Chandler, AZ-While most of the Menlo Athletics community has been preparing for the holidays, the women's basketball team headed down to Arizona to partake in the annual Cactus Classic. Today was the teams first day of action as they took the court against Montana State University-Northern. What followed was one of the stronger performances of the season for the Oaks as coach Spataro's squad was locked in on both ends of the court.
Offense Finds Its Groove
It was a total team effort in the Oaks victory as the points were flowing from tip-off to the final buzzer. Menlo would jump out to a 14-0 lead within the first three minutes of action and never look back. For the game the team would shoot 52% from the floor, 43% from three and a perfect 100% from the free throw line.
Kiara Brown would lead the way with a game high 20 points to go along with seven rebounds. After a slow start to the year, Brown has now found her All-Conference rhythm once again over the last few weeks of action. She has now scored 20 or more points in three straight contests.
Menlo's other forwards, Jasmyne Huggins and Jordan Rosette, were also highly efficient offensively. Huggins put together arguably her best game of the year with 15 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks. Huggins was all over the court with a game high in both rebounds and blocks. After some nagging injuries kept her off the court early on, she is now healthy and putting up big numbers for the Oaks.
Rosette was also very effective in just 22 minutes of playing time. She scored 14 points while knocking down 64% of her shots. She continues to be a disrupter on defense as well as she swiped two steals for the game bringing her season total to 24. Last year, Rosette fell one steal shy of the single season record. This year she is looking to be right back in contention for the record.
Oaks Do All The Little Things Right
While the final score was highlighted by efficient shooting and plenty of points, much of the Oaks' success can be traced back to their ability to do the less heralded things well. First, the team won the rebounding battle while also securing 10 offensive boards. Five different players recorded at least three rebounds and four of them grabbed at least two offensive rebounds as well.
Defensively they would hold Montana State University-Northern to just 42% shooting for the day highlighted by a second quarter in which the Oaks only allowed their opponent to shoot a paltry 18% from the floor. The combination of forcing tough shots while also securing those misses with strong rebounding made it extremely difficult for MSUN to generate any real momentum.
The Oaks also had an impressive 16 steals for the game with six different players having at least two steals that was highlighted by Alberte Frisch's four takeaways.
Up Next…
Menlo is going to enjoy this victory for only a few hours before they are right back on the court for day two of the Cactus Classic tomorrow. Day two of the event will feature the Oaks taking on Montana Western as Menlo will look to wrap up their Arizona trip with a 2-0 record!
