highway 1 from Long Beach to Oxnard CA,

Beautiful trip but it was super crowded as I guess we weren’t the only ones in So Cal taking it all in.

My best friend sent me updates, we got the W but he said it was “ugly”!

**** EDIT: ****
Just watched the first half and yes the 1st quarter was “ugly”, Lions down 14, but the second was completely the opposite. Through some great defense Mandel leading with 4 blocks by the half (leads the WCC in blocks and top five in the NCAA) as well as our bench stepping up offensively, Pepperdine was 0 for 10 while we went on a 12-0 run to pull within two points at the half!

Darn good game, so far... we’ll just forget about that first period LOL!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SkipZag]

Another good win for GU WBB...

Well we are back in WCC where if they cannot beat GU by putting the ball in the hoop, then maybe they can by other means..
How many times did we see GU players on the floor? One time Jenn was pushed from behind putting her on the hardwood at the top of the key in what was very unnecessary... foul called but should have been technical after seeing the replay.
I was glad CLF was able to play the bench early and often before one of our starters got hurt.

It was good to see the guards start hitting the outside shots... SF decided to take JW out of the game and they did... but that’s what good TEAMS have... many great players that will step up.
Good to see the bench contribute... and all the bench get some time. And to see EH get time and a basket.

I thought I saw where the BYU and Pacific game was postponed... any info on why?
One game lost this week... hopefully not two.

Two good road wins... hopefully a move up the rankings.

Go Zags!

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Congrats on the victory CG3Dad although can't believe you went AWOL on your daughter. Just chalk it up to age easily confused (LOL).

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Lady Zags and CLF you have a full week to get ready for BYU be ready.

Jill practice those 3 pointers and jumps shots we need you ready for BYU. We need the JT who came out prepared for the Santa Clara game. Good job on layups by Lady Zags this last game, yes layups need to be practiced also.

Jenn and LeeAnne get ready for a battle in the paint.