Cedarville University Yellow Jackets

March 20, 2013

Many feelings come to mind when I consider this being the end of my sophomore season. I am somehow halfway finished with my career…how time flies! Yet, many of my teammates are entering into their final, senior seasons. Some would say that they are sad it’s over; others would say that they are relieved, while others would say that they are ready for some time away from Coach Martin and his cheese puffs.

Our season has been "interesting" to say the least. We had six total surgeries, two of which were completely unrelated to basketball. We had random people get motion sickness on the bus. We played a game in the opposing team’s away jerseys. We put up with Coach Martin for seven months (can I get an amen?). Coach Flunker got engaged, "Beyoncé style" (Jimmy liked her, so he finally put a ring on it!). We survived Coach Travis’ challenging Crossfit workouts. We beat a few prestigiously-ranked teams and gained respect from other programs. We had Kayla Jenerette score over 1,000 points. We had a respectable, 20-win season for our first year being NCAA Division II.

We worked school banquets, fund raising for our mission trips this summer. We received weekly messages of conviction from the one and only, Bri Dupree. We had the privilege to serve the Tomkinson’s by cleaning out their home to move into a sterile environment. We served at an elementary school and read with kindergartners. We gave out approximately 150 New Testaments and notes of encouragement to our opponents at our home games. And lastly, we had FUN. If you observed our team at any point throughout the season, you would know one thing, we know how to have a good time and enjoy each other.

So overall, I would say that we have had a challenging, yet such a meaningful season. It was disappointing to lose our first game at the tournament to the sixth seed, Oklahoma Christian, which sent us to the consolation bracket, but we fought hard until the end. We faced Grace College for the second game and had a solid team win. For our final game of the year, we faced Shorter (an unfortunate university name) and sealed our 20^th win.

Nothing came easy for us. The many hours that we put in, body slamming each other in practice, getting beat on by Kenleigh and Steve with the "big blue" pad, and the many suicides we ran are all worth it in the end. You want to know why? All because of why we play. We "hold the rope" together in order to bring glory to God. It amazes me how God gives us the opportunity to be used by Him because of the effort we put into this game, because without Him, this would be nothing but running and jumping around on a wooden floor.

While we were at the N-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-A-A National Turnament (NCCAA), our chaplain, Shanna Zolman, said, we can only do two things that make life truly meaningful, "We can bring God glory through our actions and make His name famous." That’s what I call purposeful living.

Don’t forget to support your Lady Jackets this summer as we travel to Panama for our mission trip. We appreciate all of your past, present, and future encouragement.

Until next season, this is Gordita out.



March 11, 2013

Our Spring Break 2013 was very different than many of our peers at Cedarville. The majority of students flocked to various warm, tropical areas and beaches, but we vacationed in beautiful, snowy Cedarville. Fortunately, Coach Martin gave us three days to "get away" and make the most of our mini-spring breaks. While most of the team lives proximal to the university and was able to drive home, I was blessed to share family time with Raegan (my bedroom looks like a 5-year old boys’) Ryan in New York. These few days allowed us to rejuvenate, prepare for our final few games of our season, and eat some yummy home-cooked meals (thank you Mrs. Ryan!).

We all returned to campus on Tuesday evening for practice time before a heavy, winter storm passed over us. This storm consisted of freezing rain (to which I still do not understand…either it’s rain or it’s snow? What is freezing rain!?), a few inches of snow, and icy sidewalks. The following picture was taken the night after this storm in front of the Callan Athletic Center.


We continued practicing hard in preparation for our G-MAC tournament game against Urbana University and we took off Thursday afternoon for Nashville, TN. It was a long bus ride, but it was more than rewarding because we got to eat at the historic Hard Rock Café in "Music City." Our waiters at dinner were some characters to say the least; that night somehow ended up being Kayla (I’m turning 13!) Jenerette’s birthday celebration. We spotted Bon Jovi’s bass player at the table next to us…and we all suddenly pretended to care about Rock n’ Roll.

On Friday, we had a morning walk through while abiding to the many rules that arise during conference play, such as, the second someone touches a basketball, our hour-long, timed practice begins. We fought hard against Urbana, as we knew their game plan and what their girl’s can do like the back of our hands. We came back from two double-digit deficits during the game and even took the lead at a few moments during the second half. We were down by a mere three points with the clock winding down and I began to think that we were going into overtime, but we weren’t able to get off a good buzzer-beater shot. As a team and personally, I believe that this was the most difficult loss of the season, being that our most prominent team goal was to win our conference.

After the game, conference awards were presented and a few of our team members were given some snazzy certificates. Raegan Ryan and Becky (I’m recovering in bed and still get an award) Orchard both received honorable mention, while Kayla Jenerette received first team all-conference! My teammates are awesome and completely deserve to be recognized for their hard work; although, we were hoping that Kayla Linkous would win Freshman of the Year…but another well-deserving freshman from Urbana got it. (Kayla L. will always be freshman of the year in our hearts!)

This coming week we are heading to Grace College in Winona Lake, IN for the NCCAA National Tournament. Our professors have been very understanding with us throughout the semester as we have been traveling on the road a lot, as my Educational Psychology professor put it to me in an email, "Play well and bring home some hardware!" We are excited to represent our university and most importantly the name of Jesus Christ as we battle and fellowship with other Christian universities during this week. Keep up with how we’re doing through the Yellow Jacket website as we hope to bring home the national title.

Gordilia out.


March 4, 2013

As it turns out, our last regular season game was against Notre Dame and not against Hillsdale as planned. We were scheduled to travel to Hillsdale, Michigan this past Wednesday, but the snow decided otherwise. I think God knew how stressed and overworked we were this week with our studies and He wanted to give us this day off. It was quite the "awkward" situation for us to walk into our classes after telling our professors that we were going to be missing classes that day, but, like the good students we are, we attended our classes despite our unfinished assignments. I received a few curious looks from my classmates while carrying my pillow and blanket to classes, but I kept thinking to myself, "everybody act cool, it’s just a normal day…" (Name that movie anyone?)

We had Wednesday off in spite of the cancellation and spent our day catching up on all of our work. Thursday was a tough practice. Coach Martin was out recruiting, working hard to continue building our basketball program, and I was told (from a trustworthy source) that he somehow managed to eat eight White Castle burgers while on his diet. Hmm…So whenever Coach Martin is away, we are stuck with, I mean, BLESSED to have Coaches Flunker and Travis running things and they work us hard. Friday was spent preparing for our Grace College game and recuperating from Thursday’s practice. ;)

On Saturday, we faced Grace College for the NCCAA Midwest Region Championship and it was our first, big win this season. And it couldn’t have come at a better moment for us. I’m hopeful that this will carry our momentum throughout next week as we enter into our G-MAC Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee. Luckily, we all have a few days away as we get to spend some restful time away for our "mini" spring breaks before returning to Cedarville for some practice time. The week after spring break, we will be heading to Grace College in Indiana for the NCCAA National Tournament!

We have a lot of travel time ahead of us, but these are the final two weeks left of the season and we’re hoping to make them great.  


February 25, 2013

Knock knock? Who’s there? No one. No one who? No one grabbed the uniforms. Whoops! Our three-and-a-half hour bus trip with the men’s team to Notre Dame College came to an abrupt halt when Assistant Coach Kari Flunker thought to randomly see if our uniform bag was brought along. This was the first moment, since freshman year, that I wasn’t certain of how everyone, including Coach Martin, was going to react. We all lightheartedly (see photo below) accepted the situation and were excited for the opportunity, however bizarre it was, to play an opposing team in their own uniforms.



We came out strong, but ended up being down by five at the half and needed to make a few technical adjustments on how we were handling their screens. For one of the first times this year, we knew the adjustment that needed to be made and we did just that without error or confusion; I think that was a telling moment of how well we are maturing and learning as a team. Coach Martin told us that if we won the rebound and turnover margin, we would come out with a win and that we did! A quick shout out to Raegan (I’m a baller) Ryan for her five-made three’s! Let me brag on my teammates really quickly – between Raegan and Kayla Jenerette, they shared 47 points, 10 assists, and were 16 for 16 at the free throw line. If that doesn’t impress you, maybe the fact that Coach Martin made it another year with the amount of Diet Coke that he consumes on a daily basis.

Earlier last week, on Tuesday, we faced Central State for a physical match-up. All that comes to mind from this fast-paced win was how Kayla Linkous played. This girl is a finisher. So much to the point that she was literally knocked to the ground, grabbed a rebound on the way back up, and made a shot for the ‘and one.’ I’ve never seen Coach Martin giggle so much during a game than after this play. Both of the Kayla’s played super well and shared 43 points between the two.

Overall, our week felt like we took a few big steps as a team. We are finally back to playing solid defense with confidence. We have one last regular season game this coming Wednesday against Hillsdale in Michigan and then we have the NCCAA Midwest Region Championship game.

Academically, this coming week is going to be one of the toughest weeks we’ve had all season; being that it is our last week before Spring Break, so professors like to see how much work they can humanly assign. Pray that we can finish our work with excellence and that we end our regular season with passion!
 

February 18, 2013

This past Tuesday, we hosted Urbana in our vividly pink jerseys for our annual Play 4Kay Game. Donations were made towards the research and awareness of breast cancer, to which we fundraised towards at the entrance of the game. Thank you to all who came out and supported not only our team this night, but also this battle against breast cancer. We were up by two at the half and slowly had our lead taken throughout the second half. Having already beaten Urbana earlier this season, it was a frustrating loss, but as always, we were ready to "pick ourselves up from our boot straps" and continue persevering.

Throughout our practices this week, our team held a meeting concerning the basketball missions’ trip that we are going on this summer to Panama. If you weren’t aware, we are taking an eight-day journey with S.C.O.R.E. International to use basketball as a unique platform to share the Gospel within the neighborhoods and with our Spanish-speaking opponents. We are each genuinely eager about the opportunities that this trip presents for sharing the Gospel and doing meaningful work for the Lord while playing a few games. I am personally thrilled for this trip because of the challenges and "fun" that the Spanish language barrier will present for our team; being a Spanish minor, I hope to be of some practical use for our group. Heidi (our tech geek) Ansiel put together a tremendous website covering all aspects of our trip, so if you have some free time, feel free to check it out and support us in any way you find possible! http://cuwbbmissions.wordpress.com

On Saturday, we faced Ursuline for the second time this season, adding another win to our G-MAC record, making it 4-3. We had a slow start to the game, but we were able to pick up the pace and increase our win by twelve points by the end of the game. It was great to have Kayla (future wedding planner) Linkous back on the court with us, as we have missed her contributions down low. After our game, we met upstairs with our various family members, or if you were parent-less like I was, you would have joined us at the "orphan table." This potluck dinner was so yummy; our moms sure know how to cook! And to Mrs. Ryan, I need to personally thank you for those cheesecakes – amazing.

In other news, our student trainer, Timmy, cut his infamously long hair. He’s a brand new man blowing away all of the other female student trainers. We also had a recruit visit this weekend to which a group of us wore camo shirts to make her feel "at home." We go all out for our prospective teammates.

This week we play Central State on Tuesday and as always, we look forward to hearing their pep-band jam out during our time outs. On Saturday, we play at Notre Dame…of Ohio…not to be confused with the Notre Dame.

Adios amigos.  


February 11, 2013

Wednesday morning we took off in a large double-decker, sleeper bus to drive all the way to Indiana in comfort. Following our many catnaps and stops to stretch our legs, we finally arrived in Oakland City! In a sense, we were all interested to see how our legs would respond to the many hours we spent in the bus, but thankfully, they showed up after halftime and we won by 19.

We had good focus throughout the week and were well prepared to face Trevecca Nazarene. We were also eager for the opportunity to redeem ourselves. For some reason, despite our concentration and determination, we did not match up well with them and could not get the lead. Many of us (including me, which is a first) had family in town during "Li’l Sibs" weekend. We had quite the week full of birthday celebrations being that my birthday was on Saturday, Deborah (I’m feelin’ 21) Chandler’s birthday was Sunday, and Whitney Robinson’s is this Monday!

This Tuesday, we will be facing Urbana for our second time this season for another tough game. We will be having our "Play 4Kay," pink out, breast cancer awareness night where we will be wearing our infamously, bright pink uniforms and expect everyone else to be pinked-out as well; this game will be home at 5:30 p.m. Our next game will be home on Saturday, facing Ursuline at 5:30 p.m.!

Kayla (I got pink shoes) Linkous should be returning to us this Saturday as she has begun walking on her own, jumping, and shooting some. Becky Orchard has been diagnosed with a torn ACL and is looking to schedule surgery as soon as she can. Doc has been doing therapy and shooting everyday and is getting stronger each day. Continue to keep us all in your prayers as we only have five regular season games left.  


February 4, 2013

This past week in the world of the Lady Jackets was quite the whirlwind. We had two early morning lifts, a few challenging practices, and during one of our scrimmages during practice, we lost Becky Orchard to a knee injury. Injuries that happen as quickly as that did are tough to witness because we instantly become powerless to that person. Becky has always been such a devoted teammate that it was difficult to fully understand God’s plan within the moment, but I have personally been reminded that in all circumstances, God works for the good of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose, which sums Becky up pretty well. Kayla Linkous also had her knee scoped this week, which was inconclusive, but she should be returning to us in the next few weeks.

After we finished off our practice Friday afternoon with watching film on Salem International, Coach Martin struts into the locker room celebrating for some unknown reason with cake, balloons, and an obnoxious noisemaker. We were all trying to figure out whose birthday or anniversary it was…but no one had a clue! He began to explain that the reason for the celebration was because the month of January was finally over with; which he had never celebrated before, but he’s never had such a horrible January before, so, of course, we were honored.

That Friday evening, the Robinson’s had us over to their grandmother’s home to have a yummy team meal together and play some games. Raegan (I ate too much sugar) Ryan was bouncing off the walls and must have cried at least three separate instances from laughing so hard. It’s always so fun to be able to have a relaxing evening together where we simply enjoy each other’s company and great food.

On Saturday afternoon, we played Salem International for the second time this season and came away with the win again. We knew that this game would be a challenge for us because we had a few positional changes due to the injuries. Coach originally said that our team was the perfect example of Noah’s Ark, because we had two of everything, and now, we are "Noah’s Sailboat," struggling a little, but still talented enough to get the job done.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers, that we can finish the season with poise and excellence, but also that our injured players (Doc, KJ, and Becky) can continue to heal up well and come back even stronger. This coming week, we will be preparing for our game at Oakland City on Wednesday and for a tough game against Trevecca Nazarene that will be home this Saturday!  


January 29, 2013

Our week was very long-winded. It was full of morning work outs, preparing for our Central State game, and being intentional about challenging each other during our practice time. It was clear that the coaches wanted this week to be a challenging and competitive time within our team. We had a serious focus to ourselves, which almost seemed unusual because of how naturally silly and extroverted we can be, but we still had our enjoyable moments. One of these instances was during a practice later in the week when Coach Flunker was correcting something that Kayla Jenerette was doing. Kayla, being the Southern, polite girl that she is, unintentionally responded across the court, “Yes sir!” We all really appreciated that laugh.

Saturday morning, we arrived to watch the alumni game, and were overwhelmed by the number of children that were scattered all throughout the gymnasium. I watched them crawl all over the bleachers, kick the basketballs, and cry for their mommies during the scrimmage. It’s overwhelming to look forward and think how different each of our lives could be in just a few years. We were joking about which ones of us will be married, have children, or have put on a few pounds. It is encouraging to know that the majority of the alumnus’ enjoyed their time at Cedarville and attempt to come back for this time to reconnect with their former teammates and relive some of the ‘ol good times.

We enjoyed watching the women struggle to run up and down the court, but the “elderly” group pulled out a nice win. We headed into our game against Central State full of energy and excitement. With all of the alumni in town, our game had more than 1,220 attendants and everyone received a voucher for some free Chick-fil-A (if that can’t persuade fans to come out to a game, I don’t know what will). We stayed ahead during all of the game, even when our lead was beginning to shrink closer at the end, but we were determined to win. Lauryn Robinson was a rebounding machine and dominated the boards all game long.

As our season continues to wind down, I wanted to thank you for all of your continued support, encouragement, and supplications! It’s been great having Taylor (Frankenstein) Vander Plas back out on the court with us, but please continue to keep Kayla Linkous in your prayers as she’s having her knee scoped this early this week to evaluate and hopefully figure out what is causing her pain and discomfort. We have another long week of practices and morning workout’s ahead of us, preparing for our next game this Saturday afternoon against Salem International, so we hope to see you all there!


January 22, 2013

Deborah Gordon updates the latest info from the Lady Jackets in her first VIDEO BLOG of the season!


January 15, 2013

Last you were updated, we were all still freezing in Ohio, getting ready to take our finals, packing up to go home to see our families, and then going to play in Florida for our winter tournament. So much time has passed from then until now, but I’ll try to inform as best as I can!

Getting everyone to Florida was one of the most chaotic and prayerful moments I can think of. I was still recovering from my tonsillectomy and slurping down milkshakes in South Beach (according to Coach Martin) while a bunch of snow from a blizzard made us all spectate about who was actually going to make it to Florida. Thankfully, God made it so that everyone somehow got there safely and timely (minus one of our managers, Payton, who was missed dearly). I drove with my family to meet the team in the Orlando area and we started off our time back together playing the ranked, Indiana of Pennsylvania. Playing IUP was an enjoyable battle where two great teams fought hard and we weren’t able to grab the W.

That next morning we attended First Baptist of Orlando and got to hear the testimony of the head football coach at Georgia, Mark Reicht. I won’t mention any names, but it was rather entertaining seeing how forward and bold my teammates are to “put themselves out there” and speak to strangers; we’re all just searching for our future husbands, right!? Later that day, we played Mercyhurst and didn’t feel as if we were giving our very best effort, so at halftime, Lauryn (I give the best motivational speeches) Robinson told us to stop playing down to the level of our 'components'....Well, the speech helped and we pulled out the win in overtime!

That win allowed us to have some enjoyable, relaxing days in South Florida, where they consisted of basketball, a killer Crossfit workout, the beach, a boat, yummy food, and the sun. We are all super thankful to Kari (he put a ring on it!!!!!) Flunker and Stacie (I’m still searching for the one) Travis for being such helpful and wonderful coaches who made our trip feel like a family vacation. A big thanks goes out to the Gordon’s (my lovely family) for their hospitality and also to the Spiliotis’ for having us at their private beach where we all got to feel like divas for the day.

The following picture was taken in downtown Miami where we enjoyed some questionable seafood, but still had a stomach-ache-free time:


We all returned back to white, snowy Ohio and then we were off on a long, packed bus trip with the men’s team to Tennessee to play Trevecca Nazarene. We each signed a pact saying that we wouldn’t speak of this game again, so that is all I’m permitted to say of that! ;) Later on in the week, we faced Ohio Christian and had a positive win on our home court where we focused and executed what our coaches were asking of us. For our third and final game of the week, we played Urbana University and had a great team effort for our first-ever G-MAC win!

It was quite the packed and trying two weeks, but because of God’s grace and strength alone, we made it through! Now it’s onto the next week and us all fighting over who gets to be Kari’s flower girl!


December 19, 2012

It’s Kitty reporting for duty again! Miss Gordie got her tonsils taken out this week and is therefore unable to write this week’s blog. I know y’all miss her writing but I promise she’ll be back soon!

Where to begin? This week was the dreaded week of EXAMS; in other words, the dreaded week of last minute cramming, no sleep, and lots and lots of coffee! Our poor bodies we’re very weak, as one could probably see as we trudged up and down the court against Mount Vernon, but thankfully we were able to pull out the win by a good amount of points. Although we got the W, we also got a L: no, not a loss of game, but a loss of another player!

Taylor broke her hand during the first half of the game! I hate to see yet another player get injured but what I did like to see was Tay’s attitude towards her injury. Of course she was disappointed, but she remained calm, and her tweet right after the game said it all: “God is sovereign, even when I don’t understand things, He knows exactly what’s going on. #trust” Not many players, yet alone freshmen, have that kind of perspective when unexpected things pop up. Thank you, Tay, for being that kind of example to our team. You’re Christ-like response does not go unnoticed. Please continue to pray for quick recovery for Tay and Gordie, who just had surgery on Tuesday. Continue to pray for Kaysie’s ACL surgery this Friday!

We were able to help out some of our Senior Jackets this past Sunday. A group of us headed over to the St. Clair’s house and picked up gumballs and raked some leaves in the backyard. It’s always really cool helping out any Senior Jacket we can. The St. Clair’s, who I found out were the actual St. Clair’s that our building on campus is named after, have been married for over 60 years and are a wonderful couple. They took the time to make us cookies after we helped them out as a thank you treat! My favorite part is hearing their stories and just taking the time to hear about their lives. I am excited to continue our ministry with the Senior Jackets and meet more precious, kind-hearted people and hear about their stories and of course, their grandkids!

Monday morning our team made the five-hour trip out to Indiana. This bus trip was a little unique because we had not only one, but two girls decide to toss up their cookies (if you know what I mean!). The stench on the bus, needless to say, was unbearable! Thankfully no one was sick with any illness but it seemed to be motion sickness. We had a good pre-game practice going over the game plan for Southern Indiana and then went to Coach Martin’s favorite place for dinner, Fazolis! After our bellies were filled with breadsticks, half of us went to the movies with Kent (who graciously travels with us and keeps our score book) and the other half went in the hot tub to end the day on a relaxing note! The next day we headed to Applebee’s for our pre-game meal, where Coach Martin showed off his knowledge of trivia by asking us many questions about who was who in the pictures on the wall. We had many good laughs during his “history lesson” and enjoyed our fried appetizer that we were told not to get. Did I say that out loud? Jk Squirt, we all enjoyed our healthy, fried-free meal!

Six o’clock quickly rolled around and tip off began. I know looking at the final score one would probably not be able to tell, but we cut the game to within four points in the second half and we were extremely close. A few calls didn’t go our way and we let the game slip from us. Shout out to Becky Orchard for having her game-high 18 points, proud of you Beckster! It’s hard to write about the game since the sting of losing is still fresh on all our minds, but I will say this: we might not have won, but we proved to ourselves that we can play with those kinds of teams. It’s going to take more discipline, more leadership, and more practice, but we will get there. And when we do, it’s going to be a great feeling.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and don’t forget to follow our upcoming games in the good ol’ Sunshine State. Florida here we come!!


December 11, 2012

Can I begin by telling you all how great it is to be back? Unlike the rest of the team, my Thanksgiving break lasted a little bit longer and I didn’t return until earlier this past week. As it turns out, my golf-ball-sized tonsils aren’t the norm or doing their job, so I have to get ‘em out! I’m hoping that my surgeon will be able to keep them for me afterwards as a nice souvenir. A big thank you goes out to Kayla (I always get cold sore y’all) Jenerette for being the substitute blogger this past week and doing an awesome job at it!

On Wednesday, we traveled to West Virginia to play a very athletic University of Charleston team. We were welcomed by a sauna of a locker room filled with some of their “interesting” motivational posters. If you’ve ever heard Coach (I need to get a new tat) Martin use the term “Martin Magic” before, you would appreciate its meaning of how often he jinxes our team. Here’s a perfect example of it from this game - we were ranked third in the country for our defensive three-point field goal percentage at 16.4% and Charleston proceeded to break a school record for three-pointers made in a game. Now that’s some major Martin Magic! They shot lights out and we quickly learned of some adjustments that needed to be made. Losing isn’t a bad thing if you come away from it learning and that we did.

We were all eagerly anticipating our game this past Saturday because we knew we’d be facing the fifth-ranked team in the nation - the University of Indianapolis. We were prepared, studied up on our opponent, and had nothing to lose. The first half was an offensive struggle for both teams, with our half time score being 24-19, but our defensive effort was rock-solid. To make four total field goals and only be down by five to this tough of a team put us in a great position for the second half, but someone put an invisible lid on top of our rim, seriously, it’s a real thing. This loss stung knowing how well we leveled up with them, but our mistakes outweighed our defensive effort.

This coming week will be the infamously stressful (dun dun dun dunnnn) - Finals Week! Be praying for us to test our very best and finish this semester strongly. I’ll be sure to give our freshmen the best testing advice possible…

1. Be sure to take each exam in crayon.
2. Only do math exams using roman numerals.
3. Bring an instrument and play it throughout the exam to help you focus. (The student
handbook doesn’t say anything against doing that!?)
4. Be sure to tell your professor how good they’re looking that day.
5. And if there’s no hope of passing the exam, eat it as soon as it’s handed to you.
         
These tips have worked for me every time. Good luck everyone! 


December 4, 2012

(Ed. note: Junior Kayla Jenerette fills in this week for blogger Deborah Gordon)

I have the privilege of writing the blog this week since Miss Gordy's body decided to get sick on us :( It was originally thought that she had mono, but shortly after was diagnosed with just a very bad virus. We are hoping she will return back to us within the next few days. We miss her sense of humor, her poopsack hair do, her distinct laugh, her Spanish flare, but most importantly, her hard work and skill that she brings to our team! Please keep her in your prayers!

This was the first year ever that we were able to all have a FULL THANKSGIVING BREAK! Coach Martin was probably the only coach in America that let us do that, but that is one of the many reasons why we love him :) We all thoroughly enjoyed getting fat and eating a great home cooked Thanksgiving meal, but we were shortly welcomed back by a tough practice and "crabby patty squirt's" tenacious lifting workout. If there were any turkey weight gained, it definitely quickly shed from our bodies when we got back.

It gets a little bit tiring playing your own team day after day, so we were all looking forward to this past weekend’s tourney at Central State. Our wonderful coaches and Kenleigh made a wonderful team breakfast for our first day of competition, complete with Mickey Mouse pancakes (thank you Kenleigh), scrambled eggs with ham, pineapple, and oatmeal. We enjoyed a great time of fellowship while listening to Christmas music, where we learned the truth about KJ's hatred for any holiday-filled tune. That day we played West Virginia Tech, where it was obvious we hadn’t played in two weeks. Sunday’s game against Salem International, however, we played much better. The real competition starts this week against Charleston, as well as 6th-ranked, undefeated Indianapolis, whom we lost to by 35 points last year. We are all very excited to play and compete with these teams!

The last bit of news that I am thrilled to write about concerns Allie Tomkinson. Our team had the privilege to go help clean Allie’s new house before she moved in. It was a wonderful time sharing with such a high-spirited, woman of God. We had been praying for her as a team as news would be coming soon if the cancer was still there, if it had spread, or if it had left. We saw her at chapel a day before her news would arrive and we’re in awe of her praise of God during worship. She had every reason to be discontent and unhappy with life, but didn’t let her circumstances dictate her joy and that was so obvious to us through how she worshiped. I think we need more people like her in the world. Her news came back and she is cancer free! What an awesome God we serve. He hears even the softest prayers, gives us hope amidst life’s trials, and is a God of healing!

- Kayla (aka Kitty)


November 20, 2012

I’m thrilled to tell you all that we are now 4-0 for the first time since 2004! Congrats and meow’s go out to Kayla (Kitty) Jenerette who became the 21st Lady Jacket to score 1,000 career points in our game against Wilberforce on Saturday. We’ve been enjoying this week where we had two games and came out with two more W’s!

Our home opener was against Oakland City and it was quite the struggle. We so wanted to have a strong and impressive kick off for our thousands and thousands of fans, but it just didn’t come together well. One of the most difficult challenges for a team is playing consistent basketball from tipoff to the final buzzer. The lesson I learned is that games are most satisfactory when it is earned and not given…and that I should always know which player of theirs is left handed. We deserved to be 2-1, but we were fortunate enough to come away with the win.

One of the most entertaining moments to see from the bench was when Lauryn (the rebounding machine) Robinson got a defensive rebound and Coach (I will beg you to like our Facebook page) Martin is shouting, “GO, GO, GO” at one of the guards to sprint down the court for transition. Meanwhile, Lauryn thought that Coach was screaming at her while she still had the ball, proceeds to turn to the bench, and yells back, “I freakin’ can’t!” Moments like these are priceless.

I know it’s only my second year, but Wilberforce has always been a fun team to play because we have developed such good friendships with their girls. As we walked into our locker room Saturday, we all saw that each of their girls wrote us encouraging notes with a Bible verse. That made my night. After the game, we were eating our healthy post-game meal of Cousin Vinny’s pizza and talking with them. I asked them if they’ve begun to write notes to all of their opponents and one girl responded, “No way, it’s just for you guys.”

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we finally know the diagnosis of Kaysie (no more Twinkies) Brittenham concerning her knee injury. She will be out during this season facing surgery and recovery time for a torn ACL, meniscus, bone bruising, and other issues. I must say that she has been more than a champ about it! You would have never known she was injured because she stayed active, never complained, and was always smiling. One day before practice, we were all getting together in a huddle for prayer and called Kaysie over to join us and she began to jog over as if nothing was wrong and we yelled at her to be careful and walk. She said, “What? It’s already broken!” I think that’s a great reflection of her positive and calm attitude facing this injury.

Be praying for Kaysie throughout the season and I’ll keep you all updated on her status. Also, be praying for the rest of us as we get the tremendous opportunity to travel home after our practice on Tuesday. Hopefully we won’t get too bent out of shape with all this wonderful Thanksgiving food. Enjoy your family and friends this season as we are!

#TurkeyTime    
   

November 12, 2012

What a great weekend for your Lady Jackets! We came out of a very competitive weekend being 2-0 and according to Jimmy (where’s the ring?) Hoffman, if we keep this up, we’ll never lose a game! We traveled to Kentucky Thursday night with quite the spirited bus driver and arrived at the hotel to many familiar faces of our long-lost parents and siblings. As Lauryn (I make the earth quake) Robinson said countless times, “We’re just one, big happy family and I love it so much!” This weekend was full of many firsts. Our first game officially being NCCA Division II, our first win as a program over a Division II ranked team, and the freshmen’s first college game.

For our season opener we faced Ferris State Friday evening and stuck with them throughout the first half. We weren’t playing at the level we expected out of ourselves but as Coach (still lookin’ good) Martin said at halftime, “If we can play that crappy and only be behind by three, think about how good you can be!” The best part about this game was knowing that they were a ranked Division II team and we wanted to make a strong first impression. We perfectly timed up our come back in the second half to take over the game and we kept the lead after that.

After our first official win for the season, we watched the other two teams in the tournament play to get an idea of what we would be facing on Saturday. At half time, their cheerleaders and dancers were reminding Kayla (I once was a cheerleader) Linkous of what she’s missing out on. She was cheering and dancing along like no one else in the stands, literally.

It’s only fair that I mention our bus driver once more. Our drivers vary with each trip, but this woman was something else. Our drive from the gym to our hotel was one filled with laughter to the point of tears…all because of bus-driver Judy. Let’s just say that Judy was completely transparent with us and shared her opinions on many different topics. Some that were interesting and some that Steve (why do I work with all women?) Buettell didn’t need to hear.