last post of the season

Now that it's been almost 2 weeks since our season ended, I finally feel like writing about the final games of our season. I've had so many people tell me since our final loss that once the hurt of losing wears off that we will look back on this season and be very proud of what we accomplished. I don't know that any of us will ever be able to erase the memories of losing the championship game from our minds but now I am beginning to realize just what an incredible season our girls put together this year. I have our post season media guide hanging just behind my computer on the wall and the more I look at the list of accolades on it, the more impressed I am by our girls. The accomplishments listed are: Back to Back 20 win seasons / Back to Back Big South Conference Championship Appearances / Preseason WNIT Berth / Four Big South Postseason Award Winners / Two Big South All-Tournament Team Honorees / Second Most Wins in School History / All Time Big South and Radford Individual Shot Block Records / School Record for Blocks in a Season / Preseason Big South Conference Favorite / Two 1000 Point Scorers / Ranked in Top 10 Nationally in Steals and Blocked Shots. The front of the postseason media guide highlights Johnette Walker for making All Big South 2nd team and Big South All Academic Team, Kelli Darden for being named Big South Defensive Player of the Year, First Team All Big South, and Big South All Tournament Team, and Taleia Moton for making the Big South All Rookie Team and also being named to the Big South All Tournament Team. If that list isn't enough for you, I feel like we had a few that were left off of the all conference list but that's an entirely different story. Anyway, my last post was the day before we left to go to Asheville for the conference tournament and we were all very excited about what the week held for us. The atmosphere around the hotel was really fun to be a part of. Every team stays at the Doubletree Hotel in Asheville and the hotel staff wears team jerseys and referee shirts. They really set it up nice for the teams and everybody there was excited about the tournament. Our girls were mostly excited about the free doubletree cookies and the snack room that was open all day everyday. On Thursday night after we had practice, we went to the tournament banquet at the Biltmore Country Club. I have to say that our team was the best dressed and best looking group there. How could they not be when they have the best looking coaching staff in the conference?!! It's always fun to see everyone dressed up and hear the announcement of the all conference teams. It's MORE fun to hear our girls crack jokes for the entire dinner about what other people are wearing, how short Kelli's skirt was, and how tough it was for Johnette to walk in her high heels. Once the banquet was over, the attention shifted to the real reason everyone was there: the games. We had to play UNCA in the first round in a rematch of last year's championship game and we knew they would throw everything they had at us. Asheville is always a tough team to beat in the Justice Center and they always play well in front of a big (and very loud) crowd. It took double overtime to beat them (50 minutes of basketball!) but we came out with a great win and looked forward to a 2nd round matchup with Winthrop. The Winthrop game was in my opinion one of our best defensive showings all season. The girls defended and rebounded like they finally understood what it was going to take to win a championship. I was so proud of them and everyone around us was excited about the championship game. I have to add that we had so much support cheering for us the whole weekend. Along with all of our families, President Kyle, Dr. Dore and her husband, Dr. Pomerantz, and Mr. Lineburg made the trip to Asheville to cheer us on. The dance team and the cheerleaders got them out of their seats and made us feel very loved. I don't think they realize what it meant to the girls to have all of that red in the stands helping us out. When our team walked out of the hotel to board the bus on Sunday morning, they had a tunnel of people led by the cheerleaders and dance team with signs and loud cheers. I thought it was a great moment for our team to experience.
As most of you reading this know, the championship game didn't turn out exactly as we would have liked. Losing any game on a buzzer beater is tough, but losing the way we did in a game that could've put us in the Big Dance was one of the toughest games I've ever been involved in. With just over 5 seconds remaining, we had a one point lead and the ball under Liberty's basket. We called a timeout to set up our press break and knew that Liberty had to foul us to stop the clock. It is my opinion (and the opinion of most everyone else sitting in that gym) that Taleia got tripped, pushed, fouled...whatever you want to call it as she broke to the ball. Kelli passed the ball into Taleia as she was hitting the floor and the official under the basket said that Taleia traveled. Taleia just didn't trip over her own two feet. In a matter on one possession, our entire mood shifted. Our bench was in a state of shock. Did he really just call that? The last play of the game is a blur for me. Frazee's shot fell through the net with 0.2 seconds on the clock and Liberty started to celebrate. I hurt so much for our kids. They wanted that game so bad and I think they deserved to win it. Leaving the gym that day, I had alot of people tell me that we got screwed, that we had a great year, and that we could still make some noise in the WNIT. I really didn't want to hear any of that. I wanted the officials to watch the tape and let the teams come back replay that last possession...put T on the free throw line...and let her ice the game. I wanted to be inside the gym cutting the nets down. I wanted to see Kelli and Vandy's victory dance that was going to make them famous on Sportscenter. I wanted our kids to get a championship more than I've ever wanted anything else. Like I said earlier, we won't ever forget that game, but I hope no one around here forgets this entire season. It was a great one.
JRA

it's tournament time

I apologize to anyone who reads our blog on a regular basis for not writing for the last week. (even though I think the only people who really keep up with this share my last name!) Hopefully the season our girls are having has gained us a few more fans and hopefully our alumni are proud to read about their alma mater's success. If that's the case, then I really hope you haven't given up on me writing regularly. Since I last wrote, our seniors played and won their last game in the Dedmon Center. It was an emotional night for Kelli, Corrie, Serena, their families, and our players and staff. The senior day game was not only an important day for our seniors, it was an important day in the race for the #2 seed in the Big South Conference Tournament. Our performance last Saturday gave us a 67-54 win and locked up our 2nd place finish in the regular season. It was a great way to send our seniors out and gave us alot of confidence going into our last regular season game at Liberty.
The Liberty game didn't turn out exactly as we'd hoped but we did play a very solid game. We got off to a slow start in Lynchburg but our girls battled back to make it a one possession game and briefly took the lead with under 5 minutes to play. With us fouling late in the game, the final score really didn't show how close the game actually was. I think our team realizes that Liberty is definitely not unbeatable and we are looking forward to a potential championship game rematch. We are not looking past the first 2 rounds of the tournament by any means, but I would personally be excited to see Liberty again with everything on the line.
Tomorrow afternoon, we leave Radford heading to Asheville, NC for the final test of the season. This is our final exam and I think our girls are ready. We have the opportunity to face UNC-Asheville in the first round in a rematch of last year's conference championship game and our preparation this week has been going very well. I promise to write more from our hotel before the game!
JRA

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

Corrie Fertitta - all conference post player and intern

Corrie Fertitta gets it done on the court as well as in the office. She started an internship in our office last week and is doing a great job so far. What else would you expect? Hopefully since she will be around the office more often now, I can convince her to write about her last trip through the Big South Conference and our run for a conference title!


Hello Friends! We have just started conference play and its going pretty well so far. We are 2-1 in conference right now and just beat High Point on Saturday. It was a good win. Kelli had an awesome game with 20 points and 15 rebounds, and I can’t wait to get back on the floor on Saturday and play UNC Asheville. We have all week to prepare which is good so we can really focus on what we need to do to get another “W.”
Today I’m starting my second week in the coaches’ office doing my internship with them. I wanted to do my internship with Coach Porter because I wanted to see what goes on behind the scenes as a coach. You always see how practices and games go, but never what has to happen on the business side of things. This will be a good experience for me because I want to be a coach in the future and it will help show me how to deal with things and if it really is something I would like. As for my job, I just do whatever any of the coaches need or want me to do. Last week I made some flyers for our game on Saturday and went around campus posting them up trying to get more support from our student body. I think my flyers worked, because we had a lot more people at the game then normal on Saturday! Yes! So far, it’s really fun in the office and I truly enjoying getting to spend time with all the coaches!

Corrie #20

LONG road trip

Yes, we are STILL on the road. We are in our 3rd hotel and 3rd city in the last 5 days and we've still got one more day and one more very important conference game to play before we head back to Radford. Our trip started last Wednesday and is finally ending up tomorrow night with our game vs Charleston Southern. Yesterday, we got a big win over Coastal Carolina and got our conference season started off the right way. Our starters were great (as always!) and our bench came up really big for us. KP, Kymesha, and Denay had great games! Again, our defense was a major factor in the win and I hope that win is the first of many in Big South Conference play. Road trips aren't really all that bad when I think about it. Right now, I am sooooo full because we ate dinner at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse. The food was amazing and I think we all left with to-go boxes. It's awesome to get to eat at a great place like that and get the chance to laugh and joke with our team for the whole night. I think our group had more fun than anybody else in the whole restaurant (especially when the guy with the drums came out). I won't name any names but a few of our players were dancing on their chairs during Coach Porter's birthday song! I caught some of it on my camera and I promise to upload the video as soon as we get home. Our players aren't shy at all! Well, I'm off to bed now in my king size bed (another perk of being on the road!) since we have to wake up early for shoot around in the morning. We're back at home next Saturday vs High Point and we'd love to get a home crowd advantage. These crowds on the road can be so brutal! Wish us luck tomorrow night...Go Lady Highs!
JRA
Kelli scored her 1000th career point Thursday night vs. Longwood and became our 2nd senior to reach that mark this season. She is also currently the leading shot blocker in the Big South and ranked in the top 15 nationally for blocked shots. Congratulations to Kelli D!

Back on the winning track

Good Morning! It's good to be a part of RU Women's Basketball these days! Our team got it's 13th win of the season on Tuesday night and stretched our record to 13-5 and our winning streak to 3 games in a row. Tuesday night, we played at Presbyterian College and came out of Clinton, SC with a hard fought win. PC will be joining our conference next season along with Gardner Webb University and we found out first hand that their gym is a tough place to win (if you know what I mean). We trailed by 5 at half time after not shooting a great % from the field and not really playing our brand of defense for the first 20 minutes. Kelli and Taleia both got in early foul trouble and didn't see much action in the first half either. The second half was a different story! Whatever magic words Coach Porter said in the locker room at half time, she needs to say that every game because we came out and played our style, shot better, and came away with a great road win. Our girl's are fun to watch when they decide to turn it up a notch on defense and really pressure the other team full court. I was proud of them for keeping their composure and playing from behind in a tough environment. That showed us that our team is growing up and we can battle back and get wins on the road.
I hope the road wins just keep on coming for the next week and a half! We hit the road again next Wednesday to play Longwood University on Thursday then leave from there going to Myrtle Beach to play Coastal Carolina. Then, we leave Coastal going straight to Charleston Southern. It's going to be a LONG road trip. Hopefully, our maturity and leadership will help keep our team focused throughout the weekend and we can open up Big South Conference play with 2 huge wins! You can follow us with live video, audio, and stats through our website at www.ruhighlanders.com.
JRA
p.s. Taleia Moton was named Big South Rookie of the Week last week. That is her 3rd Rookie of the Week honor this season. Congrats to T!

Hoping to start a new streak!

Since I last wrote, we suffered a tough loss at home to Towson University and snapped our 5 game winning streak. Last Wednesday was a game that I really hope taught us a lesson. Coach Porter has been preaching to our team that we will not win a conference championship unless we focus on being the best rebounding team in our conference. We had been finding ways to win games even though we were being outrebounded and against Towson, it finally caught up with us. Towson kicked our butts on the boards and despite a late rally on our part, they left the Dedmon Center with an 8 point victory. Like I said, I think we learned our lesson. The next night, we outrebounded USC Upstate and won by 42 points. On Saturday afternoon, we outrebounded Virginia Intermont and won by 49 points. Good things happen when we focus on defense and rebounding.
Right now, we're in Clinton, SC getting ready to play Presbyterian College tomorrow night at 6:00. We are pretty familiar with their team since it's only been about a week and a half since we played them at home in our Christmas tournament. We won that game by 21 points, but we fully understand that we have to come in ready to play hard tomorrow on their floor to get a win down here. Another team in our conference beat PC by almost 40 points at home and came here last week and only squeeked by with a 4 point win. I think they will be a much tougher team at home and they will definitely get hyped up to play us again. We are trying to adjust to being back on the road again after getting to spend so much time at home during our 5 game homestand. Tomorrow night is the first of 4 straight road games that will stretch over the next 2 weeks. Only 2 more games to continue to improve before Big South plays begins...and that's when it all starts to really matter! We've won 2 in a row right now and hopefully tomorrow we can get a 3rd and start a whole new winning streak...wish us luck!
JRA

5 in a row!

Happy Holidays to all of you Lady Highlander fans! It's been a great holiday season for our team and we hope to continue our winning streak into 2008. We've won our last 5 games and just won our RU Christmas Classic Tournament championship game last night. Kelli and Vandy were named to the all tournament team and Corrie was named tournament MVP. We won both games in the tournament by 21 points and our defensive pressure and intensity have become our trademark. If you haven't had the chance to watch our team in person, you are missing some exciting basketball. Since I last wrote, we beat East Tennessee State University at home by 6 then went on the road to American University just before Christmas to win by 8. Corrie Fertitta hit a huge 3 pointer to help us take the lead for good late in the game to score her 1000th career point as a Highlander. That win pushed our record to 8-4 and was a terrific way to go into our 3 days off for Christmas. On our trip to D.C., Rook's family opened up their house to our team and staff and prepared a great dinner for us. We want to thank Mr. and Mrs. Harmon for taking time to prepare a meal for us and letting our team take over their house for a few hours. I also want to say thanks to my little brother for catching a flight to D.C. and driving all night with me so we could get home to Georgia on the morning of the 23rd. Every hour at home counts when we get such a short break and he helped me out alot!
We all returned to Radford the day after Christmas and set our sights on a 5 game homestand. As of today, we have won 20 of our last 22 home games and we look forward to 3 more before we have to hit the road again. Friday night, we opened up our Christmas Classic with a 70-49 win over future Big South member Presbyterian College. Last night, our team gave me an awesome birthday present by knocking out UNC-Wilmington early and going on to a 21 point victory to stretch our winning streak to 5 games. Our starters have consistently played well and last night we had a few kids come off of our bench and play very well. Kendra Porter (KP) and Kymesha Alston both had career nights and I was so proud of them. Our team's goal is to continue to get better each and every game and we hope to be playing our best basketball late in the season. Again, our girls are playing some great basketball (especially at home!) and we hope that you all will get out to the Dedmon Center during the next week to check us out! Next game in Tuesday at 7:00 vs. Towson University. See you there!
JRA

52-44 win over Wake Forest!

Our girl's got a great win for our team and a great win for Radford University last night at Wake Forest. We went into the game last night coming off an absolutely great week of practice and once we got into the game, we played the same way we'd been practicing. Coach Porter talked in the locker room about playing tough and competing on each and every possession and I think our girls stepped up and met her challenge of playing physical and not getting "roughed". We led for the entire game and we were extremely proud of how our team answered the runs that Wake made in the 2nd half. They cut our lead to 2 at one point and while they were busy celebrating, Johnette answered with a 3, Taleia got a steal, and Vandy drained her first 3 of the season to push our lead back to 8. Our defense looked amazing last night and I think we sent a message to the ACC that we didn't come down there to back down from a challenge. J Dub led us in scoring with 16 but the number that I was most impressed with was that she only had 1 turnover in the 2nd half. Taleia had her first double-double of her college career and I now owe her a dinner at my house because of her effort on the boards. Kelli D just keeps adding to her total in double-double games and I think she is slowly starting to play like she wants to be the best post player in the conference. Lastly, something that doesn't neccessarily show up on the stat sheet, Vandy played incredible defense of Wake's leading scorer and hit a few really big shots. I was really happy for her to play so well! Our new athletic director, Mr. Lineburg, and former RU coach, Charlene Curtis, were at the game and came into the locker room afterwards to congratulate our team. It was a great feeling to have those two just as excited as we were about getting such a big win. Wake Forest was ranked 28th in the country in the AP poll going into our game and was coming off a win over #11 Texas A&M. I was so proud of our team and I hope this win propels us into 2 more before Christmas.
Last week was finals week and the closer we got to Friday, the better mood our team was in. Even practicing at 8am on Thursday, they were very talkative and laughing and joking. It's amazing how finishing another tough semester and getting the weight of classes off their shoulders can help their moods so drastically. Saturday night, we celebrated the semester being over by having dinner as a team at a Japanese steakhouse. Their were a few girls who'd never been to a restaurant like that and I think all of them had a really good time. The noise level at Arigato most definitely rose when our team came through the door! After the way we played yesterday, maybe we'll eat nice dinners like that more often! Next game is Thursday at home vs East Tennessee State. We'd love to see you in the Dedmon on Thursday!
JRA
pictures from dinner are coming as soon as KP emails them to me!

Did anybody else do this on Thanksgiving?

Did anybody else dance like this at their Thanksgiving dinner? Coach P can dance! (with a little help from Kelli, Serena, and Charron.

Me dominating on Nintendo Wii boxing!

Charron vs. Shavon in Wii tennis with Brian (our sports info guy) calling the play by play...If I remember correctly, Charron won.

Shavon, Julie (Coach P's wife), and Charron checking out the sale ads!

Big win last night!

Things have been going well over the last few days for the Lady Highlanders! Last Friday, we got a 63-51 win over Navy to continue our winning tradition at home. Our players are beginning to become very proud of the fact that we've only lost 2 home games out of our last 18. Kelli and Corrie both had double-doubles and Taleia chipped in 14 points and 4 steals in a very balanced effort from our team. Kelli also had a career high 16 rebounds! I think the goals that Coach P has been giving her are paying off. Coach P fouls them so hard in practice that they are finally getting used to finishing shots through some contact in games. We hit the road AGAIN on Sunday headed down to Boone, NC to play Appalachian State. I felt like we had a really good practice on Sunday night and that usually translates into a good outcome for us. It was freezing in Boone! When it's that cold outside, I want to see snow! Anyway, we won by 20 last night (65-45) and put 4 people in double figures in scoring. Corrie and Johnette had double-doubles and Taleia had 8 steals. We dominated on the boards and I seriously hope that trend continues for the rest of the season. Games like last night always make the bus trip home alot more enjoyable for everyone. Vandy has been wanting to eat at Bojangle's since sometime last season and she finally got her wish after the game. Our players are so funny when it comes to their food demands!...I would've asked for Outback! I promised her that if we won, I'd tell the bus driver to take her to Bojangle's. On a side note, Kelli and Serena ordered the "tailgate special." If you think that sounds like too much food for 2 people, you're probably right!
We're off from practice today and a few of the girls have stopped by the gym to do a little extra shooting, but most of them are hopefully preparing for their exams that will take place next week. We are in the office starting to prepare for our next big game...VCU this Saturday. They beat us by 3 at home last year and they have a very talented team. This is a big game for us! Wish us luck!
JRA

p.s. Denay chest bumped Coach Porter so hard in the locker room after the game that Coach fell down...and rumor is that Rachel has a picture of it. Coach threatened to fire me if that picture ends up on the blog so chances are no one will ever see it!

our style

I just had to pry myself away from my new Nintendo Wii. I've been playing against my roommates for the last 3 hours and I am so competitive. I hate to lose at anything...and so do our players. It's so much more fun when we win. Everybody is happy. The bus ride home is awesome...and film session the next day is much more enjoyable. Coach Porter says all of the time when we're watching film that when we win, it doesn't mean we did everything right and when we lose, it doesn't mean we did everything wrong. Last week, we beat Winston-Salem State at their place on Tuesday and we beat a very good Colonial Conference team in William and Mary at home on Friday. (we've made it our goal not to lose at home this season.) Then, we went back on the road over the weekend and lost to Hampton University. If I can be honest, that loss really sucked. However, I think all of us learned something from that game. From our players all the way up to Coach Porter, we all learned that from this point forward, we will play OUR STYLE no matter who we play. We will press teams from the start, play pressure defense in the half court, and run past teams in transition. If you haven't seen us play yet...get ready. We aren't trying to suprise anybody...this is our style and we're ready to impose it on every team left on our schedule.
JRA
p.s. I'll post pictures from Thanksgiving tomorrow!

pictures from TCU

first game

Last week was a crazy week for us. We've spent the last 3 months preparing for the season to start and the closer it got, the more stuff I felt like I still needed to do. For those of you who know me, I can tend to get a little stressed out over our travel plans. I have this nightmare that we go on a road trip and something is so wrong with the hotel that our team doesn't sleep well and we lose the game...or that our bus doesn't show up to take us to the airport...or that our pregame meal reservation gets lost and we don't have time to eat before the game. Anyway, the WNIT travel plans have been a huge chore and last week when I was trying to check and recheck everything, our new office furniture showed up. Now don't get me wrong, I am so excited about our new stuff. My office today looks absolutely awesome. It just sucked last week to spend 2 days not getting any work done while they moved furniture and got everything set up.
We left Thursday morning at 5am headed to the airport going to TCU. Our flight leaving Roanoke got delayed because for some reason, they had to add oil to the plane...kinda scary! We were supposed to have a 2 1/2 hour layover in Chicago and most of planned to use that time to eat breakfast. Well, when we finally landed in Chicago, it was 9:30 and our flight to Fort Worth was scheduled to take off at 9:45! Our entire travel party of 23 people ran through the airport and just barely with some begging made it onto the plane. The girls were even talking about the people who were cheering for us as we all sprinted past them trying to make it.
Once we got to Texas, the weather was awesome and the trip turned out pretty good...except fot the outcome of the game. We got outrebounded pretty bad and we need to do a better job taking care of the ball, but there were definitely some positives that we can take away from that game. We've had alot of people congratulate us today for only losing by 11 points...and I hate that. Yes, TCU is a great team. They were ranked 43rd in the nation when we played them. People outside of our team think it's great that we didn't get blown out. BUT, our players and coaches know that we could have won that game. We could've done a few more things a little bit better and come out of Texas with a huge win. We don't want to just be good enough to hang with teams like TCU...we want to be good enough to beat teams like TCU. And we're close...we will get there.
JRA

**Thank you so much to the few loyal fans who made the trip all the way to Texas to watch us play...and thanks to my little brother for giving the officials such a hard time and almost getting kicked out of the game! We really appreciate all of your support.

Kymesha Alston #23 - Sophomore post player...and the life of the party!

A few words from Kymesha:

I love it here at my new school. Last semester I was just getting the hang of things but now I finally feel like i'm in "the loop". I feel like practices are going well for the most part. So far my favorite thing about practices are the drills that we do when we get to go up and down the floor in game like situations. There really is nothing that I dislike about practices except maybe the running, but that's nothing out of control. I love the energy that all the coaches bring to our practices everyday because we, the players, tend to feed off of it which in the end leads to a good practice. If I could coach practice for one day I would do less breakdown defensive drills, but incorporate them in more real game situations...because it easier to do it right in a drill than in a game. I would make a rule that every missed layup the team will run a down and back and the person who missed would do 10 pushups. If its a missed layup in a drill then it would be a line a layup, like down and back would be 2 instead of 1.

Because I have late classes and my only early class is online now, a typical day for me would be wake up at 10ish, breakfast, class, one life to live, training room, practice/dinner or dinner/practice, then "me" time. Me time could be me getting some work done or just simply relaxing and/or hanging out. This is just some input on how my semester is going so far.

Thanks to Kymesha for taking the time to send this to me so you guys can get to know her a little better. Since Kymesha transferred to RU last winter, she has to sit out this semester. Her first official game as a Lady Highlander will be on December 16th at Wake Forest University. We are all looking forward to the day when she can finally put on an RU uniform!

JRA

are we there yet?

Hello again RU fans! Not much going on worth writing about in the last few days in our world except that we've been having some great practices. I've been really impressed with our team's ability to bring 100% to the floor just about every day. Now, don't get me wrong. We have had a day or two that I've left the gym wondering what the heck they were doing and where they left their brains that day, but it's seriously only been maybe once or twice since practice began. It's 2 weeks and 2 days until we open up against TCU and the closer it gets, the slower the time is passing. It's almost like a long road trip in the car and I'm that little kid in the back seat asking "are we there yet?" I sat down at my computer earlier today and started on our trip itinerary for that trip and got even more excited than I already was. It just seems like when I start checking over our flight info and hotel stuff and practice times in Texas that the game is getting really close! We passed out all of the travel gear and bags to the team last week so they are ready to hit the road looking good. It feels like an early Christmas present to the girls and my office looks like an Adidas warehouse on days like that! We play a scrimmage game next Saturday at home and hopefully all of the first game jitters and nervous energy will all come out so we are ready to just relax and play on November 9th. Ok, time for me to get back to work. Keep checking back for a few updates from our players. They are supposed to be emailing me some things to post.
JRA