Wow- What a Start

Things were not pretty, which is true of many first times out. But the finish was worth waiting to see.

We jumped to a 10-0 lead only to trail 33-26 at half, 54-45 after three quarters, and by 12 with under four minutes to go.

Statistically we reached every "system" goal:
79 field goals attempted
60 threes attempted
47% of missed shots as offensive rebounds
31 forced turnovers
29 more field goal attempts than our opponents

But we were a miserable 10 for 60 from three point range. Our best four shooters were a combined 5 for 44 from behind the arc. We were also 20 for 37 from the line.

But done the stretch in the last four minutes we definitely picked up our defensive intensity.

So how did it finish?

With 15 seconds, Dunlap went to the line to shoot two shots with a one point lead. With all five time outs left, Galesburg took three time outs in a row. The Dunlap player then missed the first foul shot. Galesburg then took their fourth time out. Dunlap came back and made the foul shot to take a two point lead. Galesburg came down and Jessica Lieber was fouled just under 5 seconds. She missed both foul shots but the ball went to Galesburg out of bounds with 4.7 seconds to go. Emma Junk got open at the basket where she was fouled shooting. She made both foul shots to tie it up with 4.1 seconds to go. With Galesburg applying soft pressure to force the inbounds pass toward the baseline, Dunlap's lazy inbounds pass was stolen by Sharron Diggins who turned and found Jessica Lieber who drained a three from 8 feet off the arc for the game winner.

Wow!!