I think we all knew what this game could be. The big questions were (a) how bad was TCU and (b) how would ISU respond against a team of that nature. As we found out, TCU (at least on one end of the court) is very bad. How ISU would respond was at times a mixed bag, but overall gets good scores.
The game would get off to a flying start for the sisters. Joens started things right away with a trey and that was followed by a nice dish from Donarski to Kane for two. Things just kept moving for the sisters as beautiful ball movement led to Joens layup. It was 9-0 1:20 into the game led by 7 from Joens. Timeout TCU and apparently it was a good one. The ISU offense that came back on the court started to misfire...actually I'd say it just shifted into neutral for some reason. Izzi was getting some playing time and she was posted up against the one tall player (6'6") on the TCU squad. It caused her problems. Likely a learning opportunity on when to dish back outside. An example of the misfiring offense was seeing the highly unusual...Joens missed BOTH FT after being fouled. Donarski even missed a wide open, uncontested layup.
TCU went on a 6-0 run as sisters were 0-5 during this time. Fritz would score a breakaway layup to end the frustration. To end the first, Donarski would hit a trey. It was 20-10 ISU in a quarter that started fast and then went flat.
The second started with a beautiful dish (I think by Ryan) and spin by Kane for 2. Fritz followed that with an offensive board for two. A real test for the ladies happened when Ryan went out with two fouls. We found out quickly just how valuable she is as the flow of the game became very disjointed. Turnovers started to add up as M&M traveled, the sisters had a shot clock violation and then a tied ball. Not pretty. Overall, four straight miscues. Best description I can give things with Ryan out is the offense looks like the keystone cops.
Donarski came to the rescue as she hits a trey to finally end the craziness. Unfortunately, we followed that up with two more empty possessions. On one Joens drove leaving a wide open Diew standing there at the three point line.
Guess what? Ryan came back in. It may seem crazy, but as soon as she entered the game things calmed down. Joens nailed her third trey. Things wouldn't get back to a smooth running engine though as the offense went in spurts. What we did see though was solid defense and just enough scoring (with less chaos) to edge the lead out to 33-17. On that defensive end, TCU didn't get second chances. It was one bad miss and done.
At the half it was a bit of a mixed bag against a bad team. Holding them to 17 points was good unless you consider this is a really challenged offensive team. ISU on offense just wasn't flowing well. Add to that difficulties at the line as the sisters were only shooting 50% AND overall were barely outrebounding a smaller team (up 1 at the half). Just an overall lackluster performance so far.
The second half started a bit inauspiciously with an ISU turnover. Add to that, Joens missed another FT as the team is now 5-10 from the line. Weird. The first couple of minutes for both teams was a bout of futility. For the sisters, offensive recognition of open players is very slow. Five straight possessions went with no baskets.
Kane ends the futility and gets fouled. She hits the FT as well. It's 37-17. Very weird feeling to be ahead by 20 and not looking good so far. Ryan followed Kane's effort with a trey after a TCU shot clock violation (i.e. good defense). The Noah opened his arms and the Nile parted.
Donarski hit a trey
Ryan hit a trey
ISU starts things going with a 9-1 run.
Wow…Kane drives, scores and gets fouled again
Another free throw miss
Fritz hits a trey
It was a 14-1 run.
Joens hits a trey
It was a 17-1 run before TCU gets their first basket with 2 min left in the third quarter. It had to feel like it was raining threes for the last minutes of the quarter. But wait....
Fritz hit a trey
and
Fritz from deep again. Wow.
It was 62-22 after three as the sisters had a 29-5 quarter behind a rain of three point shots. The team is shooting nearly as well from deep (47%) as they are from the line (50%).
The final stanza starts with...guess what...a Diew wide open three that was a result of good ball movement. Kane, who had another great game, powered in for another two points. The best news was Ryan was getting lots of bench minutes. She was essentially done for the evening. As subs came in the offense underneath became a bit of a mess as multiple shots just would't go. TCUs big is causing problems just by being big.
With just over six minutes left in the game it was mostly subs now. It was frustrating to see M&M struggle with her time on the court. She had some good looks from deep, but every single one of her attempts weren't even close. Two of them were air balls. TCU was still playing starters and was still pressuring full court. On the upside, M&M did hit a pair of FT and followed with a mid range jumper. Her three just didn't make the trip.
It was fun to see the entire bench being cleared. TCU was still playing starters and they are finally competitive with someone! It’s the first time I’ve seen the reserves look bad. Lots of turnovers. But...they still battled.
This one would finally wind down and fittingly the game ends with ISU getting a blocked shot on TCU.
Final ISU wins 75-35.
Observations
POG - I'm giving a co-POG tonight. Ashley had a monster double-double with 19 points and 14 boards. The other piece of this goes to Morgan Kane who had some real power moves underneath tonight. She went for 13 points and 5 boards. Good evening for her!
Donarski really had a decent game. Seven dimes, two steals, ten points and only 1 turnover. I'll take that from her every day of the week. Oh yeah...outstanding defense as usual.
Ryan - showed why she's so valuable out there leading the team. "Only" eight points and four assists, but an overall good game.
Fritz - wow. She was scrappy, aggressive, nasty, and in "your" face tough. Found her range from deep and scored 13.
Izzi - had a bit of a tough night. I was hoping for more after the last game, but she sometimes struggled tonight. Most of it was decision making. She hung tough though and in nine minutes only had 3 points and 2 boards. Things will get better.
Diew - one thing you always know about her...she goes 95 mph all the time. She's feisty. She didn't score as much tonight (5), but I honestly felt the guards did a poor job of finding her. On the boards she was tough with 8.
M&M - we just keep hoping things will start clicking for her. Four points and two boards along with 3 turnovers and, ouch, 0-4 from deep including two airballs. Got a ton of minutes tonight. Nothing just settled in well.
Assists to Turnovers - you have to love lines like this. If you only look at the five starters it was 14:5. That's what you like to see.
Rebounds - first half was solid on the defensive end, but offensive rebounding was MIA. Second half saw the sisters outbound TCU by 7. Better.
Free throws - woof. BIG WOOF. Eight for Fourteen. Thank goodness this wasn't against a competitive team.
Three point shooting. This game featured special effects. At least it seemed like it. The team was on fire from deep. And it was nearly everyone. Starters hit 12 of 24 (8 of those misses were by Joens). Overall the team was 13-31 or 42%.
Defense - OK, it was solid, but TCU offensively is a mess. Scoring 7 and 5 points in consecutive quarters doomed any chance they had of being competitive. Sadly, ISU's offense had two quarters of struggle as well as they only hit for 13 in the 2nd and 4th (mainly reserve time).
The good news is the starters got some well needed rest. They have to feel good about their shooting from deep coming out of this one. Now it's time to prepare for a big rematch with a team ISU should have beaten in Norman. We get to see a team that is prepared with the personnel they have instead of having to react to losing their second leading scorer. OU was leading the conference, but is now in a tie after getting pounded by Texas tonight. It's currently a three way tie between OU, Texas and ISU (UT has the tie breaker since they've beaten both OU and ISU at home). Let's show up and make Hilton a VERY hostile environment Saturday. While you're in town take in one of the wrestling matches as ISU wrestles OU Friday and OSU Sunday.
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