Watching the replay right now, just finished the third quarter. Wanted to say a couple of things while it’s fresh on my mind.
Striplin held her own, was fearless, and played a great game. We’re going to be seeing a lot of her. Jillian mainly came in to give Striplin or Franklin some rest, but fouled and didn‘t do well until the 3rd quarter, that I saw, when she got a rebound and a steal at the end of the 3rd quarter, which was wasted when Horston lost the ball on a rushed shot. Jillian has a lot of potential.
Tess is in fantastic shape, Saw her zoom down the floor, ended up running practically into our bench, zoomed back down the court, stole the ball, and zoomed again back down the court, and made the layup. She’s a smart player, and has plenty of physical strength. Saw her yank the ball away from one of their big players under the basket.
Sara had a great game. Hit 3’s, and guarded Brink.
When Rickea came in, in the third quarter, it was almost like Stanford didn’t know she could shoot. She would just casually dribble over near the basket, and sink her shot. On one Stanford possession, I saw Jones, before she got the ball, use both her hands and shove Rickea away three times. No calls. After Rickea had made a shot, and Jones had the ball, Jones started a drive to the basket. While Rickea had both arms up, Jones sped up and rammed her shoulder into Rickea. A foul was called on Rickea. That’s when she went to the bench.
Earlier in the game, one of their bigs elbowed Franklin and knocked her to the ground, a little later, Horston was on the ground. Later, Brink just shoved Franklin to the floor because she was in Brink’s way. That’s the kind of game Stanford was playing.
One more thing, Marta, when she was in, made her presence felt, and hit some very timely layups.
We were 8 points ahead in the 3rd quarter, but showed no patience when Powell, Walker, and Horston began to ignore our better shooters on our team. Horston making 8 of 24 shots, she needs to pass more.
Stanford made 5 3’s in our game, and in the game before, they had made 15. The announcers mentioned we had stopped their fast breaks, which they said was a real win for Tennessee.
Our team played a fantastic game, and gave Stanford way more than they ever expected on their home floor. If we see them again in the tournament, we’ll be ready.
