Jackson-Fisher-Swayze-Bokunewicz-Austin the starting 5. No idea about the status of Gooden, but can't imagine she plays. Most likely just seven deep today.

Gooden is on the bench (I think) sitting with the coaches. She looks dressed?

6-2 Charlotte early. Very slow start. Jackson picks up a cheap foul near half-court, her 1st. I know it's against her nature, but she's gotta defend conservatively.

11-5 Charlotte at the U5. Important that we've been able to keep the game within 10 with how we've executed.

Good move by Jackson at the buzzer to cut the Charlotte lead to 6. 16-10. Thought Charlotte defended us really well. Very little space for us on the offensive end. Do not like our zone defense. Leading to way too many open looks and too much attackable space.

19-16 Charlotte. We're slowly getting more comfortable. Still think we're extremely fortunate because Charlotte has gotten a ton of wide open looks from 3. We really need to either fix the zone or get out of it, because it's not taking more than 2-3 passes for them to get great looks. Really is one of the worse zones I've seen on the men's or women's side all year.

23-23 at half. Charlotte with the better looks, but Rice playing a bit harder. We've lost a bunch of shooters, but the active hands and deflections have been a real positive. Charlotte doing a good job on Austin and Bellamy in the post. Both really struggling to score, even when Charlotte doesn't send help.

Hard to ignore the fact that we've seen this movie before. Tied ballgame. There are going to be some tired legs, more so today because of the game on Thursday. All four TOs still available. Again, I'd like for Edmonds to give McCurry some minutes. It's fine to risk being negative for short stretches if it means we're more fresh at the end of the game. Let's see if we can avoid repeating the past.

Austin has been getting into a lot of foul trouble. She's back on the bench 10 seconds into the 2nd half.

Charlotte starting to get a bit of distance. 36-29 and shooting FTs.

43-36 Charlotte. We're doing enough to keep it within shouting distance, but we also really haven't gotten close enough to feel like we can win.

47-41 Charlotte at the end of the 3Q. A couple really tough baskets+fouls by Austin to keep us close. But fourth quarters have obviously been our bugaboo over the last few games. We'll see what we have left.

41-47 at end of 3Q. We missed a 3 at the buzzer that would have cut that lead in half.

52-48 Charlotte. Good job keeping it close. But unforced TO by Austin when we had a chance to close it to one possession. Been her biggest flaw in what's been a really improved season - she really only has eyes for the basket and by the time she thinks about passing, it's often too late.

NOW it’s a one possession game!
50-53

Yes MA’AM! 55-55

Outscored CLT 16-8 in 4Q and now Rice takes timeout up 57-55 (3:04 left)

Good TO by Edmonds there. Gives you a breather, and also lets you draw up a play at a critical point in the game.

Turnovers...

(01-22-2022 03:43 PM)dragon2owl Wrote:  Turnovers...

Most recent one gives CLT the ball tied at 59. They take a timeout with 1:05.

But I’m sure we’ll gladly take another breather

The other problem with losing steam and being out of the game by the final 3-5 minutes is that you don't get any end of game execution practice. A couple not so good possessions down the stretch.

But Rice will get the ball with 25 seconds left in a tie game. (Hopefully) one shot to win it.