WBB wins 2 to get to 4-1

The Women’s Bouncy Ball team played a couple of Arkansas schools flanking the Turkey Day holiday, allowing Coach Blair to spend some time with his family and then return for the middle of a Volleyball, WBB, MBB triple-header at Reed before Saturday’s MOST IMPORTANT FOOTBALL GAME EVER.

Ags beat Little Rock 61-40 on Tuesday

I didn’t post a recap for Tuesday night’s game. Although I do write up my impression of games I only watch online or on TV, I’m don’t always do games where there’s only the radio. One thing I did learn from the pregame interview with Coach Blair is that the team hadn’t even put in a zone defense until after playing Syracuse. From what I was able to infer from the audio, it was an odd game that either indicated great D or struggling offense on both sides. The official recap and box score are on 12thman.com.

The Ags shot 11-35 (31.43%) from the field in the 1st half with Chennedy Carter going 1-9. And led 27-20. Aaliyah Wilson’s 16 points in the half, combined with a big edge in rebounding and turnovers built the lead. After halftime, A&M raised it’s game and shot 61.5% and pulled away. Wilson and N’dea Jones had career highs, with Jones getting the second double-double of her career.

Arkansas State on Friday

The 1-3 Red Wolves were outmatched from the start. The Ags went 5-5 on to start the game before Arkansas State got on the board. It was 16-4 and 5 minutes in before A&M missed a shot. By halftime it was 53-29. Carter had 19 points by the break, but Kayla Wells also reached double figures before intermission. By the end of the 97-56 win, all 5 starters had scored in double figures and everyone eligible had seen the floor (We’re still waiting on a waiver request for Anna Dreimane). Only Shabria Washington, Aahliyah Jackson, and Lauren Harrison failed to score. Washington more than made up for that with 6 assists vs 1 turnover in 21 minutes.

Carter finished with a season-high 23 points. N’dea Jones had a career high 13 points and her third double-double in 4 games. After starting the season with what I thought was too much one on one and not enough movement without the ball, the Ags had 30 assists, which is the most A&M has had in a game since 2009.

Up Next: Elementary School Day vs Lamar

• Lamar Cardinals
• 11AM CST Thursday November 29, 2018
• Reed Arena
• SECN+ streaming. Radio 1150AM

The next game is the annual Elementary School Day game, which means kids from local schools are bussed in and fill the stands. They get to interact with the coaches and the team and then scream their lungs out during the game. The screaming is kind of random but the team loves it.

Lamar plays in the Southland conference and has a 4-2 record as I write this. That will change on Saturday as they play Ohio in their second game of the Denver classic; on Friday they lost in OT to the host Pioneers in double OT. Their other loss was a 104-53 blowout by Miss State in Starkville on Nov 15. Last season Lamar won the Southland regular season title, got upset in the first round of the conference tourney, and then lost to TCU in the first round of the WNIT.

Lamar Coach Robin Harmony has been there since 2013. Before that she was the first HC at NAIA St. Thomas after serving as an assistant at Miami, where she was Associate HC from 1993-2005. It looks like Harmony emphasizes defense; they’ve led the nation in steals the last two years. Probable starters:

• 23 5-9 Sr Tr G Moe Kinard is averaging 23.7 ppg. She’s taken a large fraction of the team’s 3 pointers and is hitting .419 from behind the arc. She started every game last season after sitting out after transferring from Houston. She was second-team all-Conference and newcomer of the year in the Southland.
• 10 5-8 Sr G Chasidie Barrs is from Sydney Carter’s hometown of DeSoto Texas, which seems appropriate for a 3-time defensive player of the year in the conference. Last season she tied the individual NCAA record for steals in a season with 191. She also led the conference in assists. And she’s averaging 13.5 ppg so far.
• 22 6-1 Fr F Miya Crump is averaging 13.5 ppg and is the leading rebounder at 6.3/g
• 01 5-3 So G Jaydn Pimentel was Southland freshman of the year last season. She averages 9.8 ppg and has 21 steals through 6 games.
• 04 6-1 Jr C Briana Laidler came off the bench last season.

This will be an exercise in taking care of the ball.