Game thread - Mt St. Marys @ RC - Tuesday 11/4 6pm ESPN+

Section9_RowD said:
Confession time - this will be my first time seeing the Women Spiders at RC - only other time live was for A10 final at Henrico in '24. Excited to get this season going.
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Don’t worry you aren’t the only one. Got to support the team that is doing all the right things. Go Lady Spiders!

This is my substitution for the “other opener” (if you can call it that) tomorrow.
 
Campbell and Wright also getting some court time.

Spiders have gone a bit cold with the shooting and MSM starting to hit a few including a couple of threes in the past minute or so. Was 22–14 until Doogan just got a drive to the bucket for an And-1 opportunity.
 
A few areas to clean up and only 36% shooting, but hard to complain about a 36–17 lead at the half. Got both a 10-second and a 5-second call against MSM late in the half, which is nice to see on the defensive side.

I'm heading out for a while, so I'll have to catch up on the second half later!
 
Offensive rebounding is an issue. Mostly getting one shot, which was enough early but not in 2nd quarter. Roussell not happy with the set on offense numerous times in late 2nd quarter. Will be interesting to see what adjustment we see.
 
First half observations: (and note its just a half - - this can and will change as early as later tonight)

Persichetti looks ready to be a big contributor right from the jump. She really looked good and like she has been in the system awhile. Its already very clear she is super high basketball IQ player who made several really smart, good plays that won't show up in the box score, but are the kinds of plays that help teams win!

Simon didn't look great, but her track record says she will be fine

Richards doesn't look ready although she seemed to get her feet under her a little as time went on.

Not a great run for Dewey, but she looked more like she belonged, just some trouble finishing plays on both ends .

Newell getting the start makes us small contrary to Coach's stated desire to play big. I suspect this is related to Richards and Dewey not being ready especially on the defensive end. I already feel like we need Persichetti to take control of the wing job!

The other frosh aren't going to be ready for a bit and doubt we see much of them in OOC unless we have blowouts.

Travis was interesting - - seemed well down the rotation, but brought some presence and energy.

No comments on Dugan, Sweeney or Rachel. They are what they are - - - very good core and we will ride them!

We struggled against the match up zone and we will want to figure that out for sure. That's on film now and we will see it now until we figure it out! Probably not from Texas and the high end of our schedule, but the lower end of OOC and in conference. We are the hunted there and teams will invest more time/effort to specifically prepare for us!

We have a ways to go to get to the level we finished last year - - Not that I expected us to be and coach has certainly been saying we aren't.

Biggest concern coming in was 5th starter on the wing and that hasn't changed - - that spot is going to be key to get figured out!
 
PhillySpider said:
First half observations: (and note its just a half - - this can and will change as early as later tonight)

Persichetti looks ready to be a big contributor right from the jump. She really looked good and like she has been in the system awhile. Its already very clear she is super high basketball IQ player who made several really smart, good plays that won't show up in the box score, but are the kinds of plays that help teams win!

Simon didn't look great, but her track record says she will be fine

Richards doesn't look ready although she seemed to get her feet under her a little as time went on.

Not a great run for Dewey, but she looked more like she belonged, just some trouble finishing plays on both ends .

Newell getting the start makes us small contrary to Coach's stated desire to play big. I suspect this is related to Richards and Dewey not being ready especially on the defensive end. I already feel like we need Persichetti to take control of the wing job!

The other frosh aren't going to be ready for a bit and doubt we see much of them in OOC unless we have blowouts.

Travis was interesting - - seemed well down the rotation, but brought some presence and energy.

No comments on Dugan, Sweeney or Rachel. They are what they are - - - very good core and we will ride them!

We struggled against the match up zone and we will want to figure that out for sure. That's on film now and we will see it now until we figure it out! Probably not from Texas and the high end of our schedule, but the lower end of OOC and in conference. We are the hunted there and teams will invest more time/effort to specifically prepare for us!

We have a ways to go to get to the level we finished last year - - Not that I expected us to be and coach has certainly been saying we aren't.

Biggest concern coming in was 5th starter on the wing and that hasn't changed - - that spot is going to be key to get figured out!
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First amendment/update - - - Dewey looks very comfortable with what we are doing and her role in the offense. Big question is going to be can she defend in space or is she going to limited to pure post defense!

Travis looks the opposite - - uncomfortable with system but physically gifted. If we could run Dewey on offense and Travis on D, we'd really be in business.

We have some work to do on perimeter defense in general. Not sure about our personnel this year vs last year and the way we played last year. I think we may need to make a few adjustments to how we want to defend. Will have to pay close attention to the OOC games against the good but not P5 teams (e.g. Fairfield, Columbia). These will tell us a lot about our defense in particular.

Persichetti will be starting (or at least playing starter minutes) by the time conference play rolls around. She is getting good looks because she does so many little things so well. Just making an excellent entry pass into the offense helps create a good look for her three passes later and she has that "feel" that can't be coached for where to go etc. All her angles are spot on with everything she does. She is never late or tentative, and never rushed just every little thing done right. And all that from the jump is really impressive. She is well better than I expected!
 
Thoughts on game:

Crowd was great for a Tuesday, opening night game against a lower tier opponent. Glad to see more and more people attending the games.

Persischetti will be an impact contributor on the team. The other freshmen will need another year to develop.

Newell played good minutes, especially on the defensive end. Her and Sweeney will make a good back court.

Not the best game from Simon, Travis, and Dewey.

Doogan, Ullstrom, and Sweeney played like expected.

Of course there was broadcasting issues on ESPN+. Wouldn’t be a Richmond game without some sort of technical issues. We’re back!
 
Listened to Coach's presser after. He is really good! Not at the presser - - - as a coach! just listening to him - - he really knows his team and what they did well or not so well. Its so different than the other coach's post-game comments!
 
SFspidur said:
20–6 after one...Spiders have 6 threes.

Frosh Persichetti getting some early run and made her first shot, naturally a three.
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several of that 3FG blitz in the first quarter...I'm just a fan but Maggie Doogan looked like she belonged in a different league tonight...we've got a lot to look forward to this season...if you get a chance to watch the postgame media session Persichetti made the session along with Coach Roussell and Maggie...she does a fun and likeable job on her first ever postgame interview...fans are really going to like her!

congrats to the players and coaches on the impressive start...

Go Spiders!
 
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