Lovin' the hiiiive!

Well it is quite snowy on the BW campus these days! We just got back from Christmas at home with our families, and now we are hosting a holiday tournament tomorrow and Wednesday. We are very excited to play! It is certainly nice to be off from school and just spend some time relaxing. I do not miss having to wake up for 8 am class every morning! We had our team Christmas party today and it was very entertaining. The upperclassmen remake of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" song was very creative thanks to the wonderful Ariel Brough!

Ali Stack #22

CHRISTMAS!! YAY!

Christmas is officially over which makes me sad:( BUT on a brighter note it is such a wonderful time of year getting to spend time with family and friends! I hope everyone on the team had a very MERRY Christmas! This week we have our holiday tournament at home and us yellow jackets are pumped and ready to play.
On the other hand, it is currently BLIZZARDING!! It is very pretty and I can't wait to go sledding whoooooo! Also, I am really enjoying the break from school and all the class work!

GOOO JACKETS!!
NANCY COULTER #32

BREAK!

OH HEY THERE! I'm done with finals and officially on winter break. I can't go home, but it's okay because I'm on campus with the most amazing people to keep me from getting home sick. No one wants to hear this, but we had a game saturday against capital and lost in overtime but it's okay, we play them again so we still have another shot!!! We play Heidelberg today, and that sucks for them because we're looking to sting some people after saturday! Christmas is around the corner and we're all anxious to go home for a few days YAY!

AWWW JACKETS

#11

Olivia

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS

So finals are done and I couldn't be happier! They were difficult but are over with and now we have a month off :) Christmas is fast approaching and it happens to be my favorite holiday so I cannot wait...my goal is to get Catherine in the Christmas spirit also this year. The snow, hot chocolate, giving, receiving, snow angels, snowmen, movies, cookies, elf.....come on now its perfect.

Last night I went to North Canton with Jess and we watched Hoover. It was a pretty good game but they ended up dominating by 20. It got us excited to play Capital on saturday because it was also a rivalry. Can't wait to eat that victory cake at Monica's.

Go Jackets!

Paige
numba 15

BYEEE Exams

LAST EXAM is at 130!!! By far my most difficult exam was microeconomics, thanks dr. chen ;)  now its winter break with all of my lovely teammates on BW campus! we can all relax and focus on basketball AND CHRISTMAS!!!  my roommate has been playing nonstop xmas music all week and its getting me in the spirit!  even john carroll's pep band was playing slow xmas tunes for us to warm up to, thanks guys.  up next is OAC rival capital, then to my house for a celebratory dinner (and cake)!!!!

AWW JACKETS

Monica

lets go baby lets go. :)

wooooooohooo, so its almost the last Friday of the semester :) SO EXCITED! We just had two really great wins in the BW program. The Varsity just took a great win at JCU & the JV took a heck of a victory at home against Notre Dame College. I had to keep the score book, it made me quite nervous. We have a game this Saturday at Kenyon College. When we win on Saturday it will be Coach's 400th yellow jacket victory!!!!!!! Pretty sweet huh? yeahh I must say coach you're BA ( I was too afraid to actually put the full out spelling on here.) hahah Tomorrow after practice we're going to see the Blindside.. it is such a good movie & I must say one of my favorites. Keep on buzzzingggg jacketss... bring it everyday :)


Catherine Spisak #42

Finals Week Is Approaching

So we have one last week of classes and then finals week. It is unbelievable to me how quickly this semester has gone! I can't believe it's almost time to relax for a month, but I'm excited! I'm sure I will start stressing out over my tests soon enough, but for now I still have work to do!
Saturday we played one of the best teams in OAC, Wilmington. Too bad for them the Jackets were ready to attack! Everyone came focused and ready to follow our scouting report and work harder than ever. We stepped up our defense immensely, but especially on 3 point shooters. Three point defense was the key to the game! It was such an awesome win and a great bounce back from Case.
Some of us got together for Schroeder's birthday after the game Saturday and we had a blast! After a group effort win, we topped it off by celebrating together :]
Tomorrow we play my mom's alma mater, JCU. So let's go ladies. Let's get it done!
Buzzz Baby!
#34 Taylor Rogers






The picture to the right is of me and JoBeth after having to walk in the rain! :(

The Lions Are Coming!!

Well, we just got back last night pretty late from our trip to The University of Rochester for our first two games. We played in a gym that felt more like the coliseum from some gladiator movie...Katie H. kept shouting, "The lions are coming!!" haha. We got there Thursday and had a very productive practice at the university. We then went out to Olive Garden where we had the waitress bring out coach a "early birthday" piece of cheesecake!! We then played Williams College Friday afternoon and we won! Our second half intense defense helped us come out with a W. Saturday we had shoot around in the morning before having a great breakfast and relaxing a bit watching OSU beat Michigan!! We then played the Yellow Jackets from Rochester. Unfortunately, we dug ourselves into a pretty big hole the first half and just couldn't seem to catch back up in the second half. Hopefully we can mark this up as a learning experience and get ready four our home opener Tuesday against Case....I know our stingers are eager to get back on the court and get back on track!! AWWWWW.....Jackets!
JoBeth Roll #14

Keepin That Swag

Well Well Well the seasons about to start and everyone is really excited!!!!!! Our first real game is this weekend in New York and the hive is already starting to buzz. Before we get to that though the real excitement for the week is that JoBeth, Candace, Monica, Coach Butz and I are going to see Wicked tomorrow!!!! Wicked is a musical about the wicked witch of the west when she was a little girl, and it shows that she wasn't always such a jerk. I love musicals! On a not so high note, we won't be able to see the midnight showing of Twilight: New Moon because we will be busy buzzing our way up to Rochester to play. I know a few Twilight enthusiasts on the team were near tears when they found this out, but I'm sure Edward and Bella will still be there after we're done playing, so don't worry. Thats about all I have for now.. GO JACKETS

Megan Frisina #4

SLAY THE DRAGONS!!

Well we are already into practice number 17!! That is so crazy to think how fast the time has gone already. This past Thursday we had a scrimmage at Tiffin & let me just tell ya the dragons were slayed! Good job to everyone. One little problem on the trip back, that flat tire put a little damper on the evening! What a long wait, but we made great use of our time..I LOVE MISS MAYBERRY! It has been great to get each player a little better and Halloween was an interesting time. The costumes were great, although my roommate couldnt wear hers. She had the flu :(

I can't believe our first game is less than 2 weeks away! I cannot wait, we have worked extremely hard and hopefully it will pay off. GO JACKETS!!

p.s.- what a WIN by those Buckeyes this weekend...sorry penn state saturday just wasnt your lucky day..too bad. BYEEEEEEEEE



#33 Jessica Carpenter

Halloweekend!!

So training camp (aka the first two weeks of practice) flew by like a speedy little yellow jacket. While they were a very educational two weeks, I cannot lie; I will not miss the conditioning or the intense negotiations with Coach Strickland in order to lower the number of lines we had to run. (Although, I am grateful that he let us negotiate because my old bones can only take so much.) All joking aside, one of our mottos this year is “It takes a little more to be a Yellow Jacket” and I can tell you, after playing here for three years, that this is certainly true. I would put money on us outworking every team in the OAC in the conditoning area. We didn’t even let up once practice started. It is definitely tough at times, but we know it will pay off in the end.
The end of training camp was marked by our annual intrasquad scrimmage. It was a close match, but the gold team lost by three points :( It’s OK though because, in the end, we are all buzzing around the same hive.
After our scrimmage we had our Parents’ Reception so all the families could learn who the players and other parents were. I must say I did miss seeing all 50 members of the Heinlen clan who came last year, but I was happy that Mr. Heinlen showed his support with his traditional Heinlen barking during the scrimmage. (Woof woof right back at’cha, Mr. Heinlen.)
The best part of the end of training camp was definitely the Halloween festivities. We had some GREAT costumes this year. Sophomore guard/semi-post Monica Gustin was Harry Potter, but unfortunately she kept casting the Sectum Sempra hex on everyone. Not cool Mon Mon. She also kept pulling off my stinger, which is also not cool because if you pull off a yellow jacket’s stinger, it dies!!! Ah! Freshman guard Taylor “Tator Tot” Rogers definitely had the best costume. She went as Flavor Flav, and it was all kinds of embarrassing. All in all, it was a fun time with some goooood team bonding/dancing.

Senior Center Ariel Brough #45 Awwwww jackets!!




Former jacket Carrie Ritzler and sophomore center Kitty Cat Spisak creatively fashioned themselves some cute togas.

Tator Tot Rogers as Flava Flav and Monica Gustin (who will be angry, but you shouldn't have ripped my stinger off three times, Monica!)


Freshmen guards/roomies JoBeth Roll, as a flapper, and Megan Frisina, as a school girl.



Monica Gustin and I, wand and stinger ready!

TRAINING CAMP IS OVER!!

Although I am injured I know that everyone is excited that "boot camp" is now over. Theres no more "8 in 8" and everyone is ready for the season to actually start. We have a scrimmage coming up thursday at Tiffin and I'm excited to be able to go to that. Classes are starting to get a lot easier. Once I got my self into the flow of things I have been able to do a lot better. All of my grades have been brought up and I HAVE been going to class :-)!! Can't wait for the games to start so we can show everyone all about BW Women's Basketball!!!!! wheww!!!!

Gooooo Jacketss!
Morgan Coulter #20

Aww Jackets!

Officially two more days, and training camp is finito. As always, everyone’s doing a great job, working hard and pushing themselves each and every practice. Our first scrimmage is this Saturday bright n’ early at 9:30 in the morning. It’s the Brown/Gold Scrimmage and I can’t wait! And it’s also Halloween! This month went by so fast. Soon it’ll be Thanksgiving! Other than that school is going well. It’s getting harder and more stressful for me at least. I’m taking Italian as you may already know and well it’s hard. I study way too much for this class and I have Italian going through my mind 24/7. There’s a test pretty much every week and in fact there is one tomorrow. So I will be studying again tonight for that.

Awww Jackets!

Candace #3

1st week of boot camp

This past week was our first week of Training camp, also known as Boot Camp. Our first day was Sunday that consisted of two practices. We worked on defense for the first couple of hours and the second session was offense. During the week we had practice every night from 6-9 except for Wednesday was a nice night off. I got put on laundry duty and I put our clothes in the washer and started it, but I forgot to put the soap in... It's a typical freshman mistake, but don't worry, all our practice clothes are clean, I promise.

I'll never forget picture day a couple weeks ago, walking into the locker room to see your name printed on a Gold plaque on your locker. Hanging on your locker was your jersey and shorts. It was the coolest feeling ever. For a D3 school, it feels pretty professional.

Practices are good for the most part. No one likes running but the excitement and anxiety for the season to start is unbearable. Classes are going well too, I got an A on my psychology midterm exam and I'm going to brag about it because that is and will be the only A I will probably see in my life. Just kidding of course.

"It's a great day to be alive in the Hive." I love Bdubbs! Gooo yellowjackets...

Jen #21

Gotta Love BW!

So we are now less than one month away from our first game! Today will be our fifth practice, and it is becoming more routine everyday. We are learning more about BW basketball each practice. There is a lot of information to remember but so far everyone seems to be doing fine. Also practice brought us Coach Strickland and his lovely running drills. We missed him a lot during conditioning. Yesterday was our day off from basketball, and last night the team went to see a guest speaker. He is a comedian who talked about drugs, aids, sex, and his personal experiences with them. He had everyone laughing the entire time. Other than that our days consist of classes, study tables, and practice. Also if anyone was wondering this blog was written on time, and i wasn't suppose to write it three weeks ago.
Aww Jackets!

Rachel #10

WHAT A JACKET week!!!

So this week is probably one of the hardest weeks of the year because soon everyone leaves for fall break:) which means midterms are due! Today i Had two test and now I'm just so excited that they are over! Although everyone is leaving tomorrow for home or where ever they decide to go.... I will remain here at the great ol' B.W. My fellow jacket kitty Cat and I have to ball girl on Saturday for the football game and may they have some luck! Now that this week is over we get to relax a little before SUNDAY!!! This is officially our first day of practice! We have ALOT of freshman this year on the team and those first couple of days are going to be in one word ROUGH, but once everyone gets with the program and gets used to the swing of things, watch out OAC because here come the BW Jackets (with out new mascot emblem)!!!!

Cookies n' Cream

"Cookies n' Cream, Cookies n' Cream,
What's the matter with the other team?
Nothing at all, nothing at all
They just don't know how to play BASKETBALL... BASKETBALL!"

I thought I would start the blog off with a cheer since conditioning is over. It is pretty impressive that we ran 15 suicides and the championship maker twice.That equals 96 down and backs for the championship maker alone. (Calculations by Monica) I am also glad that we are now able to eat dinner before practices since Jess and I ordered a pizza almost every night of conditioning and are probably running very low on money already.

"The clock is ticking, and time is running out, so come on JACKETS, knock them out!"
That is what we will be doing to teams this season.

Sunday is the first official day of practice(s) and i'd say we are ready to goooo

Everyone have a great fall break, see you at boot camp sunday.

-Paige

Go bronks

Its going by too fast!

well only one more week until we start pracitce. Its hard to believe that it is coming so quick, seems like just yesterday I was one of the freshman that didnt know where or how anything was or worked. Pool workout was one of the funniest workouts even though i dont know how to swim...im not even joking... I think that i need to let everyone know that my mom and step dad are going through I really awful divorce and I just want to thank the ones that have known about it and that have been there for me! Im not trying to let that get in my way of playing or affecting the way I act around others. This is one reason why I have been going home so much my mom needs my help and she is one of my best friends and I am gonna be there for her. but enough about that! I have to tell you that I am excited that Tuesday we have pictures because I can't wait until I get to put on my uniform :))))) that will probably be the highlight of my week ( i know lame right haha) but seriously it will probably will be. we all know classes arent that fun and mine are definitely not that fun! I have a big sociology test wednesday and i have been studying my butt off for it that way my mom doesnt kick my butt for a bad grade:/ this past weekend one of my best friends came up from north carolina and I got to spend the weekend with her, i miss my friends and home so much! I never really thought that I would get homesick because I was so excited to leave but it is all catching up with me now! college life is really starting to set in with me and im finally learning how to adjust! but i hope everyone is doing good as we start another week at good ol BW!!!!!!! bring on another week conditioning:(

Reanne

ALMOST HERE!!

HEY EVERYONE! This week is our last week of conditioning and we can actually get out the basketballs for practice. Last Friday we had our pool workout and it was really fun, we played water basketball!! AND everyone can practically dunk on those rims:) Official training camp is approaching! Sunday is the beginning. Classes are going well, I love my major classes they are so fun! My anatomy class is the hardest right now because I have a tough time with cadavers and there is soooo much memorizing! Anyways! I am so ready for practices to start along with the season! GO JACKETS!

NANCY COULTER #32

living the dream :)

Well it's already October, where did the semester go? It's already midterms this week. School is going by so fast. As Monica already stated we hate economics, but LUCKY me I decided to drop that lovely class ( BYEEE DR.CHEN). This week happens to be homecoming week and as you can see coach put up some pictures from the pep rally. JoBeth was nominated for jacket princess, but although she did not win she's always my jacket princess. Taylor "TATOR TOT" Roger was rocking this sweet shirt expressing her jacket pride. It was pretty sweet and was labeled "capture the cardinals".  BW is full of jacket enthusiasts such as tator tot. Basketball conditioning is almost over. Today we had a fun workout in the pool. Megan and I got in a little fight during the races, she was trying to sabotage team beaver. We ended the workout by playing pool basketball, always a gooooooooood time. Tomorrow is the homecoming football game against Otterbein. 1) It better not rain because I have to be  a ball girl & standing in the rain is just not for me 2) hopefully boys will realize what defense is and will win tomorrow :) Just another week at BW done and so many more to go. 

SCHOOL SPIRIT!

Just finished the fall pep rally for Homecoming. Lots of fun for all. Marching band, dance teams, cheerleaders, lots of students and school spirit!

Almost There!

Monica and Catherine hate microeconomics. It is the most confusing class ever! Dr. Chen is the professor, and he is 6'4", about 110 pounds and hilarious. He makes it fun to go to class because of his jokes. Other than Econ, school is going great. As a BW enthusiast I have gone to most of the soccer, and volleyball home games and all of the football games. This weekend the boys have a huge game against Mount, and are hoping for revenge from last year.  Our workouts are starting to get easier, but not because the trainers are making it easier! We also just had team bonding this weekend. We did a lot of good exercises that will help us get to know each other for success on and off the court.  This blog is all over the place but so much has gone on so far!!!! Can't wait for the season to start!!!

ALSO, JoBeth Roll has been nominated for Jacket Princess!! We are very excited for her :)

AWWW JACKETS

Monica #24

Workin Hard...Playin Hard!!

So we just got done with another week of workouts and study table. Everyone is working hard in the classroom as well as in the gym and weight room. But we don't just play basketball and study all the time either! Last Sunday my roommate/team mate Megan and I went to the Browns vs Vikings game for the Brown's season opener!! We went through a program at BW called NOTT (Night On The Town). Every month there is a activity for students off campus. The events include Browns game, Indians game, Cavs game, Wicked, and HalloWeekends at Cedar Point! This program is a great opportunity to get off campus for a while and enjoy all that Cleveland has to offer! We had a blast at the game, even if the Brownies didn't win :( The season is coming fast! Can't wait for it!!
AWWW Jackets! JoBeth Roll

Team Building!

BW Women's basketball at the high ropes course learning to trust each other!!!!

Getting that GOOOOD workout!

We are on about our third week of conditioning and lifting and everyone is doing a terrific job. The trainers are working hard to get us in the top shape that we need to be in. Every day is a little different in some way, so the trainers really change it up to keep us "entertained" haha. It is definitely showing that everyone is working to their full potential. That is just the kind of attitude that we need to lead us to a winning season. Conditioning is a very important part of our season to get us to where we need to be in the upcoming months. I am very excited for another year to unfold! :)


Ali #22

Working Hard!

So it's the end of week three already and another week of SAQ DONE!=) Still plenty more to go though. The leaders of the training are doing a pretty good job of making us work hard and it should very much pay off in the end!! I think we all should pretty much have a rock hard 6 pack when its all done!

As for the weekend...it's a fun-filled one with Country Jam and the Buckeyes playing. Unfortunately I will not be attending the Jam... but instead I'll be in Columbus enjoying the game! GO BUCKS! For those of you who are going have a good time!


I think thats pretty much it...see everybody at SAQ on Monday at 6 PM..yes not in the morning!;)

No new pictures..Sorry!


Amanda Schroeder #12

So Starts Week 3!

Me and my roomie Samantha

Today is Labor Day, and it has been a wonderful day of no labor so far! But I have an English paper I REALLY need to get on. A few friends and I got an AWESOME game of mud football going in North Quad tonight! We pretty much ran up and down all the halls of North Hall recruiting people and we had probably 20-30 people outside total. That was honestly probably the most fun I have had at BW yet! I met many new friends and got soaked playing a great sport! :]
This past week I got a little more homework, but still not too much. I'm so depressed thinking of how much it will all really start piling on soon =[

Catherine, Monica, Emily, Katie, Candace, JoBeth, Megan, Reanne, and I went and saw "The Time Traveler's Wife" on Thursday night--not my favorite type of movie but I had a blast with the girls and cramming alll of us into ONE tiny car was ridiculous and hilarious hahaha
I'm trying to get a game going at about 4 later today and then dinner, I missed my teammates while I was home all weekend!! I always enjoy going home, Happy Anniversary to my parents! We were celebrating, that's why I went home but I know I must have missed a ton of fun up here though! I'm kind of halfway between feeling comfortable as a full time college student and feeling comfortable at home. When I'm at one place, I still miss the other. My family is my rock, but my teammates are becoming my new source of comfort as well. I know it will only get better&easier from here.
But enough about home, we have two 5:30 am's this week-ohhh boyy. Hopefully my roommate will wake up and yell "HOLY NSYNC!!!" when my alarm starts screaming "bye bye bye!" at 4:55 am again hahaha Our schedules will be pretty full with basketball related stuff this week, with the 2 early mornings, 2 study tables and open gym; it will only get busier from here. Bring it on!!

Taylor Rogers #34

Week 2 WOOHOO

^^ This is a picture of me and JoBeth before the first 5:30 workout. We were super pumped.

HEY!!

Sooo we're almost done with the second week of school and so far it's been a blast! Although right now I can barely even type because every inch of me is sore from workouts this morning. The ropes course was pretty fun even though I was terrified, and I managed to make it out without any major injuries or huge bruises haha. Even though I have only been here two weeks, I can already tell that i definitely made the right decision. All of the girls on the team are so nice and everything has been stupendous so far! I don't want to write too much more cause I don't want to give anything away to my stalker so thats all I have for now! peace out

first week

hey guys,
So i finished week one of college so far so good. Been hanging out with the team a lot having a good time with. Met a lot of other people and such. Having two roommates that are in theatre can be a little umm overwhelming at time, they're very energetic and messy!!! lol but they're not to bad. Everybody's pretty exciting and hilarious in their own ways like jenn she's really a character I think she actually surpasses katie lol. So now we're on the second week hopefully it goes by fast because it took forever to actually get to that one week mark for actually being on i felt like i was here for a month!

Olivia French

Sharpening Our Stingers!!

Hey Everyone,

This first week back has been pretty eventful. Since we have so many newcomers this year, it is even more important that we make sure we get to know each other, and that everyone feels comfortable and included. So after a few strenuous days of moving in and getting adjusted, some of the returners threw a little get together for the freshmen. We ended up having a lot of fun. Even though there is quite a wide variety of personalities on this new team (contrast Jen Calhoun's desire to dance and yell with those who enjoy just sitting back and relaxing), so far we have all gotten along really well. I think each individual will bring something beneficial and different both socially and athletically.

The froshies have also been very good about trying to get some unofficial practice in. They have thrown several spur-of-the-moment open gyms, one of which a few returners happened to stumble upon this week. We all ended up scrimmaging each other, and even though we have a lot of fundamental work ahead of us, we were impressed the new talent.

This weekend we are participating in our first team bonding retreat. I'm excited to get to know everyone better. I am also excited for sophomore guard Monica Gustin to start learning people's names so she stops calling them by their shirt colors! :)

Senior Center Ariel Brough, #45


Top: Me and freshman guard Paige "Green Shirt" Whitaker
Bottom: Some of the new freshmen on their first night hanging out with the team.

It's Here!

So the freshmen are all here and the returners are in the process of moving in. School starts on Monday! When school starts, that means it is only about 7 weeks until basketball starts, and that is exciting. I'm anxious to see if any of the returning players have gotten better. I'm also anxious to see how quickly our freshmen learn how to play at the college level. It will be here before we know it.

I expect our returning players carry on our tradition of quickly bringing the freshmen "into the fold" and making them feel a big part of everything right away. We've been blessed with a lot of great leaders who understand that the frosh are not competitors, but teammates, who are going to help us, and get to know them.

So we'll see how it goes. Keep you posted!

Wow!

I am so looking forward to coaching the young ladies that wrote these blogs. Regardless of wins or losses, we are going to work hard, get better every day, and become the best team we can be. In reading the blogs, you know we're going to have some fun too! I'm sure this season, like all seasons, will hold it's share of challenges. The key is what we learn from it!

CONGRATULATIONS go out to one of our seniors - Ariel Brough.

Ariel took the LSAT this summer in preparation for law school. She did AWESOME!!! Her score is in the 98th percentile! It's above the average score for those going to Harvard and Yale law school. Great job Ariel!!!!

This picture is of me and my friend on the night of graduation. I'm on the left.

Candace Pumper

Hometown: Independence, OH (Independence HS)

Major: Undecided

Everyone, Hey! My name is Candace Pumper and I will be an incoming freshmen. Reasons why I chose BW...

1) I liked what BW had to offer in terms of academics and athletics.

dos) I immediately felt at home and it just felt like the perfect fit for me.

c) It seemed far enough away from the parental units but close enough to come home every now and then to get a nice home cooked meal and have my mom do my laundry and shower in my own shower without sandals.

BW was the only place I applied to and I'm very happy they accepted me:)

Some random interesting facts about myself...

1) I'm a shrimp and smoothie enthusiast

2) I'm quiet and shy

3) I love dogs

... I'm sure theres many more but that's all I can think of.

So theres that. I'm definitely looking forward for this upcoming season and being apart of this team and getting to know everyone very very soon!!

The picture is of me and my friend on the night of graduation. I'm on the left.

Rachel Rossman

Hey guys...

My name is Rachel Rossman. I am an incoming freshmen this year at BW. I am undecided in my major, but I might want to become a teacher so i can coach. I have three older sisters. The oldest is 23 and we are all two years apart. The sister closest to me (kayla) might be playing basketball at mount next year. She is one of my best friends so it will be hard but fun to play against her next year.

I never planned on coming to BW because it was so close to home. I went to Olmsted Falls my whole life, and it is on the same road as BW (four out of five of my schools have been on bagley road). Once i came to visit i realized that it was the best fit. I heard that the team had a lot of fun and still worked hard. I can't wait to meet the rest of the team, and for the season to start. See you all soon!

The Picture is of my sister Kayla (the one playing for mount) on the right and me on the left.

Amanda Schroeder

Junior #12

Majors: Pre-Physical Therapy and Exercise Science

From: Columbus Grove, OH (not near Columbus)--Columbus Grove High School

>>To the right: Catherine and I on Halloween. Me proudly wearing her high school cheerleading outfit! :)

Hello Everyone!!

Hope your all having a great summer! I am so far, but looking forward to coming back and seeing everyone! I'll probably be described as the quiet one, but don't worry I open up once I get to know someone!

I choose BW because when I visited it felt like home and I'm happy with my decision. As a team we are always having fun no matter what we are doing and yet we all want to have a successful season! I'm excited for the upcoming season and I can not wait to meet all the newcomers! See you all soon!=)

NANCY COULTER #32

Hello everyone! My name is Nancy Coulter and I am from Washington Court House, Ohio (Miami Trace High School). I am majoring in Health and Physical Education and I will be a sophomore this coming year. There are many reasons why I chose BW, but to name a few would be the comfortable atmosphere and the awesome coaching staff. During my freshman year I had lots of great experiences on and off the court, and met many new and cool friends! I am sooo excited to meet all of the newcomers that are going to help take us to the NCAA championship!!! GO JACKETS!

Monica Gustin

Hi guys...
I'm Monica from Bexley, Ohio. My dad is the one in the video dressed in the yellowjacket costume. I love yellowjackets, we are not bees or bugs. Sting 'em. I am studying sport management and business administration.
Why BW?
I chose BW because of the people and opportunities. Now some of my best friends are people on the team.
I love BW and am excited for this upcoming year. I can't wait to see everyone again and meet all the new people.

AWWW JACKETS

Reanne Montgomery

Me and Ashley


Me and Heather

Home town: Norwalk, Ohio
High school:Western Reserve
Nickname: Re ( you can call me that if its easier)
Im planning on majoring in Pre-physical therapy Im going to be a freshman at BW
I chose BW because as soon as I toured the campus I loved it and I felt at home and its not to far away!

Well let me start by saying I CANT wait to get out of my house and start college!!! The person Im probably gonna miss the most is my mom, we are like best friends even though she does get on my nerves alot! My two best friends (which are in the picture with me) are going to North Carolina for school so Im pretty much gonna be lost without them! We do everything together and have been friends since 3rd grade. We are all different in some way the blonde one(Heather) is obviously the ditzy one, Im the athletic one, and Ashley is the very opinionated one! But enough about them.

I was actually born Texas but raised in Norwalk Ohio since I was 3, I play basketball all the time whenever and where ever I can I play all year round, my favorite color is orange, this is kinda strange but I absolutely HATE cottage cheese and snakes(yes I am somewhat afraid of cottage cheese) the look,smell, and taste freak me out...weird I know! I have 3 brothers and 2 sisters, 2 of my brothers and 1 of my sisters live with my real dad and the others live with me and my mom. I dont think I could go 2 or more days without my cellphone I love that thing lol. I change my hair color alot if you couldnt already tell. 3 of my friends go to BW already one plays for the guys basketball team and the other two are one the track team. Katie Heinlen and me are actually cousins but dont worry I think she is more crazy then me..haha I can honestly say I have learned alot in the past year, one of my best friends actually past away this past December and I miss him like crazy dealing with it has helped me grow and just be myself, getting my ready for college. I cant wait to play for BW and meet the girls on my team and hopefully make new friends haha.. Im ready to move on with my life and not be mamas little girl anymore~ :D

Taylor Rogers

Hometown: Ashland, Ohio

Major: Hopefully Physical Education, but possibly Sport Management or even Pre-Law

Hiii everybody!

So I'm Taylor Rogers. I've met, or at least watched, I think most of our team; I can't wait just to get up to BW FINALLY! AS I've told coaches probably a million times, I feel like I"ve been ready for college for ages! So I'm just pretty pumped to get up to Berea and get ot know my college & classes and my teammates. I also can't wait for us to sink our teeth deep into an NCAA run!! (Hopefully a crown!)

I chose Baldwin-Wallace because it immediately felt like home. I know, everybody says that right? But it's true, and the fact that I felt at ease the moment I saw the place is truly a testament to how great our college is! My brother, Luke went to BW for his freshman and sophomore year, and I was exposed to Jacket sports and academics-both of which intrigued me. I've always appreciated the beauty of the campus and the compassion of the people here--NOT something you find just anywhere. So I've had a lot of BW doors opento me from early on. But even when BWC wasn't opening it's doors to me just yet, I still couldn't wait to get through them quickly enough!

I'll follow Paige's staement in that I'm also a HUGE Cavs fan, love me some LEBron and Crew!! :D We'll see about Shaq though! Also love some Tennessee & Duke! Hate the Celtics - just for Coach! And following Olivia's little confession, you should all probably know that if you put a Cheetos bag in front of me, you better not expect any Cheetos to be left!!!

I'm excited to become part of a team where everybody is playing for the love of basketball and is truly like one big family. Bring on the new memories!

The picture above is my best friend Brandon and I after graduation.

#23 KATIE HEINLEN

hello everyone!!! This is Katie Heinlen and from Ariel Brough's point of view you will all get to know me very well! First off i just wanted to say that i miss everyone..... Returners!!! second i cant wait to meet all of you new-bee's (or shall i say jackets lol). You guys will love this team and if going to college is already a large ajustment and playing basketball is an even bigger one but this team helps you adjust well! Something random about me........ although i could go all day....... i HATE cats with a very intense passion! sorry its so short you will get to know me better in person trust me:)

Olivia French

Hometown: Bucyrus, OH
(Colonel Crawford HS)

Major: Undecided at this point..

Freshman..

Hey yall! I'm Olivia and i'll be a freshman this coming fall at BW!!! Like i said i haven't decided on what i'm gonna major in yet. I'm so excited for school to start and basketball its going to be amazing! When i first visited BW there was alot of snow ALOT! so i got a car tour and didn't get to walk around much. I ended up going back again in the spring and was able to see more of the campus and i loved it its such a beautiful place. I think what drew me in to BW was the people i met on my couple of tours and the basketball program and its far away but not to far from home so thats good. Academically BW has alot to offer so i'm pretty sure i'll decide on a major sometime soon during my first year. I'm so excited to meet everybody soon its going to a great year and season. To leave you on one interesting thing about me is that i LOVE pudding snacks(vanilla) lol. In the above picture is me and my bestfriend katelyn, i'm on the right. Can't wait to see everybody soon!

JoBeth Roll

Hometown: Bucyrus (Bucyrus HS)

Major: possibly Communication Disorders

Hey everyone :) I'm JoBeth and I will be a freshmen next year at BW! My dad went to BW and my brother is a current BW student! I guess I felt right at home after hearing all the good things they both had to say about BW! I loved the campus, the academics, and the basketball program. BW may be a DIII college, but I loved the tradition and intensity that comes along with being a yellow jacket. Coming from such a small town, I am very excited to branch out and experience all that Berea and Cleveland have to offer. I really enjoyed working the shootout and camp and meeting some of my future teammates, and I can't wait for the the fall to meet the rest of you guys!! The picture above is of me, my brother Taylor, and his girlfriend Peggy ! (They both go to BW!!)

Paige Whitaker

Hi everyone, my name is Paige Whitaker and i'll be a freshman at BW in the fall :) I am from Medina, Ohio. I am very excited for this school year as well as the basketball season! The tour was great and made me feel extremely welcomed. I know the basketball program is a very fun and successful one along with the academic program which were the main reasons I chose to come to BW. I have no idea what my major is going to be, but I think I might want to go into broadcast journalism or Pre-Law. My favorite thing to do is play basketball and I cannot wait to basically start a whole new life and level of it at BW. One thing I also love is the Cleveland Cavaliers...huge LeBron fan. See everyone soon :) In the picture is my sister and me, I'm on the right

Megan Frisina

My name is Megan Frisina, and I'll be a freshman this fall. I come from Corry Pennsylvania, which is near Erie. I'm planning to major in Sports Management. When I first came to BW for my tour, I immediately felt at home. I could see myself living there for the next four years. Everyone I met had a positive attitude, and it really made me feel like i could fit in. Another reason I chose BW was that the team seemed extremely close. I know from high school sports that that is a very important part of success, so I was really excited that i found that at BW. I love basketball, and I can't wait to become part of a team that feels the same way I do.

Jessica Carpenter

My name is Jessica Carpenter and I am from North Canton, Ohio. I will be entering my freshman year at BW and I plan to major in Accounting. I absolutely love to play basketball; The passion and committment that comes with this sport is something I enjoy and love. The main reason why I chose BW was:
1) the coaches and faculty were very inviting and made it feel comfortable for me
2) My major and other aspects that go with it I will be able to accomplish in 5 years, including getting my Master's degree in Business.
3) from observation the BW basketball team and coaches remind me a lot of my high school team and I loved that, especially how close all the teammates are.
So that is about it, I can't wait to meet and play with everyone this summer/ year :)

Ali Stack

Junior

Psychology Major; Communication Studies Minor

From Vermilion, Ohio; Firelands High School

#22

Guard

I feel like I am about to say the exact same things that Courtney and Ariel already said because I totally agree with them. Coming to BW was definitely one of the best decisions of my life. I started off being a shy girl and all of my amazing teammates brought me out of my shell. They were strangers to me at first and became my best friends in a year. Most people do not get the opportunity to meet people like that so I feel quite lucky! The basketball program is great and everyone including the coaches strive for the same great season that we have accomplished both years I have been here. Not to mention the academics are awesome at BW and I am sure it will lead me to a fantastic job in the future.

Traveling to New York City and San Antonio were some of my favorite memories from last year. Ariel seemed to name off all of the other fun memories so there is no need to repeat them. I can't wait to come back next year and meet all of you new freshmen as well! :)

Ariel Brough

Me and sophomore guard Monica Gustin. Representin the 614 (Columbus)

Senior
Political Science major

History, English Literature and Criminal Justice minors

From Powell, Ohio; Olentangy Liberty High School

#45

Center

I can't believe I am getting ready to go into my senior year already. It's amazing how fast three years go by and how much everything changes. I am really excited to get to know our large number of incoming freshmen. For the first time since I've been here returners will be outnumbered, but that's OK because it is always fun to meet new teammates.

I chose to come to BW not only because I knew it was an excellent program, but also because when I visited I noticed how close the team was. All the girls were so welcoming and they had so much fun together. As much as I love basketball, I don't know if I would have survived three years if it weren't for the fact that our team gets along so well. While many of my favorite memories include big plays and great wins, most of them come from my experiences off the court. Here are a few...

-Katie Heinlen breaking into our room in the middle of the night in Texas and scaring Rachael so bad she dove off her bed in terror.

-Dancing at Panini's

-Monica's dad dressing up in a Yellow Jacket costume and surprising us before the OAC Championship game last year

-Rachael playing almost a whole season with an eye patch

-Most of the ridiculous stories that come out of Katie Heinlen's mouth

-April Reign

-All of the cheers that our bench came up with..."Bzzzzz" " Sting 'em!" "You got Schroedered!" "Courtney Downtown Ritzler" "Ka-tie Hein-len clap clap clap clap clap." "RQ for Twoooo!" "Mondie Mondie Mondie... Mondaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"

-Official and Unofficial team bonding

-Being treated like superstars by the elementary school we visited

-ugly Christmas sweaters

-doing Monica's make up

-ridiculous Halloween costumes: Rachael's wedgie costume; 80's jazzercise instructors, Buddy the Elf

-Dick's restaurant in San Antonio

-Obstacle course and dance party on the bus

Those are only a few I could think of off the top of my head! I'm sure there will be many more to come!

Ariel Brough

GREAT video

At Baldwin-Wallace we love to win - games and championships. But more importantly, we want to do it with character and class. This video isn't about basketball, but it is about character and class. I would hope that our team would react this same way if put into a similar situation in a basketball game. Check it out - be sure to have a tissue!!!!
http://www.coachingtoolbox.net/videos/attitude/sportsmanship-from-softball.html

Season is Over

Wow, what a season. I am SOOO proud of this team. One of our pre-season goals was to bounce back from adversity...and did they! We had our season-ending banquet just over a week ago. It's late in the school year, but yet it is kind of a neat way to wrap up the year. It's always so heart-warming to listen to the juniors talk about how they feel about the seniors. Even better is listening to the seniors talk about their teammates, their experiences at B-W and their families. It's almost impossible not to shed any tears at our banquet! We will miss our seniors - their leadership and commitment was really key for us this year. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!!!!



Going into the summer, we have 2 keys for next year. One, is our returning players must make a bigger commitment than ever to improve and get stronger. Secondly, we will really be counting on some freshmen to come in and contribute right away - so we need them to work hard to be ready. Only time will tell what the future holds for our team. We do know is that we will always be challenged not only in our league, but in our non-league schedule. Our goals don't change - win the OAC and a National Championship!

BRADY QUINN....... you know that you wanna see him

Well well well, all i have to say is wow! I never really thought that i would see thirty NFL players in the same gym as me! I must say that it is quite amazing, and by all the gawking people that were walking through and taking pictures I'm definitely not the only one that thinks that its a big deal! I must say that it was pretty funny watching all of the girls come in and take pictures and stare not that i was one of those girls when they all walked in or anything! Brady Quinn wasn't the only Browns player in the gym at the time, Braylon Edwards was also in the gym having fun along with many many others (without their helmets and numbers i couldn't really tell but it was still exciting). I must say that it was kind of nice to see NFL athletes doing the same thing as us college kids do, play with your friends and goof around. I must say it is pretty cool to see a NFL player dunk it (Braylon Edwards). In the picture above freshman posts Mariah Strayer and Katie Heinlen (me) were by far the two happiest girls in the room! When coach tells you on recruiting day that the Browns play in your gym its not really a big deal till they are towering over you! Lets just say Tuesday's and Thursday's at Baldwin Wallace are a big deal if your in the rec!
Katie Heinlen :)

GREAT OPPORTUNITY

So it's been just over a week since we finished our season but it seems like a month. We won our first NCAA game and then met Hope (ranked #2 in the country) in the round of 32. We had a great game plan, but just didn't knock down shots. It was a 2 point game late into the 1st half and we were down 7 at the half. We got it down to 6 with about 17 to play but just couldn't close the gap. Our second leading scorer, Jessica Butzer, left the game after just 2 minutes of play because of a concussion. It hurt to lose her scoring, especially against a team like Hope.

All in all, though, it was an experience that our players will never forget. Hope has tremendous facilities and a great following (see the crowd in the picture of Ariel on D). We were treated like royalty by everyone from the people at Hope to the DoubleTree hotel. Our team played their hearts out. I am so proud of them. We've made the tournament 11 times in the last 14 years, but it never gets old. Our goals are definitely bigger than finishing in the 2nd round, but we went out fighting.

DANCING!!!

IT WAS A GREAT DAY ON MONDAY!
We lost in our OAC championship game on Saturday. We fought hard, but unfortunately found ourselves on the short end and were not able to secure our conference automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. We had lost 7 games, more than our usual and knew we were probably done. There was a slim chance of getting an at-large bid to the dance. However, our strength of schedule must have carried us (we played a really tough one) and we learned on Monday that we made the tournament!
I'm excited to get this opportunity. As the head coach, I've been here for 11 trips to the big dance. It NEVER gets old. More than anything, I'm elated for our seniors!!!!! They've worked hard to help us get to this point. We started the season at 4-5 overall, and 1-3 in the league. Once we found ourselves and got things going, we went on a 13 game win streak. Without our seniors keeping the team on the same page, that would not have happened. This trip to the dance makes 3 trips in our seniors 4 years. That is a great accomplishment in itself. Now, we want to make the most of it.
We face Pitt-Greensburg on Friday. They are 24-2 and a great team. They really defend well and are versatile on offense. It will be a great game, as every NCAA tournament game is. Only the best of the best are left at this point and every game is a battle. We play at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, which also happens to be the site of this year's Final Four. It is a fantastic facility and they have great crowds so that will add to the excitement.
Our alums have really showed us a lot of support too. They remember how it felt to get this opportunity and are making sure our players realize how special it was to them. It's really a neat thing. Thanks former (but still) Yellow Jackets!!!!!!
So this week so far has been incredibly busy in preparing. We'll do our best to make B-W - our school, fans, and parents proud!
Coach Harrer

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!

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.)

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

Over Halfway Done Already?!?!

By now we are well over halfway through our season, and I can’t believe how far we’ve come. Since I last posted, we have beaten Otterbein and Marietta at home and John Carroll and Muskingum away. All four games were great team wins. The John Carroll and Marietta games were televised, which is always exciting, and perhaps a little nerve-wracking. Luckily, aside from a view embarrassing facial expressions on my part, no one did anything embarrassing. A former player, junior Paige Watson, was the color commentator for the Marietta game. She did a great job describing the team from an insider’s point of view. She also added some accurate and insightful comments. We are all very proud of her! :) It was also “Bring a Kid to the Game Day”, so we sat at a long table after the game and signed autographs for them. A couple of our male student fans even got some shirts signed, haha! I guess we are big time!
The trip to John Carroll, our cross town rival, got a little crazy. Now, when I say cross town, you would assume it would be a short trip. But you have not taken Cleveland weather into consideration. Instead, the forty minute trip took two hours. I didn’t mind, since I was able to relax and listen to my iPod longer, but Coach announced that it would be necessary for us to change on the bus. Chaos ensued as 16 sizable girls tried to change into their uniforms on a charter bus. We got some good jokes out of it, and I think it got us energized and focused on the game. Needless to say, anyone that was driving on I-480 that night got quite a show as they passed our bus. As junior forward Serena Farage pointed out, at least we’re probably not going to see any those drivers again. We literally ran into the locker room, threw on our warm-ups and ran onto the court. I’ll never forget that experience!
So today is officially the start of the second round of OAC tournament games. We play home against Capital University, who is a big rival of ours. Despite a strange bout of minor finger injuries, we have been practicing well. We are excited and ready to go. It should be a good game, and rumor is some of our guy fans are wearing body paint. We always appreciate their support and they make the games even more intense.
AWWWWWWWW JACKETS! Sting ‘em!
Junior Center Ariel Brough, #45

To the left are me and freshman forward Katie Heinlen at our Ugly Christmas Sweater Party!

To the right are freshman forward Mariah Strayer, senior guard Amanda Mondrach and freshman forward Catherine Spisak all hanging out after a game.

SCHOOL DAYS

We started back to school yesterday, after spending a good deal of the break playing basketball, eating and sleeping. The break between semesters does give us a great opportunity to get out into the community. Our team visited Kidder Elementary in Brunswick and helped out any way the teacher in that classroom wanted. We read, ran flash-card games, helped make Christmas gifts for parents, and even participated in physical education class! I think our players enjoyed it more than the elementary students. We were happy to help out, and also try to show the students that they need to study hard and set their goals high.

Mark Mabry, a B-W graduate, is the principal there. He even dug through some old yearbooks and found a picture of our own Rachael Quiring when she attended kindergarten there! The top picture is Jessica Butzer on the climbing wall in physical education class and to the right is Ariel Brough, all 6'2 of her, with a class. No, she's not standing on anything!

Posted by Coach Harrer - 1/13/09

Other pictures - to left is Amanda Schroeder helping out with flash card math games. Below is Katie

Heinlen.

Courtney Ritzler reading to a class

Catherine Spisak (left) and Mariah Strayer (right) reading with students.

Carrie Ritzler hleping students with an assignment.

San Antonio!

Well it has been about a week and a half since we left for San Antonio and started our “new season,” and what a crazy week and a half it has been! (As Coach Strickland mentioned, we went through a little bit of a performance slump, but we dealt with adversity and came back from San Antonio with two good wins.)
The trip to Texas was fun and exhausting. After practicing hard TWICE on the 26th, we set off for the airport early on the 27th. We had a few first time flyers but luckily they didn’t freak out. Travel went smoothly. There were no delays or lost luggage, and we entertained ourselves between flights by playing Bananagrams, which is a little like Scrabble. We like to play board games together, and it can get pretty competitive. (Senior guard Amanda "Mondie" Mondrach brought the game, so I posted a picture of just her with it. You can thank me later, Mondie!)
The car rental company lost our van reservation so we had to scavenge for dinner the first night in Texas. We walked a mile to the nearest Mexican restaurant, which was fine because this team will do just about anything to get some food. While waiting for our tables we made friends with some of the locals. One lady gathered our team together and blessed us, which must have worked because we played and practiced well the rest of the trip. I guess we should probably thank her! :)
The next day, after practice, Coach let us explore San Antonio. We took a boat tour (see picture) on the River Walk and shopped, of course. A group of us decided to go to dinner at Dick’s, which is a restaurant where the waiters are intentionally rude to you. We’ve all developed pretty tough skin from joking around with each other, so we had a good time, despite the insults.
Our games against Trinity and Mary Hardin-Baylor were a blast. They were the kind of games that remind you why you love basketball. The energy was crazy. Everyone, even those who didn’t see a lot of playing time, helped bring intensity. The buzzing (like yellow jackets) from the bench really helped set the tone! Haha!
Both games were a great team effort. There were a variety of contributions which led to our victories. Whether is was by scoring, getting tough offensive boards, making great steals, finishing "and-ones", or cheering, everybody helped. We had some younger players step up and senior guard Jessica (Butz) Butzer definitely sparked us. Even though we always have a team-first attitude, we were excited for those few who set great career highs.
Ultimately, the best experience of the trip was getting to celebrate two good wins with my teammates, who are also my best friends!
Needless to say, we were all pretty tired by the end of our four day “vacation.” However, that didn’t stop some energetic freshmen from running into our room, screaming, while we were dead asleep. One senior, I won’t name names, was so startled that she dove out of her bed and onto the floor. It was hilarious, but not at the time, and I never will forget it.
After getting a day off and one practice in, we played Heidelberg, another OAC team. We won 91-41, and everyone who dressed contributed on the floor, which was awesome! Again we had a bunch of career highs, and a lot of fun cheering each other on. Now we have to get ready for Otterbein tomorrow! STING 'EM! Bzz!
Junior Center Ariel Brough, #45