SHAKING OFF THE COBWEBS

Friday's game was a rematch against an opponent who we easily beat in the first half of the season.  In these types of games, it's best you approach with the same aggression as if it's your first meeting.  You can never guarantee the outcome of any game, so it is best to limit any "additional factors" that could influence the end result.

In this rematch, we started out with very little intensity leading to bad defense and lack of offense.  As the game progressed we were able to shake off the holiday rust and start to ease back into our style of play. With refreshed intensity we were able to gain the lead in the second quarter and take it into half-time.

The third was a disaster.  It was as if we became comfortable with the lead and stopped doing the things that got us the win in the first half of the season and the first half of this game.  We seemed to be one step behind on every play, leading to a turnaround that put us down by 20.

There were spurts of fight towards the end of the third and throughout the fourth, which allowed us to cut the lead to seven.  Because of us having to use so much energy to get back in the game, we ran out of gas around the 1:41 mark. In the end, our "additional factor" that influenced our loss was the number of turnovers.

The final score was 98-112. I ended the game with 50 pts, 6 rebs and 6 ast.