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I tried to figure out why the number of women's basketball games has slowed to a trickle. I thought, "oh, it's final exam week!" but then I thought "doesn't that come later in December?" Maybe the players are studying for finals. Maybe the students are studying for finals. Maybe the women's basketball audience is doing its Christmas shopping. In any case, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot out there.
Even the games that were played yesterday don't appear at first glance to be all that compelling. But if you look closely enough, you'll find some games that you wish you'd seen.
Auburn (5-3) defeated Tulsa (4-3) at home, 62-52. I'm picking this game because it involves a power conference, but they're really not much else going for it. The Green Wave only shot 27 percent from the field compared to 39 percent from the Tigers, and Auburn led for the entire game. Five players scored in double figures for Auburn.
Despite leading 37-20 at halftime, Auburn could have thrown this one away. At one point, Tulsa had whittled the lead down to seven.
Here's a quote from a writeup by Justin Lee:
“’Stop fouling.’ That’s what I kept telling them,” Williams-Flournoy said. “Because all we were doing was fouling and putting them on the free-throw line. And that gets us out of the rhythm and the flow of our game as well.”
Auburn committed 23 personal fouls, so that's something they're going to have to work on. They've commited 20.2 fouls per game on average this season.
Iona (5-2) beat Sacred Heart (2-4) by 86-62 in a road game. Look at the Gaels shooting - 29-for-47, or 62 percent! Their 3-point shooting was 10-for-14, or 71 percent! Junior Damika Martinez of Iona scored 33 points and 7 rebounds, hitting 12-of-16 and 4-of-5 from 3-point land.
Vanderbilt (7-2) beat East Tennessee State (2-5) by 92-71 at home. Four Commodores (insert Lionel Richie joke here) scored in double figures and Vandy shot 51 percent during the game. The Buccaneers fouled 27 times. There were six lead changes in the first fifteen minutes of play, but Vanderbilt closed the first half with a 14-3 run.