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!