Lady Shocks v Kent State

[flyingMoose]

As Coach Adams has stated, this game (on Wednesday) will be a test of where the team stands.

The Golden Flashes were preseason picks for 4th in the MAC-East and are currently 7-1 after a road victory over Vermont on Sunday. They have a very good inside-outside combination (Kowalska and Stutzman/Bennett) and shoot .410 from beyond the arc as a team. Three-ball stats for Stutzman, a true freshman, are .542(!) on 26 of 48, and Bennett shoots threes at a .464 clip. Their power rating from http://realtimerpi.com/ncaab/Women.html is currently #92 with Iona at #110 the highest rated of our previous opponents. (The Shocks are currently at #180.)

As a sidelight, Morgan O'Hara, a guard on the Wichita Northwest state championship team, played at Kent State. Though plagued by injuries during her college career, she had a very nice senior campaign for the Flashes, 2002-2003 being her last year.

[1972Shocker]

Anna Kowalska (#21) is a 6'4" Senior who leads Kent State in scoring at 19.4 PPG and in rebounding at 8.1 RPG.

She is backed up by 6'3" Soph Ellie Shields. 6'2" Junior Lorraine Odhiambo is also available off the bench.

Clearly Marcy is going to have her hands full and, hopefully, she can stay out of foul trouble.

Jena Stutzman, a 5'8" Freshman averages 11.4 PPG and Rachel Bennett, a 5'9" RS junior averages 10.6 PPG. Their 3-Point shooting % as noted by flyingMoose are quite impressive.

Haliegh Lankster may see above average minutes trying to control the KSU perimeter scoring.

Jamilah Humes, a 5'8" R-Soph is averaging 11.3 PPG, but rarely shoots the 3-ball and Chenel Harris, a 5'11" Soph Forward has started all 8 games and averages 8.1 PPG and 5.3 RPG.

Daria will no doubt match up with Harris. Again we need Daria to avoid foul trouble, especially the 2 or 3 little chippy fouls she tends to pick up every game.

Stephanie Gibson, 5'6" Soph Guard has 42 assists to 19 turnvoers and contributes 4.9 PPG, I am assuming from the point guard position.

Marisah, as is usually the case will be giving away a few inches to her opponent. OTOH, that hasn't been a huge factor so far this year.

KSU is averaging 77.1 PPG so they can score. The Shocks are averaging 65.9 PPG.

Interestingly, KSU has been outrebounded by there opponents 38.2 to 37.6 due to be outrebounded 15.5 to 12.4 on the offensive boards. That may indicate that KSU likes to get back on defense to prevent the easy transition baskets, but that is hard to tell for sure.

Kent State also has turned the ball over quite a bit at 22.5 PG vs 19.5 PG for the Shocks. Hopefully, our aggressive defense will be able to create a good number of turnovers.

Kent State has shot 215 FT's in 8 games compared to 166 in 8 games for the Shockers. KSU shoots 74.4% from the line while the Shockers are shooting 69.9% thanks to Marcy, Val and Marisah who are shooting a combined 80.4% while the rest of the team is shooting only 48.1%.

No doubt a very good test of where the Shocker really are as we near the Conference season.

The Shocks would seem to be the clear underdog in this game, so a win would make a very positive statement about this year's team.

The keys for the Shocks as I see it: Stay out of foul trouble, win the battle of the boards, take care of the ball, be patient on offense and get a good shot.

:goshocks:

[flyingMoose]

The Shocks would seem to be the clear underdog in this game, so a win would make a very positive statement about this year's team.

I was going for the Reader's Digest version. :)

Nice job.

[1972Shocker]

It will be interesting to see how the Shocks go about defending the Golden Flashes. Looks like the best inside-outside combination we have faced and probably will face duriing the non-con portion of the schedule.

[WuDrWu]

Imho, it is extremely unlikely that we are going to win the battle of the boards against a solid team that has any size at all, to say nothing of a school that has the size of Kent State.

I think the key to WSU success is going to be turning up the defensive pressure and get them to operate at a pace faster than they are used to and create lots and lots of turnovers. We are going to need this to be a 94' game for most of 40 minutes. Our pressure defense is our biggest asset right now.

[KC Shox]

They had ample opportunities to put the game away in the first half when they were already were up by 12, but couldn't cash in. That gave KSU life and they outscored WSU what, 14-2 to tie the game up before the half. Need to learn to put the foot on the throat from here on out.

[1972Shocker]

They had ample opportunities to put the game away in the first half when they were already were up by 12, but couldn't cash in. That gave KSU life and they outscored WSU what, 14-2 to tie the game up before the half. Need to learn to put the foot on the throat from here on out.

Yep, I have to agree. Shocks score only 2 points in the last 7:30 of the 1st half.

All in all, the defensive effort in the 1st half was very good.

Shocks made a good effort to stay with Kent State, but they faltered on the perimeter defense giving up 8 treys in the 2nd half, half of those in the last 5 minutes. Shocks may have tired some late in the game.

Dissappointing in that it was a game the Shocks could've won and maybe should've won. However, the Shocks won't win many games against solid teams with Marisah and Jacie combining to shoot 4 - 20 and turning the ball over 14 times.

On the positive side Daria had a very good game despite sitting out a good portion of the 1st half with foul trouble.

Bottom line is Shocks are just not quite ready for prime time. They give great effort, especially on the Defensive end, but they still tend to force things and are inconsistent on Offense. Nevertheless, they might still an unexpected game or two in the MVC, especially if they can get solid play from the entire lineup.

[Shockfan8]

They had ample opportunities to put the game away in the first half when they were already were up by 12, but couldn't cash in. That gave KSU life and they outscored WSU what, 14-2 to tie the game up before the half. Need to learn to put the foot on the throat from here on out.

Yes I thought they played great also, considering our lack of bench strength

[pogo]

Cut the unforced turnovers in half (experience will help) and you have a heck of an exciting team.

[flyingMoose]

I think several of the previous posters have touched on key aspects of the game.

I thought our defensive pressure early in the first half got us a few easy baskets. I doubt Kent State has faced too much of that this year. But playing 94' of defense and getting all but twelve minutes (for the game) from just six players wears you down. After the last media timeout of the first half, our offensive decision making was really poor - our 11-point lead at that point evaporated to nothing. And I think Kent State adjusted to our defensive pressure over time, too.

The second half was much the same. We are tied at the last media timeout and we faded, not defending the three-ball well at all. Again, I attribute it to fatigue from the 94' defense. We play that style well - we just need more minutes from the bench.

I remain encouraged and am anticipating the approaching Valley schedule.

And Morgan O'Hara, Wichita Northwest and Kent State alum, was there with family. She and her mom had to dig out their old Kent State t-shirts, but they were there in the section behind the Kent State bench.

[SubGod22]

What killed the Shox in the 2nd half was letting a team that can shoot the three get too many open looks. And sadly, some of those uncontested, wide open looks came with a defender voluntarily playing about 6 feet off of girls who shoot over 40% from three.

Also way too many turnovers on traveling. And what's worse is Jacie only gets called for a few of the ones she actually commits. So the problem could get worse if the crew wanted to call more.

[shockerball05]

subgod... are you kidding me???

Pay attention to val next time she gets the ball, nothing against Val but she travels every time she touches the dam* thing

[SubGod22]

Val bounces but doesn't leave her feet most the time. She's not near as bad as Hoyt. Just about every ball fake is a travel.

[flyingMoose]

Pay attention to val next time she gets the ball, nothing against Val but she travels every time she touches the dam* thing

When she dribbles? Maybe. But the little hop she normally takes before she shoots? That is a "mini-jumpstop" and is legal - it is one step. Marisah doing a bigger jumpstop when driving in the paint is another example of someone who uses it.

[shockerball05]

please... I know what a jump stop is, and as a former collegiate official I also know what a travel is. The entire team travels very frequently...