Lady Cats beat Owls tonight.

[UncleBill57]

We won 55-44 in a really tough fought game even though the margin of victory in this game surpassed the 4 and 5 point wins we had in our other 2 Big 5 wins. Only Penn is left. Rollie was in attendant e with bride and 2 granddaughters.

 

[tpenter]

A tough played game but Nova was pretty much in control the whole way after jumping out to a 13-0 lead in the first six minutes on five of 10 shooting including three treys. Temple was stone cold against a good Nova defensive effort, missing thier first 11 shots. After that Laura Sweeney went to the bench for the balance of the hafl with two fouls, and although Temple finally found their shooting touch, Nova scored just enough to keep them at bay the rest of the game. Temple had a chance to cut into an eight point deficit near the end of the half, but a tough defensive stand led to a steal and breakaway layup by Rachel Roberts with only five seconds left to give Nova a 10 point lead at the half. The Owls did get to within 4 about half way through the second period, but Nova immediately responded to get the lead back up to double figures.

Nova moved the ball incredibly well most of the game, but the shots stopped falling. Temple pressed a good portion of the second hafl and Nova handled it well. Only four turnovers for the game against 13 assists with eight steals and seven blocks, including two by Megan Pearson in a span of ten seconds. Pearson was key with ten points on 4 of 4 shooting to go with four blocks, an assist and no turnovers despite handling the ball a good portion of the time as we milked the clock. Roberts led the scoring with 13 points and Sweeney added 9. We did get out-rebounded by 42-33 and gave away too many offensive boards for second chance attempts by Temple.

Nova earns at least a tie for the Big Five Title with their 3-0 record and could clinch it outright by beating Penn or if Penn should lose to Temple and St. Joes before they meet us in January. The key games just keep on coming - we meet Delaware next Saturday night up at Dartmouth and if we win that we almost certainly would be facing Duquesne in the tournament championship. Both teams have high RPI numbers and it would benefit us greatly to put them into the win column.

The team has won 8 straight and with a 9-1 record, has the fastest start since the 2003-2004 team started off 10-1 by winning 10 straight after opening the season with a close loss to LSU and Simone Augustus. That streak ended with a loss to Boston College, shooting 0-10 on threes. They haven't played a game without making a three since as their current streak is now at 281 games. We were only 7 of 20 tonight after starting out 4 of 8, but Devon Kane and Roberts both made big ones down the strectch to close off any Temple charge.

Good Stuff - The guard play of Roberts, Jesse Carey, Caroline Coyer, Kane and Pearson yielded 39 of the 55 points, 8 assists and 1 turnover against a pretty aggressive Temple defense and press. Just outstanding. Therer were 817 people in the stands for what is typically a dismal turnout on Christmas break getaway day.

Downers - two Sweeney fouls in a space of 20 seconds putting her on the bench for most of the first half, more missed foul shots (only 10-15 tonight, including the front end of a 1 and 1), inability to close out the game earlier due to poor shooting and a continuing inability to corral defensive rebounds in our grasp. Got to do better.

Merry Christmas! The Nova women have given us all an early present this year.

 

[Coach4pride]

I agree. Excellent start this year, 9-1 , 3-0 Big Five. Facing a pressing defense like Temple's can only help in the Big East. Turnovers are still low as usual, and defense and shooting % look pretty good.

Love the contributions by the younger players. Recruiting is been on an upswing and looks like it is continuing well.

Agree, the Dartmouth tourney will be a key RPI boost if we can at worst split. Would love to win it though, especially against Delaware.

BE starts on the road at Cincy, then home vs DePaul.

Very impressed at this point. The brutal parts are ahead.

 

[whitecat]

I know we are playing a large number of uppper classmen,
but is Taylor Holeman getting much playing time. What I saw
of her last year Iiked. We certainly have expanded our recruiting
territory.

 

[UncleBill57]

Actually our most talented young players are sophs Emily Leer and Lauren Buford. Buford is coming back from knee surgery. Frosh Caroline Coyer may be our best natural athlete and skilled point guard on the team whose twin sister is being redshifted, even though all our guards play tough and are quality players. We have 6 seniors on our team. Both Coyers were all district in DC. Holeman has started a number of games this year. Suhey started last nigh in her place.

 

[tpenter]

Taylor Holman has been somewhat of a disappointment so far this year. After showing some great blocking and jumping ability and a nice soft arcing shot for the first half of last year, she seemed to lose her shooting touch and is now failing to corral some rebounds that should be hers. Her shots now are flat and her shooting percentage suffers for it. Harry continues to play her but her time on the court would increase if she could improve in those areas. Emily Suhey is probably better used coming off the bench, but has probably earned the starts lately.

Emily Leer has improved greatly on the front line this year and improved play by Holman would provide us with a much better frontcourt tandem paired with either Laura Sweeney or Leer. We need a strong front line to successfully compete against the elite in the Big East (as it exists today).