Zags WBB: FanFest Review

the kicked off the year with a fun time

The Women kicked off their season with FanFest last week and, despite not being televised, looks like it was an awesome time for those in attendance.

In the skills challenge, Bree beat out freshman Allie Turner for the three point challenge and Juco transfer Vera Gunaydin won the “hotshot challenge” which is awarded to the player who can first complete a layup, free throw, three pointer, and half court shot. It’s cool to see Bree participating in the skill challenge and hitting her shots, although the Spokesman article states, “[she] hasn’t decided if she’ll rejoin the team in a playing capacity.” That’s intriguing. Maybe that means this year will strictly be about recovery?

The team was a bit shorthanded on the evening for the scrimmage with the likes of Bree Salenbien out as expected, but also Tayla Dalton, McKynnlie Dalan, and Lauren Whittaker. No news exists currently about what exactly are the nature of their injuries. This forced the staff to employ some of the male practice squad members and makes any interpretation of the results form this showcase even harder.

Navy ended up taking the showcase by just 2 points and judging from Osco’s comments (thank you for relaying your observations) and the boxscore, the offense wasn’t quite clicking yet.

Here were the teams:

Navy

Esther Little 2 points, 1-1 FG, 0-0 3FG, 2 rebounds, 2 assist, 0 steal, 1 block

Allie Turner 5 points, 2-9 FG, 1-5 3FG, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 0 block

Christobel Osarobo 0 points, 0-5 FG, 0-3 3FG, 3 rebounds, 0 assist, 0 steal, 0 block

Yvonne Ejim 10 points, 3-9 FG, 0-2 3FG, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 0 steal, 0 block

Ella Hopkins 4 points, 2-4 FG, 0-0 3FG, 3 rebounds, 0 assist, 0 steal, 0 block

White

Vera Gunaydin 2 points, 1-4 FG, 0-3 3FG, 0 rebounds, 0 assist, 0 steal, 0 block

Claire O’Connor 3 points, 1-6 FG, 1-4 3FG, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 0 block

Maud Huijbens 6 points, 2-4 FG, 0-1 3FG, 3 rebounds, 0 assist, 1 steal, 1 block

Ines Bettencourt 10 points, 5-10 FG, 0-3 3FG, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steal, 0 block

Ugly looking boxscore, but the numbers don’t really matter as much as the effort and the team getting some experience together in front of the fans. Referencing the aforementioned Spokesman article, Esther Little was quoted as saying, “We’ve hardly played together in practice. We’ve had two 4-minute scrimmages and the teams have been mixed up. To bring seven new people in and play together as we did shows type of players coaches recruit.”

The Zags will now have just under 2 weeks to get better acquainted with each other on the floor as they take on the College of Idaho in a scrimmage on November 1st.