Big win, and resume builder, for the women.  Go Dukes!

I am so proud of this women's team this year.  

SkepticAl wrote:

St Johns had ABSOLUTELY NO ANSWER for Workman - She almost looked like LeBron out there - posting up driving to the hoop draining threes!!!  they had some really small really quick guards - a few inside players and seemingly nothing else.  Those were Kadri's Only three points - but GREAT to see when one player struggles the others step up Ladies should REALLY enjoy THEIR break for the holiday!!!

I thought St Johns was very talented but we were better.  Out worked them in second half.  Gronas played excellent perimeter defense.  They didn't have an open 3 point look until the game was well in hand. 

Kadri had some good looks.  Shot just didn't fall tonight.  But like you said, her teammates scored for her.

And Dev Workman reminds me of Jocelyn Floyd.  She refuses to lose.

Last edited by duqkurt (12/19/2015 9:49 pm)

duqkurt wrote:

SkepticAl wrote:

St Johns had ABSOLUTELY NO ANSWER for Workman - She almost looked like LeBron out there - posting up driving to the hoop draining threes!!!  they had some really small really quick guards - a few inside players and seemingly nothing else.  Those were Kadri's Only three points - but GREAT to see when one player struggles the others step up Ladies should REALLY enjoy THEIR break for the holiday!!!

I thought St Johns was very talented but we were better. Out worked them in second half. Gronas played excellent perimeter defense. They didn't have an open 3 point look until the game was well in hand.

Kadri had some good looks. Shot just didn't fall tonight. But like you said, her teammates scored for her.

And Dev Workman reminds me of Jocelyn Floyd. She refuses to lose.

Dev truly lives up to her surname when she's on the court.  Once she gets into her groove, it's hard to stop her. 

I look for the Dukes' name to appear in one or both women's polls among those "teams getting votes" when they come out next Tuesday.

After the game I spoke to Coach Dan Burt about extending the series with St. John's beyond the current two-game arrangement.  He was very favorable to my suggestion.  We shall see.

A Dukes' win over Pitt on Dec. 30th would certainly top off the non-conference schedule with a special belated Christmas gift for fans of the Dukes' women's team.      
 

Last edited by godukes1970 (12/19/2015 10:35 pm)

duqkurt wrote:

I'm interested in hearing Robabees comments.

My long list of comments...

Excellent win over a top 25 team at home.  AJP is going to be an absolute nightmare for any team to go and win at.  The 402 people that stayed or came for the women's game had a lot to be happy about...

First, for St. John's.
The Red Storm didn't play like a top 25 team last night, but more like a top 50-75.  Not to take anything away from our Dukes, who still beat a very good team handily, but St. John's didn't have their greatest game.  Aliyyah Handford, one of the top guards in the country and two-time unanimous first team all BE, picked up her second foul on a well-drawn foul by Omogrosso less than four minutes into the game.  The Dukes kept going after Handford and she would only play 16 minutes before fouling out with only 9 points.  Her foul trouble also limited her aggression.  It was also of help to the Dukes that Danaejah Grant, a player who averaged over 20 a game coming in on over 50% shooting, went 4-18 from the field and struggled all afternoon.  When St. John's Big 2 senior guards both struggle, SJU is going to struggle much like our men's team would with DC and MM both struggling...and good luck beating a good team on the road.  Some credit does go to Duquesne there though.  They made life miserable for both Handford and Grant, allowing few open looks.  The big beneficiary for the Red Storm was Jade Walker, whose size and offensive IQ was giving the Dukes fits in the first half.  For whatever reason, SJU didn't go back to her that often in the second half, nor did they run a play that was beating Burt's squad routinely.  There also wasn't the patented punch-back that I'm used to for the Red Storm after DU made it's third quarter run.  Typically top 25 teams have a fight back there once they've taken a punch...

On to DU's side of the ball.
Great rebounding effort as a team to finish a +3 on the boards. 
April Robinson - WOW!   A terrific performance by Burt's catalyst.  As I said on the other board, the 15-7-11 line doesn't even do it justice.  Solid D, team leadership, her high basketball IQ coming in handy, and a lot that doesn't show on the statsheet yesterday afternoon.  Excellent game.
Workman - Awesome second half performance.  I said to the folks sitting next to me at halftime that Deva'Nyar was my key to the game, one direction or the other in the second half.  Well...she had another great performance and led the team on.  Tied a career high in points.  As someone else said, her surname fits well.  Hopefully she's fine after the mid-court collision near the end of the game.  She appeared to be, but I thought she also looked like she was holding her hip once or twice.
Gronas - Proved some folks wrong about her not having the athleticism to level up to better competition.  Her length bothered SJU's offense more than Omogrosso could provide, and had two steal -> 1-0 layups. (Didn't think I'd say that!)  Very good performance.
Lass - Struggled for only the second time all year on every end - offense, defense, rebounding.  Yet, she hit the one big shot when needed.  Much better days are ahead for her...
Szamosi - Some excellent defense inside yesterday.  The obvious highlights are the shotclock winding down, give it to Amadea and let it rip moments, but the D and rebounding was exceptional.  An overlooked double-double by many.
Richardson - Once again, won't show up in the statsheet, but 6 minutes of athleticism off the bench in games like this is helpful...
Omogrosso - It was a game more suited for Gronas, but Chassidy certainly held her own.  11 points including two fastbreak layups, two key fouls drawn.

Burt - Excellent job keeping the Big 2 of the Red Flash in check the whole game.  He's gotten this team to play great D for a team that wants to play fast and was able to hold SJU's big 2 in check.  The halftime switch of going to more Gronas and less Omogrosso paid off in a big way as did just letting Workman take over. 

---

Hate that I have to wait until after the holiday break for the Pitt game.

I'm starting to wonder why Workman doesn't start, but of course Dan Burt deserves the benefit of any doubt, & in any event she still plays a lotta minutes. Look at the 5 who got the most minutes yesterday & I gotta believe that they might be Burt's "team" when it gets down to it.

In the late 2nd-half time-out, Coach Wojdowski asked the players why they were so concerned about guarding against the 3 when St. John wasn't shooting 3's. After that, the defense got better & started to stop their drives, as well as rebounds & steals which are crucial to our "transition"* game.  By about the middle of the 3rd quarter, I thought that our tempo & tenacity wore them down, & we were beating them to every rebound & loose ball.

I'm not smart enough to know whether St. John's deserves their #25 ranking or not, but they're quick & athletic & have some size up front.  Good win for Duquesne.
_____________
*I'm old enough to remember when the term was "fast break."  I don't quite understand how it's easier to call it "getting out in transition."

Way to go ladies!

Don't get me wrong, gentlemen---I got no real complaints about who starts & who doesn't.  More like me just wondering whether it's something Burt is considering.  There's not much to complain about when you're 11-1.