Posted Sunday at 6:30 pm
It's a quiet and dark bus for a number of reasons: 1. The obvious cause of a loss. 2. It's rainy and dark on the drive back, making for good sleeping weather. 3. I think this is a tired basketball team. Three our of four weekends on the road is a lot of time on the bus. And there's some sort of cold going around, even I have a little bit of it.
Anyway, Saint Peter's used the offensive glass to get that win today. There's really nothing else you need to know. I talked about it a little at the half, but they were really crashing hard. The stretch to begin the second half was key as the Peahens scored the first seven points and never gave up that lead, which was very impressive.
Also, Saint Peter's hit a number of big-time shots from behind the arc. Riddick's 3-pointer from the corner was the big one as she had made one other 3-pointer on the season. Morris and Ali hit the others, with Mic right in Morris' face when she drained it. Some times, you just have to tip your cap to the other team when they make those shots.
Now the Griffs have their next five games in Western New York (two weekends at home sandwiched around a mid-week Kid's Day game up at Niagara). If you have a chance, come out to the game on Friday (or any of the home games) as the ESPNU games are always a lot of fun. Couple that with the excitement of Canisius-Marist on the women's side and Canisius-Niagara on the men's side and it could be a fun night of basketball. If not, tune in to ESPNU for Dean Darling and Mika Ryan (who Mike Scott and I are possibly going out for wings with on Thursday night.)
We'll be back on the blog for the Fairfield-Iona trip in the middle of February.
Posted at Halftime
The first half has gone pretty much as expected. Saint Peter's has the athletic/size advantage, especially on the offensive glass. The Peahens have 15 offensive rebounds, as many offensive rebounds as Canisius has in the game. When one of the Saint Peter's players thinks her shot is off, she will crash. It's almost backwards as the shooter usually gets back, but it's paying off.
The Griffs did a good job of getting around Britt's foul trouble. She only played seven minutes in the first half, with the second foul being a nickel-and-dimer (as Bill Raftery would say). Mic also picked up a 2nd foul, so Canisius did a good job to keep the game from getting away.
Ashley (now being called AD by Coach Zeh like Adrian Dantley, which I like because Adrian Dantley is a Notre Dame guy), had a tough start but played better throughout the half. One play that stood out was after the four-minute media timeout. AD drove to the basket and drew the defense. She looked for the pass and knew the collapsing defense was coming. Ellie was wide-open at the free-throw line and nailed the jumper.
Ellie has shown her versatility hitting those outside shots. That's the difference between her and the Saint Peter's posts. Ellie can sag off the Saint Peter's posts and help the guard with the entry pass. Saint Peter's guards have a size advantage over AD and Britt. However, with Ellie also denying that entry pass, the posts don't want to throw it and don't want to shoot a 15-18-foot jumper.
As Mike Scott just said to me, if Britt would play seven minutes and you'd be up one at the half on the road, you'd take it.
Posted Sunday at 2 pm
We're courtside here at the Yanitelli Center on the campus of Saint Peter's College. I'm next to the bench, a little farther than usual as Saint Peter's doesn't have tables to the end of the DORNA signage (rotating ads). Mike Scott is right next to me as the Saint Peter's SID staff was very accommodating in getting us Internet for the audio broadcast.
Canisius: Brittané Russell, Micayla Drysdale, Brianna Lucas, Allison Braun, Ellie Radke
Saint Peter's: Adenike Oyesile, Jynae Judson, Jessica Coles, Natasha Morris, Quiana Porter
Officials: Butch Discher, Debra Garcia, Terry Funk
Saint Peter's is always an interesting matchup for the Griffs. The Peahens have a lot of athleticism, arguably the most in the conference. For Canisius to have success today, the Griffs need to be disciplined on both ends of the court. Play solid defensively, especially sticking to their principles. On the offensive end, it's about making the extra pass to get the open shots, which come when a team takes some chances defensively.
The Griffs are at the end of their five road games out of seven to start the MAAC schedule and a win today would be very good. Before the MAAC schedule started, coach Zeh would have been okay with a 4-3 record. When the team started 0-3, he would now be very happy with a 4-3 record. You can always look back at games and think about what you could have done differently to win each one, but 4-3 to start conference play is respectable – especially in a conference that's breaking down as Marist in first, Iona in second, and everyone else competing for the top half of the standings.
I feel having a number of days to prepare for Saint Peter's is beneficial for the Griffs. They play such a different style that having a few days to get mentally prepared helps, even more when you're playing in the Yanitelli Center. Teams across the MAAC have had tough games here. Saint Peter's is usually pretty confident at home and usually plays well.
On a personal level, I'd like to see the Griffs get a win as this is the only conference gym where I haven't gotten a win. Saint Peter's was the only team to defeat Canisius on the road last season, which was easily the worst game of the season for the Griffs.
The teams are just coming out of the huddles and we're ready for tipoff.
Posted Sunday at 8:20 am
As I talked about the near-record Holy Cross shooting drill last week, the Griffs got it this morning. Coach T told the squad of Ellie, Whit, Tasia, Mic and Bri to get 170 and they did exactly that, breaking the record of 168. The record attempt almost became derailed when one of Mic's shots got caught up in the strings of her sweatshirt (It's a little chilly in the Yanitelli Center this morning, but not too bad).
Anyway, the night was as tame as I was predicting — a lot of basketball watching and stats checking. Pregame is at 10:30. Looking forward to it as we've had night games here at Saint Peter's the last two years. The breakfast spread that was getting displayed this morning in the hotel restaurant looked good.
Posted Saturday at 8:20 pm
I forgot to mention the chocolate chip cookies that were awaiting the Griffs in the film room after dinner. I brought mine back up to the room and heated it up in the microwave. Well worth the wait.
Posted Saturday at 8 pm
Good evening Golden Griffin women's basketball fans. I didn't forget about the blog, but it was a quick turnaround when we got to the hotel to go to dinner.
The Griffs left Buffalo early in the afternoon, catching the 2:12 flight to JFK Airport. As opposed to last week, the airport was empty. Apparently people don't travel on Saturday afternoons. A number of people on the travel party had never experienced the glory of JetBlue, which is basically just TVs in every seat. The Michigan State-Minnesota game was on all the TVs at the start. Manager Melvin and Caitlin were glad to see the Spartans get the win.
The flight, which was just under an hour, was uneventful. A few people slept and didn't enjoy the TVs. We got on the bus at JFK and then headed to the hotel. One of the difficult parts of traveling in the city by bus is finding a route. Parkways aren't an option as buses can't go on those roads. Steve has returned and got us there fairly quickly. Traffic wasn't awful and we got the Doubletree in Jersey City around 5:30.
The team left at 5:45 for the walk to Bertuzzi's, which is where the Griffs ate last year as well. It's a family style serving with pizzas, salad, chick and pasta. I know the hit of the night was chicken in some sort of lemon sauce. Peering down the table, Steph Mac and Ashley enjoyed it a lot and even got a second serving.
The team is going through the Saint Peter's scout right now. Shootaround is at 8 am, so we're leaving at 7:30. These early mornings are becoming a habit on the road as the Griffs have eight of their nine road MAAC games in the morning (Niagara Kid's Day game) or in the afternoon.
Not much else to report tonight. Coach Zeh and I are going to be watching games and Mike Scott might be joining us as well for Duke-Clemson.
