Cedarville University Yellow Jackets

March 21, 2012

Hello there friends! I decided to go with a good ol’ standard English greeting this week. Unfortunately, this is the last blog for this season. We are officially done. It’s a weird feeling and I don’t think for me personally it has set in yet. Sadly, this will also be my last blog. I am sure you are all very disappointed but please try to hold back the tears.

Okay, onto business. This week we were away all week for the NCCAA National Tournament. Grace College in Warsaw, Indiana hosted the tournament. We were ranked as the second seed. We got there Monday night and Tuesday we had practice. We went to a banquet Tuesday night with all of the teams. It was fun to dress up and have dinner together and spend a nice evening together.

Our first game wasn’t until Wednesday at noon. We had a good practice and were well focused. We knew we would be playing Roberts Wesleyan for the first game. We were pretty pumped to play them again after suffering a loss to them our second game of the season during the Walsh Classic. We were ready and took control from the start of the game. We played well and strong and came out with a win of 69-60.

Our next game was the following day against Mount Vernon Nazarene. We haven’t faced Mount Vernon this season but we are very familiar with them having played them in many previous seasons. Just as the Roberts Wesleyan game, we got control of the game early. We were playing well but there was a span in which Mount Vernon tied the game at 39 points. However, Kayla turned up the heat and we hit seven straight points and Mount Vernon didn’t come close the rest of the game. The final score was 67-51.

Friday was our day off. We had a shoot around and practice but we were able to spend the day doing various things. Some of us were doing homework while others took time to be outside and enjoy the beautiful weather we had. Later that night our sponsor treated us to a nice pasta dinner. We are thankful for all his support! After dinner we headed to a beach by Winona Lake and had devotions together. We were by a park and made a bonfire together and some of us may have tapped into our childish side and played on the playground. We also made a trip to Dairy Queen and enjoyed some ice cream treats. As usual, we had a lot of laughs and enjoyed our time together.

Saturday was the big day. We were playing in the final game against Colorado Christian at 2:00 p.m. We felt prepared going into the game and I think we were confident overall. The first five minutes of the game we played great and didn’t allow them to score. However, a time out was called and after that the game changed. Defensively we were doing okay, it was the offensive end that was a struggle. Throughout the season the offensive end seem to come more easily to us than the defensive end. That was not the case in this game. They had a very pesky defense and were relentless. It caused us to rush and we were not able to slow down. We went into half time only scoring 15 points. We knew we had to slow down offensively and take good shots. Also, Kara dove for a loose ball and got nailed in the head. It took her out for the rest of the game. She has a concussion. I ask that you would lift her up in prayer as she recovers. In the second half we started to come back with the score being 43-31 but that was the closest we got the rest of the game. The final score was 62-44. After the game, Kayla was named to the NCCAA All-Tournament Team and to the All-America First Team.

Losing in the final game was obviously not the way we wanted to end. However, there is much to learn and to take away from the game. The team has off for a couple weeks and post-season workouts will begin. I personally am so proud of the team and all of the accomplishments we have made this season. We are ending our season with a record of 24-8. I think the final loss will only fuel and push the girls to continue to work hard and to get better. I am so excited to see them continue to succeed in the coming years.

I want to thank all of you for your support and love this season. I have enjoyed blogging and sharing our journey with you this season. It’ll be a weird feeling when I don’t have to turn in a blog next week!

Lastly, and most importantly, I want to give honor and praise to our God who has so faithfully led us this year. He has blessed this program greatly and I am humbled to have been a part of it. I pray and ask that you would join me continually in prayer for this team, the coaches, and this program. God is doing awesome things and He is using this program in great ways.

God bless!

Thanks for reading,

Kathy Jakucki


March 12, 2012

Jambo! Well, our Spring Break is over but we are getting ready to head off to another week away from school for the NCCAA National Tournament. Before I go into what we are looking forward to this week, let me update you on this past week.

We had one game over the break against Grace College. The game was the NCCAA Midwest Region championship game. The couple days before the game we struggled with focus. I think it being break and still being on campus had something to do with it. The game was a rather interesting and gut-wrenching game. Towards the end of the first half we were up with the score being 36-25. However, Grace got a few buckets before the half ended and we went into half time.

Coming into the second half we really struggled. Grace had a big run and we were down 48-37. It was frustrating for us and I’m still not sure of what happened. We just were not playing good basketball. However, with about ten minutes in the game we were down by ten and we flipped the switch. Kayla stepped up and led the team and kept up the intensity for us. We came back and were up 57-54. Since then we stayed ahead or were tied the rest of the game. With less than two minutes, Kayla hit a big 3 to break a tie and Kara had a huge steal with 20 seconds left and hit two free throws. We ended the game by winning 69-64. Raegan also hit some big shots for us and was 4-4 from the three.

It was a bizarre game for us but we came out with a win. The coaches gave us the next couple days off. We were excited to have a break and time with family and friends. Special thanks to all the families who opened up their homes for the players who are out-of-staters! I personally was able to enjoy a true Southern Ohio experience with the Caytons. I may have picked up a bit of a twang and some new southern terms and phrases.

We came back together on Sunday for a practice to loosen our legs up from the break. This week we head out to Grace College in Indiana for our final week being in the NCCAA National Tournament. We have been placed as the No. 2 seed and in our first game we face Roberts Wesleyan on Wednesday at noon. We faced Roberts Wesleyan early on in our season and suffered a loss. We haven’t seen them since and you can be sure we are ready and fired up to play them this week.

Thank you for all of your support through the season. We are looking to finishing strong this week!


March 5, 2012

Aloha! The season is coming to an end and we are still going strong. This past week we have begun our post-season and competed in the Ohio Independent Conference Tournament.

Earlier this week we had a bye because we were the No. 1 seed. We faced Central State on Friday for the semi-final game on our home floor. We have played Central State twice in the regular season and knew what to expect from them coming into the game. However, we struggled through the game. I think it may have been from a lack of focus for the Central State game and we were wrapped up in all of the other games that were going on in the day. The second half went better than the first for us. Most of the game the score was close but we came together and made a good run. We pulled ahead with a couple three’s by Becky and Raegan. We continued to pull forward and came out with a win with the score being 75-67.

The following day we faced Urbana in the final game for the OIC Tournament. The whole team was ready and focused to play. The entire day we were filled with joy and anticipation. We took a hard loss to Urbana earlier this season on our home floor by three points. We then won at Urbana by five in overtime. Us and Urbana both wanted this game and were ready to come hard. We played a very good first half. We were working together well and it was a lot of fun for the team to play and to watch. We ended the first half in the lead with the score being 39-29. We needed to continue playing well and hard and clean up a few things. The second half we continued strong except for a short span in which we had miscommunications on defense. Urbana kept coming at us and hit a couple three’s giving us a smaller lead of eight points. Also, I wanted to mention how well we did with free throws. We often struggle getting to the line but this game we made 23 out of 24 free throws! We stuck with it and came out with the win and the score being 73-63. We are the OIC Tournament champions!

Congratulations to Kara Cayton who received the MVP award for the tournament and to Deborah Gordon for making the All-Tournament Team.

We were very excited as I’m sure you could imagine. The rest of the night we were looking forward to spending time together. For those of you who do not know, this week at school is Spring Break. This means that just about everyone on campus is gone. We knew we had to find some fun things for us to do. We may have decided to cause some mischief (of course this was done under responsible leadership). Coach told us to have fun and enjoy each other - that we did. We thought the coaches could use some better house decorating and so we took the liberty to “decorate” their houses ourselves. As we were in the middle of making Flunker’s house look much better, we got caught in the act and were chased down. I don’t think Flunker ever ran so fast and I think my life may have flashed before my eyes as I could hear her gaining ground us. It was all in good fun and we laughed together afterwards. Since it was only a partial success, we decided to move on to the next one - Coach Martin. We wanted to show him how much we care and appreciate all of his hard work! Let’s just say that we appreciate him a lot… ! This weekend was a great time of basketball and having fun with each other. I think it was a weekend that made our bond stronger as a team.

This week we only have one game against Grace on our home floor at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Next week we travel for the NCCAA’s! We’re so excited! Thank you for all your support that you provide as we continue with our post-season. 


February 28, 2012

Lady Jackets are 19-7!!! WOW! I can’t believe the regular season is over and we are in post season. This season and week have been huge for us. Also, I hope you enjoyed the video blog last week! I had fun being able to interact with you in video form. But this week is back to good ol’ writing.

Earlier this week we faced Central State on our home floor. We came out with a seventh straight win and the final score was 85-65. Most of the game we played well and held the lead. We had to make defensive adjustments at half time. The second half we had our moments of struggle. There were moments when Central State threw pressure on us and were out of control. This flustered us for a few possessions and we let it affect our fundamental play. However, we brought it back together and finished strong.

As I reflect back on this week, the weekend is really what consumes most of my thoughts. We had a lot going on this weekend and quite frankly, the rest of the week is a bit foggy. So I’ll just jump right into it.

Saturday was a big day for the Lady Jackets. It was our last regular season game, Play 4Kay, and senior recognition day. We faced Malone and I think we were ready to play well and hard. When we traveled to Malone earlier this season, we really struggled in the first half. We trailed Malone but the second half we played good Cedarville basketball and came out with a win. We did not want to go into the game on Saturday not ready to play. We wore our pink uniforms this weekend for breast cancer awareness. I think the pink gave us an extra edge. By that I do mean a fashion edge, but possibly quite also a playing edge. We played well the first half and entered half time with a 42-25 lead. We had to clean up some things defensively and continued playing well in the second half. We won with the final score being 81-63.

After our game and before the men’s game, the seniors were recognized. For our team, Kara Cayton, Becca Roberts, and myself were recognized. It has been a blessing to all of us being a part of this program. Thank you for all of your support as we have walked through this program. Special thanks to the parents for the encouragement and support you have provided through the years. You are greatly appreciated! Afterwards, we had time to fellowship with family members, coaches, and players. It was a good end to a good season. Of course as soon as we finished up our post game talk, Coach went straight for the cookies. That may have been the most consistent thing this season!

I want to take some time to recognize Kara and Becca. Kara has provided great consistent leadership this year. It has been a blessing to be a part of her journey and success. She has worked hard and dedicated herself to this program. Although it was not an easy road, I believe she would agree that this program has tremendously provided growth in her life. Thank you Kara for all you have done for this program. Becca has also had a huge part in this program. She has done so much behind the scenes for us. From making sure we have our mouth guards to keeping everything organized for us, it has been greatly appreciated! She has served this program with a humble and uplifting spirit. On behalf of the team, I extend deep gratitude and appreciation for Becca. Thank you so much!

We have earned the No. 1 seed in the Ohio Independent Championships. This week we play in the semifinals on Friday evening at 5:30 pm. Our opponent depends on the results of the games on Tuesday night. The championship game will be held on Saturday at 4 pm. Let’s go Jackets!!


February 21, 2012

Hi, everyone! Looking to read this week's blog? Well, we tried a new venture into video so click HERE to watch! Let us know what you think. Send an email. sportsinfo@cedarville.edu


February 14, 2012

Whubat's hubappubenubin Jubackubet fubans? This is the language our own Payton Strawser and Coach’s wife Vicky are fluent in and the rest of us are completely clueless as to what they are saying. It’s called “Ubbi Dubbi.” I think I wrote it out right, if it sounds nonsensical that it’s probably right!

It has been a packed week for us. And a great one at that. It was filled with games, practices, birthdays, parties, and mischief. I’ll just get right to it.

Earlier this week we traveled up to Ursuline. The past few years we have struggled to play well when we travel up there. Before the game we were able to spend some time at the Nosal’s humble abode. They prepared a great meal for us and quite frankly I think we would have all been content just staying there the rest of the day. Special thanks to the Nosal’s for taking good care of us! Afterwards we headed to the game. We had a little bit of a slow start. We weren’t playing bad, just a bit slow. Coming into the second half though, we took care of business. The final score was 86-47. We were all happy with a strong win. On the way back, we got to enjoy a great dessert that was prepared for us by the Nosal’s. Kaysie and I were sitting next to each other and for some reason, whoever couldn’t finish their dessert, they handed it to Kaysie and I. I think we ended up with five extra desserts for ourselves. Not sure how I could move after that. Kaysie and I had to help each other off the bus.

We also celebrated two birthdays this week. Deborah Gordon turned the big 19 on Thursday the 9th. Deborah Chandler moved away from her teenage years turning 20 on Friday the 10th. The Robinson’s were very sweet to invite us over for a Valentine’s Day party and it was a time to celebrate the birthdays. Another special thanks to the Robinson’s for a wonderful night of fun and food! It was great to have time to fellowship together outside of basketball. We played some fun games too. One of the games everyone was paired off and it was like catchphrase where you had to explain a word and your partner had to guess. Not surprisingly, Heidi and Flunker won that one. One of the best moments was when the singer Beyonce was being described to Ki. It was evident how much of a country girl she really is. She knew the songs and the artist was at the tip of her tongue. Right when the time went off she did finally get it! Also for the celebration of birthdays, some of us engaged in legal “vandalism.” Don’t worry parents, by that I mean we painted the rock for both Deb’s. The freshies got to experience some of the real college experience! And of course by abiding all the rules under the responsible and trustworthy leadership of a qualified senior.

A funny moment during practice this week was at the beginning of a practice. Flunker rounded us up in the middle of the floor on Friday and told us to get down and kiss our home floor conveying the message of “protect your home floor.” Some of the players didn’t hesitate and got right down and did as they were told as the rest of us just laughed. However, one freshman stood tall and stated, “I prefer to save my first kiss for something a little more special.” Good job to the parents for raising these girls well!

On Saturday we faced Walsh. This was a big game for us. We faced Walsh early in the season and came out with a strong win. It hasn’t been since 2007 that we beat Walsh twice in a season and we were ready to change that. In the first half we were shooting poorly. Our shots were not falling. At the end of the first half the score was 30-27 with us being up. We had to clean up some things on defense and stay composed on offense. Going into the second half, our shooting percentage definitely changed at about the 15 minute mark. Becky Orchard turned into a mad woman drilling four three-pointers and Raegan adding another and our defense holding Walsh from scoring much. We ended with a win of 67-48. It felt great to put forth a great effort both halves of the game and finish strong.

We face our neighbors, Wilberforce, on Tuesday the 14th at 7 pm. Later in the week we face Urbana away on Saturday the 18th at 2pm. We are looking ahead to keep moving strong as the season is comes closer to an end.


February 7, 2012

Merhaba! (this week I decided to go with a Turkish greeting) I hope you all have had a good week like we have. The Lady Jackets had a good week of practice and games. We faced Salem International and Notre Dame this past week.

We played home against Salem International on Wednesday, Feb. 1st. We played Salem earlier this year at the Central State Classic. We played well and came out with a strong win. The final score was 83-39. We were also able to talk with them after the game. We haven’t been able to connect much with teams after games, but Salem International was very thankful for our notes of encouragement and Bibles. We talked about their other games during the week and had good laughs. Since our fans are dedicated cookie bakers, we were able to share some of our goodies with them. It was a blessing to interact with the other team off the floor. Although I think we had to pry a few cookies from Coach Martin. I’m sure if you were to ask him he would deny it all - so don’t ask. Just trust the sweet, innocent, and always complete truth-telling senior who blogs. :)

We also played Notre Dame away on Saturday. It was a long day of traveling and games. We traveled with the men which is bittersweet. We enjoy being able to interact with them and watch their game but let’s just say the space on the bus was not ideal for some of us. Big men take up big spaces. Anyway, the Notre Dame game was a good and competitive game. It came down to the last two minutes. Raegan Ryan hit two huge free throws to give us a three point lead with about 12 seconds left. Kara Cayton added another two free throws with 3.5 seconds left. We came out with a win with the final score being 65-60.

As we watched the men’s game, we unfortunately had to sit in front of the band. However, Coach Martin was quite thrilled - he would be the only one. Anyway, as the pep band director was in front of us, Coach picked up some directing skills. He seemed to be a natural when it came to waving his arms incessantly in all directions. Some of it may derive from what he does on the sidelines during games; but let’s not speculate any further.

This week we face Ursuline and Walsh. We are traveling to Ursuline on Tuesday and playing at 7 p.m. I’m definitely looking forward to this away game because we are able to visit and spend time with Bayley Nosal at her home before the game. It’s always a blessing to stay connected with alumni and we are all looking forward to it. On Saturday we play Walsh at home at 2 p.m.

Go Jackets!


January 31, 2012

Guten tag! My oh my what a week it has been. I thought about continuing the sentence after the greeting in German, but then I remembered something - I don’t know German. Anyway, I feel like it has been a long week for us. Earlier last week we faced Central State. Later in the week we played Urbana and had alumni here for the weekend.

We played at Central State on Tuesday. It was fun to play there. They had quite the band and DJ. We heard all sorts of scratching of disks from the DJ and saw all sorts of fans and band members dancing. I personally was hoping to see Coach get down and bust a move, but I think we were all better off with him not doing that. We played well against Central State. It felt like a long time since we played a game and we were ready to get on the floor. Shout out to little “Gordita” (Deb Gordon) who had a career-high 21 points! The final score was 78-66.

This past weekend was Alumni Weekend and it was great to spend time with former players. For their game they were split up by “oldies” and “youngin’s.” Frankly, when the game started I didn’t have much hope for the oldies (a-hem Flunker) because the youngin’s (Stacie!) were off to a great start. I think it just took the old folk a few more minutes to get warmed up. They caught up quick and it was a close game. The youngin’s won with two points in the last minute. We had time together with the alumni afterward to socialize and eat lunch together. Thanks to all the alumni! I speak on behalf of the team - we had a great time :)

Later that day we faced Urbana at home. I’m still a bit frustrated about this game so I really don’t see myself writing much about it. So, short, sweet, and to the point - we really lacked defensively most of the game. We came out strong in the first few minutes but after that it was a struggle for us. Urbana did play very hard and we lacked in the intensity we needed. We had a loss with the final score being 79-76.

We also had a birthday this week. Happy birthday to Stacie! I think she’s like 32 now - errr something like that. I thought I would take some time (more specifically just this paragraph) and share with you some of the things we love about our little Squirty. I think the team LOVES when we get up early to lift. It might be the way our feet drag or how our eyes droop when we get into the weight room that we often feel the most love for Stacie. On a different, and much less sarcastic note, I know that I and others on the team really are uplifted by her encouraging and positive attitude.  We love having her as a coach. Another factor that I personally enjoy about Stacie is the fact that she has given me the nickname of “grams.” The reason being that I have been out most of last week due to hypertension (but I’m good now!). Squirt, in her loving and encouraging spirit, shared with me how that seems more like an old person problem.

Consequently, she dubbed me “grams.”

This week we face Salem International on Wednesday and we play at Notre Dame on Saturday. I think after the loss this weekend we are working harder and are more focused.

Time for me to peace out,
Grams


January 24, 2012

Good day everyone! The sun is shining and it’s 80 degrees...somewhere. Not here, that’s for sure. One day it’s an ice storm and the next it’s all melting because it’s too warm for there to be ice. Sorry I can’t help you with or predict the weather changes but I can inform you on how the Lady Jackets are doing this week.

We only had one game last week. We faced Ursuline on Tuesday Jan. 17th. We started out a little slow but held a lead throughout most of the first half. The first half we struggled with defensive intensity and being disciplined on the defensive end. The second half we cleaned it up and we played better. We ended the game with a win. The score was 73-46.

Before the game we were in the locker room with the coaches talking and preparing for the game. (This is a Coach Martin story which he doesn’t know that I know about) Anyway, we had some hangers by our white board and as Coach finished up, he grabbed a few and just walked out with them. At this point I look over at Kara and we were both wondering why Coach took hangers out with him. At first we were thinking maybe he’ll throw them at us if we did something he didn’t like. However, we didn’t think that was likely. Then, we suspected that he had no idea what he was doing. A few seconds later, “Ise” was sent back with the hangers to put back in the locker room. Our suspicion was correct: he didn’t know what he was doing with the hangers!

We have been noticing a pattern through the season. We have more recently been struggling on the defensive end. The struggles have ranged from communication to simple disciplinary fundamentals. Since we did not have any more games the rest of the week, we were able to focus more time on defense in practice. However, when we came into practice on Wednesday, we all seemed a bit out of it. By that I mean all the players and even the coaches were laying around on the floor before practice. Rather than stretching and warming up, we were goofing off and wanting to take a nap. We were going to have Wednesday off of practice but Coach kept changing his mind. So a few hours prior, we found out we would have practice. There was one player who was unlike the rest of us. Little freshy Kaysie was being a good player and warming up by herself. Eventually we picked ourselves up off the floor and joined her and had a good practice.

I think some injury updates are necessary. Chandler went to the doctor for a follow up for her hand this past week. She has been cleared to play without her splint. Lauryn’s knee has been doing well. She hasn’t had any further complications. Payton is doing her exercises daily. She’s even moved up to the elliptical!

We head to Central State on Tuesday and play at 7 p.m. This weekend is Alumni Weekend and we are looking forward to watching Flunker and Stacie be the ones to run up and down the floor for a change. If you’d like some entertainment this weekend, come! Then we will be playing Urbana on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

See you there Lady Jacket fans!


January 17, 2012

What’s happenin’ Jacket fans? I hope you are all excited as we are to be playing games on our home floor. Traveling takes a toll on us. Having the majority of our games left on our home floor is something we are looking forward to. Sure it’s nice to go to various places and we love the dedicated fans that come with us to support, but we enjoy that more of you (not implying that you’re not a dedicated fan!) are able to come cheer us on while we are home.

We faced Notre Dame this past Saturday after finishing up our first week back into the semester. We won with the score being 83-70. At the end of the first half the score was 43-39 with us in the lead. Kayla had a strong offensive presence in the first half with 15 points. But as we went into half time, one thing was very obvious - we needed to play much better defense. Offensively we were doing fine but defensively we were lacking. I feel as though the message to us was simple - play better defense.

Going into the second half of the game, Kara really led the team in intensity. I saw her in Chuck’s before the game eating chicken noodle soup and I am now convinced that Chuck’s chicken noodle soup is the food of champions. Kara was a mad woman out on the floor. She was so aggressive on defense - single handedly guarding almost the entire team. She was forcing turnovers, getting steals, and not letting Notre Dame get any easy baskets. On offense, Kara took the ball into the lane strong and took care of the ball. She had 17 points, four steals, and nine assists! I was so proud of her leadership and determination.

I feel as though this week went by rather fast and am lacking in stories to share with you. I ask for grace on me as I get back into the flow of school and blogging weekly. But have no worries friends, Coach Martin never lacks in quirkiness and stories. They are soon to come.

P.S. I’d like to thank all of you who have been generous and kind in baking cookies and other goodies for us after games. Thank you for the time you took and your kind hearts for thinking of us!


January 10, 2012

Bonjour! So the semester begins once again. There are some mixed emotions I’m sure. There’s excitement to see friends and it’s nice not having Cedarville abandoned from all the lively, and sometimes strange, students. It feels good to have Cedarville back to how we are used to it being. With Florida and time off behind us, we are moving forward with our season.

Today we faced Ashland at home. Ashland is ranked No. 15 in the NCAA DII. It feels good to be playing at home. We have been traveling for most of our games and I think we are looking forward to having more games on our home floor. Ashland was a very good team. We knew that they were a talented and competitive team. We struggled defensively and the first half we had difficulty keeping up with them. However, the second half we came out stronger and applied more pressure. We had some really good moments and knew that we had to be focused to run with them. It was a very challenging game. They were a great shooting team and we learned a lot from them. We ended with a loss with the final score being 89-69.

We faced Malone this past Saturday and that game was a roller-coaster of emotions. To be quite frank, we played terrible the first half. As we went to the locker room for half time we were down 35-19. We weren’t playing our game and let Malone dictate what we did. The message to us at half time was simple - play better. That is exactly what we came out and did. We played better, much better. The second half was completely different than the first. We were back to playing Cedarville basketball. Everyone stepped up and a special good job to Deb Gordon. I don’t know what happened, but she was a monster in the second half! She really turned up the intensity and was aggressive which in turn fueled us to keep stepping up. We finished out the game strong with a win of 58-49.

We continue this week with syllabi overload and the wonderful joys that come with starting a new semester. We practice the rest of this week and face Notre Dame College on Saturday at 2 p.m. on our home floor.


January 5, 2012

Hello fans! It’s been awhile since an update. Winter break came upon us pretty fast. I hope you have all had a blessed Christmas and New Year’s. There has been a lot going on for the Lady Jackets. I’ll do my best to hit some of the highlights from the past few weeks for us.

Last blog I mentioned us playing Findlay. Unfortunately we did not come out with a win and the final score was 72-66. Our second half of the game we fought hard but we weren’t able to pull out with a win. After that game, it was time for us to spend a few days at home. It was a refreshing break for all of us. Time at home with friends and family was much needed. We came back to Cedarville on December 27th to fly to Florida.

The day we arrived in Florida we had practice. Despite the long day of flying and layovers, we were all ready to get back to basketball. It felt great to be back together and playing again. The first game we played was against Rollins. Rollins is ranked No. 13 in the NCAA Division II. We started out with great momentum and the lead. However, the past few games we have really been struggling with turnovers and taking care of the ball. This caused Rollins to have more possessions and we ended with a loss. The final score was 68-57.

The following day we played Florida Tech. It was a competitive game and was close most of the game. Turnovers caused us to fall behind in the second half. However, we were able to fight back and lessen the deficit. With only a couple seconds left in the game we were down 74-71. We tried to get a three off but were not able to tie the game.

Our final game in Florida was in West Palm Beach against Northwood. The first half was a bit frustrating because we were forgetting fundamentals and not playing as well as we can. We were in the lead but the second half was much better for us. We cleaned up the small things and were much more effective. We came out with a win of 74-53.

Okay, so there are the game updates since I last wrote. I find it surprisingly a bit difficult to write since the last blog. The time that has lapsed has my head spinning a bit about what to update you on. Following are a few more highlighted updates on our adventure in Florida:

New Year’s Eve was a packed day. We had the opportunity to help a ministry from Deborah Gordon’s church. We partnered with a homeless ministry and spent time in the community talking with homeless people. It was a great experience and we were also able to provide them with food. We had prayer with some of them, good talks, laughs, and also some peculiar encounters. Stacie Travis had a woman come up to her and began yelling at her in what we think was Russian and then she left. No one knew what was going on but Stacie took it like a champ!

Afterwards, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the beach. It was so nice being on the beach in December. I did not miss Ohio that day that’s for sure. After some time on the beach we headed to the Gordon’s for the night. We had dinner and spent time playing various games. We had a ping pong tournament and Coach Martin was the winner. He’s got some good ping-ponging skills. We also had fun playing a dancing game on the Wii. The best performance was Mrs. Gordon, Mrs. Chandler, and Mrs. Ansiel all dancing and competing. Congrats to Mrs. Chandler for being the winner! They provided some good laughs and entertainment for us. Also, Kari Flunker enjoyed the game a little bit too much I think. As most of us were either outside or watching Becky play Coach Martin in ping pong, Flunker was by herself playing the game. It was rather humorous seeing her so into the game. It would have been even better if was Coach Martin trying to dance! We finished the night bringing in the New Year’s together and watched the ball drop.

We were also able to go on an air boat ride through the Everglades. It was a lot of fun and our boat captain was great. He had been doing it for years and fed a lot of birds Cheez-Its and spotted us an alligator. The best moment of the air boat ride was when he was feeding the birds and Kayla experienced some good luck from the birds. By that I simply mean she got pooped on by a bird. Our captain laughed and mentioned that in all the years he has been doing this, he never had someone be pooped on. Maybe it really will be good luck for Kayla! I believe she was also the one who wanted to know if we would be able to jump in the water...We had to break her the news that would not be a wise decision.

We had another day which the Gordon’s took us out on their boat to the beach. We spent the day in the sun, kayaking, snorkeling, playing football, and swimming. Special thanks to the Gordon’s for opening their home to us! We had a great time.

We are back at Cedarville now and are practicing. We face Malone on Saturday at 2pm in Canton.

Whew, I think I hit the highlights. Spending so much time with each other brought out more of our personalities and it has been great to see. We are a team filled with goofs. Thanks for reading and for all of your support!

December 19, 2011

Dzien dobre! (that's Polish for hello) Finals are over! Hooray! This week has been different for us because of finals. We had two days off of practice, shorter practices, and no games. However, I think it was a good week for us. We had some opportunities to spend more time together and to serve. We played Findlay tonight and have this week off for Christmas.

I think I have more non-basketball related stories to tell this week. (Warning: Coach, you may be in a few.) Since we had shorter practices and no classes, the team was able to spend some time together  to hang out, watch movies, and play games. It was really good for us to be together and enjoy other things in life. We had a couple “Wii party parties” at Kyler’s and although we have athletes and competitors on the team, I would suggest not being partners with Kaysie or Kara in Mario Kart if you want to win. However, in the Disney Scene It game they came in second, I’m not sure how that happened, but it did.
      
We had Secret Santa’s the past few weeks and we went out to dinner on Saturday and had a gift exchange. Some of the team decided to wear ugly sweaters. I do not know where they got those sweaters from. Dear family members of Kayla, Lauryn, Ki, Chandler, Gordie, Heidi, and Becca, please sit down with them some time this week and explain what they should not wear in public- or ever again. The rest of us dressed normally except for Coach who decided to come in sweatpants. I think he’s backsliding. We are going to have to intervene before the bowling shirt comes back out.

Our gift exchange was a lot of fun. Gordie received a box full of necessities which included canned pears, dill weed, Ramen noodles, a spatula, grape jelly, and other goodies. Thank you Kyler for your creativity in gifts! Coach received a mood ring. I think that’s a blessing and a curse. It is good to know when it is green since that means he will talk for 30 minutes when he said he would talk for five. If able, it is good to see that early and make a run for it. But if it’s before practice or a game, we’re stuck.

The coaches have been moving into their new offices this week. I think one of the first things Coach moved into his new office was the stash of Diet Coke. Surprisingly, I don’t think he noticed that one of those possibly went missing...I have no idea where it could have gone....Coach (I think we all know he can be a bit quarky) had a couple mishaps this week. As we were going over the game plan in the locker room, he got up off the couch and he had a bit of trouble not tripping over the corner of the couch. He smoothly caught himself and tried to play it off as nothing but that didn’t keep us from chuckling. I don’t think he should be allowed to chew gum during practice. Not sure how he lost control of the gum, but it decided to spit right out onto the floor during instruction. I’m sure that has happened to all of us at some point though.

I hope you all have a blessed Christmas week. May your time with family and friends be an uplifting break from your normal routines.

P.S. We have a new Lady Jacket joining us when we get back from break! Freshman Janae Driggs from the JV will be joining the team for the rest of the season.


December 12, 2011

Hola friends! I feel as though this week went by very quickly. I feel like I wrote last week’s blog just yesterday. It has been a bit hectic around here with the semester finishing up. We had a very game-filled week the other week and then went to only one game last week on Saturday. Stresses have been high and it was seen throughout the week.

As the last full week of classes was going on we had some intense practices. We were to play University of Indianapolis and we needed to work hard and get focused. To be frank, although intense, I think we were mentally on different pages. I’m not sure how to describe our interactions. It was evident people were stressed out because of finals and we were not ourselves. I know that I have been distracted and overwhelmed and I believe the other girls also have been.