Familiar effort yields a different result for BG
By: Colin Wilson
Issue date: 3/26/07 Section: Sports
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It was not the greatest ending BG fans could have hoped for. Their team got outplayed pretty badly in the Sweet 16. A defensive strategy backfired and an offensive strategy just didn't have the means to keep up.
BG fell to Arizona State Saturday 67-49. They were out-shot, out-rebounded and beat to the punch on a lot of plays. That's not a knock against them though.
Arizona State was a team that played poorly in the first two rounds. They had a serious bone to pick. Their only losses this season were to Stanford (three times) and Tennessee (a No. 1-seed and one of the greatest women's programs of all time). There's really no shame in that loss.
BG lost because it had its screen-heavy offense taken away. Arizona State constantly jumped screens and made it hard for BG to move off of them.
"It almost turned into a one-on-one [situation] offense and that's not how we got here, it really took us out of our game," said BG guard Kate Achter.
The Sun Devils were smothering BG pretty much all game, making it hard to get rhythm. The Falcons shot 39 percent (19-for-49) in the game.
On defense, BG tried to sag back in its zone defense to prevent dribble penetration and left a lot of shooters open on the perimeter. Sometimes the opposing players looked around in disbelief at how open they were.
After shooting 35 percent in the first round against UC Riverside and 36 percent in the second round against Louisville, the Sun Devils were bound to heat up at some point in the postseason.
"We told coach before we left to get on the plane that we [had] packed all of our offense for the trip out here and it proved to be true," said ASU forward Emily Westerberg. "I have always been told that you can't shoot that bad for three games in a row."
The Sun Devils shot 60 percent in the first half and 51 percent for the game. They were also 5-of-10 from the 3-point range.
"They were wide open, and they just hit the shots and made a good percentage of them," said BG forward Amber Flynn. "It was basically bad defense."
BG fell to Arizona State Saturday 67-49. They were out-shot, out-rebounded and beat to the punch on a lot of plays. That's not a knock against them though.
Arizona State was a team that played poorly in the first two rounds. They had a serious bone to pick. Their only losses this season were to Stanford (three times) and Tennessee (a No. 1-seed and one of the greatest women's programs of all time). There's really no shame in that loss.
BG lost because it had its screen-heavy offense taken away. Arizona State constantly jumped screens and made it hard for BG to move off of them.
"It almost turned into a one-on-one [situation] offense and that's not how we got here, it really took us out of our game," said BG guard Kate Achter.
The Sun Devils were smothering BG pretty much all game, making it hard to get rhythm. The Falcons shot 39 percent (19-for-49) in the game.
On defense, BG tried to sag back in its zone defense to prevent dribble penetration and left a lot of shooters open on the perimeter. Sometimes the opposing players looked around in disbelief at how open they were.
After shooting 35 percent in the first round against UC Riverside and 36 percent in the second round against Louisville, the Sun Devils were bound to heat up at some point in the postseason.
"We told coach before we left to get on the plane that we [had] packed all of our offense for the trip out here and it proved to be true," said ASU forward Emily Westerberg. "I have always been told that you can't shoot that bad for three games in a row."
The Sun Devils shot 60 percent in the first half and 51 percent for the game. They were also 5-of-10 from the 3-point range.
"They were wide open, and they just hit the shots and made a good percentage of them," said BG forward Amber Flynn. "It was basically bad defense."
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