In a hard fought contest, Nova overcame some illnesses, a slow start in both halves and some second half defensive lapses to come from behind to beat St. Joes.
As could be expected, the Hawk defense keyed on the red-hot Laura Sweeney, doubling and triple teaming her as she went to the basket. After some forced shots that wouldn't go, a turnover, and a few outside shots on kickouts wouldn't fall, St. Joes was out in from 7-0 and eventually 16-6. Emily Suhey arrived to start the ball rolling with Nova's first three of the day. After trading threes (Nova's by Devon Kane)the deficit stood at 19-12 when Sweeney picked up her second quick foul and headed to the bench for the final nine minutes of the half with only two points.
After falling behind by 21-12, Nova ran off eight straight points to close to 21-20 on threes by Rachel Roberts and Jesse Carey and a two pointer by Megan Pearson. Down 24-20, Nova held for the last shot, isolating Pearson on the left, but her lane shot wouldn't go down but saved the ball from going out under the basket, flicked it to Suhey who calmly spun and hit nothing but net at the buzzer to end the half only down one point. Nova was fortunate that the early St. Joe shooting cooled off and that the team rallied with Sweeney on the bench.
The momentum didn't carry over as St. Joes ran off the first six points of the second half to again go up by seven. However, as Nova spread the floor a little further, St. Joe seemed willing to allow Sweeney to drive one on one and instead concentrated on preventing the kick out passes. 16 points for Sweeney in the second stanza pulled Nova out in front to stay, taking the lead at 40-38 with eight minutes to play. The second half was almost all an inside game as St. Joes couldn't hit anything outside and Nova was only 1-4 on three balls with Suhey connecting again.
St. Joes only trailed by 48-44 with three minutes left but missed three layups and two foul shots over a two minute span and still had possession of the ball when Kane stole the ball, bringing it to the bench for a time out with 1:15 on the clock. On a well designed in-bounds play, the left side cleared out while Sweeney slipped in front of her defender under the basket and was hit with a perfect inbound pass from the sideline by Pearson to get an easy bucket to put the game in hand. After a basket by St. Joes, Kane sank two foul shots to ice the game. Sweeney was fouled with seconds left on the clock but missed the front end of the one and one to miss a shot at yet another 20 point effort.
Sweeney finished with 18 and 9 boards. Suhey once again ignited the offense (3 of 5 on threes) and scored a buzzer beater three for the second time in three games. She is now 13-21 on the season from behind the arc and has jumped started our offense several times already this year. With Sweeney on the bench for a long stretch of the first half she got lots of PT today and more than held her own. Roberts and Pearson both had 8 boards apiece to go along with some clutch shots.
Once again, a win in the kind of game that we lost last year. Outside shooting still needs to improve to give Sweeney some more room to move inside and balance out the scoring. 12 days off for exams and then at Temple to try to clinch a least a tie for the Big Five title. Penn has already lost a Big Five game so with a win at Temple the worst we could do is a tie with someone for the title.
I will try to post up some Nova national stat leaders and other info after the NCAA stats are released early next week.
As could be expected, the Hawk defense keyed on the red-hot Laura Sweeney, doubling and triple teaming her as she went to the basket. After some forced shots that wouldn't go, a turnover, and a few outside shots on kickouts wouldn't fall, St. Joes was out in from 7-0 and eventually 16-6. Emily Suhey arrived to start the ball rolling with Nova's first three of the day. After trading threes (Nova's by Devon Kane)the deficit stood at 19-12 when Sweeney picked up her second quick foul and headed to the bench for the final nine minutes of the half with only two points.
After falling behind by 21-12, Nova ran off eight straight points to close to 21-20 on threes by Rachel Roberts and Jesse Carey and a two pointer by Megan Pearson. Down 24-20, Nova held for the last shot, isolating Pearson on the left, but her lane shot wouldn't go down but saved the ball from going out under the basket, flicked it to Suhey who calmly spun and hit nothing but net at the buzzer to end the half only down one point. Nova was fortunate that the early St. Joe shooting cooled off and that the team rallied with Sweeney on the bench.
The momentum didn't carry over as St. Joes ran off the first six points of the second half to again go up by seven. However, as Nova spread the floor a little further, St. Joe seemed willing to allow Sweeney to drive one on one and instead concentrated on preventing the kick out passes. 16 points for Sweeney in the second stanza pulled Nova out in front to stay, taking the lead at 40-38 with eight minutes to play. The second half was almost all an inside game as St. Joes couldn't hit anything outside and Nova was only 1-4 on three balls with Suhey connecting again.
St. Joes only trailed by 48-44 with three minutes left but missed three layups and two foul shots over a two minute span and still had possession of the ball when Kane stole the ball, bringing it to the bench for a time out with 1:15 on the clock. On a well designed in-bounds play, the left side cleared out while Sweeney slipped in front of her defender under the basket and was hit with a perfect inbound pass from the sideline by Pearson to get an easy bucket to put the game in hand. After a basket by St. Joes, Kane sank two foul shots to ice the game. Sweeney was fouled with seconds left on the clock but missed the front end of the one and one to miss a shot at yet another 20 point effort.
Sweeney finished with 18 and 9 boards. Suhey once again ignited the offense (3 of 5 on threes) and scored a buzzer beater three for the second time in three games. She is now 13-21 on the season from behind the arc and has jumped started our offense several times already this year. With Sweeney on the bench for a long stretch of the first half she got lots of PT today and more than held her own. Roberts and Pearson both had 8 boards apiece to go along with some clutch shots.
Once again, a win in the kind of game that we lost last year. Outside shooting still needs to improve to give Sweeney some more room to move inside and balance out the scoring. 12 days off for exams and then at Temple to try to clinch a least a tie for the Big Five title. Penn has already lost a Big Five game so with a win at Temple the worst we could do is a tie with someone for the title.
I will try to post up some Nova national stat leaders and other info after the NCAA stats are released early next week.