Lady Shockers and the Preseason WNIT

[1972Shocker]

Any word on our signing anyone? The men announced their signings.

Seems to be pretty quiet on that front. We lose only 1 Senior, Michelle Price, from this year's team plus we lost 6-2 freshman Morgan Landers before the season even started. Looks like Kayla White might be redshirting but we will see about that.

We can certainly use some size inside. Next year's Junior class has only 1 player, Michaela Dapprich, so adding a JUCO player or a transfer is a possibility. We haven't had much success recruiting size in recent years.

Whether Jody has anyone targeted for signing in the early period over the next week remains to be seen.

[1972Shocker]

A couple of observations regarding tonight's game with St. Joseph.

- This game looks to be very competitive on paper for whatever that's worth

- St. Jo's starts 3 seniors and is led in scoring after 2 games by 5-6 Sr. guard Erin Shields (#3) at 19.0 PPG. Shields is 10-18 from 3-point range and has only taken 7 shots inside the arc. Shields is the shortest starter by 5 inches so I assume she is the point guard. However, she only has 2 assists in 2-games. A score-first point guard apparently. I think we have the athletes to defend her tough, primarily Jamillah I would think, and how we do that could be a key to this game.

- Sarah Fairbanks (#41), a 6-1 So. F, is second on the team in scoring at 14.0 PPG and leads St. Jo in rebounding at 7.0 RPG. I'm thinking we probably try to match up defensively primarily with Michelle Price and Kelsey Jacobs and hopefully at least one of them can stay out of foul trouble.

- Kelsey Berger (#34), a 5-11 Sr. F averages 9.5 PPG and 4.5 RPG, Natasha Cloud (#4), a 6-0 Jr. G, averages 9.0 and 4.0 and Ilze Gotrida (#1) from Latvia, a 6-0 Sr. F, averages 4.0 and 2.0 to round out the starting lineup.

- Off the bench Ciara Andres (#21), a 5-9 So. G, averages 9.0 and 3.0 and has scored 12 of her 18 points from the line (12-12) indicating she may be a slasher and Jessica Pongonis (#22), a 6-1 Fr. F, averages 6.0 and 3.5. So St. Joe seems to be pretty balanced through their top 7 players.

- The Shocks' Jamillah Bonner brings a tremendous amount of energy to the floor but at times she is a little out of control. She is averaging 10.0 PPG over the 1st two games but that is on 8-23 FG and 2-5 FT which is not very efficient. However, she leads the Shocks in rebounding at 7.0 RPG from her guard position and has 5 steals in 2 games. Perhaps her most glaring issue is that she has only 1 assist and 7 turnovers. I don't know that we necessarily need her to be a distributor of the ball at this point, but she does need to cut down on her turnovers. By comparison Alex Harden has 8 assists to 2 turnovers in 2 games. I do think Jamillah will be a very key player in this game though. As mentioned above I think she will be primarily tasked with slowing down St. Jo's leading scorer.

- The Shocks are shooting 38.2% FG and 66.0% FT after 2 games. St. Jo is shooting 43.5% and 77.8%. I'm thinking St. Jo may have the edge on the offensive side of the ball. The question is will the Shocks' defense and athleticism be able to overcome that edge. I think it can. If the game devolves into a free throw shooting contest then St. Jo probably has the advantage.

No reason not to expect this to be a very competitive and entertaining game. Remember you can exchange your ticket stub from last night's men's game vs William & Mary for a GA ticket to tonight's women's game.

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[1972Shocker]

I was going to comment on tonight's game, but I think I better just shut my trap and hope that what I saw tonight was an aberration.

[flyingMoose]

I was going to comment on tonight's game, but I think I better just shut my trap and hope that what I saw tonight was an aberration.

Didn't boxout, didn't make free throws, didn't handle the press well. Other than that ...

[shoxlax]

Caught the end of it on the radio...were the refs as bad as Brian made them out to be (he usually isn't a homer)?

[Shox1979]

The refs were equally bad. They didn't decide the outcome of the game. Poor free throw shooting and the inability to close down the stretch lost that game for the lady shox. I haven't seen a box score yet but we missed a lot of free throws and turned the ball over way too easily down the stretch and in overtime.

[Shox1979]

Our offense did a lot of standing tonight. Mostly dribble hand offs around the perimeter looking for a player to drive the right side of the lane. I know there has been talk of a new offense, but I didn't see it. I would really like to see some set plays designed to get a basket. Especially when we need a bucket to slow the other teams momentum. I hope that we didn't lose Michaela Dapprich to injury tonight. Especially when the injury occurred in overtime of a game that should have been over long before.

[1979Shocker]

The refs were equally bad. They didn't decide the outcome of the game. Poor free throw shooting and the inability to close down the stretch lost that game for the lady shox. I haven't seen a box score yet but we missed a lot of free throws and turned the ball over way too easily down the stretch and in overtime.

24-41 at the line.

[1972Shocker]

I thought there was one really egregious call late in regulation that gave St. Jo 3 free throws and closed the gap to 2 points with about 10 seconds to play. But the refs did not lose the game for the Shocks because the game should never have been close enough for the refs to contribute to the outcome.

The ref's in the women's game are generally not the highest quality. But you know that going in.

The Shocks choked this game away pure and simple. The lack of mental toughness by the Shocks creeped into just about every aspect of the game especially down the stretch.

[shoxlax]

Sounds like I made the right decision going to watch Zach Brown play.

[1972Shocker]

Sounds like I made the right decision going to watch Zach Brown play.

Going to see Charlie Brown play would have been a better decision.

[1972Shocker]

I hope that we didn't lose Michaela Dapprich to injury tonight. Especially when the injury occurred in overtime of a game that should have been over long before.

Michaela seemed unable to put any weight at all on her injured ankle so we will have to see. Looked like Jody only had 7 players she was willing to run out there tonight, so if Michaela is out for any time were down to 6 players that have the confidence of the HC.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Our offense did a lot of standing tonight. Mostly dribble hand offs around the perimeter looking for a player to drive the right side of the lane. I know there has been talk of a new offense, but I didn't see it. I would really like to see some set plays designed to get a basket. Especially when we need a bucket to slow the other teams momentum. I hope that we didn't lose Michaela Dapprich to injury tonight. Especially when the injury occurred in overtime of a game that should have been over long before.

I've been harping about our offensive sets until I'm blue in the face. At times in other games we have pounded it inside, run off the ball screens, etc. Not in this game. I think the new rules of no touch defense is causing us to look for the dribble drive and get the call, which is fine if we can shoot better than 50% from the line. There were many questionable calls, but the refs didn't decide the game, we did. No way does the MVC pre-season player of the year get picked, up by 2 with 10 seconds to play. I'm sure the girls will pay before heading to K-State Wednesday. Hopefully Dap isn't out too long with a bad ankle as we just don't have much of a bench.

[flyingMoose]

I thought there was one really egregious call late in regulation that gave St. Jo 3 free throws and closed the gap to 2 points with about 10 seconds to play.

Yeah, Erin Shields clearly jumped into Marissa Preston in an attempt to draw the foul. Did Marissa have her arms straight up? Principle of verticality? Can't tell you on that one. The ref who made the call gets NCAA postseason assignments and is one of the better ones we see at Koch, but he made a couple of other calls (Kelsey's block/jump ball that became a foul, a block/charge that went our way) that I wondered about. Maybe not his best night.

But the refs did not lose the game for the Shocks because the game should never have been close enough for the refs to contribute to the outcome.

True dat.

[oldtimewomen's hoopcoach]

Yeah, Erin Shields clearly jumped into Marissa Preston in an attempt to draw the foul. Did Marissa have her arms straight up? Principle of verticality? Can't tell you on that one. The ref who made the call gets NCAA postseason assignments and is one of the better ones we see at Koch, but he made a couple of other calls (Kelsey's block/jump ball that became a foul, a block/charge that went our way) that I wondered about. Maybe not his best night.


True dat.

Yes. Kelsey's block was all ball, no body and a jump ball. She got called for a phantom call by the trail ref for holding someone on a rebound for her 4th foul. Again, this did not cause us to lose, but we're better with Michelle, Bonner and Kelsey in the game and not fouled out.