Shocker WBB 2016-17 Valley Regular Season Games

[1972Shocker]

Shocks jump right into the heat of the Valley as they host what appears to be this year's two best Valley teams this weekend in Drake tonight at 7:00 pm and Northern Iowa Sunday at 3:30 pm.

Both Drake, the preseason favorite to win the Valley this year and who recieved 34 out of 40 1st place votes, and UNI who recieved 4 1st place votes and was picked 2nd behind Drake are 6-4 against non-conference D-1 opponents. Drake has an RPI of 32 against a SOS of 20 and UNI has an RPI of 38 agaisnt a SOS of 15. However, WarrenNolan.com only has them at 107 and 113, respectively, in his Nolan Power Index.

The Shocks have an RPI of 211 against an SOS of 173 with and NPI of 196.

First up is Drake and their up-tempo offense. However, Drake is/may be missing a couple of key pieces. Maddy Dean, a 5-9 Jr Guard, who average 13 PPG and 7 RPG last year is out for the season with a knee injury. Sara Rhine, a 6-1 So Forward, who was Valley Freshman of the Year last year and whose numbers are similar to Dean's has missed the last 3 games with some kind of a foot or ankle injury. When I saw Drake 3 games ago against Iowa Rhine was in a walking boot. So not sure about her availability. Still Drake has plenty of firepower available not the least of which is Lizzy Wendell, a 6-0 Forward, who was the preseason pick for Vallley POY who is averaging 21.3 PPG and 5.3 RPG. However, Wendell is not shooting the 3-ball very well this year.

Also Kapaun-Mt. Carmel grad Sammie Bachrodt, a 5-10 So Guard, will nost likely be in the starting lineup for Drake and is averaging 10 PPG and 5 RPG this year. Sammie plays hard.

I don't know if the Shocks have the offensive firepower or BBIQ to stay with Drake, however, if there is a team in the Valley that is athletically equipped to give Drake some problems I think that would be the Shocks. Drake typically puts up a lot of points and mostly tries to outscore you. However, Green Bay, who is a very good team, did hold Drake to 48 points in Green Bay in a 71-48 beatdown of Drake on December 3rd.

The Shocks have not played since December 21st and Drake played back-to-back games on December 21st and 22nd. It will be interesting to see if the long layoff will have any meaningful impact on the game. It has the potential to be an interesting game and will be a good measuring stick for the Shocks. If they can hang with or beat Drake then they can will be a factor in this year's Valley race. This game at least has the potential to be an entertaining game.

Shocker Game Notes

Wichita Eagle Article - Shocks hope to overcome 2nd half struggles as they open Valley play.

Northern Iowa opens at Missouri State tonight before heading to Wichita for Sunday's game.

[1972Shocker]

Haltime Report: Drake 40 - Shocks 36.

Thought the Shocks did very well in the 1st half and they are definitely in this game. As I mentioned in my opening post the Shocks athleticism and size are causing Drake some problems.

Rangie Bessard has been the best player on the court. She has 16 points and 7 rebounds and Drake has absolutely no way to match up with her.

Shocks have a great chance to pull this one out with another 2nd have. They have definitley disrupted Drake's offensive rhythm so far.

Wichita native Sammie Bachrodt has had a nice 1st half for Drake with 11 points.

Anybody's game.

[1972Shocker]

Drake 65 - Shocks 61. I really like the Shocks chances. They are the aggressors and I think they have Drake a bit intimidated. Drake plays a pretty soft game and I think the Shock aggressiveness is wearing on them. Rangie and Angiee played quite a bit together in the 3rd quarter and dominated Drake on the boards.

[1972Shocker]

Final: Drake 83 - Shocks 78. If you like contrasting styles than you would have loved this game. Drake is a team that likes to work on hard on the offensive end and rest on defense while the Shocks are a bit of the opposite.

I think the Shocks have sent a message to the rest of the Valley that they will be a tough out in Valley play.

Rangie Bessard with a career high 32 points while grabbing 12 rebounds. Drake's Lizzy Wendell also put up 32 points so it boiled down to Drake's supporting cast being just a little bit better than the Shock's supporting cast.

A tough, hard fought loss for the Shocks but also a good sign for the Shocks.

I think the Shocks physicality and athleticism definitely bothered Drake but Drake is pretty relentless on offense and they do run a nice motion scheme but they don't like to get down and dirty in the trenches on defense and on the boards. A long way to go but I was encouraged by what I saw tonight.

UNI defeated Missouri State 61-54 tonight in Springfield. Haven't seen UNI play this year but Sunday's game with the Shocks may establish the early pecking order in the Valley. I expect a much different style of game that what we saw against Drake tonight. Much more defensively oriented and slower paced.

[1972Shocker]

Drake jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead and never trailed. The Shocks won the final 38 minutes 78-76 but could just never get over the hump.

[flyingMoose]

I thought the BBIQ @1972Shocker spoke of in an earlier post (or lack thereof, actually) really hurt us tonight. How many layups did the Shocks give up either by 1) turning their heads with their "guardee" cutting to the basket to get the pass and make the layup, or 2) Drake dribbling half the court or better and no Shocker ever stopped her or even contested the layup.

Tonight, Lizzy Wendell was Player of the Decade, much less POY. She can score in so many ways from so many places on the court.

Drake played a 3-2 zone with (most of the time) either Wendell or Bachrodt at the top (a la Rolando Blackman). We still managed to get the ball inside a lot. Drake is probably not athletic enough to play a lot of man, and the zone allows them to rest some on defense. There were four Bulldogs with 30+ minutes with ten players total seeing the court.

Along with Rangie, I thought Angiee worked awfully hard inside tonight. The Shockers won the battle of the boards by 41-32.

I agree - there is hope here. For one, this team shoots better with the new offense than most of the recent Shocker teams. No, I am not going to do the research to see if that statement is really true. :)

[flyingMoose]

Game day article - Northern Iowa

From the Drake game, kudos to Rangie and Angiee, not so much for the guards.

[1972Shocker]

UNI 63 - Shocks 61. Shocks absorb their 2nd consecutive tough loss of the weekend, this time to UNI who was picked to finish 2nd in the Valley this year behind Drake who nipped the Shockers on Friday.

The Shocks jumped out to a 10 point lead at 19-9 at the end of quarter 1. That lead was cut to 6 at 33-27 at halftime. By the end of the 3rd quarter the game was knotted at 49-all. UNI then eeked out a 14-12 advantage in the final quarter to escape with key road win. As expected a very different style of game from what the Shocks faced against Drake on Friday.

Taquandra Mike had perhaps her best game of the season with 20 points on 9-12 from the field and 2-2 from the line and added 7 steals. Rangie Bessard added 15 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks for her 2nd double-double of the weekend.

The Shocks had a 2nd consecutive big rebounding game outboarding UNI by 32-19 (11-5 on the offensive boards).

A great opportunity lost for the Lady Shocks but I think that while Drake (a 90-74 winner at Missouri State today) and UNI (who won 61-54 at Missouri State on Friday) have sent an early message that they are the teams to beat this year in the Valley. However, despite absorbing 2 losses I think the Shocks have also sent an early message that they are a threat to win the Valley's auto-bid and that they are capable of playing with and beating anyone in the Valley. In fact, they may well be the favorite in all of the remaining Valley games except at Drake and at UNI.

Both Drake and UNI were very fortunate to escape Koch Arena with wins this weekend.

The Shocks don't face Drake and UNI again until they go on the road for the final weekend of the regular season in early March. I will be disappointed if the Shocks don't win a lot of games during the next 14 games agaisnt the remainder of the Valley.

Indiana State beating SIU 68-53 in Carbondale today was a bit of a surprise.

[flyingMoose]

The Shocks jumped out to a 19-9 lead after the first quarter - they were sharp, the Panthers were sluggish yet.

Beginning with the second quarter, Northern Iowa began picking up the Shockers at half court and slowed down the attack. Still the Shocks shot 50.0% for the game v 45.7%.

The Panthers banked in three three-pointers. Ugh!

[flyingMoose]

Eagle game article

Same story - need help from the guards.

[1972Shocker]

That was a very hard-played game between the Shocks and UNI. Ta-Mike had an outstanding game. By far her best of the season. Unfortunately, she had a couple of key turnovers late. However, Ta-Mike and Rangie were primarily responsible for the Shocks having a great chance to win this game.

This UNI team is a bit more accustomed to winning than are this group of Lady Shocks and maybe that was the difference or maybe it was the 3 banked in 3-pointers that @flyingMoose: pointed out.

Normally, one might be discouraged starting out 0-2 at home in the Valley but I find myself being reasonably optimistic about this Shocker team. If they can continue to play the way they did this weekend and just make a few plays down the stretch when needed they are not necessarily out of contending for a Valley title. Especially, since everyone outside of Drake and UNI looks to be very beatable. Rangie Bessard, along with Drake's Lizzy Wendell, are the 2 best players in the Valley this year IMHO and I think Ta-Mike is the best athlete and defensive player in the Valley. If the Shocks can just get a bit more consistent contributions from the supporting cast they could still be a factor by the end of February with only road games against Drake and UNI remaining.

The next two weekends will shed some light on whether this optimism is warranted or not as the Shocks hit the road against Missouri State, Southern Illinois and Evansville. The Valley schedule did the Shocks no favors having them play the teams picked 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the league to open up the Valley season.

[1972Shocker]

Eagle game article

Same story - need help from the guards.

Not sure I am totally buying this story line. First of all TaQuandra Mike is a guard and contributed 20 points on 9-12 from the field and 2-2 from the line plus added 7 steals although she did have 5 turnovers. I will take that kind of guard help any day.

Granted Audrey Stovall and Teke Thompson did not score much from the perimeter but that is really not their games and at 5-2 and 5-5 respectively they have more difficulty finding shots. Audrey is a pass-first point guard and Teke is primarily a slasher, not a shooter. Audrey played 25 minutes and Kiki played 21 minutes.

The Shocker's primary perimeter shooters, Tamara Lee, Jeliah Preston and Diamond Lockhart played 13, 9 and 6 minutes respectively. They were a combined 1-2 from behind the arc.

I think the primary reason for the discrepancy from the perimeter was by game plan design more than anything. If you really want more 3-point production you might want to actually play your best perimeter shooters and give them the green light if they have a shot.

UNI definitely gave Teke the Doug Gottlieb treatment. But Jody had options at her disposal to counteract that and chose not to for whatever reason.

Speaking of playing time 6-1 Fr. Kayla Williams hasn't been. She played 3 minutes against South Dakota State and did not see the floor against Drake or UNI. Is she injured or is this just a coaches decision?

[flyingMoose]

Not sure I am totally buying this story line. First of all TaQuandra Mike is a guard and contributed 20 points on 9-12 from the field and 2-2 from the line plus added 7 steals although she did have 5 turnovers. I will take that kind of guard help any day.

I hear you, although I had thought of TaQuandra as a small forward until I saw her listed as a G. Maybe she is a big G. She is certainly quick enough to embarrass the one UNI player of four different occasions with a steal.

I think the primary reason for the discrepancy from the perimeter was by game plan design more than anything. If you really want more 3-point production you might want to actually play your best perimeter shooters and give them the green light if they have a shot.

Yes, for all the pre-season talk about penetrate and kick the ball out for a three, there is definitely an inside-first mentality with the offense. Of course having Rangie, that approach makes a lot of sense.

[1972Shocker]

Interesting scheduling by SIU this week. The play at Eastern Kentucky on Thursday evening. Then they play on the road at Northern Iowa on Friday evening and at Drake on Sunday evening.

Not sure why you would do that to your team. Eastern Kentucky is probably a game SIU will win but it certainly won't help them against UNI and Drake not that they would win those games anyway. Maybe they just wanted to see if the could run with Drake while playing their 3rd game in 4 days. A good test of what they might face in the Valley Tournament.

The weather won't exactly be balmy in Iowa this weekend (especially Northern Iowa). Hope the bus doesn't breakdown.

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks (5-8) head to Springfield (3-9) tonight for their only game of the weekend. The Shocks and Bears are both 0-2 after home games against the teams favored to finish 1st and 2nd in the league this year, Drake and UNI. The Shocks lost by 5 and 2 respectively and MSU lost by 26 and 7 respectivey. Shocks were much more comptetive in those games.

Last year the Shocks lost to the Bears by 29 (45-74) in Springfield and by 20 (57-77) in Wichita. I do not expect a repeat.

MSU was picked to finish 3rd behind Drake and UNI this year, however, I would say they have underperformed expectations quite a bit this year. Losing the Valley POY in Tyonna Snow, 2-time All-Valley 1st teamer Kenzie Williams and their best post-player, Hillary Chvatal has put a bit of dent in the Bears attack.

I believe the Lady Shocks are the better team this year but the game is on the road and this Shocker team has had a tendency to fade in the 2nd half of games this year.

Neither team will particularly want to start 0-3 but MSU especially doesn't want to start 0-3 at home.

Shocker Game Notes