Sorry this is so late tonight. We stopped in DSM for dinner after the game and then had to drive rather slowly though the snow in southern Iowa. But I'm home and here it is...
There were more than just a few "I wish" thoughts in my head going to this game. Such as "I wish Stephanie Soares were here to go up against Jackson. Battle of the bigs so to speak. Or "I wish the team would recover its three point swagger." I got to see one of these take place tonight in the home game against a scrappy KU team.
The beginning of the first qtr was Ashley figuring out all the ways she could shoot the ball and mostly miss. It was as if some evil spirit...perhaps the same one from Wednesday...was inhabiting her body...making her do things that were so out of character. It led to a very brief bench discussion with Coach Fennelly who helped her to focus and get centered.
Back on the court, she connected on a three and then followed up with another. I hoped this was a good sign for the rest of the game. It was.
Early into the game came Izzi who looked sharp with a couple of defensive stops. It was pretty clear early on that her physical presence would come in handy. Throughout the first, KU looked quicker, but after allowing a couple of easy buckets to the Jayhawks, the ISU defense started to settle in.
In a somewhat bizarre and planned early going, every shot was seemingly a three. One min left in the first quarter and the ladies were 4-13 from deep and only two shots inside…both misses. It seemed (and this was correct) that the plan was to bomb the Jayhawks into submission. One might think this would be a risky plan the way this team has shot from deep so far this season. But...it worked. My question as I watched was would it open up the inside?
At the end of one it was ISU 15-12...every basket a trey.
The second started with some nice inside stuff with Izzi. There were some nice passes and it's clear Izzi has paid attention in practice. Her footwork (rotating on her pivot) continues to get better and along with her size she uses it effectively. She was more that Jackson could handle at times.
Joens obviously had vanquished the evil spirits as she hit another three. Shortly after, Izzi picked up her second foul and off to the bench she went. But going inside had allowed the ladies to stretch the lead to 8. Then it stopped. Cold. More attempted threes. No makes. Five min left and KU closed to 24-19. The ladies were 6-18 from deep. What a game pace. At this rate I thought they would have 25 attempts by halftime and that is a normal complete game rate. I wasn't far off.
For a bit over two minutes the ISU offense went into a drought. But KU was struggling to take advantage. The ISU defense was frustrating them. A nice drive by Joens would end the drought and again extend the lead to 8.
Diew went down after a scrum which let to a Joens score. She appeared pretty shaken up, but later re-entered the game to massive cheers from the great crowd. Joens would score again on a short jumper and ISU would lead by ten at the half 31-21.
Why were we able to scratch out a ten point lead? Defense. The ladies were putting on a great exhibition of switching and providing help defense. Out front the switches by our guards were keeping Franklin and Kersgeiter from getting any clean looks at the hoop. Then add in the 7-20 from deep and 11-34 overall shooting and there you go. Adding to that, despite the size diff the ladies were outrebounding KU by 4. The ladies were being very aggressive going after the ball. After a rough outing Wednesday, Joens was leading the way with 15 points.
The third saw no let down by the ladies. The defense stayed aggressive throughout. The quarter started with a Ryan steal and two possessions later she forces another turnover that led to points. Izzi put a nice move on Jackson for two, but picked up her third on the other end. Back to the bench for later use.
Good movement on offense led to an open Joens trey. The lead stretched to 36-23 three min into the quarter. Things kept clicking as Ryan made a nice drive underneath thanks to a screen out top and got a reverse layup. All of sudden the lead extended to 41-27 at the 4:41. ISU was wracking up points at a much higher rate than KU could keep up with.
KU would make a little run to cut the lead to 10 by driving while we had Fritz on the bench. Take note of that. I really focused on watching her tonight. She was clamp down tough on defense.
Joens would make one of the highlight plays of the evening on a super drive getting the layup and the 4th foul on Jackson...sending her to the bench for an extended period. At the end of the third, Diew hit a trey in a hurry up end of quarter offense and on the other end the ladies got a stop. On the other end, Joens got fouled after a Diew miss. Misses BOTH FT. That was the only miscue Joens had after the first couple of minutes in this one.
Defense was being scrappy. If KU wanted to get the ball to Jackson, the ladies would double down and blanket her. On the outside the guards were haunting every KU shooter. End of 3 it was 49-34. It was going to take a major letdown on the defensive end for KU to get back into this one.
Guess what? The defense stayed major sticky and never allowed KU to breathe. A nice break away by Fritz extended the lead to 55-35. At this point, Izzi was back in the game and the offense was focusing on getting the ball to her. She didn't go on a massive scoring splurge although she picked up a couple of nice baskets. She's def showing growth. The offense went to an inside outside attack and overall it worked. Meanwhile, guess what? The defense continued to frustrate KU
It was clear in this one that Kane wasn’t as effective against Jackson as Izzi was. But the good part is, the multi-headed post beast that the team is employing is finding someone every night that steps up and gets it done.
By the time the starters began to leave the court the lead had ballooned to 21 points. It was time to just chew clock. KU never tried to start fouling to put the ladies at the line. As we know, that typically isn't a good strategy. Time finally ran out on KU and the sisters win 64-50 (a wee bit closer than it really was thanks to a last second trey by KU).
Observations
POG - Joens. Once she settled down she was a beast. Not only did she score inside and out (26 points on 55% shooting), but she pulled down 15 boards. That is just a beast mode type of game. Congrats to Ashley for coming off of such a poor game and dominating.
POG runner up - Izzi. Think about this. Here is someone who wasn't expected to see much, if any, playing time this year. She had three other posts in front of her. Two are gone. She has worked her butt off in practice (coach's words) and is improving every single game. Tonight was an 11 point and 5 rebound game. Add in an assist and a block. Darned good night for her.
Ryan - always in control. She was on "find the shooter" mode tonight. Wasn't looking for her shot much and that part showed (4 points), but had 6 assists and zero turnovers. And she was part of the defensive effort on the KU perimeter.
Donarski - who's more fun to watch on defense? Fritz or Donarski? It's a tough pick. Donarski is the one constant who you know will get the job done. She also adds in just enough scoring (I still want more) with 9 points. Two blocks and a steal. Strange stat? Zero rebounds.
Fritz - not a lot of points tonight, but she guarded one of KU's top scorers and just frustrated the bejebbers out of her. 5 points, a steal, 2 boards and 3 blocked shots.
Kane/Izzi/Diew - the three headed post beast. Wednesday was Kane's turn. Tonight it was Izzi. Add to it Diew hitting three treys and you end up with 20 points and 11 boards. We will take that.
Bench scoring - 20-5 sisters.
Defense - you've read enough about it already. After the ladies settled it, for the most part it was a clinic on what to do correctly. Keep in mind...Kersgeiter - KU's leading scorer - only had 4 points at the half and ZERO in the second half.
Rebounding - we were up against a bigger team and yet the ladies managed to outbound KU by 1 - 43 to 42.
Coming up next is another tough one. Of course what game won't be tough in the Big 12? TCU in Fort Worth in mid week and follow that with a rematch with OU next Saturday. Yes, TCU is 0-7 and 6-12 overall. Yes, they are the "weakest" team in the conference. But you can't overlook them. This is a game the sisters should dominate start to finish. They need to do exactly that and tune up for Saturday's game. ISU will be in a tie for 2nd by the end of the day tomorrow (Baylor and UT play tomorrow afternoon). Next Saturday will be a chance to reclaim a piece of first and show the world who the sisters are.
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