Game 2: Marist

This was a much closer game than expected, with Duke again having a poor shooting night. Marist runs a type of Princeton offense which tends to slow games down, resulting in a much slower pace of 68.5 possessions in the game. (This strategy did backfire a few times, as the Crazies' countdowns convinced Marist to take desperation shots thinking the buzzer was about to sound.)

Individually Carrem Gay had another good night, notching her first ever double-double with 14 and 10. And Bales bounced back with 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 blocks. She was hampered by foul trouble though, and only played 19 minutes.

On offense Duke only shot 42% from the field, 27% from three, and a horrible 57% from the line. They did manage a little better on assisted baskets, with 60% of their baskets assisted, but they still took a lot of difficult shots early in the shot clock without setting up their offense.

Defensively they held Marist to 28% shooting, but only blocked 12% of their shot attempts and only managed 10 steals overall. Duke outrebounded Marist by 16, and did better on the defensive boards, corralling 78% as opposed to 43% of the O-boards.

Only 5 goals met tonight:

	Goal	Actual
Opp. Shooting %	35%	28%
Individual scorers <15	1	0
FG %	50%	42%
FT%	75%	57%
More FTs	1	5
% of Rebs.	58%	60%
Duke TOs/Poss	20%	20%
Opp. TOs/Poss	25%	22%
Off. Rating	105	103.6
Def. Rating	95	72.9

Game 1, 2006: Northeastern

Game 1: Northeastern, Saturday Nov 11

Despite Alison Bales having a horrible shooting night (1-10), Duke still managed to ride roughshod over Northeastern 102-49. Carrem Gay, Abby Waner, and Bridgette Mitchell picking up the slack all had great nights, with Mitchell getting the nod with 18 points and 13 rebounds, 11 on the offensive end.

On defense they held the Huskies to 27% from the field, they blocked 20% of all NU's shots, and caused 36 turnovers (therefore 40% of NU's possessions ended in a turnover: excellent!). Duke also effectively dictated the pace of the game: 90 possessions is extremely fast. (Last year Duke averaged 76 possessions per 40 minutes, still faster than most women's teams.)

On offense Duke shot poorly against such an overmatched team, only managing 44% from the floor. Some of that can be attributed to first-game nerves, and also on Al's part to being knocked in the eye early on in the game. I think that shot made her tentative, and then missing bunnies caused her to tighten up. And free throw shooting was bad at 69% as well.

Rebounding was a bright spot, with the two true freshmen and Al all hitting double figures. Cheek and Bales each had 11 to go with Bridgette's 13. Duke pulled down 60% of the O-boards and 77% on the defensive end, and tallied 30 second-chance points.

I have a list of ten things I look for in a Duke game (the concept was stolen from a UConn fan a long while ago). These are ideal goals, but if Duke can manage even half of them they tend to do very well. This game Duke met seven of the ten:

	Goal	Actual
Opp. Shooting %	35%	27%
Individual scorers <15	1	1
FG %	50%	44%
FT%	75%	69%
More FTs	1	14
% of Rebs.	58%	68%
Duke TOs/Poss	20%	21%
Opp. TOs/Poss	25%	40%
Off. Rating	105	113
Def. Rating	95	54.3

Beard rolls, but Mystics lose to Indiana, 74-67

Alana was 11-14 and 2-4 from the line for 24 points, and she hauled down 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season, but Washington couldn't pull out the win against the Fever. She also had 5 assists, two fouls, two steals and a block in a good all-round performance. Her only negatives were three turnovers, one missed three, and the uncharacteristic two missed free throws. She accounted for 8 of the Mystics last 10 points in the game as she took over in an attempt to get the win. 

Mystics beat Liberty, 88-70

Alana led the team in rebounding with 9 (one on the offensive end) and she and Nikki Teasley each poured in 26 points against the hapless Liberty. She also had 5 steals and a block, with two turnovers and no fouls, but her outside shooting woes continued: She was 8-21 and 0-4 from deep, but made up for it by being perfect from the line at 10-10. She only made two shots outside of the key (both were from the left side)...

Iciss did not play for New York in the loss.

Houston over Liberty 72-58

Mistie played 4 minutes for Houston and didn't attempt a shot, while Iciss played 5 for New York and missed her only attempt (a three). Iciss also committed a foul in her limited time off the bench, while Mistie managed 2 rebounds and a steal along with a turnover in her few moments off the bench.

In other Comets news, Sheryl Swoopes played 31 minutes and hit her 4000th point, so apparently her back and ankle are both okay...

Washington over Charlotte, 96-77

Monique outscored Alana 22-15 (with Coach G, Gale Valley, and Shannon Perry looking on), but the Mystics outscored the Sting 96-77, in a physical, high-fouling game.

Alana had another difficult shooting night, only making 5-16 and 1-4 from deep. She was 4-4 from the line, though, with 4 rebounds, a block and a steal, along with 4 fouls and 3 turnovers.

Mo on the other hand was 4-11, 1-2 from three, and 13-16 from the foul stripe. She had 3 offensive boards and 7 total, and added 3 assists and a steal, along with one turnover and 5 fouls. She led her team in points with the 22 and in rebounding as well, but without their starting point guard and starting center, the Sting could not pull it out, despite Washington helping them out with all the fouling.

An interesting stat I just discovered: against Charlotte Alana is shooting 16-39, or 41%. Against the rest of the league she's averaging 58%, 54-92. She's shot under .500 in only three games: twice against Charlotte and once against Indiana...

Houston beats Sacramento in OT 73-66

Mistie again did not play at all in the overtime game against the Monarchs. The good news for Houston was that Sheryl Swoopes played for the first time in two weeks since injuring her back; the bad news is she sprained her ankle in the third quarter...

Fever down New York in OT, 80-78

Iciss played five minutes and pulled down one rebound and missed her only field goal attempt in the overtime loss to Catchings and Indiana...

Mystics over Charlotte, 87-70

Well, Alana and the Mystics took their revenge on Charlotte at home tonight, beating the Sting 87-70. Charlotte actually led most of the first half before losing Helen Darling and Tammy Sutton-Brown (both starters) to injury.

Alana did not have a particularly good shooting night, going 6-14 and 0-2 from deep. Her outside shot was just not falling, with only one of her six baskets a true jump shot. The rest were drives, running jump shots and layups. She did get two "and-one" calls, drew two charges (one against Monique, who returned the favor in the third quarter), and generally played with hustle. She got to shoot one free throw on a flagrant "clear path" foul, meaning she was fouled when she had a clear path to the basket, and made 6-9 free throws. She also had 3 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and another beautiful block, along with 3 turnovers and 2 personal fouls. (As noted above one of the fouls was a charge which is also a turnover...)

Alana ended with 18 points in 31 minutes, and gave everyone a scare by rolling her ankle with a couple of minutes left in the game. She seemed to shake it off though, and was walking fine right after the game during the handshake/hug line with the Sting.

Monique did not get as involved in the game early on and ended with 9 points on 3-7 shooting. She did make all three of her free throws but did not attempt a three this game. She tried hard to make something happen in the fourth quarter, but was playing out of control at some points. She exhibited her usual hustle on the offensive glass, leading the team with 4 O-boards, and had 6 rebounds overall. She had 4 assists as well, but committed 6 turnovers and picked up 4 fouls, with 3 of her turnovers coming in the desperation minutes of the fourth quarter.

Sun beat Mystics, 85-71

Alana made 12 of 23 shots and posted a career-high 29 points, but only Chasity Melvin joined her in double figures with 10, and the Mystics lost to the league-leading Connecticut Sun. Alana had 6 rebounds, a block and 3 steals to go with 5 fouls and 3 turnovers. She was only 1-3 from deep, but made 4-6 from the line...

And, Alana hit her 1000th point in the game and now has 1016 for her WNBA career! Go girl!

Lynx over Comets, 75-62

Swoopes is still not playing, and the Comets lost to Minnesota Sunday afternoon. Mistie did not play either, but I don't know whether that's because of her ankle problems or just a coaching decision...

Liberty win one on the road

On Saturday, the Liberty beat the San Antonia Silver Stars, 71-67. Coming off her team-leading 12 points from the last game, Iciss got 7 minutes but missed all three of her field goal attempts. She did pull down 3 rebounds, but also managed to acquire 4 fouls in those 7 minutes...

Mo chat

Mo chatted on WNBA.com last Thursday... By the way, I think "chat" is about the weirdest word out there, especially if you say it a bunch of times in a row.

Comets blast Liberty, 97-62

The good news: Iciss played 15 minutes for New York and was the leading scorer with 12 points on 5-10 shooting. She also had 3 rebounds and 2 steals. And, Mistie got six minutes and two rebounds off the bench for Houston.

The bad news: Ice fouled out of the game and Mistie missed both her free throws and her one field goal attempt...

Houston took it to the Liberty even without Swoopes in the lineup, shooting 63 percent and outscoring New York in the paint 50-22.

Charlotte over Indiana, 70-59

Mo had 8 points on 3-8 shooting and 7 rebounds in Charlotte's win over Tamika Catchings and the Fever. Charlotte won the rebounding battle 41-28, and came back from a 14-point deficit. Indiana was only down by 3 with three minutes left in the game but failed to score at all in that time. Mo also had 2 assists, 3 fouls, and 2 turnovers in the win.

Sun over Liberty, 75-60

Iciss didn't play again in the loss to Connecticut.

Fever take out Mystics, 83-70

The Indiana Fever and Tamika Catchings beat the Mystics 83-70. The game seemed pretty even in the box score except for rebounding where the Fever had an edge 42-35, but Washington was out of sync offensively. Perhaps the back-to-back games hurt them?

Alana was the high scorer for the Mystics with 18, but her shooting percentage was poor: 6-16, 1-2 from deep. She made 5-6 free throws and had 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block. The negatives were 5 fouls and 2 turnovers, one of which was an offensive foul.

Mystics defeat Houston, 93-79

Alana and the Mystics had a great game against the Swoopes-less Comets. AB started the game a perfect 5-5, and ended up shooting 8-13 for the game and 1-3 from deep for 22 points. She was also perfect from the line with 5 free throws, and the Mystics as a team did not miss from the line. She added 5 assists and 3 defensive rebounds, and had a steal and 2 blocks, one of which came against 6'5" Michelle Snow.

There was one funny incident in the fourth where the original call was that Alana had stolen the ball from Tina Thompson and was immediately fouled by Kayte Christiansen. Alana shot and made both free throws for her sixth and seventh on the night, and then the referees got together and decided Kayte had actually had possession, so it was a player-control (offensive) foul. They then took the points off the board, otherwise Alana would have had 24 points on the night and another steal.

Mistie Williams did not get in the game until the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, and never touched the ball, as far as I could tell just listening to the game.

Comets over Minnesota, 85-62

In three minutes Mistie had 2 rebounds, an assist, and 2 turnovers. The starters for Houston scored all but seven of their points.

Liberty beat Sparks in OT, 89-79

Iciss's minutes are going up, and the Liberty finally win one... Okay, there's no real correlation, but it's still encouraging. Iciss managed to play 10 minutes and made both of her free throws, but missed both of her jump shots and pulled down one rebound. She also had a turnover and a foul.