GAME 3- MUCH BETTER GAME

The consolation final had us up against UBC-O, another top ten team. UBC-O are tall, long and big with three athletic girls over 6 feet. This was a statement game for us. We had a poor showing vs Capilano and had a good but "we could do a lot better" game against CBC. Would our girls step up to the challenge today?? In the first quarter we put together one of our best quarters to date. The girls came out with great energy playing well on the offensive end and bringing great defensive intensity. As I watched the first quarter unfold I found myself very happy with our performance. The girls were working hard on the defensive end and as a result we got into quick foul trouble and had to sit some of our starters for most of the half.  The second quarter, with starters on the bench was our undoing as we were hammered 25-11. We really had trouble with their length. We have not yet learned to focus on boxing out and we did not win this reaching match. UBC O out rebounded us badly on the offensive glass and easily had 20-25 second chance points. Our initial help side defense was great but we failed to box out. I was happier with our offense as we found scoring opportunities coming from the press break. We continued to attack through dribble penetration. Because of this we shot 33 free throws, and made 20. Thats great for us and tells me that we are taking our game to defense , not having the defense control what we do. We had great free throw shooting from Chelsey, 5-6, and good shooting from Charlotte 5-7 and Nicola 4-6. We must have fallen asleep coming out of halftime as we were badly outscored 19-9. Our forth quarter was much better with UBC-O beating us 15-13. We have had trouble in the past with our second and third quarters. We must learn to focus for 4 quarters, not allowing any mental breakdowns or let ups in the game. We simply can't afford to rest.......ever. The final score was 81-48. This looks pretty bad on paper but we played much better than the score. I was more happier with this game than the CBC game even though it was our first win. I saw huge potential today and we all ended the game feeling pretty good about the week of practice ahead and our upcoming games in Victoria vs Camosun and VIU. Charlotte had a great game at both ends of the floor and led the team with 14 points including two threes. Britt Harteveld had 11. Thanks to Jen Segger for helping me on the bench for the first two games. We are really excited to get Allie Chalke back soon and I thank her for her help with stats and acting as interim Assistant Coach. Thanks to all those who came out to support us and to those who had us in their thoughts even though they couldn't be here. These were three great games for us and we learned a lot about ourselves and where we are at as a team. I am pretty motivate to get back into the gym this week.