Thursday, February 26, 2009

OAC's!!

So a few hours after I made my last post, we lost to Muskingum which ended our winning streak :( It was definitely tough to handle since we had not felt the pain of a loss since before Christmas. However, the experience can be turned into a positive. It is easy to become complacent when you are winning all the time, and complacency is the last thing we want during the OAC Tournament!
The Tournament is exciting because after going through a rough patch in December, we have been working hard every day to get better for the post season. I am glad to say that we have definitely seen some great performances both from individuals and from the team. Since my last post, we won against our cross-town rival, John Carroll, on our home court. It was a great game, and our guard defense definitely made a difference. We traveled down to Marietta last Saturday for another “good W”, 75-43. Almost everyone on the team scored, which is awesome. (You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, Monica!) Seriously though, Monica is a perfect example of strange problem we have on this team. Sometimes people are too selfless :) We also held both John Carroll and Marietta to only 11 points in the first half.
For our first OAC Tournament game I guess we wanted a little more excitement because we beat Otterbein College 70-68. It was the closest game that we won all year, and they definitely put up a good fight. When a game is that close, every single person's contribution makes a huge difference in the outcome. Even those who did not get to play helped by being supportive and challenging us in practice! And I have a feeling that I'll never forget senior guard Jessica “Butz” Butzer’s game winning shot with 2 seconds left.
So after getting a day off to recuperate, (which was necessary for those of us who are clumsy and spent the majority of the game on the floor), we got back into the gym today to prepare for who else? That’s right, Musky. Not even two weeks ago they broke our winning streak, so we are definitely out for revenge. Now that we have the first-tournament-game jitters out of the way, we are ready to go! We play them in the Quarterfinal of the OAC tournament tomorrow at 6 at Capital University.
Besides playing in competitive, high-stakes games, another exciting aspect of tournament time is the attention and support the team receives around BW. The campus is abuzz (no pun intended) over our games. Everywhere you go professors and students are wishing you good luck and asking about the season. It’s nice to have that type of support!
Well I better go relax because it is going to be a crazy weekend down in Columbus!
Sting ‘em! Bzz!
Junior Center Ariel Brough, #45
Happy Birthday: Some of of the posts celebrating Catherine "Kitty Kat" Spisak's 19th Birthday! From left to right, freshman Kitty Kat, Me and freshmen Mariah Strayer and Katie Heinlen.
PG Love: Our two awesome senior point guards hanging out after a game, Rachael Quiring and Jessica Butzer. Senior night was last Wednesday. We took it upon ourselves to hang embarassing poster-size photos of the seniors up in the gym! Congrats on a great career SO FAR, ladies!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Secret Valentine!

So the second half of the season has gone much better than the first, and I am very proud of how much we have improved and grown as a team. Although, there is always room for more improvement, we have definitely come along way. One of our biggest successes is that we have learned to handle tough situations and we no longer fold under pressure in tight games. We found our poise in Texas, and we have learned to maintain it.
I am happy to report that we have been on a thirteen-game winning streak since I last posted right before the second Capital game. As exciting as that is, we are really focusing on getting better during every practice and every game in order to be the best team we can be going in the OAC Tournament. In addition to great play by some of our main scorers, we have had some others step up in big ways for us. Great post play was a key in our Wilmington match- up and the guards played great defense against Otterbein. A couple people came off the bench with some big plays as well! Amanda Schroeder received OAC player of the week honors for her performance against Capital, which is awesome!


We are currently tied with Capital at first in the league, so today is a big day for a number of reasons. First, we are playing second-ranked Muskingum. They are having a great season, and like all other OAC teams, cannot be taken lightly. It is also going to be televised which is always exciting. Also, even though we need to focus on our own games, there are some big OAC match-ups today that are going to affect league standings in a big way.
It’s also Valentine’s Day! Since there are only a few single ladies on our team, we decided to organize a Secret Valentine gift exchange, so everyone can enjoy their Valentine’s Day. Some of us have not received our gifts yet, but senior guard Jessica Butzer got a big, pink, stuffed wiener dog from freshman guard Monica Gustin. (How thoughtful Mon Mon.) Freshman post Katie Heinlen got some pretty sweet gifts from a one of our centers :)
Just because our second round of OAC games has gone so well does not mean that we have not come across some crazy situations along the way. I already mentioned the John Carroll changing-on-the-bus fiasco. On our way to Otterbein, we ran into terrible weather. When we were ten minutes away we were informed that the power at Otterbein was out. We were determined to play, so we decided to wait it out. It was a little nerve-wracking though. Luckily, the power came on and the game was only delayed a half an hour. Afterwards, we thought we were home free, but then the bus wouldn’t start, so we had to wait for another one to pick us up. We just hung out in Otterbein’s gym for awhile. Good thing the coaches ordered pizza or we would have been really cranky. We were pretty tired, but it wasn’t too bad. Otterbein’s Head Coach Richardson brought us some leftover cake. I was excited about that, and it was very nice of her.
So right now we just have to get ready for Musky! We already had a shoot around this morning. Before we got down to business we managed to set a school record of how many balls we could fit into one basket. I think we got 7. I had a picture of it but it didn’t get saved on my camera :( So you’ll just have to imagine our phenomenal achievement by yourself. Sorry.
Junior Center Ariel Brough, #45

(Our senior student athletic trainer Jessica Cudnik poses with her Secret Valentine gift from senior point guard Jessica Butzer. They are wearing pink for the OAC's initiative to support breast cancer awareness. For three games we wear pink warm up shirts, pre-wrap and shoe laces. Proceeds from the t-shirt sales benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation.)

Monday, February 9, 2009

AMAZING!

With only two weeks left in the regular season, I am amazed at how far this team has come. We started the season poorly - really struggling and were 4-5 at Christmas time. At that point we "started over" and were determined to just get better every day. That focus has paid off and although we haven't always played great, we have come out on the better side of the score! We are currently 16-5. We've handled some adversity, and I know we'll handle more as we go. We have really tough games ahead of us to finish the season, but we will take them one game at a time and stay focused on making sure we are better than the day before. The improvement in our team has been amazing, and the improvement in the play of some of our players has also been amazing. It's great to see players getting better both individually as well as collectively. The leadership of our seniors has also been better and better every day and I know they can handle and lead us through whatever comes our way. Our assistant coaches have also done a fantastic job of teaching on the court, talking with players off the court, and just making my job easier. They are extremely knowledgeable about basketball, and even more importantly work great with people. I am very blessed with the people I get to share this journey with - players, coaches and staff. Now we'll see if we can get better tomorrow!!

Coach Harrer