CrazieTalk.Net

So, a funny thing happened to me driving back from Greensboro on Sunday.  I knew there was a Duke game that day, but had no idea when it was.  I tuned to 620 AM and figured that I'd check, and realized it was already about 5 minutes in to the game.  Lucky I decided to give it a try, even though I don't get very good reception there usually.  Anyway, when I tuned in, the score was 20-7, and I figured they had it well in hand and I listened as I drove back to Durham, happily going on my way.  Then, a crazy thing happened: the Turkeys decided to play some zone.  I was kind of under the impression that we'd played against the zone before this year and that we'd get things under control and open the zone up a bit and just go along our merry way.  Instead, I listened in an hour long car ride as our lead evaporated slowly, leaving me a bit less comfortable as the drive went on.

Anyway, I got to listen to the whole game as I drove, since I had some errands to run after arriving in Durham, and the zone continued to frustrate us, leaving us forcing up what sounded like awkward shots and then not getting to the rebound often times.  This is the second close game in four where a team got to the ball first and held us to low scoring output by controlling tempo (BC being the other), but it's somewhat understandable coming after the week we've had.  The women need some rest after 3 games in 7 days.  The game was slowed down by the zone, producing fewer shots/misses to rebound, and we ended up being kept out of the paint, holding our rebounding down even further.  The upside of this, however, was that the lower number of possessions resulted in fewer turnovers for us, while we still forced a good number on them (bonus!).  At least three of our 14 turnovers were 3-second violations, likely produced by frustration with the zone defense.  The rebounding issue was compounded by an odd discrepancy in fouls that was called in the first half, 9-2 in favor of the Hokies.  They took many more free-throws than us in the first half, and we didn't help things by going 1-4 in the half.  If I could have seen the game, I'd know better whether or not it was a deserved discrepancy.

The 2 individuals who made sure that we won this game the most were probably Jasmine Thomas and Karima Christmas, coincidentally enough our two top scorers.  Jasmine had an amazing first half, hitting 16 points and being about the only player to show some real fight against the slowing down zone that Va Tech switched to.  Karima played solidly throughout the half, and showed towards the end of the game that she just wanted it more than Virginia Tech, playing with confidence to pull down the crucial rebounds at the end and get to loose balls.

While this was not a banner win, and not a particularly pretty win, it's still a win.  It's something to learn from and get better.  It shows us that we need to work on our shooting so that we can better open up a zone if it's thrown at us.  It shows us that we need to work a bit on our endurance if we hope to excel in a tournament type situation where we're playing more games in less time.  It also shows us that even when we're tired, we need to bring that same passion to bear to help us get through adversity and be the aggressor.  The next game is Friday at Georgia Tech.  Ma'Chelle has shown that she can get her team to play well, but we'll see if they can handle the stiff defense that we bring to the court every game.