WBB vs. Montana Western Nov 28, 2pm

You looked at the wrong column. We had 23 points off turnovers, while they had 10. We had 11 turnovers; they had 17.

Carroll was Ranked #20 NAIA pre-season.  They're 5-0 this season (all against NAIA teams, I think).  They finished their most recent game (v. Lewis-Clark State) on a 53-9 run.....winning 99-48.

Pickens at 6-2 is their only starter taller than 5-9.  She played last season (her freshman season) for the D-1 U. of M. Lady Griz, and appears to have been their 6th woman last season.  In HS she was 2-time Gatorade POY in Montana. 

Carroll's head coach is quoted in Helena media (re: the Beavs):  "To go down and play an Oregon State, they have two girls that are 6-foot-9 and another that is 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-6, so they are actually bigger than our men's team..."  

I was disappointed that coach did not give more playing time to backup point guards. No way Aleah should be getting that many minutes in a blowout when we need to develop a backup(s) so to not to have to rely upon our senior leader. 

Here is what I saw:

Taylor is really good.  Sure, the comp was pretty short, but she can do her thing against any size comp.  Need her to stay out of foul trouble and play 30+ mins per night.  Would like to see her average 18 or so per game.  I didn't see any sign of her extended game out to 8-10 feet yesterday, but why would you when your defender is 6+ inches shorter.

Aleah will play close to 40 mins every night.  The team really struggled when she wasn't on the court.  The Beavs were +43 when she was on the court and -10 for the 7 mins she was out.  I think what we saw yesterday will be pretty common.  12 points on 7 shots, with a handful of assists and a turnover or two.  She is the calming leader of this team.

Sasha is going to be very good.  Already is good.  She will contribute alot every night.  I like that she was aggressive on the offensive end.  We will need that.  You can tell she is a good on ball defender.  She will only get better and better and better.  I expect her to average around 10 per game.

Taya does so much that doesn't show in the stat sheet.  Would like to see her get more shots up and try to get her average back up around 10 per game.  If she wants to, she could also get 10 rebounds per game.  Seems like we could use her more, but it was only one game, so not going to worry too much about it.

Ellie looked like a really versatile player.  It sounds like she had a much better offensive game in the exhibition a few nights ago, but she certainly fits right in.  Clearly a mature, veteran player that can score both inside and out.  I think the pac 12 speed will a little difficult for her at first, but she will adjust.

Jas just did her thing.  Very smooth.  She is probably the most athletic (w/ Sasha & Savannah) on the roster.  The Beavs will need her to get a bunch of hustle points and knock down the occasional outside shot.  I am hopeful that what we saw last night will be what we see all season.

Savannah and Jovana will provide valuable minutes off of the bench.  Scott will probably ease Savannah in a bit slower.  Jovana will essentially be the player that gives Taylor, Taya and Ellie time to rest (or if one of them gets in foul trouble.)

In my mind, the jury is still out on Jelena.  I know many are high on her, so I am hopeful you are correct.  I am not seeing it yet.

Teresa and Noelle won't be on the court much.

Maybe the Beavers best option to address being thin at 'point guard' will be to play Goodman - Goforth - Simmons together (which they did for a spell yesterday).

Throw in the court savvy/passing ability of Corosdale and you might just have an adequate response to an opponent that can put on a good press.  

I felt like a lot of questions were answered in the affirmative:

- Is Jelena for real? Yep. 10/5 in 11 minutes, with one block and a wickedly quick in-out pass that should have been an assist.
- Is Sasha for real? Yep. Seven assists in her first game. Four rebounds, too.
- Will Savannah be a contributor. Yep. Seven points in ten minutes - but more importantly, two steals and the best DRtg in the game, according to the analytics. A potential Gabby Hanson?

I didn't doubt whether Jovana and Ellie would be contributors. Jo will back up Taya and Ellie is the third guard, and they both looked fine in those roles. Ellie didn't have a great game (1-6 shooting!) but you can't read too much into that.

But one question remains unanswered: who backs up Aleah at the point? Faustino really struggled. Right now, I'd guess that Sasha will move to PG when Aleah is out. I see five guards in the rotation: Aleah, Sasha and Ellie starting, Jas and Savannah off the bench. It would be nice to see Theresa in there, too, but she looks to be a year away from being ready.