Shocks 76 - SIU 63

[1972Shocker]

Shocks bounce back with a much better effort today with a 76-53 win over SIU.

SIU will probably finish last in the league this year, but still the energy and focus the Shocks brought to the floor today was much improved from the Evansville game.

SIU has some nice pieces in 6'0" Sr. Katrina Swingler, 6'1" Jr. Charnise Mitchell, 5'9" So. Teri Oliver and 6'3" Fr. CiCI Shannon. However, they simply could not handle the Shocks defensive pressure turning the ball over 27 times. OTOH, the Shocks only turned the ball over 9 times which is exceptional (and 15 fewer than the Shocks had against Evansville).

SIU had a higher shooting % and outrebounded the Shocks but the Shocks got about 30 more shots primarily due to the turnover advantage.

I thought the Shocks played their best half-court defense of the year in the second half. Movement on offense was also a lot better today.

Shocks much deeper and got a big boost off the bench from Michelle Price and Jessica Diamond. Hopefully, Jessica will figure out what she needs to do to get on the floor because I believe we are a better team with her in the mix.

Saw a few signs today that give some hope the Shocks will get things going. Much better front court energy and play form Jazimen, Chynna and Michelle. Jessica seems to be coming out of her funk. Alicia knocked down couple of threes and played more under control. Good hustle and energy by all the ladies.

Now we head out on the road which has been a real challenge for the Shocks in recent years with games at Bradley and Northern Iowa next week.

IF the Shocks take care of the ball like they did today they should be able to stay within anyone in the MVC.

[1972Shocker]

Missouri State 75 - Evansville 54 in Springfield today.

[flyingMoose]

Re: Shocks 76 - SIU 63

Shocks bounce back with a much better effort today with a 76-53 win over SIU.

SIU will probably finish last in the league this year, but still the energy and focus the Shocks brought to the floor today was much improved from the Evansville game.

As much as I would hope this game means "I'm glad we got that out of our system," it is hard to know for sure due to the level of opposition.

Saw a few signs today that give some hope the Shocks will get things going. Much better front court energy and play form Jazimen, Chynna and Michelle.

All of a sudden, we seem to be able to get the ball inside with some regularity. It never happened last year and seemed to happened only in the last two games this year. I am not knowledgeable enough to know if this is due to the inside people doing a better job of making themselves available or us running different sets or whether it is something else altogether (such as a weak memory).

[1972Shocker]

I think you could definitely see more energy, movement and focus on both sides of the ball. However, the fact that SIU was the opponent does make it more difficult to say we are on our way to better things the rest of the season.

SIU did shoot the ball much better than normal at 47% after coming into the game at 35% on the year. Turnovers have been a big problem with them all year and that was on display against the Shocks.

I think our bigs have definitely shown more energy since coming back from Christmas break.

As you say, how all this translates going forward is hard to predict.