Northern Arizona

[bbjunkie]

The Northern Arizona coach practically dares opposing teams to run against them at home, at 7000 feet elevation. She has cleverly built a team of track athletes who have trained at altitude that I guarantee have hemoglobin levels above those of mere mortal sea level dwellers, like you and I. This means that they have biologically superior endurance which really becomes apparent in the second half of fast paced basketball games. I hope Coach Murrell doesn't get all macho, take the bait, and try and run with these guys like last year. Our roster has been depleted of 3 players, so far, this year (Samms, Jackson, and Wade) so depth might be an issue. It will be vital that our starters get adequate rest during this game by frequent substitutions in order for us to have any chance of winning this game.

Good luck Viks!

 

[freja]

Well NAU shot like crap thank you; maybe our zone forced them into a lot of low percentage shots AND it allowed us to run in transition....Nice win where was Kelli? hope she's not injured. The Viks played well together after a loss which is a huge emotional victory for the team and coaching staff. Nice job

 

[bbjunkie]

BBjunkie must eat a little crow as PSU kept up the pace with NAU, even with the Viking's depleted roster. I've got to believe that our more frequent use of a zone defense had something to do with NAU's miserable shooting percentage (27.5%). So, I must complement the Viking coaching staff for identifying our defensive weaknesses and switching things up in order to keep our opponent off balance. Murrell must realize that playing a zone is not a sign of weakness, but, a smart way of utilizing personnel while forcing our opposition into low percentage shots.
Kudos to our bench players Egwuatu, Lampman and the rest for coming in and really outworking NAU in the second half. After being out-rebounded in the first half, our post players came up big with several key rebounds down the stretch. Our Vikings fought hard and looked to be the better conditioned team in this needed road victory. Great win!