September 12, 2009

Cardinal lose tough game in Italy

The Cardinal lost their fourth and final game in Italy to San Giovanni (also called Bracco Geas) 72-63.

Jake Curtis has written a brief game report, in which he quotes Amy, "It was a physical game with few fouls being called."

There is a long and spirited game report on the Geas website. It's clear, even through the murk of a computer translation, that they were delighted with the game.

"There could be no better opening day than that staged Saturday evening — against one of the best college women's programs, with one of the most renowned coaches in America and players on vacation but wanting to play real games — a good standard!

Clarisse Machanguana was San Giovanni's top scorer with 19 points. Remember her with the San Jose Lasers?

She's now 36 years old and described in Eurobasket as "a big post player who moves extremely well. Offensively, she plays very well with her back to the basket and can also face up and shoot consistently. Defensively she helps the team with rebounds, helps, rotations..."

It would have been interesting to see a matchup between her and Jayne. As it was, Nneka matched up with her very well. She was the top scorer for the Cardinal with 18 points and was described in the Geas game report as "very energetic and vertical".

After the game, Tara said, "The Geas is a good team, Machanguana and Martinez are two very good players who tonight led their teammates in a masterly way. We did some things very well, others very ill, without finding the middle path that would allow us to do more. Playing teams such as Geas is good for us, this was a real match, tough and demanding."

"We love Italy and we'll definitely be back."

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