the Women fall to a tough, soon-to-be ranked Stanford
I’m just going to get straight to the point: nobody wants to see a 29 point loss. Regardless of the team, in this case being a Stanford team that will likely be ranked come the updated AP Top 25 Poll, that hurts.
However, just as I needed to temper my excitement after the Montana game, I am going to have to moderate my disappointment after today’s performance. So let’s jump into some of the positives and negatives after the conclusion of the second game in the new-look era Gonzaga Bulldogs.
Positives:
- Allie Tuner — the freshman from St. Louis has started hot this season and, so far, looks like the real deal. After dropping 18 points against the Lady Grizz earlier this week, Turner again dropped 18 points along with 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and tied for a team high 10 shots, of which she made 4-6 from deep. Fortier looks to be easing her into the team’s starting role as she continues to trust returning sophomore Claire O’Connor, but if Allie continues her recent trend and Claire continues to struggle, I think we may be seeing the true freshman crack into the lineup sooner rather than latter
- 2nd & 4th Quarters — my point here lies not in the overall performance in those periods, but rather, how the team rebounded after two miserable performances in the 1st and 3rd quarters. In those twenty minutes, the Bulldogs amassed a grand total of 13 points on 5-29 overall shooting with 17 rebounds, 2 assists, 11 turnovers, and 9 fouls. However, in the other twenty minutes, Gonzaga scored 45 points on 14-26 overall shooting with 19 rebounds, 9 assists, 7 turnovers, 7 fouls. I wouldn’t really say this was a Jekyl and Hyde type game, because the Zags never truly looked ready to run against the Cardinal, but having the ability to bounce back after tough periods represents an important strength for this new group of players because they will need resiliency to overcome their inevitable slumps encountered across this long season. And at the very least, if they can maintain a higher floor then they may be able to stave off teams to eek out wins like the great teams seem to magically do.
Negatives:
- Half-Court Offense — make no doubt about it, Stanford came out ready to stop to protect the paint and limit opportunities to established players like Yvonne Ejim and Maud Huijbens, which proved to be extremely successful. Yvonne might have extended her games with double-digit scoring to 44, but it was ugly as she went 4-10 from 2-point ranger and needed 4 free throws to get above ten. Maud on the other hand scored just 9 points with a 2-9 overall shooting performance and a concerning 5-8 from the charity strip. Both performed adequately in the rebounding department with 8 and 6, respectively, but Stanford game-planned well by neutralizing the bigs and forcing the inexperienced guards into tough decisions that weren’t consistently made correctly, either in speed of the decision or the correct decision.
- Half-Court Defense — Gonzaga may have held the Cardinal to just 45.2% overall from the field, but they gave up an astonishing 13-24 performance to Stanford from beyond the line. If we break down these numbers, that means that Stanford shot 17-41 from inside the arc (41.4%) compared to the Bulldogs 14-38 (36.8%) performance. Teams are going to get hot from time to time, but I felt that the Zags didn’t match the physicality and determination shown by our Bay Area rivals. The communication wasn’t great on assignment switching, the lack of consistent fight over a screen to instead settle for going underneath, and the lack of urgency in closing out shooters all doomed the squad today. They need to improve in this area to give the team a chance in games like this when the offense falls pretty flat.
- 29 point loss — the deficit marks the worst deficit in the Lisa Fortier-era and it hurts to have this performance in a nationally-televised game, only of one of two for the squad this season.
Positives (Addendum [not really just wanted to add it in last])
- Future — no, not the rapper, but the future of this team. Yes, today stunk to watch, but I still believe in this squad. We knew this was going to be a tough matchup not just because of the pedigree of this program, but by bare virtue Stanford has such high quality depth on their roster that someone like Tess Heal, a ‘23-24 All-WCC First Team selection, comes off the bench and is one of seven, I REPEAT 1 OF 7 PLAYERS, that played 17-23 minutes today. That’s crazy. It reminds me of those mid to late-2010 Leonard Hamilton Florida State Men’s teams that is basically throwing hockey-style rotation at you. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs remain without Tayla Dalton, Lauren Whitaker, Bree Salenbien, and lost Esther Little after 6 minutes with a head injury. Little could have been huge tonight on defense and while Osarobo stepped in admirably (side note: I see some potential there!), this group needed Esther tonight. The Cardinal likely would have slouched off her on offense as they did Osarobo, but maybe she swings around quicker/better to connect the offense and, at the very least, she strengthens the Bulldogs defense to lock down the deep shot. Who knows. Let’s just hope we get her, and the other injured players, back soon
What did you think about the game? Hit the comments below and share!