Women's Hoops 2021-22

[Cowboy II]

-Ladies lose opener to Northern Iowa 63-54, Flowers double double of 16-19, Ciaja had 15 points 

-box score shows an ice cold Billiken team with a slash of 31/17 and a great 92, 2 for 12 from 3 is not a recipe for success

 

[RUBillsFan]

29 minutes ago, Cowboy II said:

-Ladies lose opener to Northern Iowa 63-54, Flowers double double of 16-19, Ciaja had 15 points 

-box score shows an ice cold Billiken team with a slash of 31/17 and a great 92, 2 for 12 from 3 is not a recipe for success

 

Early results make it look like the team is really going to miss Rachel Kent's outside shooting.  Myia Clark (who also transferred out) was 2nd on the team in 3pt attempts last season.

Sevaal Gul (only other big who played besides Flowers) only had 2 rebounds in 14 minutes.  That's not going to cut it replacing MST who was a rebounding machine.  Flowers might average 15+ rebounds / game this season (no other credible options to grab rebounds and so many missed shots), but the Billikens will still be getting killed on the glass overall.

 

[billikenbill]

Watched about 10 mins of the second half. The experience can be summed up in one word: “Ugly.” OK, 2 words “Very ugly.”

[BuiltFordBills]

In more promising news, SLU women just got a commitment from the Ronni Nwora (younger sister of NBA player Jordan Nwora).  Transfer from Georgia Tech but didn't play much there.

https://twitter.com/RNwora/status/1458518274573021191?s=20

[Pistol]

2 hours ago, BuiltFordBills said:

In more promising news, SLU women just got a commitment from the Ronni Nwora (younger sister of NBA player Jordan Nwora).  Transfer from Georgia Tech but didn't play much there.

https://twitter.com/RNwora/status/1458518274573021191?s=20

She redshirted in 2019-2020 and opted out of last season.

[NH]

2 hours ago, Pistol said:

She redshirted in 2019-2020 and opted out of last season.

So I assume she’s immediately eligible?

[Pistol]

On 11/11/2021 at 1:11 AM, NH said:

So I assume she’s immediately eligible?

As in today or semester break or next season? I honestly don't know. She signed with the 2022 class and isn't attending SLU yet, so I'm guessing it won't be until next season.

[thetorch]

I don't know if it has been the extended run of SLU mens and womens soccer, the ups and downs of the mens basketball team or the women just being underwhelming but there has been very little talk of the womens team this season.

Ciaja continues to place her name among the top ten in multiple categories.

5th in points with over 1400.  Will be 2nd overall by seasons end

7th in FTs will be top 3 by year end and also 4th in FT%.

6th in assists but will finish in the top 3.

9th in steals will finish top 5.

Flowers is also among the all time leaders

Currently 6th in all time rebounds and could finish in the top 2.

3rd all time in rebounding average, only going to go up.

Will be all time leader in blocked shots in 5 or 6 games

She is currently averaging over 12 boards a gme, which would be a single season record and also averaging over 3 blocks a game which would set a single season record as well.

I've only been to one game this season the loss to UNI.

Team is 3-6.  Schedule has been tough, 4 of their losses are to top 50 teams in the NET.  Their last loss to SIUE they were without Flowers, I don't know why.

Losing Traore was a huge blow.  Warren has been an OK starter at PG.  Ciaja has been a little underwhelming but still putting up numbers.  Flowers has been very good.  The two other spots have been filled by multiple people with sporadic success.  Seems to be a signifigant talent drop off after Caija and Flowers.  Mcneal has been solid since being inserted into the lineup and Bess has the 6th man role down.  Depending on the matchup Gal, Martinez, & Kennedy have started.  Martinez has been out for 3 games, but I thought she deserved to lose her starting job.

Women wrap up their non conference schedule with what should be 4 victories.  The best team they play has a 175 NET,Northern Kentucky today at home, the next 3 are all on the road but winnable games against UIC, Illinois St, and Bradley.  Only 4 home games in all of the non conference which was surprising to me.

 

[thetorch]

Flowers is on concussion protocol.

Martinez has a stress fracture and will be out till January.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

Just popping in to say I hate playing Dayton @ Dayton in every sport.

[thetorch]

SLU lost their A10 opener to Dayton 77-59.

Ciaja led the Bills with 24 points on 10-18 shooting.

Flowers had 10 points and 9 boards.

Warren had 11 points and 4 assists.

Bills were nearly doubled up on the boards 49-25.  Dayton had 15 Off Boards.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

32 minutes ago, thetorch said:

SLU lost their A10 opener to Dayton 77-59.

Ciaja led the Bills with 24 points on 10-18 shooting.

Flowers had 10 points and 9 boards.

Warren had 11 points and 4 assists.

Bills were nearly doubled up on the boards 49-25.  Dayton had 15 Off Boards.

Not that it would have changed the result, but this whole season all I can think of is how much the team missing MST, especially in games like this.

[NoCoBillsFan]

1 hour ago, BrettJollyComedyHour said:

Not that it would have changed the result, but this whole season all I can think of is how much the team missing MST, especially in games like this.

Unrelated but your screen name has made me laugh out loud multiple times

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

23 minutes ago, NoCoBillsFan said:

Unrelated but your screen name has made me laugh out loud multiple times

Long-time lurker, but just decided to make an account today on a whim, lol. I saw someone say something about some Brett Jolly level comedy and ran with that  

[thetorch]

4 hours ago, BrettJollyComedyHour said:

Not that it would have changed the result, but this whole season all I can think of is how much the team missing MST, especially in games like this.

Her and Kent.

Kent is averaging 10 ppg for IUPUI who sadly have a better team than SLU.

If we had those two we would be contending for a conference title.

Hopefully these two new transfers we have can be difference makers next year. One is a 6 foot guard from Greece who is a defensive specialist and then a 6'2 transfer from G Tech who plays the pivot.

[RUBillsFan]

11 hours ago, thetorch said:

Her and Kent.

Kent is averaging 10 ppg for IUPUI who sadly have a better team than SLU.

If we had those two we would be contending for a conference title.

Hopefully these two new transfers we have can be difference makers next year. One is a 6 foot guard from Greece who is a defensive specialist and then a 6'2 transfer from G Tech who plays the pivot.

I know very little about WBB, but have been sort of disappointed with / was expecting more out of Sevval Gul after MST went down.  She came in from Arizona.  While she didn't do much there, I was assuming a Power Conference transfer would be a contributor here.  She's 6'4" and only has 6 blocks on the season, not a great rebounder, and is 1-14 from 3 point range (why is she taking so many 3s?).

I assume the same COVID year rules where players didn't lose a year of eligibility apply to the women's team?  It's odd that the official roster lists all the players as though they used an eligibility year last season.  Ciaja & Flowers are seniors, Martinez a junior, etc.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

13 hours ago, thetorch said:

Her and Kent.

Kent is averaging 10 ppg for IUPUI who sadly have a better team than SLU.

If we had those two we would be contending for a conference title.

Hopefully these two new transfers we have can be difference makers next year. One is a 6 foot guard from Greece who is a defensive specialist and then a 6'2 transfer from G Tech who plays the pivot.

Completely agree on Kent. I just keep telling myself "at least she left for a really good reason" so I don't cry because we have no pure 3 pt shooters anymore. Also, didn't know one of the transfers was Greek, makes me hopeful for peace in the world when you can have someone from Turkey and someone from Greece on the same team

[billikenfan05]

This year has really been unfortunate for both programs in a lot of ways. The next two seasons(hopefully played under normalcy) are pivotal for Stone IMO. She has to show flashes of breaking through the plateau she’s seemed to hit. 

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

35 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

This year has really been unfortunate for both programs in a lot of ways. The next two seasons(hopefully played under normalcy) are pivotal for Stone IMO. She has to show flashes of breaking through the plateau she’s seemed to hit. 

She's a really great coach and the players seem to really like playing for her and they always do incredibly well academically, but I agree, her high watermark was the Sadie/Kemph/Kerri era where we were perennial postseason competitors.

[billikenfan05]

19 minutes ago, BrettJollyComedyHour said:

She's a really great coach and the players seem to really like playing for her and they always do incredibly well academically, but I agree, her high watermark was the Sadie/Kemph/Kerri era where we were perennial postseason competitors.

From conversations I’ve had with WBB alumni there’s a mixed bag on her, but that’s every coach. You also have to frame her overall tenure based on the dumpster fire she inherited. 

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

9 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

From conversations I’ve had with WBB alumni there’s a mixed bag on her, but that’s every coach. You also have to frame her overall tenure based on the dumpster fire she inherited. 

Yeah true, from a fan perspective, she's really good at engagement, at least. People are definitely way more aware of the women's program than they were prior to her tenure. I would imagine she'll be allowed to finish out her coaching career here barring multiple down years.

[Speyburn]

44 minutes ago, BrettJollyComedyHour said:

She's a really great coach and the players seem to really like playing for her and they always do incredibly well academically, but I agree, her high watermark was the Sadie/Kemph/Kerri era where we were perennial postseason competitors.

It seems Kent / Stewart / Clark / Rice did not like playing for her. And the best recruiting period was when Mike Geary was Associate Head Coach.

[Cowboy II]

-I think Ciaja is a very special player, getting results with her out of the picture will be an accomplishment

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

3 minutes ago, Speyburn said:

It seems Kent / Stewart / Clark / Rice did not like playing for her. And the best recruiting period was when Mike Geary was Associate Head Coach.

Don't know about the other 3, but I was under the impression Kent left purely for academic reasons, as in IUPUI had a better long term program for her major.

[thetorch]

I really liked Kent.  Tall, decent athlete with nice range on her shot.  She was a loss.

Stewart was a huge risk but with her talent it was worth it.  Didn't pan out.  Nothing Stone could do.  Stewart went from Houston to SLU to Mo Bap and left there.  She's not currently playing.

Rice is barely in the rotation on the worst team in the Missouri Valley.  She was recruited over.  Not a loss.

Clark is good but flawed.  She is averaging 14 points a game for a middling Evansville program.  She shoots 36% from the field and 23% from 3.  She's taken over 80 3s.  Lots of volume and not much to show for it really.  She'd never get those shots here.  That is why she is gone.  She's decent defensively, and a good rebounder for her size but a backcourt with her and Ciaja is too small and doesn't have enough ball handling skills to run an offense.

Stone is in a tough spot.  This should have been her year but transfers, injuries, little development has tanked the season.

Ciaja is great but she's super flawed as well.  Too small, not a good shooter, not really a PG.  A lot of A10 teams have players like her  The good ones she is a 2nd option.  On our team now she is option 1,2,3, and 4.  She's put up huge numbers for the program but no postseason success.

What comes back next year?  Not much.  I don't have a ton of faith in her recruiting at this point.  I don't see an impact player on next years roster.  The team could be really bad.

Stone's offense really features bigs.  I don't understand why she can't get players better than Sadie to play the post and just eat.  In Stone's offense in the A10 a really good big with size could average 20 10 easy.  Brooke puts up big numbers and she's really just an athlete out there, not much skill at all.  In this transfer portal we should be able to find a big who wants to be the Shaq of the A10.  Stone's could put the ball in her hands every possession.  One of the things Stones teaches well is entry passes.  The mens teams could learn a thing or two from her.

Still big picture, this is a down year for Stone and the team could still finish .500.  Considering the program history that is actually pretty good.  I really want to see the women make an NCAA tourney.  The program has the capability.  Not sure of Stone can get us there.