Gonzaga 66-SMC 53

[Section 116]

Box score here: https://smcgaels.com/sidearmstats/wbball/media

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Well I watched the whole game. Comparison BYU beat SMC 78-36, in that game #33 Bamberger (6'3") was 6-10 for 14 points. Against Zags #33 Bamberger was 8-15 scored 22 points. She wears a brace on one leg but still moves around very quickly nice cuts to the basket, still light years faster than Virjoghe even with the brace. Today none of our bigs had a answer for Bamberger. We won thats about it. Anyone else watch?

[Section 116]

I'll take the win. Any sports fan knows comparable scores are meaningless.

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Did you watch the game 116? mmmm

[Section 116]

I did, I'll take the win! I don't care for the alternative.

[SkipZag]

Haven’t watched the game yet… but will today.

A Win is a Win and in the WCC anything other than an ugly grind of a game is unusual.

And… 116 is correct that you can’t use scores as a comparison.

Especially… this year is very unpredictable… to many sidebars.

Good “W” at SMC

Go Zags!!

[ZagDad84]

After the game, the TV portion of the broadcast stuck around for an interesting interview with the SMC associate head coach of SMC, Allyson Fasnacht.

While the announcer kept saying how good Gonzaga was and it was great to see SMC hang with the powerful Zags for 3 quarters, Ms. Fasnacht had an interesting response.

"Gonzaga is a very good team, with talented players and very good coaches. However, we are not afraid of Gonzaga, we do not want to play even with Gonzaga. We want to and have beaten Gonzaga and we go into every game with Gonzaga with the mindset that we can and will win". "There are several good things that we can take away from this game, but the result was not what we wanted or expected".

Paul Thomas is a very good head coach, and he coaches up the Gaels whenever they play the zags. You can expect every Zag vs Gael Wbb game to be a hard fought, physical, down to the wire game and that was just what the Lady Zags got yesterday.

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

A good win, away from the kennel against a physical minded team that expects to beat us. Always have some trouble with St. Mary's and you got to give credit to Paul Thomas, his staff and his players for always giving it to the Lady Zags.

What I liked:
- McKayla Williams being much more offensive minded, looking for her shot. They did not fall yesterday, but it is great having another offensive weapon on the court.
- 4 more blocks yesterday, 2 by Yvonne and 2 by Melody. Good to see that number of blocks without the fouling.
- Scoring 66 points despite shooting considerably under our season average overall and from 3.
- Shooting 81.8% (18-22) from the free throw line is outstanding. Good job ladies.
- Winning the rebound battle 45-33 with 19 (yes 19) offensive rebounds.
- Only 8 personnel fouls for the entire game.
- Only Ali Bamberger got to take foul shots (7). Nobody else on SMC took a foul shot all day. Great job ladies, make them earn their points.

What I did not care for:
- For the 3rd game in a row, throwing away an inbound pass. Need to focus ladies, the defenses obviously are.
- Shooting in the 2nd and 3rd quarters was really bad (26.67% @ 4-15 & 28.57% @ 4-14).
- Did not make SMC pay for their mistakes; only 13 points off of 15 turnovers and only 16 2nd chance points off 19 offensive rebounds.
- Did not guard Ali, Bamberger very well. Let her get too deep and did not take away her dominate hand. Resulting in 22 points overall, 19 pts inside the arc on 7-10 shooting.
- Bree only played 5 minutes yesterday and Eliza only played 8. Would like to get them more minutes. Hopefully next week.

Held SMC under our season defensive average. While the Lady Zags only scored 66 points, on a below average shooting day. Had we shot our average, we would have had over 70 points. If we made SMC pay for their turnovers and o-boards like the Lady Zags usually do, we would have scored in the 80's.

Good win against a tough opponent (3-1 in league before yesterday) away from home. I will take it.

Some things to work on for next week. Let's hope we get the games in Cali played next week.

Way to go Ladies,

ZagDad

[upan8th]

Now, more than halfway through the season, patterns of play are emerging:

Most apparent, the Truong twins are the heart of the team. Between them they're providing about a third of the scoring and most of the assists. Their free-throw conversion rate is something both GU teams should shoot for. They combine, by far, as well, to commit the most turnovers. They shoot more free-throws than anyone else.

Why? Because they're always trying to MAKE A PLAY. Start a play, execute it with a high percentage shot or a trip to the line, & if that doesn't work, take the initiative to LOOK AT & ATTACK the basket. For most of the team it would take a cattle-prod to goad them into these kinds of aggressive, non-scripted attempts to beat the person guarding them off the dribble. Perhaps because they know they'll be jerked from the game if their initiative doesn't succeed. Can't expect Ana Maria to do it (though it might be helpful if she'd at least look at the basket as the defense sags off her when she's 10 feet from it), but practically everyone else is capable of beating their man off the dribble and joining Kayleigh & Kaylynn in taking high percentage shots and making the whole team harder to guard. Everyone on the men's side does it, some more than others, of course, but it's hard to argue w/their results.

[SkipZag]

Had a chance to watch the SMC game… kinda what I expected.

It was the second game of the week after a pretty physical game with UP.
The team did well at getting their open shots but a road trip two days after a tough game may have been why the shots weren’t dropping….

AV did make both her shots… one a nice turnaround close to the basket, the other from the elbow. AV actually has a nice shot… and I think the coaches really need to work with her on her moves and confidence. We need her 6’5” height and length.

Agree ZD on MW… the coaches need to get her into rotation rather than the spot playing.

Next Year… time to get the three non red shirt freshmen into the spot play part of every game… they will need to be at least part of the rotation next year.

If GU WBB wants to play in the dance, they need to play ever game from now on with that in mind. No give away games.

With everything buzzing around “GU”… the coaches need to be dialed in and making sure the team is on point working hard and most of all… having fun!

Time to get the suntan lotion packed… for a few days in the sun…

Go Zags!!

[ZagDad84]

I watched a little of the Kansas State vs #14 Oklahoma Wbb game. While Kansas State put a hurting on the ranked Sooners, the story was the Kansas State center, Ayoka Lee. Ayoka Lee, is a 6'6" Junior center from Byron, Minnesota.

Kansas State center Ayoka Lee broke a 35-year-old record on Sunday, scoring 61 points, the most in a Division I women’s college basketball game, while leading her team to a 94-65 victory over No. 14 Oklahoma in Manhattan, Kan. She was 5 points short of scoring more than the opposing team.

The N.C.A.A. Division I single-game scoring record had been 60 points, set by Cindy Brown at Long Beach State in 1987 and tied in 2016 by the University of Minnesota’s Rachel Banham, who now plays in the W.N.B.A. for the Minnesota Lynx.

Lee broke the record by going 23 of 30 from the field (76.7 percent), and without attempting a single 3-point basket. She was also 15 of 17 from the free-throw line and notched 12 rebounds and three blocks.

In watching Lee, she is not terribly athletic, but she is very tall, with a larger body that she uses very well. She walked the Oklahoma post back towards the basket caught the pass to the post 3-5 feet from the basket and then turned and went over either shoulder, off the glass for a layup. In the portion of the game, I watched along with the highlights, I saw Lee only make one jumper longer than 5-7 feet. If Oklahoma tried to front her, Lee simply walked the Sooner post forward until there was sufficient room to pass over the top resulting in a layup.

What I noticed that Lee did and that the Zag forwards and centers do not, is that she never brings the ball down below her shoulders. Her teammates pass the ball to her up high. After a rebound she grabs the ball and keeps it above her shoulders. The opposing guards and wings have no effect because they can't reach the ball. All of our forwards, the majority of the time bring the ball down before going back up, want to dribble, etc. leaving them open to having their pockets picked. If you are within 2 steps of the basket, the ball should never be brought below their shoulders.

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

AV did make both her shots… one a nice turnaround close to the basket, the other from the elbow. AV actually has a nice shot… and I think the coaches really need to work with her on her moves and confidence. We need her 6’5” height and length.

Agree ZD on MW… the coaches need to get her into rotation rather than the spot playing.

AV actually did look really good on her two shots. I don't think her shot is the jumper from the free throw line as she has air balled as many as she has made this year. However, the little turnaround jumper from 5 feet is available to her every time, against every team, as long as she is not double teamed and she is free to spin to her right. She should be encouraged to take this shot every time she has the opportunity.

McKayla looked for her shot a lot more this game than in past games. When she was offered a scholarship, we were told she was a slasher and finished at the hoop. Had not seen that part of her game until Saturday. She did not take a bad shot; they just did not fall in for her against St. Mary's. Let's hope Coach does not try to reign her in and lets her expand her offensive repertoire.

ZagDad

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

BYU at home took down San Diego 70-48 today.

In their 2 games against San Diego (last 2 games also), Gonzales scored 29 & 20 points, and Harding 19 & 16 points respectively.

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

#WCCSPORTS FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK – ANAYA JAMES, FR., G – PACIFIC
James scored double-digit points in both games last week including 13 during Pacific’s win over Pepperdine. James also tallied 16 against San Francisco last Thursday. She paced her squad in assists over the weekend with seven total. James also collected two steals in each game. She shot a clean 9-for-9 from the charity stripe in both games combined. On the year, James is Pacific's leading scorer, averaging 15.1 ppg, good for sixth among WCC leaders. This is James’ fifth WCC Freshman of the Week honor this season.