The Ladies play at Notre Dame tonight at 8 PM. The game is on the ACC Network. This is a big game for the Ladies, a chance to make a statement to the rest of the ACC. Notre Dame just beat NC State by 3 at home; we recently lost to NC State by 6 in Raleigh in a game in which we did not play well. Kitley was 3-23, Amoore was 5-12 and Sheppard was 3-12. If any of those 3 have a decent game, there might have been a different outcome.
Notre Dame is 17-4 and 8-2 in conference. The two losses were by 2 points at Duke and by 2 points at BC. We have been less consistent.
Kitley will be 3 inches taller than any one else on the court most of the night; but Westbeld and Dodson at 6'3" are tall enough to give her problems on defense. And both are the type of physical player that have given Kitley problems in other games. And former Hokie Dara Mabrey is a starting guard for the Irish, who leads them in 3 point shots attempted and made. She has nearly one third of their attempts and nearly one half of their made threes. Good defense on her will be vital in this game. She does have a history of being a streaky shooter; if we can throw her off her game early, she will be less of a factor.
With their physical forwards ND is outrebounding their opponents by 8 rebounds per game; and they average nearly 14 offensive rebounds per game. The Ladies will have to be aggressive on the boards tonight. All five ND starters average 11 or more ppg. They are a very balanced team.
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If Kitley gets her double double tonight, she will have earned it. The guards are going to have to carry a lot of the load tonight. If we don't have anyone hitting from three, ND will collapse on Kitley and beat her up all night. We have to force the Irish defense to spread out and cover the whole court.
LET'S GO HOKIES!
Comments
Let's Go Ladies!
Feel good about this one. We need Barnes and Liedle to play like they did when Kitley was hurt, and this may not be close.
Maybe spoke to soon. Did not account for the refs caring who wins.
My wife watched the game, she felt the same.
Also, girls on the bench she expected to see on the court a little more.
Is there any reported injuries?
The only thing I was aware of was Kitley leaving the last game hurt and not returning. It was said she was not able to practice this week, and the Brooks was keeping an eye on her, and she may be limited. King losing a bunch of minutes for the bogus foul called on her when she got hot from three was a big factor though. She is our best wing defender as well as our best three point shooter. I think that combined with wanting to limit Kitley handcuffed what Brooks could do for defensive subs against a big team.
HOKIES are getting out hustled and the more physical team is not getting called for fouls.
They're killing us on rebounds. Thus leading to an 11 to 4 advantage on second chance points. Need to box out and have strong hands on the rebound.
Would be nice to start getting some over the back calls,too.
At the 4:41 mark of the third quarter, 12 turnovers and 26.5% FG ain't going to get it. Need better than that!
They are still playing careless ball and getting out worked.
Poor showing by pretty much the entire team.
They need to figure out how to get the ball to Kitley so she can score. Drives me crazy watching them throw passes the defense intercepts. She's three inches taller than anyone else on the court. Throw the ball up high where the defense can't reach it and she can.
Uninspired and listless play by the Lady Hokies. Hard to win at this point in the season with eighteen turnovers.
Props to Miles and Citron for notre dame. Those girls can play!
Second time we came out flat for a big game after a long break. Need to figure that out before the post season. Sheppard needs get more involved. Looked like the team that lost to Liberty, not the one who easily handled good teams.