The Championship game of the Minnesota Best Buy Tournament was as disappointing as the opening night game was encouraging for Nova. Minnesota had to battle through two overtime periods to beat off a poor Washington team the day before and had three players log 43 minutes or more. Yet when they faced off against Nova, we were the team that looked tired and ragged in the second half.
The game opened with Nova getting numerous scoring opportunities but with at least 4 missed layups, three missed foul shots and shooting only 1-4 on three pointers (by Sweeney) in the first ten minutes we were in danger of getting buried early in this one. Nonetheless with less than a minute to go in the half we were only down by 7 with the ball. A three by Burford didn't go, and then after a turnover and a time out, an excellent final offensive set ran off the clock and yielded a wide open three by Leer from the corner, which also didn't go to end the half. Nova just never could put anything together offensively the whole game.
Four minutes into the second half we got back to within 6 on a three ball by Pearson, but that was the last gasp as Minnesota got a 12-5 run to put the Gophers (it's never any fun to lose to a team named the Gophers) up by 13 and eventually as many as 19 points.
Caroline Coyer led the Nova scoring with 13 points, many coming after she picked up 2 quick fouls in the first half. With the depth at guard this year, I guess Harry didn't feel the need to sit her for the rest of the half. Rachel Roberts added 12 and Laura Sweeney 9. Emily Leer again was productive in 16 minutes before fouling out, shooting 3 of 6 but missing all three of her long balls. Sweeney sat most of the second half after apparently spraining an ankle, although she did later return to the game. Overall three point shots were 6 out of 27, inlcuding only 2 of 13 in the first half, 9 of 30 overall first half shooting. This is a game I thought we would win going in, but that kind of start will not win many games. Lost the board battle by 39-27 and it looked even more lopsided than that. Jessica Wamala got a three point shot off at the basket in garbage time but missed and is still looking for her first career points. I think she will get quite a few more opportunities this year, hopefully at the end of wins instead of losses.
Attached link will take you to Minnesota's website for photos, video, game quotes.
Washington State must have had an awful flight home from there after losing in double overtime and then overtime to start the season. They basically had two regulation games and three five minute games over the weekend and couldn't win one of them.
I will have a report on the Lafayette game available sometime on Thursday night.
This post was edited on 11/13 8:08 PM by tpenter
Minnesota website video, photos, quotes
The game opened with Nova getting numerous scoring opportunities but with at least 4 missed layups, three missed foul shots and shooting only 1-4 on three pointers (by Sweeney) in the first ten minutes we were in danger of getting buried early in this one. Nonetheless with less than a minute to go in the half we were only down by 7 with the ball. A three by Burford didn't go, and then after a turnover and a time out, an excellent final offensive set ran off the clock and yielded a wide open three by Leer from the corner, which also didn't go to end the half. Nova just never could put anything together offensively the whole game.
Four minutes into the second half we got back to within 6 on a three ball by Pearson, but that was the last gasp as Minnesota got a 12-5 run to put the Gophers (it's never any fun to lose to a team named the Gophers) up by 13 and eventually as many as 19 points.
Caroline Coyer led the Nova scoring with 13 points, many coming after she picked up 2 quick fouls in the first half. With the depth at guard this year, I guess Harry didn't feel the need to sit her for the rest of the half. Rachel Roberts added 12 and Laura Sweeney 9. Emily Leer again was productive in 16 minutes before fouling out, shooting 3 of 6 but missing all three of her long balls. Sweeney sat most of the second half after apparently spraining an ankle, although she did later return to the game. Overall three point shots were 6 out of 27, inlcuding only 2 of 13 in the first half, 9 of 30 overall first half shooting. This is a game I thought we would win going in, but that kind of start will not win many games. Lost the board battle by 39-27 and it looked even more lopsided than that. Jessica Wamala got a three point shot off at the basket in garbage time but missed and is still looking for her first career points. I think she will get quite a few more opportunities this year, hopefully at the end of wins instead of losses.
Attached link will take you to Minnesota's website for photos, video, game quotes.
Washington State must have had an awful flight home from there after losing in double overtime and then overtime to start the season. They basically had two regulation games and three five minute games over the weekend and couldn't win one of them.
I will have a report on the Lafayette game available sometime on Thursday night.
This post was edited on 11/13 8:08 PM by tpenter
Minnesota website video, photos, quotes