Game Notes: Trine University @ North Central College (11/19/11)

FINAL SCORE
Trine 57, NCC 49

Summary
Turnovers were down, but not by much. This Cardinals team looks to be pretty good on the glass and not too bad on defense, but they need a little work offensively. I can't tell you how many times Tye Thompson, the official scorer, complained about telegraphing passes. When you're doing that and not swinging the ball to the open player, you're in trouble. They stayed fairly close early, then in the second half Trine pulled away enough that a late NCC rally wasn't enough.


Key Stats

• NCC: 18-54 FG, 5-26 3PT, 23 TO. Too many bad passes trying to make something happen early on, and when they could get a shot off, they weren't falling. In the first half alone, NCC was 8-28 from the field and a shocking 1-11 from 3. Amazingly they only trailed by 7 at the break. With time winding down, the Cardinals started to hit a few threes to make the score look closer than the game probably was.
• Emily Murphy (NCC): 6-14 FG, 14 pts, 7 reb. She looked pretty good, especially early in the game. She was able to get the ball inside and get some good looks. The Cardinals spent too much time passing around the perimeter, but at the same time, she needs to keep working to get in position to receive an entry pass. Nonetheless, a good game, and helped her get named to the All-Tournament Team.
• Danielle Senf (TU): 7 pts, 9 reb, 7 ast. I was a little surprised by these numbers when I first saw them, but thinking about it, she had a great floor game finding the open girl, and getting in close for rebounds. After the game I presented team trophies for the tournament, and Coach Roof talked with Trine's coach for all of 5 seconds about the tournament MVP, deciding on Senf after her 22-5 Friday and solid championship game performance.

Final Thoughts
I was glad to see the Cardinals show signs of life late in the game, even though it was too little, too late. They need to work on their offense in practice and try moving the ball around better. Crisper passing will lead to better ball movement, which will cut down on turnovers, and give you a better chance to win. A better shooting night would also help, but there's not much you can do there. NCC plays Monmouth on Wednesday, and isn't home again until December 6th.