Big Win at Maine South (Updated)

Streaks upset Maine South 67-60 on Saturday. Maine South had an 8 game winning streak going into this game, including wins over highly rated New Trier and Niles West. They are the #4 seed in the Bloomington Tourney.



The Streaks started out missing our first 5 three point shots before Jessica Lieber hit back to back threes. We finished 2 for 19 from the arc in the first quarter. You hear those stats vs. anyone, let along someone as good as Maine South and it sounds like a loss. But we played with composure and did not seem to panic or get rattled. We went from down 14-10 at the end of the first quarter to up 32-30 at half.
Although we led at half, we trailed most of the second half. In the fourth quarter we hit four big threes, including a huge one by Jessica Lieber in the last 3 minutes. On the day we totaled 15 threes- Lieber (5), Johnson (4), Howard (4), Rodriguez (1), and Peachey (1).

Field Goals Attempted   (Goal 72)   71
Threes Attempted          (Goal 36)   56
O-Reb Percentage         (Goal 40%) 42%
Forced Turnovers          (Goal 26)    22
Shot Differential            (Goal +20)  +11

Individual Stats
Assists-  Tai Peachey 10
Free Throws-  Sadee Hamilton 6-6, Jamie Johnson 5-6
O-Reb- Tai Peachey 6, Jamie Johnson 6
D-Reb- Jamie Johnson 8, Sadee Hamilton 7

Free Throws-  We had a good day at the foul line. We made 14 foul shots and Maine South attempted 14 foul shots. That is a little deceptive as we got most of our field goals late in the game when they intentionally fouled.

It is interesting that it was a good win but in terms of defense, it does not seem like we played with the same kind of energy that we have other games lately. Obviously that can be a credit to Maine South's offensive skills. But defensively we just seemed to slow. Their coach after the game pointed out that last year we had forced a lot more turnovers in the first 15 feet (inbounding the ball) of the floor. We did not fight the inbounds passes as well as we have. And we did not move our feet and contain dribblers well. We really spent a lot of the day chasing dribblers and chasing passes.

Going into our last six games before Christmas break, I told our assistants that we might play good basketball and still come out of it at 3-3 because of the level of competition we were playing. After beating Maine South, we have a shot of going 5-1 over those six games. The girls are playing with great confidence. It was pretty impressive today to play a team with an 8 game winning streak (including wins over New Trier and Niles West), be on the road, and just be so business like in our approach. It was an excited lockeroom after the game. I think our seniors really appreciate our success. It is different players every time out it seems- today Jamie Johnson and Jessica Lieber were great from the arc.

Jamie's mom convinced me after the game that our fans who traveled that far to support us and saw us hit 15 threes certainly deserve a triplecheeseburger. So I will have Sarah and Lauren take some triplecheeseburger coupons to Washington on Tuesday. If you made the trip to Maine South, see them for your coupon. Thanks for your support!