Carolina- Odds 'n Ends

We finished up our games tonight.

Megan Young's freshmen group finished the week at 3-5. They started out at 0-4 but finished 3-1. Their most exciting win was a buzzer beating three by Treanna Allen to win a game. Megan did a great job holding this team together thru their rough start. The combination of losing and being away from home is a definite challenge for freshmen. Megan did a lot of encouraging and couseling, and they finished strong.

Jessica Howard's JV squad finished an impressive 6-2. They were a group of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. They really worked as well together as any of our teams at Carolina. They were a very fun to watch. The interaction between Jess and this group was tremendous. When I got to watch them, I was really impressed. This was a group that might have had every reason to be frustrated. Their were some freshmen and sophomores who would probably have preferred to be with the Frosh-Soph group, and a couple juniors who would have preferred to have been with the varsity all of the time. But they were ALL positive and worked hard.

Michael Rux's Frosh-Soph group finished at 5-4. This group had a challenging summer, playing much of the summer vs. varsity teams. As usual, Coach Rux did a great job with this group. He does so much in the way of team building at the team camps. I couldn't do it, but you often see him eating meals with his players and getting them involved with each other. This group despite having six freshmen played very well at camp.

The varsity squad finished at 5-3 for the week. We still have a lot to work on, but I thought we played our best basketball of the summer this week. I don't think I have had any group play with as much enthusiasm for each other as this group did this week. They tried to press and trap all week long- that is very tough. Physically when they had run out of gas, they kept going with the enthusiasm and support they gave each other. Even in the three games we lost, you felt like we the dominate team because we just kept coming at them. If we play and practice with that enthusiasm next winter it will be an exciting year. I am proud of how all 15 of the varsity players approached the week!

Our 2's/3's- Allison Mangieri, Sharron Diggins, Paige Klinck, Rainee Sibley, and Dani Teel were unrelenting and often suffocating with their defensive pressure. That was very fun to see.

Our 1's- Baylie Boyer, Hannah Smith, and Jess Lieber became much better pushing the ball and getting the fastbreak going- one of our camp goals.

Our posts- Marisa Miller, Micayla Eisele, Kaela Jackson, Myra Diggins, Chole Anderson, and Sadee Hamilton were often going against taller people but just kept going.

I am so appreciative of the efforts of all the campers, and of course the varsity players I worked with. I could mention something about all of them, but in particular want to recognize the following-

Several- Sadee, Jess, Kaela, Paige, Dani battled thru injuries this summer and showed toughness.

Getting it in terms of getting the threes up- Allison Mangieri improved so much this summer, and really gets it in terms of not hesitating taking threes, she is going to surprise people.

Ironman awards- Chloe and Myra were incredible this week in going often with only one shift break. I thought the two of them really battled and pressured opponents.

Defense awards- Rainee and Sharron had times they just drove people nuts with their quickness.

Making best of bad situation- Emma Junk was not able to play but was valuable by her presence. She subbed our shifts, was positive in the dorms, and she entertained our volunteer coaches. She was a great ambassador for Galesburg.

Team chemistry awards- Paige, Dani, Rainee, Myra were players who seemed to interact with lots of different players on the varsity and other teams. Their work certainly made our job as coaches easier.

Thanks & You were impressive- Dani and Marisa played the first day with the JV and were to play the rest of the week exclusively with the varsity. But that did not happen, they DEMANDED they get to keep playing games with the JV's too. So they often played an extra game here and there. They showed a LOT of team spirit.

Wow Award- I was sure fortunate to have Mike, Andie, Jess, and Megan as our coaches. Team camp is challenging but they made things so much easier for me. They were very impressive. Parents would have been so pleased to have watched them interact with their daughters.

Home earlier than expected- we are leaving around 8:45am Wednesday (originally thought about 12:30pm.) So we are not sure but we are guessing we will be back on Thursday between 1-3:30am.