March 10, 2010

Today we had our last practice on campus before heading to St Louis and despite the early morning everyone was wide awake and filled with excitement.  Our team's 13 class schedules did not coordinate with each other very well this semester and we have been forced to practice at 7:30 am on Monday and Wednesdays and at 6:30 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Getting up this early took some time to get used to for many of us but with the help of a "few" cups of coffee for Coach Buscher and Garber, a Diet Pepsi for Coach Kerkhoff and a nice cold glass of chocolate milk for Coach Copeland we made it! 

In our first game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament we play a very dynamic #5 seeded Northern Iowa.  We split games in the regular season with each of us winning our home games.  Like all of our past games, defense and rebounding have been our focus as we prepare for the game.  We have been analyzing videos of our past games against them along with some of their more recent games.  This is a great opportunity to pick up on the some of their routines, habits, and plays to possibility give you a small advantage.     We have also been getting in the gym and doing some extra shooting during the week.  We don't want to leave anything to chance!

The past week we have been watching other conference tournaments on TV such as the Women's Big Ten Tournament and of course the Men's Valley Tournament.  This has made us even more anxious to play in our tournament!  The great thing about conference tournaments is that you have a completely clean slate.  No past success or failure matters; it's a whole new season! 

As we look ahead we know that we have a great challenge in front of us but its one we are ready for.  We have been preparing all year and our entire careers for this.  Three games in three days is all that stands in front of us and a Missouri Valley Championship!

Jenny and Renee