Shocker WBB 2021-22 Non-Conference Games

[1972Shocker]

Shockers vs Grambling State

Just opened the live stats. Only shows the team rosters at this point. Grambling State lists 17 players. The Shocks only list 11. One of the missing players for the Shocks is Jane Asinde and she is not in the starting lineup for the first time in a while (apparently due to some recent dental work). The other 3 players not listed are true freshmen Mellissa Sechiaroli, Nhug Bosch Duran and Jayze'lee Waihi.

Jayze'ee Waihi had not played this year and is no longer listed on the roster. Jane is sitting out today but I did not catch the reason.

Even with Asinde out of the lineup I don't expect the Shocks to have much trouble in this game. Grambling is apparently without there best player today as well.

Quarter 1

That was a bit strange. HCKA pulled 4 of her 5 starters only 3 minutes into the game. Not sure what was behind that. Only Mariah McCulley stayed in the game.
The Shocks built the lead to 13-6 with 3 minutes left in the quarter. Grambling scored 6 in a row to cut the Shocker lead to 13-12. The 4 starters re-entered along with Shamaryah Duncan with 1:22 left in the quarter. Grambling score another bucket and took a 14-13 lead at the end of he quarter.

Quarter 2

HCKA apparently got her message across as the Shocks pull away to a 37-21 lead at the half. Asia Strong had 13 points in the half, 12 in the 2nd quarter, but I thought the key to Shocks pulling away was the play of Seraphine Bastin. Seraphine only scored 2 points on 1 shot but her floor game was outstanding. Seraphine had 5 rebounds (4 on the offensive boards) and 6 assists. In fact, the Shockers had 10 assists on 14 baskets which perhaps explains their uncharacteristically good 5-8 shooting on three pointers. The Shocks are outrebounding Grambling 28-17. The only negative was the Shocks have 12 turnovers (6 by Mariah McCully) vs 7 turnovers by Grambling who generally turns the ball over at a high rate. I look for the Shocks to continue to roll in the 2nd half although the bench is likely to get a lot of minutes in the final quarter.

Quarter 3

After an injury late in the 1st half Grambling is down 2 starters. Shocks extend the lead to 58-34. 4 more assists on 8 baskets and it should have been 5- on 9 as Carla Bemaud missed a wide open layup on a fast break.

Quarter 4

Other than Mariah McCully's 3 minutes none of the Shocker starters played in the 4th quarter although one might argue the DJ McCarty is a 6th starter. DJ ended up leading the Shocks in scoring with 18 points in 19 minutes of playing time as the Shocks cruise to a 77-47 win over an outmtached and somewhat depleted Grambling State team.

My No. 1 take away from this game was the Shocks had 18 assists on 30 baskets and had a really good game from the perimeter hitting 6-11 three pointers. Whether or not they can repeat that consistently against better competition remains to be seen.

[1972Shocker]

First of all let me say that I think this is or can be a pretty decent Shocker WBB team a pretty good defensive and rebounding team. Offensively, they are averaging 72.6 points a game which is up 9.2 PPG from what they averaged last year. They are holding opponents to 59.1 points per game. They are a pretty good free throw shooting team at 74.7% after 10 games. They are not a real good three point shooting team or at least that hasn't been the case so far at they are only hitting 29.7% on threes. However, they did hit 6-11 against Grambling. I think if they are selective about the three pointers they take including who takes them they can be a decent three point shooting team.

They have a trio of three quality guards in Seraphine Bastin, Mariah McCully and DJ McCarty. Mariah still has some Juco tendencies in her game but when she plays under control she is very good. Asia Strong, Jane Asinde and Trajata Colbert give them an athletic front court although not overly tall. Carly Bremaud is a steady eddy who can knock down three pointers if her teammates can create shots for her.

At this point, I am thinking the Shocks will out-perform their predicted 8th place finish in the AAC if they can avoid injuries to their core players. DJ McCarty may well be the best 6th woman in the league.

That said it's hard to know for sure. Not only do I not have a real good feel for what the other AAC teams bring to the table this year the Shockers schedule has not exactly been a challenging one. The AAC is ranked 6th based on average net rankings and 5th based on average RPI ratings.

The Shocks have played the weakest schedule in the AAC to this point and so their 8-2 record might be a little misleading.

AAC Strength of Schedule Rankings (Records in D-1 Games):

USF 11 (6-3)
Houston 13 (5-5)
UCF 24 (7-1)
SMU 39 (4-5)

Temple 121 (5-4)
Tulane 138 (7-3)

ECU 200 (5-5)
Cincy 202 (5-4)
Memphis 220 (7-2)

Tulsa 299 (7-0)
WSU 324 (8-2)

The Shocks next opponent, North Texas (4-2), has a NET ranking of 61 vs the Shocks NET ranking of 95. North Texas' 2 losses are by 6 at Missouri State and by 1 at home in overtime to Texas-Arlington, both apparently pretty decent teams. In their last outing, on December 3rd at home, North Texas blew out SMU 84-58, Looks like this game will be comparable to the Shockers road games at Northern Iowa and South Dakota both of which the Shockers lost.

After North Texas the Shocks host Kansas (8-1 vs a SOS of #58) and close out non-con play at Oklahoma (9-1 vs a SOS of #29).

These 3 games will provide much better insight into how this Shocker team might fare in AAC play. Win, lose or draw it will certainly better prepare then for AAC play then the 8 games they have won this year. I can't say that I am expecting the Shocks to win any of these 3 games although they might win 1 or 2. I am mostly interested on how well they play and compete in these games.

The Shocks then open AAC play at home against Houston, picked to finish 3rd in the AAC, and #17 ranked USF, a near unanimous pick to win the AAC this year.

A 5-game losing streak is a distinct possibility. I think the Shocks winning 2 of these 5 while being competitive in all 5 games would be quite an acceptable outcome. Anything better than that would portend some good things for the Shocks. Even if they lose all 5 of these games being competitive in all 5 games would still provide some hope for a better than expected finish in AAC play.

[The Mad Hatter]

The women defeat North Texas on the road behind a 10-2 run in the final 55 second of the game (and the 2 for North Texas were a meaningless layup with less than a second to go). WSU played without Bastin, but Asia Strong had probably her best game of the season with 17 points and 15 rebounds.

[1972Shocker]

That is a nice road win over a decent team. Did not see the game but in looking at the play-by-play I see the Shocks went from up 5 at 51-46 with 6:48 to play to down by 5 at 57-62 with 1:51 to play before closing it out on the 10-2 run mentioned by @The Mad Hatter.

Asia Strong got the final rally going for the Shocks with a layup with 55 seconds remaining.

DJ McCarty grabbed a defensive rebound with 42 seconds remaining and apparently took all the way the basket to score a layup with 38 seconds to go to pull the Shocks to within 1 at 61-62.

On the ensuing Mean Green possession DJ made a steal and scored again on a layup to regain the lead for the Shocks at 63-62.

Mariah McCully and Jane Asinde knocked down 4 of 4 free throws to put the game away at 67-62 with 5 seconds left to complete a 10-0 run in over 50 secodns before UNT scored the final meaningless layup after a timeout moved the ball to the front court.

I believe this was the Shocks best win of the season so far especially considering thei got it done without Seraphine. This was the 1st time the two schools have matched up in Women's basketball although that will become a regular occurrence in the near future.

[1972Shocker]

The women defeat North Texas on the road behind a 10-2 run in the final 55 second of the game (and the 2 for North Texas were a meaningless layup with less than a second to go). WSU played without Bastin, but Asia Strong had probably her best game of the season with 17 points and 15 rebounds.

Any word on Seraphine's situation and whether or not she will be available for the Kansas game next Tuesday?

[The Mad Hatter]

Any word on Seraphine's situation and whether or not she will be available for the Kansas game next Tuesday?

I was keeping up on stat tracker most of the game and only caught the last couple of minutes of the broadcast and they didn't say anything about her status then. I just noticed that she didn't play on the stats and and in warmups during the game.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks made 1 more field goal that North Texas but on 16 fewer attempts. North Texas had 6 fewer turnovers and 8 more offensive rebounds but could not cash in. Neither team was very good from the perimeter both shooting 15% on three pointers with North Texas 4-26) makign twice as many but also shooting twice as many. The Shocks were a solid 13-17 from the free throw line while North Texas could only cash in 10 of 18 free throw attempts. Neither team got much from their benches with each team only getting 7 bench points.

Shocks won this one by shooting the ball better than North Texas. 45.6% to 34.2% from the field and 76.5% to 55.6% from the free throw line. How much the Shocker defense had to do with that is hard tell without watching the game but my guess is it probably was a factor. I catch the replay sometime this weekend.

[WuTheOne]

I thought the Shox won this one by turning NT over pretty much every time in the last minute. Hate to disagree with '72 'cause he's damned knowledgeable, but the stat line led to the Lady Shox being down 5 with 57 seconds left in the game. It was the steals and TO's the ladies created that turned the game. That and hitting FT's.

10 points in a minute is an amazing stat.

[1972Shocker]

I have watched the game on replay now.

North Texas had 6 possessions in the final minute. They turned it over twice. One was the steal by DJ which was really primarily a bad pass by North Texas although DJ used her quickness to take advantage of that. The other was DJ taking a charging foul on one of those bang-bang block/charge fouls that went the Shockers way. Mariah did get a block on a 3-point shot by NT with 6 seconds to play and the Shocks up by 3 (although NT thought the shooter had been fouled - I don't think Mariah did foul her). BTW in the 2 minutes stretch from around the 4 minute mark to the 2 minute mark NT outscored the Shocks 10-0 making all 5 of their shots and taking a 5 point lead.

This game definetely had some ebb and flow to it. In the last 4:30 of the 3rd quarter and last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter the Shocks outscored North Texas by a total of 18-2.

The bottom line is if the Shocks had shot the same percentages as North Texas for the game they would have lost this game by double digits even with the big run in the last minute.

As far as turnovers go the Shocks had 19 (Asia with 5, Sharmaryah with 4 and Jane with 3) which is too many vs 13 for North Texas. Furthermore, the Shockers only had 7 assists on 26 baskets. Not confident the 1 on 1 scoring will be as easy against the next 4 opponents.

My opinion remains that the Shockers won this game because the shot they ball better and they had a size advantage in the paint while DJ made several really nice plays in the final minute. Asia had 17 points and 15 rebounds and Trajata had 15 points and 6 rebounds to account for 46.3% of the Shockers' scoring and 46.7% of the Shockers' rebounding. DJ had 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 of the Shocker 7 assists plus 2 steals. 6 of DJ's 12 points came in the last 2 minutes of the game.

DJ filled in admirably for Serpahine. However, where Seraphine's absence was felt was when Shamaryah and Tonya had to relieve DJ and Mariah. DJ picked up her 2nd foul right at the end of the 1st quarter and she sat out the entire 2nd quarter.

Jane Asinde who played very well prior to missing the last game against Grambling played 19 minutes tonight but could not get much going.

It was a good win for the Shocks. Probably the best win of the 9 they have so far this year. We'll find out a lot more about the team over the next 4 games. Never heard anything about Seraphine but she was on the sidelines in sweats. Seemed to be moving okay so hopefully whatever ails her is minor. I think we will definitely need Seraphine the next 4 games and we need Jane to regain her groove as well.

Up next for the Shocks is vs Kansas (8-1) in Koch Arena next Tuesday. Kansas will have played only 1 game since December 5th. The Jayhawks beat Santa Clara at home 80-65 on December 12th. Clearly, the Jayhawks will be more rested but will they be a bit rusty? The Shocks will definitley not have a size advantage vs Kansas. The Jayhawks starting post is 6-6 and they also start a 6-3 forward.

[1972Shocker]

Was at my grandson's high school game tonight in the Winfield area and just got back home.

I see the KU knocked off the Lady Shockers 68-55.

From a quick glance at the box score it looks like the Shocks had a poor shooting night hitting 22-72 from the field for 30.6% including 2-14 on three pointers. That was 4 fewer baskets than KU had but on 18 more attempts. The Shocks outrebounded the taller KU team 41-39 but had a whopping 17-5 advantage on the offensive boards plus the Shocks had only 13 turnovers to 19 for KU. So the offensive rebound and turnover advantages pretty much account for the 18 additional shot attempts by the Shocks.

One Shocker who did have a good night was Mariah McCulley who had 23 points on 10-22 from the field, including 2-4 three pointers and 1-1 from the line. She lead the Shocks with 3 assists and only turned it over 1 time and added 2 steals.

Trajata Colbert had a solid game as well with 10 points on 4-9 from the field and 2-3 from line and grabbed 8 rebounds.

Ella Anciaux chipped in 6 points on 3-6 shooting in 11 minutes of play.

So Mariah, Trajata and Ella combined to shoot 17-37 for 45.9% while the rest of the Shocks were a combined 5-35 for 14.3% incuding 0-10 on three pointers. Asia Strong and DJ McCarty in particular struggled as they combined to make on 3-24 shots including 0-6 on three pointers.

This was not a game I was expecting the Shocks to win but considering how they shot the ball the outcome could have been a lot worse.

[WuDrWu]

I watched almost the entire game. First, KU is a better team. They are huge (6'6" center and she's hardly a stiff) and forced the Shocks into some odd defenses to contain that size.

That being said, that may have been the best game I've seen a lady Shocker team play in years.

They were aggressive, rebounded well on both ends and tried to do things that would cause KU problems.

I'm sure you'll watch the replay 1972Shocker and I think you'll generally be pleased.

3 pointers were basically the difference. Shocks didn't hit one until the game was decided. They missed some contested ones, but they also got a few wide open looks that they just couldn't knock down. KU is deep as well and had fresh legs all game long BUT our girls were very athletic and did a great job exploiting that whenever they could. There were times we dared them to shoot the 3, and one of their Euros was 50%+ on the year, and they knocked enough down to win.

The end of the first half really hurt. Back and forth 2nd quarter, Shocks with their fair share of 1 and 2 point leads, lead by one with a little over a minute, KU missed then DJ missed in the paint and there was something that I didn't like (can't remember the call) but KU set an illegal screen on a skip pass and got a 3 out of it right before half (5 seconds maybe) to go up 2. Then came out and went 2 3 immediately and we were down 7 and I don't think got closer than 5 the rest of the way. Just couldn't make enough shots and we had plenty of good looks. Also had a really hard time getting stops in the 3rd quarter.

I didn't know Bosch Duran had been injured, but apparently she has been....and I said this after the first game when she did play, she gets basketball. She got dumped into the fire tonight, and while her size, or lack thereof, was a problem, I thought otherwise she acquitted herself well. She made some great passes setting up others for easy shots (that mostly were missed) but she can absolutely help this team right now.

I didn't watch a lot last season, but I have to think that the play tonight, if we can knock down a few more shots and not have like 20 blocked, makes us very competitive against all of the American outside the top 1 or 2 teams.

The qualifications for being a referee in women's basketball must be pretty forgiving. This was not a well officiated game imho. Way too many jump balls (the bane of the women's game sometimes) and they really struggled calling fouls and traveling (and there were a TON of both).

[1972Shocker]

After watching the replay I generally am pleased. The Shockers' effort, defense and rebounding was quite good. Mariah McCully probably had her best game as a Shocker especially considering the opponent. Trajata Colbert played very well also considering the size disadvantage she faced.

KU's 6-6 center, Taiyanna Jackson, a juco recruit out of Trinity Valley (Jaime Echinique's juco), was perhaps the difference maker. While she only took 4 shots (layups that were all good) and she "only" had 4 blocks her mere presence as a rim protector changed a lot of Shocker shots and she was no doubt in the back of every Shocker players' mind. And Jackson is a legit 6-6, a long 6-6 for that matter, who could move reasonably well.

This was the Shocks' worse FG% and 3-Point% of the year. I will give credit to KU's size for contributing to that, however, I thought the Shocks had a lot of good looks that they could just not knock down. That included perimeter shots, mid-range shots and close-in shots. I counted 28 of their 50 misses as good to decent open shots. Hit 1 in 4 of those 28 and perhaps the outcome is different.

This was not a particularly good match up for the Shocks. The Shocks offense relies mostly on attacking the basket and scoring in transition. The Shocks are only 27.4% on 3-pointers for the season and in their last 2 games they are 4-27 (14.8%). Ironically, they are a very good free throw shooting team making 75% on the year. With KU's size clogging up the lane and Jackson providing rim protection the formula wasn't in the Shocks favor.

I don't think the Shockers will see this kind of size again this year. Certainly, not against Oklahoma to close out the non-con season on December 29th and I don't think any of the AAC teams can match KU's overall size.

From what I have seen so far I think the Shocks can be competitive in the AAC in most games. I would like to see a little more but the last 2 games against North Texas and Kansas good tests. Upcoming games @ Oklahoma (12/29), vs Houston (01/05), and @ South Florida (01/09) will complete the toughest 5 game stretch the Shocks have on their schedule this year. Houston is probably their best shot for win in the next 3 games. Finishing this 5-game stretch at 2-5 while being competitive in the 3 losses would actually be a positive I think.

As far as the officials for women's games, I thought this crew was better than average. I don't think the officials' calls and misses particularly favored one team over the other in this game. I have seen a lot worse many times.

Last night OU trailed Utah by 19 two minutes into the 2nd half. OU closed the lead to 11 at the end of the 3rd quarter and took their first lead with 6 minutes left in the game on their way to a 83-76 come back win in Norman moving their record to 10-1 on the season against a SOS ranked #31.

McPherson's Taylor Robertson, a 5-11 senior guard, led the Sooners with 19 points on 5-10 from the field including 4-9 on 3 pointers and 5-5 from the free throw line. On the season, Taylor is leading OU in scoring at 19.8 PPG. Robertson set the career record for 3-pointers made in the win over Utah. Two other 5-11 senior guards, Ana Llanusa and Madi Williams, are averaging 17.3 and 17.1 PPG, respectively. However, Llanusa apparently injured her leg/knee in the previous game, a 99-91 OT win over #19 BYU, and is also now under Covid protocol. Wiliams also leads OU with 8.5 rebounds per game.

The Sooner's are small at the point guard position at 5-6 and 5-2. They pretty much go 5-11 at the 2, 3 and 4 spots at pretty much all times. The Sooners' starting post for the 1st 10 games of the season has been 6-3 Sr. Lydia Lampkin. However, Lampkin did not play against Utah (not sure the reason). Her backups are 6-2 and 6-3. OU will not have the size KU had. OU does turn the ball over 18 times per game so perhaps the Shocks can exploit that with their quickness on defense.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks at Oklahoma

Quarter 1

Shocks hanging in against the Sooners trailing 15-19 at the end of the 1st quarter.

Shockers missing DJ McCarty due to COVID protocols. That could be a issue later in the game. OTOH, OU is missing 3 key players 1 from injury and 2 due to Covid protocols.

I think the Shockers have a good shot in this game considering OU's shorthandedness.

Quarter 2

OU leads 44-36 at the half but I think the Shocks are very much in this game. The Shocks are more athletic and also have a bit of a size advantage inside.

A lot of turnovers. OU with 11 and the Shockers with 10. OU likes to play at a fast tempo.

OU shooting the ball just a better than the Shocks so far and that's the main difference so far.

Shocker point guard Seraphine Bastin has 8 rebounds in the 1st half.

Quarter 3

OU extended there lead to 53-38 with 7:22 remaining in the quarter. However, the Shocks have responded with an 14-0 run to pull to within 52-53 with 5:13 remaining in the quarter. Unfortunately, the Shocker well went dry as they only scored 1 point over the final 5 minutes of the quarter and OU extended their leaded to 10 at 63-53.

The Shocks are not out of this game but they need to get the offense flowing again quickly.

Quarter 4

OU has only played 8 players so far. The Shockers 10.

OU opens the first 3 minutes of the 4th quarter on a 16-2 run to extend their lead to 24 at 79-55. That should pretty much do it I would think. Since the Shocks pulled to within 1 at 52-53 OU has outscored them 26-3.

OU cruises the rest of the way for an 89-67 win.

The Shocks just seemed to hit a wall after that 14-0 run in the 3rd quarter.

Four things:

1. Shooting: OU 33-71 (46.5%) FG, including 10-27 (37.0%) 3FG and 13-18 (72.2%) FT
WSU 26-76 (34.2%) FG, including 6-22 (27.3%) #FG and 9-14 (64.3%) FT

2. Fast Break Points: OU 34 - WSU 9

3. Assists: OU 27 on 33 baskets. WSU 14 on 26 baskets.

4. Scoring Over The Final 15 Minutes: OU 36 - WSU 15 (I think the Shocks probably did miss DJ McCarty later in the game).

Shocks finish their non-con schedule at 9-4. Best win was a 67-64 road win over North Texas.