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Wolfpack Women’s Hoops pulls away late to take a very hard fought contest and defeat #8 Maryland tonight by a final of 72-63. The win moves 18th ranked ladies to 19-3 on the year (6-2 ACC).
Just got back from the game.
1) If you haven’t been to a women’s game this season, do so. They’re really, really good and a lot of fun to watch. We all know Reynolds is one of the best atmospheres in the country when it’s packed, so come out and support the team. I’m a long time fan of the women’s team, and this is easily the most exciting team since the last season Yow was coaching.
2) If Wes Moore doesn’t win Coach of the Year, it’s a travesty. This is essentially the exact same team that was on the floor last year, but Moore has gotten so much more out of this roster. Even the development from the beginning of the season to now is tremendous. For 3 seasons now, Lakeisha Daniel has made me cringe ever time she touched the basketball. Now she’s providing serviceable backup minutes and looking confident when she catches the ball. Markeisha Gatling has gone from being a foul-prone 4th option to being one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in the country. They look like a completely different team. They’re composed and smart and run some excellent offensive sets. It’s not just the player development either, it’s in-game tactics. This game, State had tried both man and zone, and nothing was slowing down the Terps that much. Alyssa Thomas, two-time ACC PoY, was proving to be almost unguardable. At about halfway through the second half, Moore switched the team to that rarely-seen gimmick, the box-and-one, with the smallest player on the court (Len’Nique Brown) face-guarding Thomas…and it worked. Not only did it work, it completely baffled Maryland. They had no answer to it, and it allowed the Pack to come back and take the lead. It was an unbelievably ballsy move, and I could hardly believe it as I was watching it happen. Just awesome. You can’t do a better coaching job than Moore is doing this year.
Seriously, I cannot say enough good things about this game. It was just an absurd amount of fun to watch. Neither team played poorly. Neither team got lucky with a streak of shots. It was two great teams playing great basketball and trading punches. Maryland did a tremendous job of taking away the post scoring that is this team’s bread and butter, and the guards stepped up to the challenge by aggressively driving and kicking (something they absolutely couldn’t do at the beginning of the season). Brown was a star on both ends, and Myisha Goodwin-Coleman was a cold-blooded killer in the second half, knocking down crucial 3s and icing the game from the line. It was such an impressive team performance.
Well done. This is a really nice win. See ya Twerps. The women have a three game stretch against the lower tier before they run the UNC/Duke gauntlet.
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