Two free throws by Santucci should seal the deal

Santucci 2 huge FTs, and the lead is 5 with 4 seconds left. That should do it ... I hope.

Rockets close it out and win by 5.

Good win as WMU just played CMU tough, losing by 4 @ CMU.

Rockets shot 53% from the floor.

Jay-Ann had her 2nd 20 point game in a row, with 24.
McIntyre 17, Boyd 14, Cunningham 11, Santucci 9.

I've never seen such a run of fouls. For a while there, we just couldn't get a stop. Nice job by Bravo-Harriot making things more difficult for Wimby. A second consecutive huge game for Jay-Ann.

Best stat of the night, Rocket 19-22 from the line for 86%

Worst stat of the night, WMU with 16 offensive boards.

Very good road win tonight. Western is a much better team than BG and rockets had to play very well to put this one away. Bravo-Harriott has raised her game. She looks like a senior who is beginning to recognize that her college career is nearing the end and wants to leave it all on the court. She kind of took the team on her back in the 4th quarter when Boyd was out with 4 fouls. And McIntyre also really stepped it up in the second half. With all her moved around the basket it seems to me the opponent is crazy to play her one on one. And 86% free throw shooting. Both Mcintyre and Santucci have dramatically improved their FT % which is a big boost for the team. Good work tonight!

(01-31-2018 09:36 PM)temoxley Wrote:  Very good road win tonight. Western is a much better team than BG and rockets had to play very well to put this one away. Bravo-Harriott has raised her game. She looks like a senior who is beginning to recognize that her college career is nearing the end and wants to leave it all on the court. She kind of took the team on her back in the 4th quarter when Boyd was out with 4 fouls. And McIntyre also really stepped it up in the second half. With all her moved around the basket it seems to me the opponent is crazy to play her one on one. And 86% free throw shooting. Both Mcintyre and Santucci have dramatically improved their FT % which is a big boost for the team. Good work tonight!

I’ve never seen anyone improve their FT shooting like KMac. And her shooting hand doesn’t touch the ball until an instant before release.

They had five players tonight, including McIntyre, B-H, Boyd, Cunningham and Santucci, all scoring at least 9 points each. And all but Boyd did it with 50% or greater field goal shooting percentage. Add to that 19/22 from the foul line. If those five players can maintain something like that level of excellence this team can be a serious factor in the MAC tourney. There is, however, not much room for error. The other five players who get minutes scored a total of 3 points tonight. Would be great of 2 of them could step up and provide consistent offensive support.

(01-31-2018 10:34 PM)temoxley Wrote:  They had five players tonight, including McIntyre, B-H, Boyd, Cunningham and Santucci, all scoring at least 9 points each. And all but Boyd did it with 50% or greater field goal shooting percentage. Add to that 19/22 from the foul line. If those five players can maintain something like that level of excellence this team can be a serious factor in the MAC tourney. There is, however, not much room for error. The other five players who get minutes scored a total of 3 points tonight. Would be great of 2 of them could step up and provide consistent offensive support.

Cunningham was only 4-11 per box score. Still, she provide some bench strength and opponents have to watch her. Her return from injury coincides w/back-to-back road wins and Jay-Ann’s re-emergence as an elite scorer. No coincidence.

Women's Basketball Unable To Mount Comeback In Loss To Toledo.
http://wmubroncos.com/news/2018/1/31/wom...oledo.aspx

(02-01-2018 08:19 AM)SylvaniaRocket Wrote:  Women's Basketball Unable To Mount Comeback In Loss To Toledo.
http://wmubroncos.com/news/2018/1/31/wom...oledo.aspx

What I like about this game is that Western played a good game and lost. They shot 44% FG, 40% 3 PT Shots, had 16 offensive rebounds, 7 steals and only 13 turnovers. Oh yea, and they had two scorers with 20 and 19 points. And they lost. Rockets had to play well to win this one. And it was only the second home loss for Western this year.

Does anyone have insights on what has happened to Tshitenge? I see her dressed on the bench so I assume she is not injured. But she has been in 2 games for a total of 3 minutes this year. Injured early but certainly not getting minutes now. I don't get it. I would assume that evaluating talent on a JC player who is age 20 is less of a risk than on 16 or 17 year old high school player. If Mae is on the end of the bench because of a lack of talent when in her fourth college basketball season someone really made a poor decision on translation of her skill set to MAC level basketball.

(02-01-2018 01:42 PM)temoxley Wrote:  Does anyone have insights on what has happened to Tshitenge? I see her dressed on the bench so I assume she is not injured. But she has been in 2 games for a total of 3 minutes this year. Injured early but certainly not getting minutes now. I don't get it. I would assume that evaluating talent on a JC player who is age 20 is less of a risk than on 16 or 17 year old high school player. If Mae is on the end of the bench because of a lack of talent when in her fourth college basketball season someone really made a poor decision on translation of her skill set to MAC level basketball.

Only significant PT I’ve seen was in 2017 exhibition game where she played very well as I recall. Don’t know if the injury wrecked mobility or what but she hasn’t had any kind of impact.

Missed it because I was busy. Sounds like it was a nail biter. Glad to hear the ladies prevailed.

(02-01-2018 04:14 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(02-01-2018 01:42 PM)temoxley Wrote:  Does anyone have insights on what has happened to Tshitenge? I see her dressed on the bench so I assume she is not injured. But she has been in 2 games for a total of 3 minutes this year. Injured early but certainly not getting minutes now. I don't get it. I would assume that evaluating talent on a JC player who is age 20 is less of a risk than on 16 or 17 year old high school player. If Mae is on the end of the bench because of a lack of talent when in her fourth college basketball season someone really made a poor decision on translation of her skill set to MAC level basketball.

Only significant PT I’ve seen was in 2017 exhibition game where she played very well as I recall. Don’t know if the injury wrecked mobility or what but she hasn’t had any kind of impact.

She did have a pretty horrific injury. Was reportedly ACL, MCL and meniscus tear. It's possible that she just has not recovered fully enough to stand the stress of regular play at a high level. But that's just speculation. Don't really know what is keeping her on the bench.

(02-02-2018 08:09 AM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  

(02-01-2018 04:14 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(02-01-2018 01:42 PM)temoxley Wrote:  Does anyone have insights on what has happened to Tshitenge? I see her dressed on the bench so I assume she is not injured. But she has been in 2 games for a total of 3 minutes this year. Injured early but certainly not getting minutes now. I don't get it. I would assume that evaluating talent on a JC player who is age 20 is less of a risk than on 16 or 17 year old high school player. If Mae is on the end of the bench because of a lack of talent when in her fourth college basketball season someone really made a poor decision on translation of her skill set to MAC level basketball.

Only significant PT I’ve seen was in 2017 exhibition game where she played very well as I recall. Don’t know if the injury wrecked mobility or what but she hasn’t had any kind of impact.

She did have a pretty horrific injury. Was reportedly ACL, MCL and meniscus tear. It's possible that she just has not recovered fully enough to stand the stress of regular play at a high level. But that's just speculation. Don't really know what is keeping her on the bench.

I think she has been in uniform for at least ten games. I doubt that she could dress without a medical release which validates she is ready for competition. Medical staff would not want coaches left with making a clinical decision on when, where and how long she can play. So I could buy that she might not have at least initially been as fit or have some compromised range of motion but I have a hard time seeing that the acute consequences of the injury are limiting her. You do also touch on the possibility that she might have a permanent limited function which compromises her effectiveness and maybe that is the problem. Otherwise it seems a puzzle to me that she apparently played well in the exhibition game, brings a skill set which the team needs, we have a bench which is not particularly productive and she sits on the bench as a 4th year college player.

Tshitenge did score several baskets in the exhibition game prior to last season, but more telling to me is that she was the last player off the bench for the Rockets in that game. We saw her for a few minutes on the court against inferior competition. Cullop by that point had seen her many days in practice. That doesn't necessarily mean she wouldn't have worked her way into the rotation, but, given the limited information we have to go on, I think Mae was someone who, if healthy, at best would have given us some good minutes here and there off the bench. Often players take more than a year to return to full form after knee surgery. If she wasn't going to be an impact player before the surgery, it makes sense that she's not good enough to get minutes now.