Santucci apparently got Coach C’s message, leading the Rockets to a much needed come from behind win in OT. 13-9-5, IIRC, for Santucci. This team is beyond shooting challenged- Quinesha Lockett was 6-8, everyone else was basically awful except Santucci. Sounds like it was ugly but ugly wins beat ugly losses.

Santucci did have one of her best games in recent memory. She scored, rebounded!, and played a very disruptive defense. Lockett was also a positive presence. Barnes and Black were the only other significant scorers and they got most of their points either near the end of regulation or in the overtime. Black was 1 for 9 until she hit two big 3's to seal the deal. Beyond that the team struggled against what looks to me like a weak Belmont team. Belmont looked big and slow to me. They shoot a lot of perimeter shots and have a poor 3 pts % through the early season. Belmont shot 37% from the floor, 20% from 3 pt range, and 33% free throws, And they had 23 turnovers most of which where unforced errors. I mean this is a team which lost their two previous games by 96 points! Rockets desperately needed a win and they got one but it didn't do much for my confidence that they are developing into a good team. Older players need to step up and Rokkanen, Beacham, and Davis didn't do enough. Rockets had only 41 points at the end of regulation. Won't win much without more offense than that.

This is a team that is shooting 38% on field goals and 58% on free throws for the season. I think that explains any problems.

Watched just the 2nd half (from the score, the 1st half looked too depressing to watch.) Still a work in progress but saw lots of good things. Lockett played a tremendous game. Needs to work on her FT shooting, because she's gonna get to the line a lot. Played well on D too. Santucci played great as others have said. And giving Barnes 18 second-half minutes was interesting. She's still looking for her shot, but did hit a couple finally, and also showed that she can get to the rim. Overall defensive performance way, way better than the last couple games. But the best stat was they didn't lose focus down the stretch and made enough plays to win. Sometimes with young teams, learning to win is the hardest part.

Belmont is a very young team in a similar situation as UT, still trying to consistently find their game. Yes, they've had some stinkers so far (two of them against ranked teams), but also took a 6-1 VTech team to the wire, and absolutely destroyed a decent UCF team. They have averaged about 28 wins the past several years, so believe they will correct a lot of their issues as the season progresses. They're very well coached, and run a really tight offense. As they say, any win is a good win, so hopefully something to build on.

I made the mistake of freeing up only a couple hours from my work day, so I had to leave before the overtime started. Just watched the overtime on ESPN. I really appreciated seeing Lexi Lance get a few minutes in the first half. I hope we see more of her at the 4. I don't think Morgan-Elliott is at all the answer right now, and Rokkanen has not contributed much either. It's interesting that Cullop is still trying to figure out who should be on the court. Barnes showed confidence and some skills. If she ever starts to shoot the way she did in high school, she will really help us. Lockett was extremely impressive on the boards and with her driving to the hoop. Santucci was more aggressive and determined than I have seen her all year. And Nakiah Black broke out of her shooting slump just in time for the Rockets to get the win.

This team needs to start hitting some shots (including free throws). Otherwise, we are going to lose a whole lot of games.

Forgot to mention, our leading scorer, Tatyana Davis, played a total of 7 minutes. What's up with that? Davis has always been one of the players Cullop keeps on a very short leash. A mistake or two and she's done.

(12-03-2019 07:46 PM)Dwight Wrote:  Forgot to mention, our leading scorer, Tatyana Davis, played a total of 7 minutes. What's up with that? Davis has always been one of the players Cullop keeps on a very short leash. A mistake or two and she's done.

She got in foul trouble early in the 1st and then picked up her third a minute into the 2nd half. Other players were playing well by that point, so she never found her way back in.

(12-03-2019 07:46 PM)Dwight Wrote:  Forgot to mention, our leading scorer, Tatyana Davis, played a total of 7 minutes. What's up with that? Davis has always been one of the players Cullop keeps on a very short leash. A mistake or two and she's done.

Davis got in foul trouble early and picked up her third foul shortly after returning to the game at the beginning of the third quarter. Not sure why she never got back into the game. Maybe Lockett and Santucci's performances kept her on the bench.

I understand about the foul trouble, but why not play Davis in the 4th quarter and overtime instead of Soleil Barnes? Nothing against Barnes, who played aggressively, but Davis is our leading scorer and best three-point shooter this year. Barnes came advertised as an excellent shooter, but she clearly hasn't found her groove, as she is now 2-15 on three-pointers. It's just strange to give those minutes to Barnes instead of Davis. Can't complain about the result, of course, and I'm sure Cullop had her reasons. I'm just wondering what they were.

I think Cullop is intentionally trying to put the freshmen in tough situations to 1) get some experience before MAC play starts (she said as much in the post-game presser) and 2) see which players step up and make plays

(12-03-2019 09:21 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  I think Cullop is intentionally trying to put the freshmen in tough situations to 1) get some experience before MAC play starts (she said as much in the post-game presser) and 2) see which players step up and make plays

That makes sense. In past years she has shortened her bench when conference play starts.