The Lady Ags (5-2) face another stiff test when the Gaels of Saint Mary's (4-4) come to the Pavilion for a 2 pm game Sunday. The Gaels are currently ranked #14 in the women's mid-major poll. The Aggies are coming off a loss to Stanford in which they did a lot of good things but suffered from ice cold shooting.
The Gaels shoot the ball well at 46% and out rebound their opponents by an impressive average of 10 boards per game. The Aggies will need to battle on the boards like they did at Stanford and play solid defense as the Gaels have 4 players averaging double digits.
I'm sure the Ags were not pleased with the way they shot the ball against The Cardinal. I think they will be hungry to play well in all aspects of the game against a very good Saint Mary's team.
The Aggies take a 38-35 lead into the half in a very entertaining battle between two good basketball teams. The game has been fast-paced with a lot of well executed plays by both teams.
The Gaels have out rebounded the Ags by a 24-13 count and have 9 offensive boards and 22 points in the paint. We'll have to do a much better job rebounding and defending in the paint in the second half to get the W in this one.
Rachel Nagel hit a 10 footer at the buzzer to win it for the Aggies in a hard fought thriller. The Ags had had an 11 point lead with 2:34 to go in the 3rd but couldn't stop the Gaels dominance inside and on the boards. St. Mary's tied it up late in the 4th and the Ags got the ball back on a TO with 9.2 ticks left.
The Gaels had 3 fouls to give and, by the time they couldn't foul again, there were only 4 seconds left. After a timeout, the Ags inbounded the ball and Nagel managed to put up a shot just before the buzzer went off. The ball went through the hoop with 0:00 on the clock.
Great win for the Aggies against a very good team. The one big concern for Jen Gross is the inability of the her team to rebound the ball. It's almost uncanny how many times the Ags are around the basket but can't secure the ball. The Gaels out rebounded the Ags 44-27 and 19 of those were offensive rebounds. The Gaels also out scored the Aggies 48-28 in the paint. The Ags will have to figure out how to be more aggressive inside because their opponents are going to continue to pound the ball into the paint against them until they do a better job of defending in the paint and rebounding.
The Aggies have a tough stretch of 6 road games ahead with the first being a trip to Corvallis, Oregon, to play the 6-1 Beavers of Oregon State next Wednesday at a strange 11 am start time.