Nov. 10, 2000

Heading into the season I am really excited about the opportunities this team has. We have five seniors returning that gives us experience and veteran leadership.

We ended last season on a bad note but on the flipside we are really looking forward to what we can do this year.

One of our team goals is to eliminate the losses we had last year. Basically we lost to a couple of teams that we shouldn't have. We didn't finish as strong near as we could have. The seniors on this team don't want to end the season by bowing out early in the NCAA tournament like last year. We need to improve every game so that by the end of the year we are peeking and ready to go.

Personally there are areas I am focusing on. The much-publicized "foul" situation is just one aspect of my game that needs work. Grabbing more rebounds and maintaining a high free throw percentage are things I am looking to improve.

I am excited about the teams we host this year, like Purdue and Connecticut. We are also playing in a tournament in Wisconsin called the Coaches For Cancer. Hopefully from all that good competition we can come out with a couple of wins.

Our first exhibition game was a good one for us. Part of the plan going into the game was to get everyone playing time, and we accomplished that. With many different rotations on the floor, we beat the Ohio Premier All Stars 91 - 56. Coach McGraw was happy, but defensively we need a little more work.

Jeneka Joyce played tremendous for a freshman. She came off the bench and was the leading scorer with 16 points. Our other first year player, Le'tania Severe, is sitting out right now while she waits for surgery. We are all looking forward to having her back come December.