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Hello everyone! I'm back from vacation and ready to watch some more games.
First of all, I'd like to thank Nate Parham for keeping my little endeavor alive. After reading his write-ups, I don't think I missed out on any of the big news in women's college basketball while I was out with family and friends. I don't think I can thank Nate enough for picking up the slack. (The cats were at home, but they must have been watching football. Ingrates.)
As it turns out, Queenie was watching one of the games I'd wish I'd seen, and I'll take you to her writeup of the LSU/Michigan showdown at the Barclays Invitational championship game at Brooklyn, New York. In the meantime, here are the other games I'd wish I'd seen.
Arizona State (6-1) defeats Arkansas State (4-4) in the Cancun Challenge, 69-66. On a neutral court in Mexico the Sun Devils squeezed by with a win against the Red Wolves, but a 6-1 record has to make Charli Turner Thorne feel good about the season. Arkansas State shot 55 percent, but ASU got the game back on their offensive rebounding margin (14-5) and by hitting 23 of 32 free throws versus 5 of 9 by Arkansas State.
The Sun Devils went 3-0 in the Cancun Challenge, including a win over North Carolina. In the final 17 seconds of the game, Arizona State hit 5 of 6 free throws to seal the game.
Florida (5-3) beat Oregon State (4-2) 73-70 at the Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas. The Beavers really put up a fight - sophomore guard Jamie Weisner had 26 points and Oregon State hit 14-for-33 from 3-point range. (Oregon State hit 17 3-pointers in a game against Loyola Marymount this year.) Oregon State lost this one on at the stripe, hitting only 8-for-16, whereas the Gators went 21 for 28.
Nevada (4-3) beats Wake Forest (4-4) at the Nevada Tournament, 95-87. The Demon Deacons managed to cut an 18-point lead by the Wolfpack down to three points on a couple of occasions. Nevada led 21-7 just seven minutes into the game and it was going to be a long day for Wake Forest. Coach Jen Hoover and her young team managed to close to 73-70 at one point, but - you guessed it - free throws hurt Wake Forest as they missed their final six attempts.