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Back at Williams Arena on this Thursday and, with everything going on throughout this great country with the Coronavirus shuttering several events; including the B1G Tournament, I was somewhat surprised that the doors weren't taped shut. Got myself settled in on press row courtside on this day and after fighting the Wifi connection which seemingly took forever, I'm ready to go with this game at the 10:48 mark of the first half with DeLaSalle holding a 10-8 lead in what so far has been a very tightly contested contest. I had seen the Islanders play only once this season and this would be my very first look at the Spartans who came into this state tournament with a sparkling 27-2 record.
Simley would assume a 14-10 advantage at the 9:12 mark of this first half on a pretty three-point bomb by senior guard Sydney Stensgard from the right wing area and a Stensgard coast-to-coast lay-up with 7:54 left would increase that lead to 18-12. DeLaSalle would get this deficit trimmed to just one point with 6:49 left at 18-17 when freshman guard Kennedy Klick drained a "3" and a lay-up in transition by sophomore guard Sydney Runsewe with 5:32 left would push the Islanders into the lead at 19-18 in this low-scoring affair. Simley would manage to push back into the lead again at 25-21 but DeLaSalle would get this game tied and would push ahead with 1:50 left at 27-25 when senior forward Nurjei Weems connected with a lay-up in transition. The Islanders would get a big lift with two Runsewe three-point bombs within the last minute and would carry a 33-25 lead into the locker room at the halftime break. A quick check of the halftime stats shows that Simley was guilty of ten first half turnovers that negated their 22-13 edge on the boards thus far. DeLaSalle was shooting well in this first half thus far going 14-30 for 46.7% and 5-11 from behind the arc for 45.5%. And Runsewe's 11 first half point were pacing the Islanders as well.
DeLaSalle would stretch it's lead to nine early in the second half at 35-26 but Simley's Stensgard would get fouled at the 15:57 mark and get at least one free throw to go down that helped trim the deficit down to six at 35-29. A lay-up in transition by senior guard Zareia Chevre at the 15:10 mark helped make further inroads for the Spartans but DeLaSalle sophomore guard Kiani Lockett would connect with a lay-up at the 13:55 mark that drew a foul in the process and her ensuing "and one" would get the Islanders' lead to ten points at 43-33. A Runsewe one-handed jumper at the 12:03 marked pushed DeLaSalle's lead to 49-35 and Klick's offensive rebound and putback at the 11:20 mark would make it 51-35 that prompted Simley Head Coach Mark Stensgard to call a timeout as things were clearly getting away from his team at this point. Klick would connect with a pretty lay-up in transition at the 9:57 mark and two Lockett free throws at the 9:10 mark gave the Islanders a twenty-point cushion at 57-37. With DeLaSalle holding a sizable 62-49 advantage with 6:45 left, the Islanders were now deliberately taking time off the clock and were getting to the charity stripe now that they were in the double-bonus which effectively sealed Simley's fate in this one. A Weems lay-up with 4:22 left gave DeLaSalle a 68-44 advantage and the Islanders would cruise into Saturday night's Championship Game with a resounding 74-52 victory.
Simley's Mark Stensgard noted the physicality of this contest in the postgame press conference and admitted that his team wasn't always patient on offense and some questionable shot selection and errant shots sometimes led to easy transition baskets by DeLaSalle. The Islanders's Head Coach Tanysha Scott was in agreement that their ability to get into transition for easy baskets was key when I asked her about that element in their second half gameplan. Runsewe led the DeLaSalle attack on this day with her 19 points. Simley was paced by sophomore Ascheampoman Danso's 18 points.
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