Just wow. A tale of 2 halves, or several games within a game. No Caroline? No Paige? No problem! (sort of - obviously we love those guys and missed them terribly). We have some player named Fudd!!!
First half - we really should have been up more. So many missed opportunities and not taking advantage. Fudd was 3-10. How often will she miss 5 shots inside the arc in a half? CW was jacking up missed 3-pointers and had 2 fouls and 3 TO's. Once Key got into foul trouble, we tried to force it into ONO. Westbrook knew better - she let the game come to her, not forcing it. Really IMHO only Edwards and Westbrook played well on both sides of the ball in half 1.
The 2nd half started out as the Nika and Christyn show. Q3 might have been one of the most delightful quarters of basketball I've watched in a long time. As my friend
@MilfordHusky said, "a cream-sickle melting under pressure". Azzi got back on track and really everyone took part in the rout in Q3. We slowed down a tad towards the end of the quarter, but the standing 8 count was delivered. At the end of the 3rd quarter, Tenneessee had
8 total field goals on 9-45 shooting. That's 20%. UCONN was at 20-45. 44%. If not for all the FT's by Tenn, it would have been even worse.
Not a good effort for senior Williams - picking up 2 more fouls in Q3. Good grief - you are a senior Christyn. Stop making unforced errors. After starting Q3 14-0, Tennessee outscored us 11-9 rest of the quarter. They were living at the FT line. 16-18 thru 3 quarters. But... was the damage already done?
I was worried how we'd come out in Q4 - had we spent all our good energy? Would we let down? Tennessee's pressure defense had already started causing us problems. And believe it or not, the fouls were fairly even - 18 for UCONN thru 3, 16 for Tennessee. The problem was we were fouling shooters. Tenn came out swarming in Q4 and we played careless. Not surprising but disappointing. Missing FT's didn't help (9-14). 10-4 out the gate in Q4 for Tennessee. They were outscoring us at the FT line 17-9. Smart TO by Geno - I was disappointed with how carelessly we were playing.
After the TO, Edwards is NOT the player I'd call on for a big 3. ROFL. When she took that i was like NOOOOOOOOO, then YESSSSSSSS LOL. Then again Williams is not the player I'd want taking any 3's either at this point. Oh well. Thank goodness for Azzi.
I LOVED so many things about this game, but the 2 things I loved most - coming out like a house in fire in Q3, and then getting "down" 10-4 in Q4, settling down, and finishing the game strong. Azzi is easily my POG. BTW I LOVED DeBerry's reaction after Fudd's last 3. Totally dialed in by a bench player (who will be great in the future) Woohoo!!
Great all around game. Azzi was a stud. Really good games from Westbrook and Edwards. Lots to love about this game.