Well, a snowy 3-hour ride north to play NCAA III Finlandia University didn't hold a lot of promise of a win, and the ability to break 2- game skid. As far as I can see in the records, we are winless against the Lions and have especially struggled at their gym. Last year we lost by 41 at their place, and never looked good in the process. But the girls came out focused and intense on defense, and played their best overall game of the year, leading by 7 at the half, trailing by 3 with 1:20 left, before falling to Finlandia 77-68 Tuesday night.
We set the tone early in the game with our best defensive effort of the year, and attacked the rim. We are a good perimeter shooting team, but tonight the girls did a good job in the first half of driving the ball to the basket and converting, or drawing the foul. This proved to be a good offensive weapon as we went 17 of 23 from the line...in the first half. Finaldia plays as physical and intense of defense as we have faced all year, and we handled it well in the first half. We enjoyed a 41-34 lead at the half.
We actually started the first couple of minutes of the 2nd in good shape, extending the lead to 10 at one point. But Finlandia played even more aggressive defensively and forced turnovers that they converted to easy baskets for a 8-10 minute stretch to take the lead. It honestly seemed like the game was officiated more loosely with less fouls called in the 2nd half, but that was in no way the reason for the loss. We turned it over a few too many times and they converted.
With 1:20 left we cut their lead to three, but after a good defensive half court effort, they had a player make her only shot of the game, a 3-point basket from the corner, to push it to six. After a missed shot, we fouled and they converted, thus sealing the defeat.
We have talked this week about getting better, one practice at a time, one game at a time. Our goal for everything we have left this year is to be better than when we started. We were better at the end of practice on Monday than the start. And we were much better at the end of the game than we were before we started. It's very exciting to have a group of girls that believe and want to work hard.
Some individual highlights from the game:
Tiffany - 18 points, 2 steals, and 8/10 from the free throw line (36 minutes played)
Jenna - 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 assists
Ellie - 17 points, 4 assists, 2 steals (36 minutes)
Lydia - 7 points, 3 assists, 2 steals (35 minutes)
Rebekah - 6 points, 13 rebounds, 5 steals (39 minutes)
Brooke B. - didn't score but gave us some key minutes from the bench with great defense (steals and deflections) and a few rebounds.
Overall, we're ready to build off of this game as we prepare for our final home game Thursday night against Silver Lake.
It was also great to spend time with high school senior and former basketball camper Chelsea Goodreau and her family at the game. Chelsea was accepted to NIU Tuesday night, and we look forward to her contributing to the Lady Pioneers next year! It was also great to see former basketball camper Anna Bishop at the game as well!
Thanks for reading!
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