For a feature story on Abyee Maracigan and a few comments on Idaho State's game versus Northern Arizona, click here.
There's a few things I didn't put in the story that I think are noteworthy.
Abyee had this to say about how important this weekend's game are ...
"It’s a big weekend for us," she said. "It’s senior weekend so everybody’s families will be in. So we want to perform well in our last two games here.”
But with the parents in town, is that a distraction? (not that anyone would ever suggest that anyone's parents shouldn't visit their kid in his or her last home game of their career)
“You have to keep your emotions in check, and I think all of us are realizing that coming into this week," Maracigan said. "We talked about it all season. We’re seniors and then boom this week comes, and it’s kind of one of those things that they’re not two games where can kinda just be sad. It’s kind of like, it’s our last two games at Reed and we really want to go out winning. ... That’s the focus we’re going to go with. The parents are in town, might as well have them come into town and we win both games.”
Here's a few things ISU head coach Seton Sobolewski had to say about Northern Arizona and how he thinks his team is playing right now.
“We’re winning as of late, other than the Montana game the other day, we’ve been playing really well," he said. "We’ve been getting better. I feel like we’re even starting to shoot the ball a little bit better. It’s not perfect, we’re not as consistent as we should be, but our defense is continuing to get better as the year goes on."
Why do you think the the defense has improved?
“Knowing our conference opponents, that helps," Sobolewski said. "Being a little smarter, just being in more of a groove and a routine in terms of our preperation. Film at this time for this amount of time, going to practice and we practice the things we saw on film. And it’s becoming more seamless, the process of our preperation. I think there’s some urgency there, too, to play well towards the end of the year.”
Parents of the seniors are coming in? Good, obviously, but something that can cause a distraction?
“I’m not worried about that because hopefully they understand this is their last couple of home games, most likely of their career, and they don’t want to waste that or ruin that," Sobolewski said. "Having the family in town is more of an opportunity for those people to enjoy the last couple of games together. ...
“I think they could be a little over excited, but nerves fizzle out in the first five minutes of a game anyway.”
What challenges does Northern Arizona present?
“I think they are a little streaky," he said. "They’ve kind of had people coming and going all year. Meaning (that) someone’s hurt and not playing, someone who hasn’t been playing and then someone who hasn’t been playing well is now playing well.
“For example, Amanda Frost, she doesn’t play any games this season until they play at Southern Utah and she scores 27, ... and she’s hitting threes from Idaho Central. ...
“So that changed the dynamic of their team. People adjusted to her. They weren’t winning as much and then Erikka Banks is all of a sudden playing more. She’s a six-foot (post) who’s extremely athletic and hard working, and she gives them a boost. They’ve kind of been up and down for those reasons."
(As a point of reference. Banks didn't even play in NAU's first 10 games, and then her minutes were sporadic until the last four. Last weekend, against North Dakota she played 33 minutes and finished with 18 points and nine rebounds. Then against Sacramento State, Banks put up 25 points, 14 rebounds and seven steals before fouling out after playing 28 minutes. She hasn't started yet.)
“They’ve got fantastic talent and athleticism," Sobolewski said. "They don’t have great depth, but they are very athletic and talented. I would say Amy Patton, from a pure talent, is the most talented guard in the conference.”
How did you hold Amy Patton in check last game? (In 39 minutes Patton was 4-for-11 from the field and ended the night with eight points.)
“It’s a team effort, and we just try to work hard at it," Sobolewski said. ... "And she luckily had a little bit of an off night. That helped us but she’s still, what, top 30 in the conference in scoring at 18 a game. She’s incredibly talented, incredibly. I think Tyler Stephens-Jenkins, Erikka Banks, Raven Anderson, they’re all really talented, too."
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