OBU vs. Central Baptist College

(I always love art with writing; however, this will be a challenge for my coverage (?) of the OBU Lady Tigers. Since it was a monumental night for OBU head coach Garry Crowder, this will have to suffice.)

Ok, as promised, here is the first Dribbling Ink post about the Ouachita Lady Tigers’ basketball team. Before we get into any specifics, I’d like to layout how this will work. After every game I attend, which will mostly be home games, I will write up a quick reaction to all the action. I will break each post into four parts: 1) The Dirty Details, which will list all the essentials in case you aren’t interested in my ramblings; 2) Dribbling Ink’s Recap (let’s call it DI’s Recap), a.k.a. my random, almost-journalistic thoughts on the game; 3) The Wife Update, a quick glimpse of Kasa Cooper’s role in the game; 4) the Dribbling Ink Made-Up Quote of the Game (does DIMUQOTG work?), where I attribute a quote to Coach Crowder that he didn’t say but could, should, or may have said afterwards; finally, 5) the Random Fact, which will be a random fact. Also, if you want to check out the official story from OBU's SID, Brian Howard, check out the link in the Dirty Details.

Dirty Details:
OBU vs. Central Baptist College
6:00 PM CT, Nov. 18, 2008
Bill Vining Arena
Arkadelphia, AR
OBU 111--CBC 51
http://www.obutigers.com/story_page.asp?ID=2431

DI’s Recap:
Honestly, before I get into any specifics—though details will be scarce since I’m going straight from memory and not from a reporter’s notepad or a play-by-play stat sheet that most college SID’s provide—I’ve never witnessed a women’s basketball team score so many points. 111?!

(Dribbling Ink Disclaimer: Since I have no official stats or comments on the game, please do not be offended if I mess something up. In fact, who cares? This is a blog post, not a newspaper article—I can screw up and be as biased as I want.)

For example, it was clear that CBC wasn’t on OBU’s level—talent-, conditioning-, or athletic-wise. The Lady Tigers imposed their will upon CBC, controlling the tempo by speeding past the Lady Mustangs on offense and creating a slew of turnovers on defense.

I bet CBC had more turnovers than attempted field goals. After the game, my wife said CBC committed 37 turnovers. Microwave recipe for losing by 60 points: commit almost as many turnovers as points scored.

With every player but one scoring for OBU, and all 14 players logging significant minutes, it’s clear the Lady Tigers and Coach Crowder are a unselfish bunch. Instead of announcing starters, the OBU players ran through the cheerleader gauntlet as a team.

As rare as 111 points might be in women’s basketball, a group of 14 individuals coming together unequivocally as a team is harder to come by. When it happens, it’s fun to watch, and the results can be dazzling. If OBU can keep up this team chemistry throughout the season, I think the Lady Tigers have the talent to win a lot of games.

Wife Update:
In her first career collegiate game, my wife made her first shot—a 3-pointer—kicked a ball, got a rebound, committed a foul and notched a few steals.

Ball-kicking note: If someone asked me to bet $100 on the one thing that my wife would do in, say, five minutes of playing, here’s my top three: 1) kick the ball, 2) commit a foul, 3) make a three. I proposed the same situation to her and she said definitely kick the ball.

Bottom three (for fun): 1) be assessed a technical foul, 2) call a timeout, 3) roll on the floor like she’s hurt and jump up and jog off the court a minute later.

DIMUQOTG (Dribbling Ink’s Made-Up Quote of the Game):
“I thought tonight was a real team effort,” Coach Crowder said afterwards. “But we still have to go back to work tomorrow and continue getting better. We can’t be satisfied with this one.”

Random Fact (DIRF? Dribbling Ink’s Random Fact):
The win marked Coach Crowder’s 200th at OBU.