Fullerton, CA-Menlo Women's Basketball is playing some of their best basketball of the 2023-2024 season with their fifth straight victory as they defeated Hope International 90-69. The team now stands 3-0 in GSAC Conference play and has strung together multiple strong outings against their conference rivals with all three wins coming by double figures.
Upperclassmen Come to Play
The Oaks were absolutely dialed in on the offensive side of the court scoring 90 points while hitting 49% of their field goals, 39% of their threes and 85% of their free throws. The veteran trio of Shay Boley, Kiara Brown and Jordyn Rosette each took turns putting up shots and doing so with outstanding efficiency. Boley is coming off a year were she was focused on recovering from injury. She is now back in the lineup and putting up big numbers including tonight's 16 point, 8 rebound, 4 assist showcase. Boley hit 8 of 12 shots including a variety of layups and jumpers.
Rosette was arguably the most efficient Oak of the day with 22 points and an impressive four made threes on six attempts. Rosette's quiet demeanor hides the fact that she is one of the most impactful players in the conference on both sides of the ball. On the season she is now averaging 12.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game. In other words, she's doing everything coach Spataro needs her to do.
Lastly, Kiara Brown is back to her high scoring outings with her 5th 20 point game in her last seven outings. On top of her nine rebounds Brown scored 20 points with her usual offensive rebounding and midrange jump shots. Yet, the reigning All-Conference forward decided to showcase an added wrinkle to her game with two threes from behind the arc. When Brown is dropping in shots from deep she becomes an offensive nightmare given her ability to score from a variety of levels.
Defense Travels
Another GSAC battle, another game were the Oaks opponents are unable to do much offensively. For the game, the Royals could only muster a 35% field goal percentage. Even better, Menlo only let the Royals hit five shots from the arc out of 30 attempts. In other words, Menlo's defense smothered Hope at the rim and from three.
Not only was it a whole team effort but the Oaks did an outstanding job limiting the Royals top offensive option Shiane Talley. Talley gave the Oaks some problems last season during their three matchups but today she was held to a 8-20 showing from the floor while also committing three turnovers. Menlo has done an outstanding job through these three games limiting GSAC opponents, particularly teams top options such as Talley or ACU's Alyssa Alvarez.
Up Next…
Menlo will take Friday to recover and prepare for another conference game against Vanguard University. This is possibly the most anticipated game of the year for both squads. Vanguard was knocked out of the GSAC Tournament last year courtesy of Menlo. The Oaks will look to win this year's first matchup against the Lions.
