Tournament time!

Abbreviated version -

Heritage (Senior Night) tore me up. I did okay holding it together, but the reality that this senior class (and more specifically, Cassie) has now played their final home game hit me like a ton of bricks. We played well against a Heritage team that has really struggled this year.

Bluffton - I wanted Cassie to get her 1000th point before the tournament started, but she didn't feel good and wasn't able to finish a few shots that are normally automatic. Maybe I should have told her how close she was, but who knows if it would have mattered. Anyway, she's at 999 for her career. I think she's got at least one more point in her. The team played pretty well again. Tab had a good night and Bailey put up her biggest scoring numbers yet. Bluffton, too, was down, so I just wanted to get off the floor in one piece. We did.

Now, we look ahead to the tournament. We drew Elkhart Christian, a team we have not seen this year. They were young last year, mostly sophomores, and we handled them 68-30 in the sectional. They are probably the second best team in the sectional, so they should at least be competitive. The one foe we haven't been able to handle this week is the weather! Snow has kept us from starting the tournament on time and the girls are like caged animals - they want to get out and play!! Judging from the blue skies and diminished winds, it looks like we may finally get our chance. Barring any other delays, we will go Friday, Saturday, and a Monday championship. The quest for #3 begins at Hamilton tomorrow night!

Playing catch-up

Lots of activity since my last post. First, we went to a tournament at Culver Girls Academy and came home with the trophy after dispatching Western Reserve Academy of Ohio and then the host team the next day. The quality of play was pretty good overall, although we temporarily lost both Madison (ankle) and Bailey (broken nose) in Saturday's championship game. A little adversity doesn't hurt, so we mixed in a little foul trouble too, just to see if we could do it. We did.

We returned home to prepare for a bruising week. First up was Harding on Tuesday. With Bailey still on the sidelines, our rotation was not as fortified as it normally is. Unfortunately, we prepared for a basketball game and a track meet broke out. Very few stoppages in play and plenty of high octane performances. I was tired just sitting and watching. We blew out to a nice halftime lead, but Harding would not go quietly and we had to fight some mental and physical fatigue before we could hold them off. Thursday, Fremont came to town with a 15-2 record and the NECC Tournament Championship on their resume. We left little doubt though as we blew out to a 42-17 lead and never looked back. Pretty convincing stuff, so much so that our crowd began to head for the exits late in the third quarter. Sorry we're so boring.

The end to a long week came up at Prairie Heights, still not at full strength as we had Bailey back but lost Matte to illness. Once again, it didn't really matter as we found ourselves up 29-2 at the end of the first quarter and finished with five girls in double figures in the 87-41 win. There were a few PH fans who were less than hospitable throughout the day, so it was nice to listen to the relative silence coming from their fairly large Saturday afternoon crowd.

Two games ahead - Senior Night with Heritage and a road trip down to Bluffton. We should finish the "preseason" 18-2 and begin setting our sights on another great tournament run.