Lady Shocks in the WNIT

[flyingMoose]

We are in!!!!!!!!

We host Oral Roberts on Friday, the 16th.

Missouri State host UMKC and Illinois State host Central Michigan, both on the 15th.

EDIT: Drake is also in, playing at South Dakota on the 15th.

[1972Shocker]

Wow. Surprised the Valley got 4 teams in. Not only did the Shocks get in but they get to host a game.

Hopefully, the Ladies will finish their season on a high note, at least playing well.

[flyingMoose]

Thursday's half-time scores:

Missouri State 38-40 UMKC
Illinois State 31-28 Central Michigan
South Dakota 27-30 Drake


Another score, a final:

South Florida 70-26 Florida Atlantic
Ouch!!!

[flyingMoose]

Thursday's finals:

Missouri State 81-79 UMKC
Illinois State 69-68 Central Michigan
South Dakota 61-53 Drake

Casey Garrison did not play tonight for the Bears.

[1972Shocker]

South Florida 70-26 Florida Atlantic
Ouch!!!

Ouch, indeed. You see those kind of scores quite a bit at the high school level. Wonder if we will ever see parity in women's basketball?

[1972Shocker]

Game Notes For WSU vs ORU: http://www.goshockers.com/ViewArticl...DB_OEM_ID=7500

SCOUTING ORAL ROBERTS
The Golden Eagles are 20-10 and finished in second place in the Summit League with a 14-4 mark. Junior guard Kevi Luper is a three-time conference POY and two-time All-American. With a season yet to play in Tulsa, Luper already is ORU's career scoring and steals leader. This year she averages 24.0 ppg (4th, NCAA) and 3.8 spg (4th, NCAA) while shooting over 46% from the field. Like WSU, Oral Roberts was a 2011 WNIT participant, advancing to the third round. They have produced three-straight 20-win seasons under head coach Jerry Finkbeiner, who is in his 16th season at ORU and 23rd season as a head coach. The Golden Eagles top the country in steals (14.4) and rank 6th in free throw percentage (.780).

Considering Valley regular season champion MSU barely escaped the UMKC (4th place in the Summit) at home and Drake, who knocked the Shockers off in the MVC Tournament fell by 8 at South Dakota (3rd place in the Summit) it would appear that the Shockers will have their hands more than full with ORU who finished 2nd in the Summit.

I was not aware that ORU had such a dynamic player as Junior All-American Kevi Luper. a 5'10" Jr. Guard. Luper has put up 577 shots in 29 games. Jessica Diamond leads the Shockers in FG attempts with 341 in 31 games. So there is no secret who ORU's go to player is. I assume Haleigh will get the challenge of trying to contain Luper.

ORU averages 73.1 points per game vs 63.7 for the Lady Shocks.
ORU allows 66.3 points per game vs 58.0 for the Lady Shocks.

So on the surface it appears we have contrasting styles. However ORU has forced 23.4 turnovers per game (of which 14.4 are steals) while the Lady Shocks have forced 18.5 turnovers per game (of which 10.1 are steals). So it appears that both teams like to pressure the ball and turn defense into offense. The Lady Shocks will definitely need to value the ball to have a chance in this game, something they do not always do well. ORU has turned the ball over 17.3 times per game vs 16.7 time per game for the Lady Shocks.

Jordan Pyle, a 6'1" Sr Forward averages 11.5 points per game and lead ORU with 6.3 Rebounds per game. Opponents have outrebounded ORU by an average of 3.3 per game.

ORU's roster does have a foreign flavor to it as they have 3 of their top 7 players from overseas:
Georgia Jones, a 5'8" Sr Guard, from Manchester, England plays 29 MPG and averages 9.2 PPG
Dominique Allen, a 6'2" Sr Center, from Brimingham, England plays 23 MPG averaging 4.4 PPG and 4.0 RPG
Bernadett Balla, a 6'2" Fr Forward, from Pecs, Hungary plays 17 MPG and averages 6.6 PPG and 4.0 RPG, and is in the running for best name of the year for a basketball player.

ORU can throw some good size into the mix with Amber Carver, a 6'5" So Center who has played about 11MPG in her 25 appearances.

The only common opponent the teams had this year was Missouri State. ORU lost to MSU 79-85 at home.

ORU also had a somewhat similar fate to the Lady Shocks in their post season tournament as they lost to 7th seeded Western Illinois 71-83.

Shocks have lost 5 consecutive matchups with ORU.

Hopefully, the home court will give the Shockers the edge they need to prevail.

Go Shocks!

[flyingMoose]

Bernadett Balla ... is in the running for best name of the year for a basketball player.

:)

[RoyalShock]

23-10 Shocks with 12:00 to go in the first.

[RoyalShock]

51-28 at half.

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks must of have been irritated with losing to Drake in the Valley tournament because they hit the floor tonight with some attitude as they jumped out to a 19-5 lead 4 minutes into the game and they never let ORU back in the game after that.

The 79-57 win may have come at some cost though as Haleigh Lankster, who had 18 points in the 1st half and then opened the Shocker scoring in the 2nd half with another trey went down in a collision and left the game holding her right arm. She did come back to the bench eventually but she had her right elbow wrapped in ice and never returned to the game. I did not get a good look at what happened on that play.

ORU made a little bit of a run after Haleigh left the game and I think they got as close as 16 before the Shocks stretched it back out behind the leadership of Jessica Diamond who finished with 20 points.

Really one of the Shocks best all-around games of the year as they picked up their 20th win which I think they said tied the school record.

A nice, enthusiastic crowd on hand. The Goddard pep band (I think that is right) did a nice job filling in for the Shocker Pep Band.

Shocks play at Oklahoma State on Sunday at 2:00. Hope Haleigh can go, but she was in a lot of pain when she left the floor. Maybe @Hoopzdad can give us a report on Haleigh's condition and status. Very unfortunate because it looked like Haleigh was on the way to a career day when she was injured.

Very nice work Ladies.

Go Shocks!

[1972Shocker]

Box score shows 1,282 in attendance at tonights game. Of course, paid attendance and actual attendance for an NIT game are pretty much the same.

Actually, there was a very nice unadvertised special tonight (or if it was advertised I had not heard about it).

When I bought my ticket I received a coupon for 1 chairback ticket to a Shocker baseball game and a coupon for admission to a Shocker softball game.

A pleasant surprise.

[Hoopzdad]

Haleighs arm was pinned between to ORU players going opposite directions as she fought through a screen. Good news is no breaks or dislocation. There was however a hyper extension. She will be a game time decision. She's in quite a lot of pain and has limited range of motion right now. She will begin rehab and treatment at noon today. She says nothing will keep her from being on the court Sunday. Tough deal...I wish I could replay the convo we had before this game. She was more focused and on fire than I've seen her in a while. Other players will have to step up like never before in order for us to compete against this Cowgirl squad.

[flyingMoose]

I thought I heard an announcement that it was the Goddard Eisenhower pep band, but I was on the concourse at the time, so I could be mistaken.

ORU played a lot of 2-3 zone in the first half. We played very well against it, attacking the gaps and setting up scoring chances with low-high and high-low ball movement. When the Golden Eagles switched to a trappiing 3-2 zone in the second half, we struggled a lot more - that and Haleigh being out of the game. But our defense was quite good, especially at the start of the game.

As @Hoopzdad: said, we will really have to bring it to compete against the Cowgirls on such short turnaround - 2pm Sunday in Stillwater.

[WuDrWu]

It was Eisenhower and those kids were terrific.

I've never seen the ladies play like that. The ORU coached called his 1st timeout around the 1855 mark when WSU made it 4-0. Upon resumption of play, the Shocks immediately stole the inbounds pass for a quick layup and 6-0 lead.

Another TO at the 18:44 mark. Never do I remember seeing 2 timeouts in the first 90 seconds of the first half.

He needed to take another one at the 17:20 mark when it was about 11-3 and then I think 15 or 17-3 at the 1st media timeout. The ladies were more than impressive.

Sure hope Haleigh is okay. We don't have much of a shot without her unless we can press 40 minutes and win 30-29 or something along those lines.

Like @flyingMoose: said, the ladies must have been mad at someone...they played really hard and with focus. That's how great teams play ALL the time. WSU must play with that kind of intensity to win games like this...we'll see if they can take that on the road...it will be a tall order in Stillwater.

[shoxlax]

What's frustrating is the ceiling for this team is so high. What's encouraging is the ceiling for this team is so high, even next year.

A zone breaker and a rebounder and a little more consistency and we are dancing next year.