WOW!!!

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

WOW!!!! Did anyone watch the game? Great defense, great boards, got to the line and made free throws. Worked it inside out. Keep it going!!!! :yahoo:

[The Mad Hatter]

Michelle was a beast out there.

From the Drake game on, I have felt that this team has started to play the kind of consistent defense that needs to be the foundation of this program. There have been hiccups on both ends of the floor, but we are starting to play the way that I thought we would be capable of playing.

If we start hitting on all cylinders, we will give ourselves a shot come the Valley tourney. No question UNI has looked great all year, but the tournament has not been kind to the favorite in quite some time.

[tgcshock]

Tremendous effort by the Shockers. Good hard nosed defense and timely offense and rebounding. Really nice to turn a 30 point loss at MSU into a 17 point win here. Every since the Drake game the Shocker defense seems to have become much more consistent. They are not completely where they want to be yet. But if they keep improving a MVC tournament run is not out of the question (at least against everyone except UNI).

[1972Shocker]

Did not make it to the game tonight but I did find someone to use my 3 tickets. Just finished watching a replay of the game.

47 point turnaround from the last time we played the Bears.

Michelle with perhaps her best game as a Shocker. 6-6 from the line.

24-32 from the line will win a lot of games. Free throw shooting has not been a strong suite for this team, but tonight was outstanding both in getting to the line and in cashing in. I think the Shocks are something like 26-1 under Jody when they have outscored the opponent from the line (or something along those lines).

Haleigh with a very efficient game, especially in the 2nd half.

Garrison and Shorter combined for 33 points for the Bears but they had to take 32 shots to get there.

We have plenty of room for improvement but tonight was a step in the right direction and is also a big step in avoiding the play-in round of the MVC Tournament.

:good: :goshocks: :clap:

[1972Shocker]

Shocks didn't gain a lot of ground tonight. We did pick up a game on Indiana State, but we are still in 7th place - 1/2 game behind the Sycamores.

Drake picked up a big home win over Illinois State tonight. That is one I thought they would lose.

Next week's game with Drake now looms large as the Shocks try to avoid the play-in round.

We have Creighton and Drake at home followed by a road swing to bottom dwellers Evansville and SIU the following week. If the Shocks can win 3 out of 4 of those games I think we can avoid the play-in round.

[1972Shocker]

Nice to see Michelle rewarded for her hustle and work ethic.

She had career highs in points (16) and rebounds (12) and I would not be surprised if her 6-6 effort from the line wasn't also a career best.

To top it off she also was the recipient of perhaps a career worst stomping in the lane. She got a hand or arm to the face and was pushed/pulled down to the floor, the she got a knee to the back of the head that not so gently pushed her face into the floor, then the MSU player (Shorter I believe) fell on her. The Big Show would have been very impressed with that scrum.

[flyingMoose]

From the Springfield newspaper:

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20110218/SPORTS040101/102180368/1002/SPORTS/?odyssey=nav|head

[The Mad Hatter]

Haleigh matched Garrison's 18 points, but took half the number of shots to do it.

If Jessie's jump shot would have been falling early (she was getting good looks) and if Morgan wasn't so rusty the margin could have been ever bigger.

The big question continues to be consistency. We need to keep defending home court and winning road games against the league's bottom teams. 3-1 or 4-0 and not out of the question, but we need to do it to assure we are out of the play-in round.

[flyingMoose]

The only downside for me for the game was the number of bonehead, non-forced (e.g., passing the ball to no one) turnovers. We tried to self-destruct the last forty seconds of the first half, but made some defensive stops to maintain our lead. And then we went through a similar stretch late in the second half. But the defensive intensity that held the Bears to 28% shooting was there and was the most impressive part of the game for me, plus the foul-avoidance doing it.

And we got out of our press very early since it was not helping and occasionally hurting.

[1972Shocker]

The only downside for me for the game was the number of bonehead, non-forced (e.g., passing the ball to no one) turnovers.

Apparently a virus is causing this. Shocker men suffered from the same affliction vs Evansville. Hopefully, it proves to be a short-lived entity.

But it is certainly aggravating.

[tgcshock]

The only downside for me for the game was the number of bonehead, non-forced (e.g., passing the ball to no one) turnovers. We tried to self-destruct the last forty seconds of the first half, but made some defensive stops to maintain our lead. And then we went through a similar stretch late in the second half.

To be fair, 90% of that was BreAnna Dawkins. Bre was primarily recruited for her defense and has had to step in a play a lot of point guard due to Krystal's injuries. I love Bre. She plays hard and well and with tremendous desire. But often in critical situations she looks like what she is, a freshman who has not been in these situations before. She is learning on the job and a lot of times it looks kinda ugly but I would have her on the floor in critical situations any day of the week because of her competitiveness.