26-27 Women's Basketball

Basketball
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I am really interested to see what Petersen can do with 9 newcomers and only 4 returning players (7 of the 13 are international players with 3 of those from Australia). The team is picked to finish 12th in the conference, which sounds about right to me as the team is so new, no one really knows how good or bad they will be.

Petersen didn’t say much in the interview and in fact was his usual upbeat self, glossing over how he is going to get this team to get quick chemistry.

Chyra Evans was the interview and success for her this season was if everybody on the team has bought in and worked toward the same goal. She also said that she wants to be less pass-first this year than last. She said she will always have a pass-first mentality as that is how she is, but she will look for her shot more aggressively.

The team lost 5 players from last years team, 4 of whom transferred to other Big12 schools (which sucks) (Grace Foster ended up at Boise State), all of whom are picked to be at the top of the conference this year.

Coming in we have:

  • Sophomore Lena Girardi a 5’11" guard (daughter of former MLB player Joe Girardi) from Okie State;
  • Junior Olivia Bradley a 6’1" forward, (one of the aforementioned Aussies) from UCSB;
  • Filipa Barros a 5’9" Portuguese senior from Cal Baptist;
  • Laia Conessa a 5’11" senior guard from Kansas; and
  • Elise Livingston a 5’9" guard from Utah State.

New freshman are:

  • Peyton Jones, 6’0" guard from Highlands Ranch Colorado;
  • Milika Satuala, 5’10" guard from Bountiful;
  • Emma Petrie, 6’2" forward from Queensland Australia; and
  • Rylee Little, 6’5" center from Kanab (supposedly a big recruiting win).

Returning are:

  • Evelina Otto, 6’2" sophomore who I thought showed some promise as a face up big near the basket;
  • Chyra Evans, 6’3" senior who I hope new aggressiveness will help;
  • Kamryn Mafua, 6’1" sophomore, who showed some flashes last year but who I hope will be a big scorer; and
  • Ella Todd, 6’0" freshman who was injured last year and is the last player left from last year’s lauded incoming class and hopefully is healthy and can show some great game.

Like with the Men’s team, I want to keep my expectations low and be surprised if/when this team surprises.

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Wait, I’m in Highlands Ranch CO (Peyton). Looked it up - she played for Valor, a private Christian school that is pretty strong in most sports (‘scholarships’ for good athletes).

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Still not convinced we hired a good coach.

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I know it’s only an exhibition game – a loss to Idaho is not nice. ha

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Not only that, but by double digits… at home. My jury is still out on Petersen and they have the same doubts that diehard has.

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One more thing that Petersen said at the media day that just popped into my mind as I watched the ESPN+ replay of last night’s game. The panel asked each coach what they thought was the most over-rated statistic.

Jensen said pace, while Petersen said turnovers. I groaned so hard I may have given myself a hernia when he said that. He said that when you want to play at “pace” (funny use of that word just before Jensen said pace was over-rated) turnover count isn’t as meaningful. He added that of course you don’t want to have 19 turnovers, but if it was lower like 12 or 13 that is not too bad.

Already getting some agita before the season even starts.

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I watched the Utes vs. Eastern Washington game this morning and was impressed with… Eastern Washington. Their big redhead Eggers is an excellent player and that team is a strong contender in my mind for the Big Sky entry to the tourney. EW outscored the Utes in the second half, but Utah held on.

The Utes did start fast and ended the half with a nice 18 point lead. I was surprised a bit that Rylee Little was in the starting lineup and actually played 12 more minutes than Evelina Otto. She is raw, not much offense right now, but she did work hard on defense.

Starting guards were Conesa and Barros, with Conesa handling the PG spot. Conesa ended up having the leave the game when she drove the lane, was tripped and fell directly on her chin/face (literally taking on the chin), she was on the bench the rest of the game with a large bandage on her chin.

Conesa was not a starter for Kansas but her stats last year showed she is a good defensive player and that showed in this game, quick hands and led directly to steals and the team’s nice first half. Once she was out, the guard play was not great and EW took advantage. EW struggled with offense in the first and enjoyed nearly 48% shooting in the second half.

The big reveal is the three headed group of Girardi, Jones, and Bradley were excellent with 19, 17, and 11 points respectively.

In particular Jones (from @DataUte’s home) is a really good shooter. She gets the ball out quick and, though only one game, has the potential to be another Kneepkens.

Girardi really came alive in the 4th quarter when Utah needed to staunch the bleeding, she hit a couple of threes and was excellent from the free throw line. It is clear that she will be the one that Petersen wants at the line late.

I wish I could have seen more of Ella Todd, hopefully, she gets more time. Mafua, Satuala, Petrie, and Livingston did not play.

All in all a good win against a very game EW team.

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Nice write-up. I thought EW was the more gritty team. We have a few interesting pieces. Jones is definitely very interesting…has a quick release. Little needs a lot of work.

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For sure, but I think Girardi can bring that grit for us.

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As Joe Girardi’s daughter, she had better. haha

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After watching my Caps beat up on the Tkachuk brothers I got home and watched the game versus Colorado State. I came away from the game impressed with… CSU. That team is very good and will make a lot of noise in the new PAC this year.

Utes again played well in the first quarter, but in the second… ugh. CSU went off and at one point CSU had outscored the Utes 14-1, lead by their #31 Murphy. Ella Todd was guarding 31 during that time and got torched pretty bad. She did not make it back in the game.

The second half was very strong outscoring CSU by 15 and winning by nine, even with CSU’s Runner #1 having a great shooting day (finished with 23). But other than her the other starters didn’t do much beyond the one hot streak from Murphy, and their bench only scored 6 points.

Again the team finished strong in the 4th quarter, and again lead by Lena Girardi. She is an absolute beast at times, big and strong, finished the game with 26 points and 8 rebounds.

I think the best 5 players on this team are: Girardi, Jones, Barros, Evans, and Conesa.

Next up on Monday at home is Bethune Cookman.

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