Game Notes: Alma College @ North Central College (11/17/12)

Final Score
NCC 70, Alma 67

Game Summary
In a pretty entertaining game, the Cardinals (1-1) got off to a good start with a 7-0 run, though the Scots (0-2) would stick around. The Cards led by anywhere from 4 to 10 points for most of the first half before catching fire at the end of the half to take a 40-26 lead to the locker room. They led by 19 just a few minutes into the second half at 49-30 before Alma started making a comeback with defense and rebounding. The Cardinals would maintain a double digit lead until the final 4 and a half minutes when Alma picked up the pace. But the Cardinals hit some key free throws at the end to escape with a narrow win.

Key Stats

• Alma College: Outrebounded NCC 81-48. I thought last year this Cardinal team's strength was rebounding combined with defense. But... good Lord. This includes a jaw-dropping 37 offensive boards by the Scots. The Cardinals had 22 of their own, but still! I looked at second chance points for this game, and it was closer than you'd think (22-15 Alma). NCC is incredibly lucky to have won this game last night.
• Mary Schlicher (ALMA): 10-14 FG, 20 pts, 14 reb, (10 ofr). I would have put Danielle Hicks here, but the Demon Rim just killed her last night (0-11, 0 pts, but 17 boards, only 4 offensive). Schlicher really took advantage of the system NCC had in place and got a ton of easy layups.
• Sophie Newson (NCC): 1-6 FG (0-3 3pt), 2-5 FT, 4 pts, 11 reb (5 ofr). Sophie didn't have much of an impact offensively, but impressed me with her defense last night. She took a charge early on, and was excellent in helping down low. The Cardinals will need that as the season goes on.

North Central System Watch
I'm changing this from last year's Turnover Watch, though that is still a bit of a problem with 22 giveaways last night, but through 2 games I'm still watching this new system installed by Coach Roof (and I think assistant Doug Porter might have had a hand in it).

• 40? "line changes": I don't know the exact number even from looking at the box score, but this is the staple of Coach Roof's new system. With pressing everywhere, she subs everyone out all at once. The first new group checked in at the table 50 seconds in and that was the pattern for the night. The number here might be inflated, but it was a lot either way.
• 7-48 3pt (14.6%): Holy 2005 Illinois team, Batman. Coach Roof told me when I talked to her before the season she wanted this team taking 45 threes a game. Well, through 2 games... the Cardinals have shot 89 threes, so she was only off by 1. The problem is, this team is only shooting 21% from out there. I know they can shoot; I rebounded for Jenny Swanson during shootarounds the past couple days and she was hitting pretty much everything she shot (including me picking up a couple assists passing backwards to her over my head). It just hasn't translated to the floor yet.
• Alma: 38 turnovers. That is what NCC is looking for with this. They scored 29 points off of those turnovers as well, so that part of the system is working.

Final Thoughts
I still think this system needs some tweaking. Obviously it is causing turnovers and this team can run really well. I still think there is too much of an over-reliance on the 3 (even though I love announcing it) and not enough attacking the basket. I also fear that the trap is overused; while it is obviously forcing plenty of turnovers, it's also giving opponents a lot of easy layups in transition. The Cardinals got away with it last night; hopefully Coach Roof can make the adjustments needed to keep this team going. It's early enough in the season that this team can still improve.

Bonus Thought
Yesterday was a REALLY good day to be a Cardinal. Not only did this women's game result in a win, the men's team knocked off #7 Hope 60-49 to likely get a rankings boost, the football team went out to California and picked up a win while Nick Kukuc was getting compared to NFL backs as well as "a Himalayan cat running through the snow" (apparently), and the men's cross country team won its 15th national title and gave the school an even 30 in its history. Congratulations everyone! I'm proud to be a Cardinal for life!