Record: Texas A&M 3-3
Opponent: Ball State 4-1
Date: November 24
Time: 8:00pm
Location: Nassau, Bahamas
TV: FLO SPORTS (or free if we can find a YouTube link, thanks poster Anchorhold
)
Bracket: https://files.atlantisbahamas.com/all/Battle%204%20Atlantis/2024_B4A_WomensBracket_8.5x11_092024.pdf
Stats: https://12thman.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary
What even is a Ball State? A state of Ball? Research states it was named after the Ball Brothers who donated land for the university. Not Lamelo and Alonzo Ball lol. Ironically they are in the Hoosier State. Unironically, they are a solid basketball team and with the way our team is playing… I'd be scared.
Last night we lost to a Villanova team that we matched up perfectly well with. They played small ball and we had a huge height advantage. However, we again committed 20 turnovers, which is a common theme for us this season. We shot the same shooting percentage, out rebounded them by 13. But the turnover battle was +13. It was a game we should have easily won, but folded every time we got the lead and collapsed the last half of the 4th quarter. We were up 48-47 then Villanova ended the game on an 17-9 run. Their entire starting lineup is 6'0 for less, yet we still lost AND OUR CENTERS WHO ARE 6'5 and 6'3 WHILE TOWERING OVER THE COMPETITION ONLY SHOT THE BALL 7 TIMES THE ENTIRE GAME. 7 girls had multiple turnovers. With a 3 point lead in the third Sahara Jones picked up her second technical of the season. It was just a real sloppy game, in a game we could have easily won and picked up a solid win against a solid team.
Now we are on the losers side of the bracket in the Bahamas and will play 4-1 Ball State who picked up their first loss of the season yesterday against number 16 ranked North Carolina by 11. They kept it a close game and they are a very solid squad who was projected to win the MAC. While a team we beat Western Michigan was projected to finish 10th in that conference.
They are led by their two pre season all conference picks in #0 Ally Becki and #24 Madelyn Bischoff who average 14.8 and 13.5 respectively. Becki avaerages 3.6 steals per game which is terrifying for a team like us. They are good at forcing turnovers which spells problems for us. They also have Texas A&M transfer Maliyah "MJ" Johnson who has been a solid bench contributor for them this season. So this is a revenge game for her lol.
This game is a must win for us. If we lose we'd player the loser of Columbia and Southern Miss for the last place game in the tourney. A win and we'd play the winner for 5th. We are sitting at 3-3 with our only wins being teams who will most likely be quad 4 wins. Maybe one quad 3 win. So we really need to pickup a win tonight. Another loss and this program is even further off the rails than before. We should be favored, but only slightly. They match up well against us more than Villanova did. They have elite guard scoring and a balanced attack, but their defense is what concerns me going up against our terrible ball handling and careless passing. We'll learn a lot about this team based on how they play tonight. Especially on a back to back.
Opponent: Ball State 4-1
Date: November 24
Time: 8:00pm
Location: Nassau, Bahamas
TV: FLO SPORTS (or free if we can find a YouTube link, thanks poster Anchorhold
)Bracket: https://files.atlantisbahamas.com/all/Battle%204%20Atlantis/2024_B4A_WomensBracket_8.5x11_092024.pdf
Stats: https://12thman.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary
What even is a Ball State? A state of Ball? Research states it was named after the Ball Brothers who donated land for the university. Not Lamelo and Alonzo Ball lol. Ironically they are in the Hoosier State. Unironically, they are a solid basketball team and with the way our team is playing… I'd be scared.
Last night we lost to a Villanova team that we matched up perfectly well with. They played small ball and we had a huge height advantage. However, we again committed 20 turnovers, which is a common theme for us this season. We shot the same shooting percentage, out rebounded them by 13. But the turnover battle was +13. It was a game we should have easily won, but folded every time we got the lead and collapsed the last half of the 4th quarter. We were up 48-47 then Villanova ended the game on an 17-9 run. Their entire starting lineup is 6'0 for less, yet we still lost AND OUR CENTERS WHO ARE 6'5 and 6'3 WHILE TOWERING OVER THE COMPETITION ONLY SHOT THE BALL 7 TIMES THE ENTIRE GAME. 7 girls had multiple turnovers. With a 3 point lead in the third Sahara Jones picked up her second technical of the season. It was just a real sloppy game, in a game we could have easily won and picked up a solid win against a solid team.
Now we are on the losers side of the bracket in the Bahamas and will play 4-1 Ball State who picked up their first loss of the season yesterday against number 16 ranked North Carolina by 11. They kept it a close game and they are a very solid squad who was projected to win the MAC. While a team we beat Western Michigan was projected to finish 10th in that conference.
They are led by their two pre season all conference picks in #0 Ally Becki and #24 Madelyn Bischoff who average 14.8 and 13.5 respectively. Becki avaerages 3.6 steals per game which is terrifying for a team like us. They are good at forcing turnovers which spells problems for us. They also have Texas A&M transfer Maliyah "MJ" Johnson who has been a solid bench contributor for them this season. So this is a revenge game for her lol.
This game is a must win for us. If we lose we'd player the loser of Columbia and Southern Miss for the last place game in the tourney. A win and we'd play the winner for 5th. We are sitting at 3-3 with our only wins being teams who will most likely be quad 4 wins. Maybe one quad 3 win. So we really need to pickup a win tonight. Another loss and this program is even further off the rails than before. We should be favored, but only slightly. They match up well against us more than Villanova did. They have elite guard scoring and a balanced attack, but their defense is what concerns me going up against our terrible ball handling and careless passing. We'll learn a lot about this team based on how they play tonight. Especially on a back to back.
