Dear Diary: On The Road
11/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
It’s November 20, and I really feel like we are in the full swing of things. We have three real games under our belt, including our first win! Not that the MSU-Billings game didn’t count, but it was an exhibition game, so we don’t get to keep the win in our record.
We started our official season by hosting Montana Tech, and that game was a little bit of a let down. I’ll admit it, we played poorly. We didn’t execute our sets, and we certainly didn’t play with enough energy. But we have to give credit to Montana Tech, they are a very athletic team, and they took it to us. Even though we lost, I think we learned a lot from the game.
After the loss, we came back with a good week of practice to prepare for our first road trip. We would be heading down to California to play Long Beach State, then up to Oregon to play Oregon State. Everyone was focused that week and we were able to make a lot of improvements. When we left for the airport on Thursday morning you could sense the excitement in everyone.
I was especially excited to go on my first road trip. After four years of high school, where you spend hours and hours on a school bus, I was ready to move up in the world and fly to the game rather than drive. Little did I realize that the Bozeman airport isn’t exactly like LAX, and the planes we took weren’t exactly 747’s. In fact, the planes were so small that I couldn’t even stand up straight on them; I had to duck just to get in.
When we finally got to Long Beach after a long day of traveling, we headed to the Walter Pyramid to practice. This Pyramid is amazing. Long Beach plays all of their home games there, and it really is a sight to be seen. From the outside it looks absolutely huge, and the inside is even more impressive. The bleachers don’t fold into the wall like normal, instead they fold up toward the ceiling to give more floor space, then fold down to completely surround the center court.
The thing we all noticed immediately was how much oxygen there was at sea level. We were all so used to running in the thin Bozeman air that the heavy sea air filled our lungs wonderfully; we felt like we could run forever. But it was a lot hotter and a lot more humid in California than it is in Bozeman. It didn’t take much it get us sweating!
By game time on Friday we were all pumped. We knew we could take this team, we had prepared all week and we were ready. The game went perfectly. Now granted, we did dig ourselves a hole in the second half, but when Long Beach didn’t have any legs left, we were still running strong. Eventually Long Beach couldn’t keep up and we ran away with it. It felt so good to win our first game of the season.
We were still riding high when we went to play Oregon State. We all knew we had a wonderful opportunity to beat a PAC-10 school. We made a good run at it, but we just couldn’t stop Nash, OSU’s best player. She lit us up for 26 points and put the game out of reach. Even though we were down late, we never gave up and kept fighting until the very end. Losing by seven points to a PAC-10 school is not bad, especially considering that last year MSU lost to them 70-35. I think it was a good for us to learn that we can’t allow a single player to take over a game. If a player starts to get hot, we need to buckle down and keep her from getting the ball. I truly believe that if we got to play OSU again this year we would come out on top.
Overall the road trip was great. We came away with our first win, and played a close game with a respectable opponent. Even though we all had fun, by the time we got home on Monday afternoon we were all exhausted and ready to sleep in our own beds.
We started our official season by hosting Montana Tech, and that game was a little bit of a let down. I’ll admit it, we played poorly. We didn’t execute our sets, and we certainly didn’t play with enough energy. But we have to give credit to Montana Tech, they are a very athletic team, and they took it to us. Even though we lost, I think we learned a lot from the game.
After the loss, we came back with a good week of practice to prepare for our first road trip. We would be heading down to California to play Long Beach State, then up to Oregon to play Oregon State. Everyone was focused that week and we were able to make a lot of improvements. When we left for the airport on Thursday morning you could sense the excitement in everyone.
I was especially excited to go on my first road trip. After four years of high school, where you spend hours and hours on a school bus, I was ready to move up in the world and fly to the game rather than drive. Little did I realize that the Bozeman airport isn’t exactly like LAX, and the planes we took weren’t exactly 747’s. In fact, the planes were so small that I couldn’t even stand up straight on them; I had to duck just to get in.
When we finally got to Long Beach after a long day of traveling, we headed to the Walter Pyramid to practice. This Pyramid is amazing. Long Beach plays all of their home games there, and it really is a sight to be seen. From the outside it looks absolutely huge, and the inside is even more impressive. The bleachers don’t fold into the wall like normal, instead they fold up toward the ceiling to give more floor space, then fold down to completely surround the center court.
The thing we all noticed immediately was how much oxygen there was at sea level. We were all so used to running in the thin Bozeman air that the heavy sea air filled our lungs wonderfully; we felt like we could run forever. But it was a lot hotter and a lot more humid in California than it is in Bozeman. It didn’t take much it get us sweating!
By game time on Friday we were all pumped. We knew we could take this team, we had prepared all week and we were ready. The game went perfectly. Now granted, we did dig ourselves a hole in the second half, but when Long Beach didn’t have any legs left, we were still running strong. Eventually Long Beach couldn’t keep up and we ran away with it. It felt so good to win our first game of the season.
We were still riding high when we went to play Oregon State. We all knew we had a wonderful opportunity to beat a PAC-10 school. We made a good run at it, but we just couldn’t stop Nash, OSU’s best player. She lit us up for 26 points and put the game out of reach. Even though we were down late, we never gave up and kept fighting until the very end. Losing by seven points to a PAC-10 school is not bad, especially considering that last year MSU lost to them 70-35. I think it was a good for us to learn that we can’t allow a single player to take over a game. If a player starts to get hot, we need to buckle down and keep her from getting the ball. I truly believe that if we got to play OSU again this year we would come out on top.
Overall the road trip was great. We came away with our first win, and played a close game with a respectable opponent. Even though we all had fun, by the time we got home on Monday afternoon we were all exhausted and ready to sleep in our own beds.
Thursday, August 27
Monday, August 24
Monday, August 24
Wednesday, June 10
