Nov. 26, 2009
Follow the Marist women's basketball team this weekend as they play in the Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas here on GoRedFoxes.com. Marist senior guard Brittany Engle will be writing this blog for GoRedFoxes.com, which will be updated throughout the trip at various times.
Friday 11-27-09
Today is a beautiful day. The sun is shining and there isn't a cloud in the sky. This morning we had our shootaround at St. George's High School and it was much nicer than the YMCA we went to yesterday. It was a lot cooler too. When we pulled in to the school it was cute to see all of the students in their school uniforms going to class. It kind of reminds me that we are living in a different world, our own little world. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in ourselves and our games that it's easy to forget everything else around us.
After shootaround we watched film and ate our pre-game meal of scrambled eggs with cheese, pancakes, fruit, yogurt, cereal, and toast. I think the cheese that was for the eggs was the biggest hit actually, because everyone requested it again for our baked potatoes at dinner.
I'm not going to give a play-by-play of the game here because that can be seen on any statsheet. What I will explain is that aside from a few bad runs, we played well against Oklahoma State. We made an incredible comeback, just like in the Bowling Green game, except we fell a little short. When we struggled to shoot, their #1 went off. I don't think I have ever seen someone shoot with such accuracy and with such consistency in my life. Lynzee guarded her extremely well but if anyone tried to guard her and she had it in her mind she was going to get her shot off, she did and she usually made it. Erica practically shut down #10, who puts up close to 30 shots a game and is one of the quickest players I've ever seen.
We had some moments where we showed a lot of heart and maturity. Lynzee hit two huge shots in the second half and Corielle stepped up to lead the team in scoring. We went on runs when Rachele wasn't in and and everyone thought we would fall apart. Kate (Oliver) had a big first half when we almost did fall apart. But then there were moments when we showed weakness and a lack of maturity. We continued to struggle on the boards, giving them second and third chances after playing solid defense on the initial possession.
We had times where we lost confidence offensively and played tentatively. Then Corielle threw the ball away at the end, when we all have complete faith in her ball-handling abilities and would've wanted her to take it up the court. Make no mistake, this one possession did not cost us the game. If it were not for Corielle, we would've been out of the game a long time ago. But this game, like all of the games we have played so far, truly tested our basketball knowledge and abilitites. It exposed our weaknesses and helped move us one step closer to becoming a championship team. True we lost, but we could have won, we should have won.
Maybe everyone in the basketball world expected us to lose to Oklahoma State, but we sure didn't. Sure that makes it all the more disappointing for us, but I also think it makes us better. We wouldn't win if we didn't have such high expectations or held each other accountable.
Today is over, now we move on. We play tomorrow and the only way to prove we learned anything as a team from today's tough loss is to come back, make and statement and win. George Washington better watch out.
Thursday 11-26-09
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Today has been so much fun, which must be a relief from all of my complaining yesterday. Where yesterday was stressful and exhausting, today has been relaxing and enjoyable.
We all woke up to an incredible breakfast buffet at 9 a.m. at Willy Broadleaf's, one of the restaurants at the hotel. It started to pour again, unfortunately during one team's beach time but we were still hopeful. Sure enough, right after we arrived at the Grand Bahama YMCA for practice the sky cleared and the sun began to shine. Practice was a little rough and the entire team was a little short-tempered because it was so hot and humid in the gym. We managed to push through and continued to plug away at our Oklahoma State scout. They're a team a good team full of athletes and we need all the preparation we can get. So we all tried our best to focus for an hour and a half.
Besides waiting to start off the tournament strong with a huge win, I think part of our motivation to get through practice in that small, humid gym was out scheduled one-hour "beach party". The tournament designated one hour for each team to have the beach to themselves and use the jet skis, ride the banana boat, and jump on the water trampoline. I never thought I'd ever be wishing my teammates a "Happy Thanksgiving" from the back of a banana boat. We really are very fortunate and we have a lot to be thankful for. Few people have the opportunity to enjoy Thanksgiving in the Bahamas: ride a jet ski before dinner in the grand ballroom. It makes me stop and think about how much we complain about practice and school and everything else. This is when it pays off. This is one of the reasons we show up every day. To travel to an island just to play a game we enjoy is a privilege.
Since we play Oklahoma State tomorrow, our couple of hours in the sun today will probably be our only free time, and we took full advantage. The first four jet skis out on the water were Lynzee and Pat (Masaroni), Kristine (Best) and I, Rachele and Erica, and Corielle (Yarde) and Brandy (Gang). We were all flying out there! Thankfully Kristine is strong or else I would have flown off the back in a heartbeat. We all had so much fun and nobody wanted to come back to shore. But, to be fair, the rest of our team deserved a turn. So we raced back to land where we immediately jumped off our jet skis and climbed on to the banana boat. The first time the driver made a sharp turn we all tipped over. But the next time, only Pat, Lynzee, and Erica fell off. The rest of us managed to hang on, and we let the driver hear it! He didn't wait long after we started bragging before he sent us crashing into the water. He showed us who really was in control.
After the beach, everyone got ready for film. We watched more clips on Oklahoma State and went over the scouting report. Then we all headed back to our rooms to get ready for dinner. We all get very excited when we have the opportunity to dress up and look like girls, so naturally we started getting ready at least an hour before dinner.
As I mentioned before, Thanksgiving dinner was in the grand ballroom. It was a very nice reception in a very large and fancy banquet hall. Our hostess was a lady in a large, feathered tribal hat ... this would not be the last we would see of those hats. We all stuffed ourselves full of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, cheesecake, pumpkin pie, and more. I'm actually about to fall asleep writing this by now because I'm now so full. After dinner, each coach and one captain from all 12 teams approached the podium to say what they were thankful for. If you can't tell by how much I write, I like to talk a lot. So naturally I'm pretty sure I had the longest "thank you" speech. Good thing people were probably too busy still eating to notice.
Remember when I said those hats would be back? Well, in an interesting twist, some sort of grand finale parade came marching in. They were tribal dancers wearing the most extraordinary costumes. They were all dancing and playing instruments, even inviting the crowd to join in their parade around the hall. Of course, our team jumped right in when they made it over to our table. However, like in karaoke, we really must have made some sort of impression because we managed to clear the entire room. Once again, we were the last ones left at a party. We just better win out games or else nobody will think we can do anything. They've already crossed singing and dancing off the list.
Wednesday 11-25-09
For all the excitement and anticipation leading up to our trip to the Bahamas, few could've predicted it would go like this.
- 6:30 a.m.: Bus departs campus for LaGuardia.
All goes smoothly until we reach the airport and our bus is too tall for the clearing. We then proceed to back up into increasingly large amounts of traffic. Finally, we make our way down an alternate route only to realize that we have no idea where we're going. Afraid we could miss our flight, we made the decision to continue our journey by foot ... having our large overpacked bags, completely unsuspecting of the many more delays we would encounter throughout the day.
After passing security without any major problems, we found out that it's raining in Miami and our flight that was supposed to takeoff at 10:40 a.m. was actually delayed until a little after 12 p.m. It turned out to be later than that because the runway was backed up. We were part of a long line of planes waiting on the runway to depart one at a time. Once we finally took off and were airborne, the weather began to get worse, and so did our luck.
The long, bumpy flight from New York finally touched down in Miami at 4:15 p.m. Our plane to Freeport, Bahamas was supposed to leave at 4:30 p.m. Clearly, we were all too tired and hungry at this point to care because we took our time making our way to the gate. I think at this point we would be shocked if our plane left on time anyway.
Sure enough, we were correct. The flight to the Bahamas would leave at 5 p.m. At least we had time to get some food, but this was starting to feel like the longest day of my life; and it just kept getting longer. As the weather went, so did our luck. We began to board one of the smallest planes I have ever been on (it only held our team and the women's team from Minnesota) and the rain started to pour. Soaking wet and a little nervous, I ascended the steps to the plane and waited. I shouldn't have been surprised there was another delay. In fact, I'd have been more surprised if we left on time. Shortly after 6 p.m. we finally took off and when I looked out my window and saw lightning, I could only think "yes, of course this is happening". Then the plane began to twist and shake and I felt my stomach drop to the floor. This was turbulence I had never experienced before. Of course Lynzee (Johnson) thought it was just like a fun roller coaster ride. Too bad we all can't have the same carefree attitude she has.
Anyway, enough about travel. Even though it's all I have talked about and even though we spent the better part of a full day in airports and on planes, we did manage to get to our hotel in Freeport, Bahamas. Our charismatic bus driver, Joe "Always On The Go", informed us that Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed on this island and Johnny Depp stayed at the same hotel we're staying at. That seemed to lift our spirits until Joe told us that sharks swim close to shore at the beaches here, which made Maria (Laterza) very concerned. Joe didn't seem to experience the same level of concern about the sharks as we did, after which he proceeded to tell us all the different ways to prepare and eat conch.
We pulled into the hotel, which is one of the most gorgeous resorts I've ever seen. We were greeted by Lynzee, Erica (Allenspach), and Rachele's (Fitz) families who have the great fortune of turning this little trip into a vacation while we play basketball.
The last scheduled event for the day was karaoke at the "Prop Club". We were supposed to have a welcome reception at the Marketplace but, like us, weather caused delays for many of the other teams. I think we were more excited to sing at the Prop Club than participate in a welcome reception with the other 11 teams here. I don't know what would've been more awkward: a meet-and-greet with our opponents or just singing in front of them all. Regardless, we would not be deterred from our chance in the spotlight. After much debate at dinner over which song to choose, we decided on "Shout" (editor's note: by the Isley Brothers). Little did we know that the word "shout" was never actually mentioned in the song.
Our fantasy of bringing the club to their feet was crushed the second we took the mic. We then realized we didn't know more than seven words in the whole song. The DJ actually cut the song short and a few teams left during the performance. We sure know how to clear a room. But we had fun and we're here for a basketball tournament anyway, not an American Idol competition (or so we told ourselves to build a little self-esteem after a poor showing).
So far it has been an exhausting and eventful day. Whoever said this was an "off day" is out of their mind. This was more tiring than any three-hour practice. But I'm interested to see what tomorrow brings and I know the whole team is eager to get to the beach.
