Women's Nat'l Basketball Report
George Rodecker, Women's Columnist
John Wooden once said, “To me, the best pure basketball I see today … is among the better women’s teams.”
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First thought on the way in
Finally, I was courtside for both games of the Maggie Dixon Classic and saw amazing things all day: the legacy of the late ARMY WBB Coach, the aura that surrounded both Pat Summitt and Brittany Griner, the excitement that St. John’s generated by taking a halftime 36-30 lead against the No. 1 Lady Bears, and fantastic WBB action all day! I left Madison Square Garden with a real sense of fulfillment and the need to see more games like these. On the road I go!
The Worthy 20
Kristina Santiago of the Cal Poly Mustangs may be one of
the most unfair of all the omissions from the list. The Big
West Player of the Year as a junior in 2009-2010 missed all
but two minutes of one game in 2010-2011 with a season
ending knee injury. Well I guess it’s a case of out of
sight, out of mind for the 6-1 redshirt senior.
Santiago’s stat line for her junior campaign includes 19.6
points per contest along with 8.4 boards. This season
she’s come back with a vengeance, netting 21.6 per game and
10.9 boards. Overlooked, omitted, and glanced over –
take your pick - Santiago certainly deserves to have been included.
Here we match her up against Connecticut’s
Stephanie Dolson.
In the matchup Santiago (using her 2009-2010 stats) certainly takes a back seat to Dolson’s effort from the free-throw line 61.6 to 52.1. But all the other stats from that season speak way, way differently. And, as an added plus, Santiago is shooting an improved 72.5 from the charity line. Overall, Dolson’s scoring and rebounding numbers this season are off fractionally while Santiago’s stats are actually improved.
Points per game
Dolson 10.2
Santiago 23.0
Rebounds
Dolson 6.1
Santiago 12.0
Minutes
Dolson 24.2
Santiago 29.5
Dolson has certainly shined on the national stage in her freshman year, and deserves every accolade afforded her, but Kristina Santiago should take a back seat to no post player in the nation and her exclusion from the list is simply inexcusable and just plain wrong.
Overtime
Baylor. B-A-Y-L-O-R. Not Bailer, but Baylor.
That’s how the Lady Bears head lady Kim
Mulkey lectured the New York media in a friendly manner
after her squad defeated a pesky, no-quit St. John’s team
73-59 in the opener of the Maggie Dixon Classic at “The
World’s Most Famous Arena” – Madison Square
Garden in New York City.
Mulkey was thrilled that her squad came to play: “Today would have been the perfect environment to get beat. I am very proud that we won. You are in New York City and walking out of your hotel room is a distraction. Sometimes you take wins for granted. I do not take any wins for granted because I understand that when you have number one plastered in front of you, you’re going to get everyone’s best shot”.
Mulkey on Tennessee’s Pat Summitt who was honored during the Baylor St. John’s game: “We got out of our time-out huddle real quick so we could give Pat a standing ovation. Pat Summitt is our John Wooden, what she means to the women’s game is what John Wooden meant to the men’s game. They’re may be coaches who win more championships than her, but they won’t be a Pat Summitt”.
And by the way, do not sleep on these Tennessee Lady Vols. Pat Summitt has her team sitting at 6-2. A bad loss at Virginia, 69-64 besmirches an otherwise solid and impressive resume. They’re 4-1 against top 20 teams with only Baylor blemishing their record. And they’re doing it without freshman point guard Ariel Massengale who was giving the Lady Vols 5.8 assists and 7.2 points per game. Massengale, who is expect to be back in action after the first of the year, will take a load off some of the players who have contributed increased minutes as well as positions not normally played. With eight more games against top 20 teams including at No. 3 Notre Dame and at No. 5 Stanford, only a fool would count out this battle-tested squad come March.
The overriding distraction of the attention given to Summitt seems to have galvanized the team and their play has been inspiring to say the least. Come March, Summitt and her Lady Vols will be the sentimental choice of WBB fans everywhere for all the obvious reasons. But the long ride to March will have some bumps along the way, but this is a darn good team – one of five or six that have a very strong chance – though some have stronger chances than others.
Skylar Diggins versus Brittany Griner: The POY battle (Report #4)
Brittany Griner scored 17 points, ripped down 13 rebounds and blocked six shots in 40 minutes of action as the Lady Bears defeated St. John’s 73-59 in the opener of the Maggie Dixon Classic.
Skylar Diggins and her Fightin’ Irish went on the road and beat No. 12 Purdue. Diggins scored nine points but contributed six rebounds and seven assists in a very high quality road win.
Advantage Diggins, Griner leads Diggins 2-1-1
Around the Conferences
Duquesne’s sophomore forward Wumi Agunbiade
was selected as the Atlantic 10 Conference Women’s Basketball
Player of the Week for her efforts against Miami of Ohio and
Morehead State. She dropped 16 points on Miami of Ohio before
registering her 9th career double-double against
Morehead State with 19 points and 11 boards. Agunbiade and
her Lady Dukes are off to an 9-1 after a big 61-55 win over West
Virginia.
The WAC chose Ki-Ki Moore of Fresno State as their Player of the Week. Moore averaged 18.5 points and 6.5 boards to go along with 4 steals for the week. She turned in a signature game with 21 points and 10 rebounds in a huge win over then No. 23 Oklahoma.
It was a banner week for Tennessee at the expense of ranked BIG EAST teams. First the Lady Vols took out #20 DePaul 84-61 at the Maggie Dixon Classic in New York City and then stopped by Rutgers on their way home and dispatched the #11 Scarlet Knights 67-61. Next up – a road trip to California for games against UCLA and then followed by No. 4 Stanford.
Speaking of the BIG EAST, Providence’s Teya Wright leads the conference with eight double-doubles already this season, and is the only player in the conference averaging a double-double. While Wright’s 11.2 rebounds is tops, Seton Hall’s Jasmine Crew heads up the scoring with 19.6 points per game.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (the mosquito), of Connecticut, has captured her fourth consecutive freshman of the week award in the BIG EAST. That’s four out of a possible four! A star is in the making folks.
Missouri Valley Conference awarded Player and Newcomer of the Week awards to 2 players from the Drake Bulldogs. Senior Rachael Hackbarth received the Player of the Week honor for the second time this season while Freshman Kyndal Clark did likewise, nailing down Newcomer of the Week for her second honor. Both were key contributors to a 2-0 that included an extremely impressive road win over at Wisconsin.
The Ohio Valley Conference named Tennessee Tech senior Tacarra Hayes their Player of the Week after a two game performance in which the Golden Eagle stat machine dropped 30 points, six boards, five assists and five steals against Western Kentucky and a 27 point, 8 rebound effort against Stamford.
Oregon State’s WBB Head Coach Scott Rueck returned to his alma mater last season and debuted with an inglorious 9-21 mark. But the former head coach of national champion George Fox (D-III) has the Beavers off to an 8-1 start this season and has the potential to lead the Beavers to a very satisfying season.
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Miners are 9-0 for the first time in school history and find themselves ranked in the national top 50 in nine significant categories. Among them, they’re fifth in field goal defense, sixth in three point defense, 12th in blocked shots, 16th in scoring margin and 20thin scoring defense. The WBB Miners under Head Coach Keitha Adams are led in scoring by Gloria Brown with 12.1 points per game along with 9.0 boards.
Last thoughts on the way out
On Wednesday December 14, Savannah State, trailing L.A. Lafayette 22-16 at the half rallied for a 41-36 home court victory. In that game Savannah State outshot their guests 29% to 28%. Lafayette outshot their host from long range 15% to 12%, although they were topped at the charity line 100% to 44%. Of the 22 players who played for the two teams, not one scored in double figures. I’m sure that few WBB fans know that the hoopsters from Savannah State are the Tigers and play in the MEAC or that LA Lafayette are the Ragin’ Cajuns and they play in the Sun Belt Conference. 301 fans attended this contest. But I bet that for almost all of them, this was a competitive, hard fought contest.
Sunday night December 18th, we will be treated to one of the most highly anticipated WBB events of the season, especially in pre-conference play. Connecticut, No. 2 in the nation, flies to Waco, Texas and a date with the #1 ranked Baylor Bears. Clear your calendar, find a TV without Sunday Night Football, kick back and enjoy two incredibly talented squads giving us all a Final Four preview. The matchup between UConn’s Stephanie Dolson and Brittany Griner will be worth it alone!
Happy Holidays to all and:
Long live Women’s Basketball!
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Santiago photo courtesy Cal Poly Media Relations and Matt Brown Photography; Agunbiade photo courtesy of Duquesne Athletic Media Relations; Griner photo courtesy of Ray Floriani
