Winning Streak: 7

We have a spot in the top right hand corner of the dry erase board in the locker room where we write what our current winning streak is...wait, WE don't write it...only SHAVON is allowed to write it. If you want to talk about creatures of habit, our team is the perfect example. Sarah tried to change the number on the board while Shavon was being interveiwed on the radio after the game Saturday and I think she almost got taken down by one of her teammates! Everybody sits in the same chair, stands in the same place in the circle, and even exits the locker room in a specific order every game. Hey, if it continues to work for us, we'll keep doing it!

Another big win for the Lady Highlanders! The picture says it all...a 65-38 win on Saturday pushed our winning streak to 7 games and makes our overall record 11-6. More importantly, we are the only undefeated team remaining in the Big South Conference at 3-0. Our girls are playing with so much confidence right now and having alot of fun in the process. We've got 5 days now until our next big game. We travel to Lynchburg on Saturday to play Liberty University at 6:00pm in the Vines Center. It's been several years since a Radford team has beaten Liberty at home or on the road. We will continue to work hard this week to prepare to end that drought and keep our current winning streak alive. We would love to have your support on Saturday in Lynchburg.

A few pictures from the game Saturday at home vs. Winthrop:












And most people don't get to see this...it happens around an hour before game time. Kelli and Sarah doing the "Jump on it" dance:

6 in a row

Don't challenge our girls. Period. They won't back down.

That seems to be what makes our team go. Anytime they have been challenged mentally or physically lately, our team has stepped up. Monday night at Coastal was no different. Before Monday night, we had gone 4 seasons without a win at Coastal Carolina. We have beaten them at home, but could never find a way to get it done on the "beach trip." As soon as the game was over on Saturday at Charleston, our upperclassmen were reminding the entire locker room of that fact. The trip isn't over until we find a way to beat Coastal on Monday night. Coastal gave us all they had for 40 minutes and took the game to overtime, but our kids stepped up huge in overtime and left the beach with a sweep of Charleston and Coastal for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. The win puts us at 10-6 overall and 2-0 in the Big South. We have also won 6 in a row. More importantly, we are 2-0 on the road in conference play. If you've never experienced conference play on a college basketball team, you may not understand how huge that is. This weekend made a huge statement to our conference about how we plan to play this year. Can you tell how excited I am right now? Anyway, I shouldn't ramble on about just a few wins. We have another very important game this Saturday at home against Winthrop. We split with Winthrop during the regular season last year and then they beat us in the tournament. You better believe that our girls remember that this is the team who ended our season last year...and they love a challenge!
A few pictures from the bus ride home after 2 wins on the Beach Trip:

great week

It's been a great week for the Lady Highlanders! We began the week at home against Winston Salem State on Tuesday night with a 72-48 win. That game was followed by another home win vs. Longwood on Thursday with a score of 61-47. Those two games were the last 2 tune ups before we hit the road for Big South Conference play. After those two wins, we had won 4 in a row and were feeling very good about the way our team was playing. We talk all the time about the importance of conference games and about using our nonconference schedule to gain experience and get us ready for the ones that really count. Yes it is nice to be 8-6 going into conference play, but we started on Saturday with a 0-0 record in the games that matter in the long run.
Yesterday, we got a big win at Charleston Southern University. We went into the locker room at halftime down by 7 but the girls came out and played like we know they are capable of playing in the 2nd half and ended up winning by 24 points. They picked it up a notch on both ends of the floor and showed the people in Charleston what Radford Basketball is all about. Our defense in the 2nd half won us that game. So, everybody was in a great mood on the short 2 hour trip over to Myrtle Beach last night. The girls like it when I'm in a good mood because they say I don't let them eat when we lose...I don't think it's that bad...but that's just my opinion.
Today has been a day to relax in the hotel and hopefully replenish the energy supply so we can grab another big win tomorrow night at Coastal Carolina. Tomorrow night will be our 4th game in 7 days and it's a very important one. This would be a great way to start our conference season with 2 wins on the road. Wish us luck as we try to finish this week off with our 6th straight win and don't forget that you can listen live and watch us live on www.ruhighlanders.com!
JRA

Happy New Year!

Maybe my New Year's resolution should be to try to keep up with the blog on a more regular basis. Sometimes I really just forget to write something. This New Year's Eve was a good one for Radford Women's Basketball. We beat Hampton University yesterday 62-54 to end 2006 with a 5-6 record. The record is not exactly what we had hoped for, but I guess we have to take it. We played 7 of our first 10 games on the road and we were very glad to finally get back to playing in the Dedmon Center last night. Sorry I have to cut this one short, but we are about to go watch film and have practice. Our next game is on Thursday at home versus Lees-McRae. 3 more non-conference games left before we kick off Big South Conference play on the 13th!
JRA

Pictures

Ok, I've finally had a little time to relax and load pictures onto my laptop so I thought I would share some pictures from the first semester and the first part of our season. I hope you enjoy and Merry Christmas from all of us at RU!


The team stretching before our game at the University of Evansville in Indiana.







Kelli and Serena on the plane going to New York (maybe Serena is making that face because she doesn't want to sit next to Kelli?)

The girls looking festive at the Hoop Group Christmas Party









More of the girls and guys at the Christmas Party








For those of you who don't know, Sarah is very talented off the court. Here, she's singing and playing the piano at the Christmas Party.









Davida, Meagan, Shavon, Corrie, and Rachel sporting red Rudolph noses at the Christmas party

Merry Christmas

Ok I know it has been a LONG time since I last posted a journal entry...my mom has reminded me of that fact every day lately. I have no good excuse as to why I haven't kept up better except that I really haven't had much to say. Since I last wrote, alot has been going on. So, here's a quick update to catch all of you up on what's going on in the lives of the Lady Highlanders. On Dec. 4th, we hit the road for what seems like our 10th road trip of the year to play Belmont University in Nashville, TN. The restaurant we ate at the night before the game had line dance lessons and then a chance to show off what you had learned. Needless to say, our girls are not at all shy and they quickly became the life of the party. I think everyone in the building knew who the best dancers were because they got somewhat of a large cheer when we finally dragged them off the floor to get back to the hotel. We then had a 13 day break in our schedule because the NCAA will not allow us to play a game during finals week. Our girls studied very hard and from what we hear from them, we should achieve our team goal of at least a 3.0 team grade point average. During finals week, we brought in our male practice team to give us the opportunity to play against some better competition and polish up or correct a few things we had noticed in the first 7 games of the season. All of us coaches made recruiting trips that week loooking for the next class of Lady Highlanders and came back feeling good about the players we are going after. We also attended the Hoop Group Christmas Party. That party is put on by a group of mens and womens RU basketball supporters and always means a great night of conversation and some very good food. The picture at the top is Corrie, Vandy, Kelli, Meagan, and Rachel at the party. After finals, we played a much needed home game against Appalachian State University. We won that game by 12 and had several players come out and play very well for us. Sarah led us with 17 points, Corrie had a double-double, and Johnette played very solid at the PG position in front of her Mom, Dad, and sister who made the trip to Radford. Our last game before Christmas break was once again on the road at East Tennessee State University. We lost a heartbreaker in Johnson City with a score of 54-52 and returned to Radford wishing we could have that one back. We know that we are more talented than our record shows right now and we hope that the lessons we are learning through all of these road games will pay off when conference play rolls around. As for now, it is officially Christmas Eve and I am very happy to be at home in Georgia with my family and my dog. My little brother and I have been watching christmas tournament games the past two days and doing some last minute shopping. The crowd at Walmart today made me promise to finish my shopping much earlier next year! Even though I can never fully escape from hoops and take my mind completely off basketball and our season, I love this short break and the chance to sleep in, see my family, and eat a few home-cooked meals. I hope this gets you all caught up and excited about everything that is going on with RU basketball. I, along with all of the RU Women's Hoops family would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy new year. Put in on your calendars now: we play 4 straight home games starting on New Year's Eve and we'd love to see you in the stands. See you then!
Merry Christmas,
JRA

Road Warriors

It was a long weekend of traveling to Ithaca, New York for the Lady Highlanders. We left Radford last Thursday morning at 5am and finally made it back yesterday afternoon. We came back 1-1 in the tournament after losing a tough one to Duquesne on Friday night and then beat tournament host Cornell on Saturday afternoon in the consolation game. The girls (especially Johnette) complained about the dinner we ordered on Friday after the game and then were commenting during the game on Saturday that since we were winning, maybe they would get to eat good on Saturday night. They said they have to work hard for their meals. They did play very well on Saturday against Cornell and it was very apparent that defense was the focus. Some of our defenses looked as good as we've seen them look all year. It's great as a coach to watch a team have so much fun playing defense. I hope that continues! We had a good dinner on Saturday night and as always, we were the life of the entire restaurant. When you get all of us sitting at one table, it always seems to get loud and we can tell that everyone else is jealous that they can't be included in our fun! The girls sang happy birthday to a complete stranger and I think a few of them were flirting with our waiter. It was a good way to end our trip. Today, we will get on the bus to go to Nashville, Tennessee to play Belmont University tomorrow night. It is about a 5 1/2 hour trip and I'm hoping the DVD player on the bus works so we can pass the time watching movies. Belmont is a great team who won their conference last year, and beating them on the road would be a big win for us. My Dad is bringing my grandmother and great aunt to the game so I'm very excited! I hope to write again on Wednesday when we make it back to RU. After that, no more road games until the 20th...we'll be glad to sleep in our own beds for a while.

The top left picture is Becca (our manager), Coach T, and Corrie at dinner Saturday night. The top right picture is Shavon, Meagan, Bebe, and Becca chillin in their hotel room.

JRA