The women's hoops team is taking turns writing the blog this season, and senior forward Natalie Day checks in with the latest entry, which includes a lot of pictures!!Be sure to bookmark portlandpilots.com/WBBblog and follow the Pilots all season long.
ENTRY #6: Natalie Day
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Ho, Ho, Ho! Happy Holidays Pilot World!
Natalie here, (Also known as Nikki, Nik at Night, Nik Nat, and anything else you can think of) checking in to bring you the most updated information on your favorite Pilot squad. It has been nearly a month since our last blog entry so don’t worry your pretty little heads, I have LOTS of information to dish out to you.
First and foremost, I have to announce to the world that… WE SURVIVED FINALS!!
Yes ladies, way to close the semester successfully in the classroom! For us seniors, we are only ONE semester away from the big walk!
For the past couple of weeks the girls and I have been burning the midnight oil trying to make sure that our GPA’s are looking right.
As a side note: I am still petitioning that Dead Week, the week before finals, should be renamed Coma Week. Because after that ridiculous amount of work we receive is finished, all you want to do is… sleep.
For the month of November our schedules have been nothing but eat, sleep, school, basketball, and repeat. So it feels good to finally have a little bit of time on our hands to rest our weary bones. But for now I guess it is my job to bring you all up to speed on what’s been going on here on the Bluff.
Our last blog entry left off in Honolulu, Hawaii where we were about to take on our contenders in the Jack in the Box Rainbow Whine Classic. We went 2-1 in the tournament and were handed our only loss by currently #21 ranked DePaul. In addition, we had a big win over San Diego State that came down to buzzer beating free throws by yours truly. All in all we had a great time in Hawaii and truly miss the sand, laughs, and beaches.
(Look Ma!) I even received a little Tiki Man for making the All-Tournament team. :)
Next up we had three exciting home games back on the main land. Our first was against cross city rivals Portland State where sophomore point guard Alexis Byrd stole the show dropping a career high of 21 points! She also set a new Chiles Center record for the most free-throws made in a game without a single miss as she went 11-11 from the charity stripe. Yeah Byrd!!
Another sophomore that was on fire that night was none other than miss Poops (Amy Pupa) on the boards. She came up with a career high of 15 rebounds that night which I’m sure made Papa Poops very proud! :)
I bet no one else’s sophomores can do that! ;)
Next, we scooted on past Montana to improve for three straight wins. It was a great team effort as my post buddy and I (Amy Pupa) made up for 30 rebounds that night!
Following Montana, we were dished our third loss of the season by the pesky Eastern Washington Eagles. The turnovers we had sealed our own fate.
The following weekend we headed to Eugene to take on our first Pac-12 team, the Oregon Ducks. We found that a lot of our staff were actually amazed by the new Oregon facility and caught a couple snap shots of the floor up close.
We battled hard throughout the game, even to the last minutes as we brought their lead to 4 points, but our efforts came up short when the buzzer rang. Our loss to the Ducks made it our second in a row.
As we headed home from Eugene, we knew we had a lot of work to do seeing that our opponents weren’t going to get any easier. For the next week we practiced hard and put in extra shots in our free time.
Our next away game would be against another Pac-12 school, the Washington Huskies, as we knew we had our work cut out for us.
Our trip to Seattle the following weekend would be the last time our senior point guard, ReZina TecleMariam, would get to play in front of her friends and family as a Pilot. We also had some more familiar faces as freshman guard and Seattle native Kari Luttinen’s family and friends were in attendance of our game. I also had some family in the house as well. Although I’m hailing in all the way from Maryland, my father’s brothers and sisters actually live throughout the Seattle area.
Our game against the Huskies was a brutal battle. Z’s former AAU teammate and best friend Regina Rogers gave us post players a lot of trouble. We entered halftime up on the Huskies by 3 but our turnovers in the second half more than leveled the playing field.
Next up, we headed across town to take on Seattle U. The early afternoon game would conclude our preseason road trip games. The Redhawks bothersome 3-2 zone and sleek Nike balls caused us to yet again turn the ball over and hand them the game.
As we headed home to P-town, we still had the determination and outlook on the season that we had in the beginning. We realized that these losses were merely a bump in the road on our way to earning a championship. After every practice you could still find girls sticking around to put in extra work. Work that would be much needed since our next opponent was #14 ranked Louisville.
The Louisville game was our annual Pack the House event. This year, nearly 3,200 people were expected to be at the Chiles center to cheer on either team. A lot of the crowd was from a local Native American Reservation, coming to cheer on Shoni and Jude Schimmel. I don’t know their story, but apparently they grey up on the reservation and both nabbed scholarships to Louisville. They had quite a fan base, even our housemate ran around cheering how much she had the biggest “girl crush” on Shoni. Half the time I didn’t know which side she was cheering for!
Shoni came out and did what she did best… shoot the three. She put up 13 threes that game and made 4. We put up a fight against Louisville, exchanging leads throughout the first half. But yet again… turnovers. Although we caused 23 Louisville turnovers, we weren’t able to capitalize on them and turn them into points.
Next up and most recently, we faced Boise State. We went into this game with a new mind frame. Knowing that these last games would be the ones to close preseason, we knew that we wanted to go out with a bang.
The Broncos came out of the gate steaming but we answered everything they dished at us. Big Money Z handed out 10 assists and finished with 20 points for her first double-double of the season! Yeah Z!!
As a team we had (wait for it…) E I G H T turnovers! I don’t know about you but I think that’s something to be proud of. :)
SO! As of right now we have snapped our losing streak and are on the road of creating a new winning streak. And as we always say, “It’s a great day to be a Pilot”.
Next up we have Cal State Northridge leading us into our 4 days Winter Break. All I can say right now is… All I want for Christmas is a WIN!
Before the Cal State Northridge game we headed out to Coach’s house to exchange Secret Santa gifts!
Ms. Nakeisha Brown was my Secret Santa, take a look at what I got her!
Here are some other snapshots of the Pilots opening their gifts…
(Byrd and her black Nike socks along with earrings & Philly and her new hat!)
(Z and her new “Where the Wild Things Are” hat and some new deodorant! Amy’s fresh new pairs of sexy granny panties!)
(Cebiscuit with her new scarf and nail polishes! And Coach Foreman and her new feathered earrings)
(Ms. Wootang Wooty here was my secret Santa. She got a pair of new body gloves along with nail polish and she got me these lovely new moccasins!!)
Can’t you just feel the Pilot love? <3
Well Pilot fans, that’s all I have for you right now. Stay tuned for our next blog. Stay safe and have a Happy Holidays!
Stay Purple Portland. #3 Nik at Night checking out!
**Special shoutout to the Luttinen family for inviting us into their home! We enjoyed every bit of it!
PREVIOUS ENTRIES
• Entry #1: Sarah Griffin (Sept. 19, 2011)
• Entry #2: Amy Pupa (Sept. 30, 2011)
• Entry #3: Colleen Olinger (Oct. 4, 2011)
• Entry #4: ReZina TecleMariam (Oct. 24, 2011)
•
Entry #5: Cassandra Brown (Nov. 21, 2011)
