Sorry it has taken me a couple of days to get this up but I was away celebrating our outstanding weekend. After a team lowpoint on the island against VIU we refocused and had a great week of practice before our games against Douglas. It was the first time we had the whole team there for every practice. I was very pleased with our effort throughout the week leading up to the game. The girls were fired up and ready to make a statement. And man, did we make at statement. It was one of the most miraculous turnarounds in such a short period of time that i have seen on any team that I have been a part of. We beat Douglas by 18 points, 63-45 and outplayed them in every aspect of the game. The girls were outstanding, our defense was as good as I have ever seen it and we finished everything offensively. We got off to a slow start which seemed to be the remnants of our poor play in the past but we remained positive and believed in ourselves. By the end of the first quarter we were down two points and never looked back from there. We were up 5 at half and although I was incredibly happy with our performance I challenged the team to not be satisfied. We blew Douglas out in the second half and made a statement with an 18 point win against a good team. This confirms that we can play and compete with any team in the league. I think I was in shock with our play. I was so proud of the girls. We shot 65% from the floor in the second half and 75% from the 3pt line for the game. Britt Harteveld was unconscious, hitting pretty much everything she threw up and ended the game with 30 points. Charlotte contributed 12 points and Chelsey had 9 but it was our outstanding and aggressive defense that made the statement for the game. Our rebounding lead to fast break scores which we haven't had in awhile. I challenged Allie and Nicola before the game to take it to their big girls, to believe that they can play with anyone in the league and they did that and more, completely outplaying them and putting their stamp on the game. It was a true team effort, a magical performance that confirms when you have a group of committed individuals who believe, trust and support one another anything is possible. On any given night...................
Even when I/we win i lose. Allison had to remind me of the bet i shook on with her and Allie after the game against VIU. I announced that I would do their team laundry for the rest of the year if we beat Douglas. I had completely forgotten about until I was reminded on the court. The girls went crazy much to the confusion of the crowd. Thanks to Allie's dad who gave me some laundry detergent and some bounce to get me started.
Saturday night Douglas came back roaring. It was a great game to be part of, very aggressive. We battled valiantly but Douglas was too much and we may have been to spent from the night before. They showed what needed to be done to come back after a tough loss. Our defense was still very good but our offense disappeared as a result of their tough man to man defense. Role reversal from the night before. It sure felt good though to be in a competitive game. I respect Katie(Douglas coach) a lot and it was great to have them up for a couple of games over the weekend. She has always been very supportive of me and our program and I thank her for that. I am slowly getting to know her players as well and they are a great group. Douglas beat us 64-42. Charlotte was the high scorer with 16 points while Britt had 12.
Thanks again to everyone for their support. We are on a bit of a break now. We have a couple of exhibition games against North West Indian College on the 5/6 of December. We will start back up with league at the beginning of January.....see you then......coach
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