Lele was an important factor for the team - she could disappear in some games, commit turnovers or fouls, but could also have games where she scored 10+ ppg or have 5-10 rpg, and was a good-sized athletic player that could play either 2-3-4 positions effectively. So her contributions will be missed.
Having stated that, the 2016-17 team lost starting Post Alaina Coates just before the NCAAT - and she was a longtime starter who averaged a double-double and owns the program's career record for FG % efficiency. Didn't stop us from winning the Championship that season, though....
It requires the others to step up. Eniya Russell, Elysa Wesolek, and Olivia Thompson will have to shoulder more responsibility going forward in the tournament.
More immediately however, Laeticia Amihere and Destiny Littleton will take the lion's share of the minutes that used to go to Grissett. Victaria Saxton was barely averaging over 20+ minutes per game as a starter, as she was rotated with Amihere and Grissett, but now she's going to take on more minutes too, which shouldn't be too hard a job.
Has it been an issue thus far? In the 3 NCAAT games played, Amihere has been producing like a starter: 14-25 (56.0%) from the field, averaging 11.3 ppg and 8.0 rpg. Saxton has stepped up her efforts: 15-23 (65.2%), 13.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.3 bpg.
Littleton has hit some big three-pointers for us, averaging 4.3 ppg and 3.7 rpg, and has helped Henderson and Cooke handle the ball at times. In one game she scored 8 pts, in another she pulled down 7 boards.
And that's in addition to the regulars Cooke, Boston, and Henderson being average double-digit scorers. And while Beal has only averaged 6.0 ppg, she's shooting 8-17 (47.1%), has hit a couple of 3-ptrs to give opposing defenses something to think about, is averaging 7.3 rpg herself, and has been our lock-down defender on top scorers for the opponents not PGs or Posts.
I was a little concerned about Boston looking tired in today's game: the last game we played against Oregon St. was 5 days earlier - the team should've been well rested.
Hopefully she's good to go Tuesday - now that Maryland is out, we won't worry about playing against their up-tempo fast-break offense, although I felt our defense would be fine against them, and we're supposed to be a team that plays well up-tempo as well.
Schaefer's Texas won't be that offensive. Dawn and Vic know each other's styles like their last names, and Dawn has been comfortable going up against Vic's teams for the most part of their history against each other. Texas may also be a little emotionally drained Tuesday - we'll see.......