Finish the regular season strong!

Tuesday night in Asheville was a first for the current group of Lady Highlanders. The 70-58 victory marked the first time we have beaten UNCA on their home floor in 5 seasons. It was great to see our team come together and come away with a hard fought win on the same floor where we will compete for the Big South Championship in just over two weeks. The win in Asheville was also a milestone in Radford Women's Basketball history giving us only the 2nd 20 win regular season in history and the first back to back 20 win seasons ever at RU. I am so proud of our girls for keeping their composure throughout what was a very intense game and playing just the way we practiced last week...very focused on our mission. While the Asheville win was a great one, we have to immediately focus on our next very important game. Tomorrow is our last home game and a game where our seniors need to deliver big. We go into the game against Winthrop tied with them for 2nd place in the conference at 7-3 and they are coming off of a historical win for their program (they beat Liberty on Wed) and playing very well. The winner of tomorrow's game locks up at least the #2 seed in the tournament and if a few crazy things happen...we could potentially be playing for the #1 seed next Friday. Anyway, I hope the entire city of Radford comes out to support our 3 seniors in their last game in the Dedmon Center. This senior class has redefined what it means to play Radford Basketball and we are so proud of them. All 3 of them will be graduating in May and I'm sure they will be just as successful in the future as they have been representing RU on the court. Big game tomorrow...see you there!
JRA

Corrie's thoughts on Senior Day:
It’s that time of year again and I can’t believe it. We only have two games left before we start conference tournament play and I’m super excited yet it is distressing for me. I say this because our next game is senior night and it will be my last time ever playing on my home floor. It seems like yesterday when I was just a freshman and we were celebrating the seniors. I didn’t realize how fast my four years would fly by! I always tell the underclassmen to cherish the time you have left because before you know it, you’re a senior and then its over! Now, this Saturday will be me and my two fellow senior’s time. Its senior night and I hope we get a big win so it sends us into the tournament in a second place finish! It’s going to be very emotional for me though, I love my school and my team and I just hope everyone comes out to cheer us on to victory!
#20

keep practicing like that!

Coach Porter kicked our team's butt yesterday in practice. And they deserved it. Don't get me wrong...we had a great practice. It's just that we've decided not to let our team TALK about what it takes to win and not practice like they want to win a conference championship. Coach asked the team a queston in the locker room before the Charleston Southern game last Saturday that has become our focus for the rest of the season. She asked them to give her the 3 things that when we do those things well, we win. The team responded with: Defend, Rebound, and Take Care of the Ball. We did those three things as well as we have all season on Saturday vs CSU and again on Monday vs Coastal and we came away with two very decisive victories. Coach said this to the girls in our huddle just before game time: If you had the answers to a test before you walked in the door and you still failed the test, how smart does that make you? She said, you guys just gave me the answers...our keys to winning. Go pass the test! I thought that made so much sense. Our team told us what they have to do to win and they went out and got the job done. That brings me back to practice yesterday. Coach won't let them have the answers and not focus on those things everyday in practice. Every time either team missed a blockout or turned the ball over yesterday in practice, Shavon kept up with it and they ran a sprint for each one when practice was over (which for one team was 8 sprints!). They were intense and worked really hard yesterday and I'm thinking today they bring their focus to the court. Next test is Tuesday at UNC Asheville and I hope we ace it!
JRA

Milestones for our seniors

I have failed to mention that over the last 2 months, 2 of our seniors have reached some very impressive career milestones. On December 22nd, Corrie Fertitta scored her 1000th career point when she hit the game winning three point shot at American University. A few games later in January, Kelli Darden reached the 1000th point mark on the road at Longwood University. Kelli followed up that achievement by breaking the Big South Career Blocks Record (257) at RU's homecoming game against UNC-Asheville on February 2nd. We are so proud of our seniors and the great tradition that they have helped rebuild in RU Women's Basketball. When Corrie and Kelli made the decision to become Lady Highlanders, the success we are experiencing right now was just a vision that Coach Porter had for our program. Through alot of hard work and the help of 2 great seniors, RU is finally back on the map as one of the top teams in the Big South. Congratulations to Kelli and Corrie (Thunder and Lightning)!

Our next game is the most important game on our schedule.

1-1 since my last post. We finished up the first half of conference play 4-2 and 17-8 overall and we are having a great season. We dropped a tough one to Liberty at home on Wednesday night but we bounced back to pick up a very valuable conference win on the road against Winthrop on Saturday. Every conference win is a big one, but conference wins on the road are extremely important. The 8 point victory on Saturday put us in sole possession of 2nd place in the Big South with 6 games to go before the tournament. The 17 wins we have right now puts us just one short of the 18 total wins we had last season when we headed to Asheville for the Big South Tournament. We have a chance to win our next 6 and finish the regular season with 23 wins...something that hasn't been done in Radford since the days of conference titles and NCAA tournament appearances in the mid 1990's. We are proud of what we're doing this season but we won't be completely satisfied until we bring home a conference championship. One of our players said in a team meeting last week that "we don't lose again". That is the mindset our team is taking for the rest of the season. Coach Porter has talked about our next game being the most important one on our schedule because that's the only one we can control and the only one we're focused on. Right now, that next important game on our schedule is at High Point University tomorrow night. We don't have to lose again this season. Wish us luck!

Big game tonight!

In an hour and twenty minutes, the Lady Highs tip off against conference in-state rival Liberty University. So far this season, Liberty has been playing very well and only has losses to North Carolina and Virginia Tech, both ACC teams. The Liberty game, for me at least, always seems to have a little more meaning than any other conference game. Every Big South game is very important and counts in the standings just the same, but I always want to win this one more than most. Before senior night last season, we had not beaten LU at home or in Lynchburg since our coaching staff began at Radford. We usually played well for parts of games but never seemed to put a complete game together. Last March in Sarah Stephens, Meagan Hilligas, Tameisha Carter, and Shavon Earp's last home game as a Highlander, we finally found the magic formula and slayed the giant. We won that game by 24 points! And if we left any doubt in anyone's mind, we beat them again less than a week later in the semi-final game of the Big South Tournament. Kelli Darden hit the game winning shot with 0.2 seconds on the game clock to seal a 2 point victory and a trip to the conference championship game. Those wins were sweet and very meaningful but nothing we did last season will help us win one tonight. Liberty comes into the Dedmon Center tonight 4-0 in the league and we are 3-1. Coach Porter has put together a great game plan and we plan no suprises. Our girls will step on the floor and play the way we've played for our last 24 games...pressure defense, transition, and executing our half court sets to get the ball where we want it. This is Lady Highlander basketball and we're ready to show Liberty the 2008 version of it! Time to head down to the court.
JRA