Tech Women Win Four Straight

Tuesday night’s game against the SOU Raiders was a night to remember. We had a 13 point lead heading into half-time and it seemed like all we had to do was keep doing what we did for the first 20 minutes and the victory would be rather easy. Well, just as anyone who watches sports knows, the second half can be a lot different from the first.

SOU is known for their relentless full-court press, so I was surprised to see that they did not run it against us the first half. When we had the lead at half, I knew they would have to change something…the press was most likely to come.

SOU runs their press to rattle their opponents and get them to do things that they would not normally do--like take quick shots, turn the ball over, and start bickering amongst yourselves. It worked for them, helping them catch up and outscoring us by nine in the second half, but it wasn’t enough. They finally took the lead with under five minutes left in the game, but couldn’t hold on to it.

The one thing that did plague us was fouls. Meagan Miyasaka and I both fouled out of the game with a significant amount of time left on the clock. Tabatha Cooke stepped up and gave us some important minutes. She took over the position of point guard when Meagan was no longer able to play. She had a solid game, before she fouled out with 19 seconds left. She had a key steal and rebounded well. Megan Ross also came into the game, playing 27 minutes, and putting up some great numbers. She had 10 rebounds, 5 assists and NO TURNOVERS. Playing 27 and not ever turning the ball over is miraculous! She really took care of the ball, helped others score and solidified the great defensive effort by all the team members by grabbing 10 defensive rebounds.

The second half was the most intense basketball we’ve playing in a long time. I had a little different perspective than usual, sitting on the bench when it came to crunch time. After fouling out the best I could do was cheer on the team and support them in their great effort against SOU. I was so nervous! It is funny because when I’m on the court in a close game, I don’t get nervous or worried; but sitting on the sideline is a completely different story! My legs were aching and shaking—that’s how worried and nervous I was. It was insane, and all I have to say is that I’m so glad we won!

In my opinion free throws is where we won the game. We shot 24-28 from the line; that’s almost 86%! SOU only made 25-39: 64%. They had a lot more chances than us, but we made them when it counted, and they didn’t. It was a well-fought victory that got everyone pumped up. After that win we were ready for anything…and it’s a good thing.

Saturday night’s game against Northwest Christian College was probably the slowest start to game I have ever experienced. It is a darn good thing that we play exceptional defense. It seemed like we could not score for the longest time! But I guess it is okay, because the other team could not score either.

The goal going into the NCC game was to get better. We had played NCC twice before, and each time we really didn’t get any better and posted a score that was too close for comfort. By the scores of their other games, it seemed like we should be beating them by 20. For some reason we never played that well against them. I was glad to say at the end of the game that we did get better and played much better against them the third time than we did in the previous two attempts.

This game was especially exciting for me because I had quite a bit of family and friends, including old coaches, come to the game (since my home town is near Eugene). It was great to get to see everyone and play in front of people that haven’t seen me play in years. Also, the two seniors on the NCC team, Amy Croll and Kristen Nelson, are former teammates of mine. I started playing with Amy in 5^th grade on an AAU team and have known her ever since, and I played with Kristen at Lane Community College. It was special to get to be there for their senior night, although I did feel a little bad that I couldn’t let them win their last home game.

The only thing I was concerned about was the complaints that came to the athletic department about the OIT fans. Supposedly some fans were being rude and overly obnoxious. I don’t know specifics (except that it was mainly during the women’s game), or who the complainants were referring to, but it was troublesome to hear; especially when we have such a great fan base. I hope whoever was complaining is mistaken, but if not, I hope it doesn’t happen again.