We played our best defense all year on Friday night against Eastern Oregon University. Although we lost by four, I was really satisfied with the way we played. Unfortunately there are just some things you cannot control. Going into the game we had our eye on a few girls, marked as shooters. But, we learned that they average only about 11 3-point attempts a game, mainly wanting to go inside and give it to the ‘big’ girls. Knowing that, our defense focused mostly on keeping the ball out of the paint. We did not expect them to shoot as much, and as well as they did, from the 3-piont line.
Well I guess it was their night, because it seemed like they could hardly miss from beyond the arc—something they don’t normally do. We on the other hand, did not shoot as well as we usually do. I think that was the major difference in the game.
After the game I felt like we had made a huge improvement from the last couple weeks. I feel like we have been struggling a bit on either offense or defense in every game we play, but this night was different. Although we did not shoot as well from the 3-point line, I didn’t think we played badly. Despite the loss I was happy after the game.
Saturday was a completely different story. We had no trouble breaking College of Idaho’s press in the first round of conference, so none of us expected to have trouble the second time. That was a mistake. 
For some reason, right off the bat we had a tremendous amount of trouble getting the ball to our half of the court, or even getting it in-bounds! Granted, they did give up a few easy layups, but that’s bound to happen a little bit when you full-court press the entire game.
What frustrated me the most was when I couldn’t in-bound the ball. More often than not it is my job to get the ball in bounds. I have to find someone open enough to pass them the ball without turning it over. Yeah, easier said than done! They were face-guarding everyone, and often times the wings would not realize they needed to cut to the ball until it was almost too late.
I also think that everyone was really tired. Maybe it was from playing such great defense the night before, but I would think that by this point in the season we would be in good enough shape to be able to pull it out the second night. I guess not. We were slow getting the ball up the court. Yes, a press does do that, but we also did not push the ball when we had the opportunity. We slowed the ball down against Eastern, which worked because they are a run-and-gun team just as much as us. It knocked them off their tempo a bit. But Saturday’s slow pace was not planned; it was because nobody wanted to run (including myself).
I must say, after the game I was really upset and frustrated. It was a tough game and everyone that was there definitely knows the refs don’t help in that department. We got foul after foul called on us under the basket on their end. They called A BUNCH of blocking fouls, but they weren’t even a hard enough foul to do anything (if they were even fouls). They made so many “and-1’s” and it’s not because their post is that good. Then, down on our end we would get fouled so hard that the ball wouldn’t even make it to the rim and the referees wouldn’t blow their whistle. Then, the one time I approached the ref to ask him about the calls he wouldn’t even listen to me. As a captain to a ref I just wanted to understand what we needed to differently on both
ends. I even asked politely and in a calm voice. I asked, ‘what’s the difference?’ He replied, “The ball’s being inbounded, that’s the difference.” What a jerk! He couldn’t even give me a straight answer…probably because he didn’t have one!
It was a bad night, but we’re all going to get into the gym this week, work hard, put some shots up, and get ready for Warner Pac and Cascade. Hopefully the next weekend will end in two victories, the opposite of last weekend’s turnout.
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