Going in this figured to be a tough test for Nova and it got worse 3 minutes in when Laura Sweeney took a shot to her eye that left her momentarilly disoriented and left the game and could not return. Emily Leer came on to star in her second straight game and Taylor Holman had some key plays and tough rebounds to somewhat contol St. Joes center Cahtil Van Grinsven, who had a monster game with 24 points and 11 boards and was a presence throughout the game.
Nova had a slim lead most of the game; the few times St. Joes took a one or two point lead, Nova immediately responded to regain the lead. Devon Kane was a key factor early on, driving to the hoop repeatedly for layup attempts. Nova also battled the striped shirts in this one as Kane came away several times with all but open wounds but no foul calls. Nova led by 27-23 at the break, had no turnovers and five assists in the first 20 minutes with Kane and Leer leadng the scoring with 7 and 6 points. Holman started the scoring with a three ball and Emily Suhey had a productive two minutes, coming in to get open in the corner for a big three pointer.
Until the 9 minute mark of the second half, Nova never led by more than four and St. Joes only led by two on one occasion. After St. Joes tied the score for the final time at 38-38, Holman put Nova up for good with a layup and then Kane went coast to coast with a steal to score. A layup by Rachel Roberts and an improbable off balance prayer shot by Megan Pearson at the shot clock buzzer put us up by 8. After two free throws from Roberts we had a seemingly comfortable 10 point lead with a little more than 4 to play. After two free throws by Pearson we were still up by 8 with 47 seconds to play and the chess game began. A pair of foul shots narrowed the lead down to 6, a single free throw by Roberts put it back to 7, a layup by St. Joes took it down to 5, two more foul shots by Roberts back up to 7, still with 31 seconds left. A long bomb by Van Grinsven cut it to 4 and a single foul shot by Kane took it back up to 5 with16 seconds left. After taking a foul they had to give, Nova gave up a final layup to Van Grinsven with 6 seconds left and St. Joes immediatly fouled Roberts on the inbounds. After missing the first, thoughts were of that awful loss last year at Marquette, but Roberts made the second to ice the game 55-51.
Good stuff - only 8 turnovers, great pickup by Leer and Holman for Sweeney's absence, limited 3 point attempts (5-11) with lots of ball movement and working the ball inside. Good to see immediate offensive response when St. Joes tied or went ahead and the overall poise that the entire team had dealing with the additional adversity of playing without Sweeney and against the refs. Great games by Roberts (16 points on 4-5 from the floor with nine rebounds), Kane (10 points on 4-8 from the floor and controlling the game at times) and Pearson (11 points on 4-6 from the floor).
Downers - Sweeney experiencied blurred vision but apparently was later cleared to play, but Harry chose to have her sit out. Hopefully a full recovery by Wednesday night. Poor foul shooting for the second straight game, some in key situations. Getting this team in position to win at the end of games should be the hard part; closing them out with ball control, clock management and decent foul shooting should be the easy part.
This was the first of three straight games against teams with high RPI ratings. Team is now 7-1 on the year with a big game against Princeton Wednesday night at home to try to avenge last year's blowout loss, then a week off for exams before taking on Temple in our quest to retain our Big Five title from last year.
Attached Link takes you to St. Joe website for some great photos, video and nice comments about Nova by coach Griffen.
This post was edited on 12/8 8:26 PM by tpenter
Video and Photos from St. Joe website
Nova had a slim lead most of the game; the few times St. Joes took a one or two point lead, Nova immediately responded to regain the lead. Devon Kane was a key factor early on, driving to the hoop repeatedly for layup attempts. Nova also battled the striped shirts in this one as Kane came away several times with all but open wounds but no foul calls. Nova led by 27-23 at the break, had no turnovers and five assists in the first 20 minutes with Kane and Leer leadng the scoring with 7 and 6 points. Holman started the scoring with a three ball and Emily Suhey had a productive two minutes, coming in to get open in the corner for a big three pointer.
Until the 9 minute mark of the second half, Nova never led by more than four and St. Joes only led by two on one occasion. After St. Joes tied the score for the final time at 38-38, Holman put Nova up for good with a layup and then Kane went coast to coast with a steal to score. A layup by Rachel Roberts and an improbable off balance prayer shot by Megan Pearson at the shot clock buzzer put us up by 8. After two free throws from Roberts we had a seemingly comfortable 10 point lead with a little more than 4 to play. After two free throws by Pearson we were still up by 8 with 47 seconds to play and the chess game began. A pair of foul shots narrowed the lead down to 6, a single free throw by Roberts put it back to 7, a layup by St. Joes took it down to 5, two more foul shots by Roberts back up to 7, still with 31 seconds left. A long bomb by Van Grinsven cut it to 4 and a single foul shot by Kane took it back up to 5 with16 seconds left. After taking a foul they had to give, Nova gave up a final layup to Van Grinsven with 6 seconds left and St. Joes immediatly fouled Roberts on the inbounds. After missing the first, thoughts were of that awful loss last year at Marquette, but Roberts made the second to ice the game 55-51.
Good stuff - only 8 turnovers, great pickup by Leer and Holman for Sweeney's absence, limited 3 point attempts (5-11) with lots of ball movement and working the ball inside. Good to see immediate offensive response when St. Joes tied or went ahead and the overall poise that the entire team had dealing with the additional adversity of playing without Sweeney and against the refs. Great games by Roberts (16 points on 4-5 from the floor with nine rebounds), Kane (10 points on 4-8 from the floor and controlling the game at times) and Pearson (11 points on 4-6 from the floor).
Downers - Sweeney experiencied blurred vision but apparently was later cleared to play, but Harry chose to have her sit out. Hopefully a full recovery by Wednesday night. Poor foul shooting for the second straight game, some in key situations. Getting this team in position to win at the end of games should be the hard part; closing them out with ball control, clock management and decent foul shooting should be the easy part.
This was the first of three straight games against teams with high RPI ratings. Team is now 7-1 on the year with a big game against Princeton Wednesday night at home to try to avenge last year's blowout loss, then a week off for exams before taking on Temple in our quest to retain our Big Five title from last year.
Attached Link takes you to St. Joe website for some great photos, video and nice comments about Nova by coach Griffen.
This post was edited on 12/8 8:26 PM by tpenter
Video and Photos from St. Joe website