I think going into this game we probably all thought the sisters would win. They have bounced back nicely from losses this season and why not now? They did, it was just how they did it that may have surprised.
The first quarter was a mess. WVU was being physical and yet it was ISU that was being called for the fouls. Yes, many were pretty obvious but it was a bit startling. How would you feel three minutes in when both of your mainstay posts are on the bench with two fouls? Though the ladies were down 7-2 it was early and I still felt comfortable. They settled down, scored some buckets and started to increase the defensive pressure. By the end of that nasty first the ladies were only down four 14-10. Yep...ten points. Not the high output you normally expect. But then came the second.
This was when we started to see Emily Ryan take over this game. Wasn't necessarily her shooting from deep, it was her driving and maneuvering things to make positive things happen. Oftentimes it meant she scored. She only ended up with four assists on the night and that is because she was our principle scorer. Ryan put in 9 points in the second, helped by Donarski with 5 and Jordao with 3 and the ladies went on one of their offensive runs. It was fueled by solid defense as the ladies went from four down to six up rather quickly. WVU just wasn't having any luck shooting and a lot of that was due to fantastic defensive pressure that had a hand in their face all of the time. By the time the quarter was over the sisters led 34-28. The most frustrating stat of the first half were all of the turnovers. Against another team these (9 of them) could kill you.
The second half saw the team work out to big double digit leads of 17-18 points only to see WVU keep edging back. Why? A big part of it was offensive rebounds. On several possessions our defense was good forcing tough shots only to give up 1, 2 or 3 offensive boards and an eventual bucket. WVU ended the night with TWENTY offensive rebounds on the night. That's just inexcusable. The other thing we saw happening in the second half was a WVU foul fest. I'm not sure I saw any or many that weren't actually fouls, but we know there are always more than what is called. Two WVU players fouled out of the game. It finally boiled over for WVU coach Carey. He ran across half court, said some very choice things and "ding" first technical. Then he bumped (accidentally) Emily Ryan and said a few more choice things and "ding" technical number two and an ejection. This is one of the other frustrating parts of this game. Too many missed free throws. During then ensuing SIX free throws (the technicals happened after a personal foul) Donarksi went 1-2 and Ryan went 2-4. Ugh. While WVU kept things somewhat close I never felt the game was in doubt. The sisters closed it out with a nice 74-57 win.
Observations
Free Throws - 21-29 tonight. That's not our usual stuff and the misses were from usually reliable folk. This is part of the team bread and butter and they need to keep the percentage above 80.
Three pointers - this wasn't the game you thought it might be. WVU did a nice job defending the perimeter and ISU continued to struggle a bit from outside. 7-18 is close to the season average, but some of the opportunities were just plain misses. I hope it smooths out a bit for the tournament.
Ryan - wow, what a night. Career high in scoring with 29 points. The was the engine of this team tonight. Even the very WVU pro announcers lauded her praises over and over. The 1:1 assist/turnover ratio is a little abby normal, but when you are doing the bulk of the scoring the assists won't be there. The downside is the low number may keep her from over taking they who shall not be named in the season record book.
Joens (sr) - Tough day at the office for Ashley. A whopping 2-10 from the field, she made her living at the line going 6-8. WVU blanketed her and focused on not letting her hurt them. Yet she did in another way - assists. She had three very nice plays where she drew the double and dished to the post for an easy score.
Donarski - she reminds me of that little terrier dog who is ferocious and wants to bite your ankle off. She is just tenacious on defense. She clearly frustrated WVU. Her offense was a bit tough tonight as well. Picked up 11 points on 3-10 shooting. Not the norm we expect from her.
The posts - Jordao had one of her best games IMO. She was working hard on the boards (7) and scored some nice buckets to net seven. Kane had a rougher go and only played 11 minutes tonight.
Offensive boards - WVU just ate the Cyclones for lunch on the offensive boards. It was pug ugly. They ended up with 20 of the little monsters and without that many the game wouldn't have been remotely close. As coach says, rebounds are all about effort and desire. We just got beat to a bunch of them. That can't happen again. Net we were out rebounded 42-38.
Well, everything is falling into place for the Big 12 tourney. Unfortunately OU fell on its face today and lost to Kansas. That drops OU to the 4th seed and bumps Texas to our side of the bracket at #3. OU is just a mystery that way. I would also almost lay odds that the KU coach gets the Big 12 coach of the year for turning that program around. The only thing left is for all of us to get out our voodoo dolls and pins and hope that TTU pulls off a miracle and beats Baylor in Waco. OK, wishful thinking.
Hope there are going to be lots of you going to the tournament next week. It's going to be cold as crap with highs in the upper 30's so the normal warm and fun trip to KC just isn't happening. But it's up to us to make Muni one very hot place for every ISU opponent. Even if you can only make it for one game make the drive and have some fun. After the tourney we all get to venture back to Ames as the women will be hosting the first two rounds. Maybe we can get lucky and get assigned to Wichita as well? The Power of the Pop crew will be in KC and I hope we see you there. Outside of the games our usual haunt is Quaffs. Join us for a cold one or six.
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