Finally, after watching 20 minutes of filler after the Cal-USC ruling disaster, the Stanford-UCLA game starts. Necka is starting and scores the first 4 points. This announcer is hip to the Stanford lingo and calls her Necka instead of butchering her full name as the house announcer did yesterday.
UCLA comes out pressing us, what a surprise, and we make long, dangerous passes to half court and then long, dangerous passes across the key. Watch it ladies, those are long, dangerous, passes, and a more athletic team will steal those.
We have our tall line-up in with Jayne, Kayla and Necka, then Jill and Pohlen, but we are missing our guards. Lindy comes in, and she has been a good sub off the bench to rest starters and not have any let down in play. Ros Gol-Onwude also comes in.
Ros hits a three (Ros?) and they blow a whistle at the same time. They give her the basket and a foul to UCLA. We get the ball back. The next time down the court, she shoots another one and it goes it. A whistle also happens at the same time and they give her the basket and a foul to Jayne. What? Jayne gets yanked and Sarah Boothe comes in.
Boothe makes a nice back door cut and finishes this time for two. R says Boothe needs to step up for this tournament and in the NCAA tournament to help Stanford.
UCLA leaves Lindy open and she knocks down a three. Geez, don’t they watch the films? If Lindy has an ounce of daylight, she will shoot a three. Boothe commits a foul and UCLA is already in bonus. Not to make Boothe feel left out, Tara yanks her for making a foul just like she does to Jayne.
Ros hits another three…we know, we know, Ros…and we are up 22-11 at the commercial break.
Jayne gets fouled and misses both free throws, come on Stanford, this ain’t high school, as C likes to remind the TV set.
Jill hits a three, and the announcers tell us she did not even hit one last year. Wow, C and R could have sworn she made one or two. But because she played in the Olympics for New Zealand, the announcers reminds us, she has been working on her outside shooting and her threes.
Boothe runs down court and leads the fast break and she also finishes this one. Way to go, Sarah. Jill attempts a shot in the final seconds but misses, New Zealand or no New Zealand. The score is 39-21 Stanford at the half. Too bad nobody is in the stands to see this live and in person.
The announcers grab Tara at half time and ask her what her team needs to do and she says stop fouling! Good point, Tara, we can see why you are head coach! She also said she was happy to see her young players do well off the bench but the veterans also need to contribute and Kayla hasn’t scored a point yet. Wow.
The half starts with two quick feeds to Jayne and she converts. Then another lob to Jayne and she catches it over her head, spins and does a reverse lay-up. She is putting on a clinic. The score is 45-21 and UCLA has not scored a point since this half.
Oops-sees, then Jayne fouls, her FOURTH. Quickly to the bench. Good thing we don’t need her now.
Jill hits a three. The announcers say this is only the second time this season she has hit more than one three in a game! Really? Wow.
We are up 50-22 five minutes into the half, UCLA only has a free throw to show for it.
The announcers launch into the old story, well, old to C and R, that Jayne played water polo in high school and that his how she honed her toughness under the basket. It always warms C’s heart because her daughter plays water polo, and yes, you have to be tough to survive that sport. They mention the fact her suit was ripped away three times her senior season. They show pictures of Jayne in the pool. Cool. Then they thanked Jayne for getting the network the pictures because Jayne tried to talk her parents through the process of emailing them to her and when they couldn’t handle that (yes, C knows the feeling), her parents drove them down to the San Jose airport to Jayne before their flight to LA.
Jill makes a steal and goes in for the lay up, like C and R have seen her do so many times at Maples. UCLA tries to press us but it seems half-hearted. Kayla brings the ball up the court against the press, and dribbles behind her back left handed! C and R wonder if she even wishes she were a point guard.
Then the subs comes in, and the sub of the subs. We see Michelle Harrison, Cinnamon, and when Grace comes in, you know it is over. UCLA makes themselves feel good by scoring some on our subs but it isn’t even close. Final score 73-47, Stanford. See ya Sunday for the finals, on the home shopping network!
No comments:
Post a Comment