Talking Hoops with 'Sloot: Hawaii
12/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 7, 2010
Gonzaga University women's basketball senior point guard Courtney Vandersloot, from Kent, Wash., will be writing a season-long blog, giving Bulldog fans an in-depth and behind the scene look at the Zag basketball program. She will also start adding a sit-down video interview with select players throughout the year. Get ready for TALKING HOOPS WITH `SLOOT.
ENTRY SIX: Monday, Dec.7
As most of you may know, we were fortunate enough to travel to Honolulu, Hawaii over the Thanksgiving holiday. Although we were there for a tournament, we had some free time to enjoy the beautiful island of Honolulu. Tatri Lorenzo was born and raised about 30 minutes away from where we stayed on Waikiki Beach, so she was very familiar with the area. We had six players on the team that had never been to Hawaii so for them everything was very new.
We all were feeling very tired and jetlagged after a 14 hour travel day (making the trek from North Dakota). As soon as we got off the plane in beautiful Hawaii, where it was 85 degrees, we all seemed to get our second wind. It was only 3:30 p.m. when we checked into our hotel and we had the rest of the day off. I think we all had the same plan in mind - let's hit the beach! A few of us decided that we wanted to go snorkeling. Most of the tours start early in the morning so we were forced to explore the ocean on our own. It was almost five by the time we ate, rented our gear and were in the water, but we didn't mind that the sun was near setting, we were determined to see some fish. We didn't see as much as we were hoping but nonetheless we were happy to be in such warm weather, especially knowing that it was below zero and snowing back home in Spokane.
Our first game was not until Friday, so we had a little free time on Thanksgiving Day before practice. Other than a few hours on the beach that morning, we knew we were in Hawaii on a business trip. Everyone did something different that morning, but Haiden, Shannon and I made the coolest sandcastle I have ever seen. Of course, we had to outdo ourselves from when we were children making sandcastles, but we were getting a little too advanced for the equipment we had, which was two coffee cups from breakfast. Nonetheless, the end product was one of a kind.
Thursday night was the banquet the tournament put on with a delicious Thanksgiving meal for all eight teams. Nearly every team got dressed up and came together to enjoy an excellent thanksgiving dinner and the company of each other. Each coach went up and introduced their team and staff, so we were able to get a glimpse of every coach's personality. Coach Graves surprisingly kept it short and sweet. We were all happy about that because we know sometimes when he is given a microphone, he can go forever! After the banquet, the fun and games were over and I am sure every team was focused on their first opponent. Despite the disappointing loss to Mississippi in our first game we were happy that we were able to bounce back and leave Honolulu with a 2-1 record. All in all, we made some memories and more importantly learned and got better as a basketball team.
Now for your favorite part of the blog, or at least my favorite part of the blog, the top moments! Coincidentally, both top moments of this week are from around this time of year, but two short years ago. The first was when we played at Montana in 2008, my sophomore year. We love going to Missoula because we know we are always in for a battle and they always have a good crowd. Well this particular year, the Lady Griz were riding high, working on one of the longest home winning streaks in the nation. Prior to our game, they had not lost at home for 21-consecutive games. We were all aware of this coming into the game, and were confident that would end with a loss to us. After a hard fought battle in front of just under 3000 fans, we ended their home winning streak with a six point victory. It's always tough going to play at a hostile environment with a team that plays very well on their home floor, but we were able to get past that and pull out the victory. Since we are on the topic of Montana and we did just come back from beating them on their home court yet again, it only seems right to mention that after our game on Sunday, was the most lopsided loss the Lady Griz have had on their home floor since 1981.
Another top moment of my sophomore year was winning the WBCA Classic in Milwaukee, Wis. We played three games there against three very talented opponents, Marquette, who hosted the tournament, Utah and Virginia, who was ranked 15th at the time. We lost a heartbreaker to Marquette 80-77 the first game, but bounced back to beat Utah by five. We finished off the tournament playing no. 15 Virginia. I remember everyone being really excited for the game but unfortunately I had sprained my ankle in the Utah game and wasn't going to be able to play. But I remember watching the game being so excited for the team because everyone stepped up and played very well to pull off a team victory. At the time, the win was the first win over an ACC school and was the highest ranked team a Gonzaga team had ever beaten.
**Check out my fourth sit down interview with a teammate. This week it is with Kayla Standish. K talks about the Ellensburg Rodeo, her path to Gonzaga and she shows us some gymnastics tricks. Enjoy! **
ENTRY FIVE: Thursday, Nov.25
In the spirit of thanksgiving, I want to dedicate this blog to the people who our entire program is very thankful for, our fans. It's incredible for me to think back to my freshman year, when we still had a pretty good fan support, but to know how much it has expanded in the short three years amazes me. I speak on behalf on my whole team, coaches and administration that we are truly blessed to have fans like you. You help represent what playing basketball at Gonzaga is all about. This year we have sold 2,700 season tickets, almost 800 more tickets than last year. To all the new season ticket holders, welcome aboard and thank you for your support. This is going to be a fun year and we are glad that you chose to join us. For all the returning season ticket holders, we are so glad to have you back and we appreciate not only your endless support but you spreading the word and encouraging close friends and co-workers to become season ticket holders. The number of tickets sold, and selling out another game, does mean a lot to us, however it is much more than that. We have had the opportunity to get to know a few of you and that means more to us than you'll ever know. The love and care you show us after a game, victory or defeat, makes playing at Gonzaga something so special. We have the opportunity to travel many places and play in front of many different crowds, but I can say from the bottom of my heart there are no fans like the Zag fans!!
The Stanford game was a prime example of everything we are thankful for. Although it was not our first sold out crowd (first was the 2008-09 season when Tennessee came to town), but the difference in the crowd was incomparable. I have never heard the Kennel that loud. Late in the second half when we tied the game up, on that Kayla Standish 3-pointer, and the whole arena got on their feet and everyone was cheering at the top of their lungs, I remember getting goose bumps. The feeling of playing in front of a crowd like that doesn't happen very often in women's basketball and you made it happen for us, and for that we are so thankful! Unfortunately we don't have another top 5 team coming to play us at home, but we have several big games coming up, including Washington State, an "in state rival" and BYU who will be joining the WCC next season. I know a lot of you plan on being there, but let's try and create that environment that is so difficult for visiting teams to play in. I want to reiterate how important all of you are to us, together let's make this a season to remember!
---
To end my weekly blog each week, I am going to add two "Top Moments" of my time here so far. I will start with my freshman year and eventually get to my senior year. My top moments will consist of both off and on the court at Gonzaga.
1. As promised, I have two more top moments that will conclude my freshman year (mostly because that was so long ago I don't exactly remember). One thing I could not forget about freshman year was the summer going into it. Like the majority of schools, we are required to take summer school the summer after we graduate high school; it's a chance for us to get assimilated with being a collegiate student-athlete. I would say that for most people this sounds like a huge downer, and I'll admit at first I did too. I had just graduated from high school, I wanted to enjoy my last summer at home, but instead after only two weeks of summer, we had to do summer school. What a drag right? You would think, but I guess it being one of my Top moments kind of gives it away that that was not the case. Gonzaga has a program in the summer called GUST, and I have no idea what it stands for, we just call it GUST. It's for students that have already been accepted into the university and just want to get ahead by taking a few credits in the summer, GUST is combined with a program called STEP (also have no idea what it stands for). STEP is a program for students are on the borderline of getting accepted and the university is giving them a chance to "prove" themselves, so they take a few credits as well. The two programs combined consisted of about 30 students, including the five men's and women's basketball players, which were Claire Raap, Steven Gray, Rob Sacre, Austin Daye and myself. As a program we took four classes, all lived in the same dorm and had many mandatory and optional activities. The program was six weeks long, and was six of the best weeks I have had in college. Thirty students living in the same dorm, and having two or more classes together for six weeks gave us the chance to all get really close. So when school started two or so weeks after GUST/STEP ended, we already have plenty of friends. The six weeks I spent here in the summer, I was able to learn a lot about living on my own, I knew what to expect of college courses, I was able to work out with my teammates and get the necessary training before season start all while developing a lifelong friendship with my roommate/best friend/teammate Claire Raap. Every freshman class that has come in after me, I have been jealous about their time in GUST and wish I could go through something similar again.
2. My second top moment is a hard one because it was difficult for our team, but exciting at the same time. My freshman year, our assistant coaches were Jennifer Mountain, Jodie Kaczor Berry and Lisa Mispley Fortier. Jennifer Mountain was the first coach I met at Gonzaga, long ago when I attended camp. She was the first one to show interest in me as a player and I was excited to play for her. She was the guard coach and spent a lot of time with me working on my game. Well I'm sure you can see where this is all going because Coach Mountain, known as JMo is no longer with us. I still remember the day she told us she was taking the head coaching position at Santa Clara. We had just finished preseason workouts and she called us into the locker room, right away we knew it wasn't good news. I was in shock when I heard the news. I was really happy for her because I knew that she wanted a head coaching position, but I was very sad to see her go. I had a hard time imaging the three amigos, Lisa, Jodie and J Mo, being split up. I was also concerned who was going to keep Coach Graves sane, because that was J Mo's primary task. Luckily, there is a happy ending to this story. When Coach Graves approached us about potential replacements, we were all happy to hear a familiar name, our former teammate and team captain Michelle Elliot. Coach Graves ultimately had the decision, but after interviewing with a few interviewees, our vote was all unanimously in favor of Michelle. A few days later, Coach Graves informed us that he has hired Michelle as his newest assistant coach. So although we lost someone that was very important to not only us as players but to the program, it turned out okay. Coach Mountain is now in her third season as head coach of the Santa Clara Broncos and Michelle has been a vital piece to our very successful previous two seasons.
ENTRY FOUR: Monday, Nov.15
Our season has officially started with two games under our belts. Coach Graves has a reputation of starting non-conference play with a good team. This is an opportunity for us to see where we are as a team, both our strengths and our weaknesses. That is exactly what this past weekend did for us. Obviously, we didn't start the season off as we would have hoped with a win at USC. I think I can speak for all teams; nobody likes to start their season 0-1. But more than the loss, we as a team were disappointed about our performance. USC is a talented basketball team that will have a very good season this year, but we know that we are a much better team than what was displayed on the court Friday afternoon. We strongly believe if we were to play the game again, it would be a very good basketball game, with a different outcome. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way, so all we can do is learn from it. The good thing about basketball is that we don't have time to dwell on that loss because we have to focus on our next game, which happened to be the two days later against Whitman - which coach reiterated to us at our practice following the loss at USC.
We knew going into the game that we were a much superior team to the Whitman squad, but we had to prove something to ourselves. After such a poor performance at USC, we wanted to really play well and work on the things that were exposed as our weaknesses in our first game. I think our intensity was displayed in the beginning of the game, as we held Whitman scoreless for just about six minutes of play. Getting defensive stops was something we really wanted to focus on going into the game because a few defensive stops late in the USC game could have resulted in a different outcome for us. The USC game will be used as a learning experience, it is one of those games that will motivate us to get better every day in practice, because we just felt that we underachieved as a team, and we expected much more of ourselves when we set our goals at the beginning of the year.
With all of that being said, even great teams play poorly; it's a part of the game of basketball. What truly marks a great team is how they respond to any type of struggle. We have learned from it and have moved on to becoming a better basketball team. What's even better is we have an opportunity to play the No. 3 team in the country on our home floor, in front of what we hope to be a sold out crowd! Now I am sure Stanford is used to playing in front of sold out crowds, but they have never played in front of the best fans in the nation, the Zag Fans! I'll see and hear all of you there on Sunday at 2 p.m.!
---
To end my weekly blog each week, I am going to add two "Top Moments" of my time here so far. I will start with my freshman year and eventually get to my senior year. My top moments will consist of both off and on the court at Gonzaga.
1. My freshman year, we had the opportunity to play at the University of Tennessee, who happened to be the reigning National Champions, with the National Player of the Year and future top draft pick Candace Parker on the team. Although we lost the game, it was an experience I will never forget. We played on the "Summit" court, in front of 14,598 fans ALL wearing orange. When we were about to start warming up, some of their fans sitting courtside asked where we are from, and we responded "Spokane". The fans responded with "Where's that?" Naturally we responded "Washington" (assuming that was enough) but they quickly responded with "Washington State?" We nodded our head and proceeded with our warm up, but we were all thinking; "Did they just ask if Spokane was in Washington State?" It was almost like we were foreign to the Tennessee fans. I will say I think times have changed a little bit, and if we were to go back now, almost three years later, we would get a different reaction because I truly believe we have put ourselves on the national map of women's basketball.
Also during our trip, we had the chance to see the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. If you are ever in the area, I would strongly recommend you to go through the museum, it's a great experience and you will learn a lot!
2. All of you loyal Zag fans will remember Jami Schaefer, formally known as Jami Bjorklund. One of my favorite memories of my freshman year was Jami and Drew's wedding. It was a gorgeous ceremony, but the best part was seeing somebody that we all cared so much for so happy. Seeing that was indescribable. Weddings are always very emotional and truly special, but when you have a special connection with the bride and groom, it's something else. I will admit that Jami's wedding was the first wedding I had been to since I was the flower girl for my uncle's wedding, but the glow on Jami's face the whole day is hard to come by and I will never forget it! It was so much fun for all of us to get dressed up in dresses (because as much time as we spend together, we don't see each other in dresses as often as you think). We took a lot of pictures and celebrated Jami and Drew's special day all night!
**Check out my third sit down interview with a teammate. This week is with Kelly Bowen or "Aussie" as she is known on the team. Aussie gives a lesson in Netball, talks about the American accent and what city in the states is comparable to back home. Enjoy! **
ENTRY THREE: Monday, Nov.8
I hope everybody enjoyed our exhibition game against Western Oregon this past Saturday. The score of the game may put out of sight the importance of an exhibition game to us. I don't want to undermine the fact that we put up 115 points, but it was a learning experience for all of us. I think even "a team effort" is an understatement. So let's break this down, we had 11 players play double digit minutes, five players scored in double digits and two finished with eight and two more with nine points. For those of you who were there, let's not forget the crowd favorite, Carter Schick, scoring five points, including a pull-up 3-pointer.
Now I hope you remember from my very first entry, how I mentioned the future of Gonzaga is in our freshman? All I have to say is...I told you so. Jazmine Redmon put on a show. Jazy was 6-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-3 from the free throw line, adding up to 16 points in 22 minutes. Stephanie Golden was the only other freshman that suited up, but did not disappoint. Golden had nine rebounds in 16 minutes to go along with five points. The only person to have more rebounds than her was Kayla Standish, who had 10!
Katelan Redmon, as I am sure you guys are growing to expect from her (just like we are), put up some numbers quick. In only 15 minutes of floor time, she scored 16 points. I don't know if everybody else thinks so too, but that reminded me of the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season against the University of North Carolina when Katelan came off the bench and scored 16 points in the first half alone!
Even though we are expected to win our exhibition game by a large margin, it's a great feeling to know we started the season off right, not just a win, but by playing well. Like I mentioned earlier, this game is used for a learning experience and although we had players put up big numbers, it more importantly gave us an opportunity to shape our roles on this team and that's what is going to help us through the rest of the season.
And I do have to say it was an amazing atmosphere and that's because of all you fans out there! We really appreciate your support and hope that you will keep it up through the season. You the fans make the McCarthey Athletic Center one of the toughest venues for opponents to play in. Thanks for helping us create such a great home court advantage! See you this Sunday for our regular-season home opener against Whitman. Game starts at 5!
**Check out my second sit down interview with a teammate. This week is with Meghan Winters. We talk about her dad Brian, a former NBA player and coach, her sister Keelin, a star soccer player at the University of Portland, and about Meghan's journey back from a torn ACL. Hope you enjoy! **
ENTRY TWO: Monday, Nov.1
In the spirit of games starting in under a week, I wanted to give you an insight on what a typical day for a Gonzaga University women's basketball player is. It's not a secret that we are busy trying to juggle school and basketball while attempting to squeeze in a social life. Instead of trying to combine all of our very different schedules into one, I will give you a rough outline of my daily schedule.
8:30 a.m. Rise and shine! Eat a breakfast of champions.
9:00 a.m. Weights
10:00 a.m. Get a snack to replenish from the lift and prepare for practice.
11:00-2:00 p.m. Practice Time!
2:10-4:00 p.m. Run to Class!
4:15 p.m. Head home, shower and eat a late lunch.
5:00 p.m. Go to the athletic lab to work on some homework.
7:00 p.m. Take a homework break to get some dinner.
8:00 p.m. Walk over to the gym to get some extra shots up.
9:00 p.m. Watch my favorite show gossip girl.
10:00 p.m. Bed time
Keep in mind that I am a senior and because of that I am only enrolled in three classes this semester. Our underclassmen are taking five. So if you can imagine my schedule with the addition of two more classes, that's what a typical day of a Gonzaga women's basketball player is. How busy we are depends on our class schedule and extracurricular expectations. Claire Raap is on her final year as an education major, so she is required to spend a certain amount of hours in a classroom. Between her required classes and practice, she must squeeze in time from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to spend time in her assigned class room. On Tuesdays, junior Kayla Standish has class and practice from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Although everyday is busy, some days are definitely busier than others. It may be far and few between, but we do have a little bit of free time and I think I can speak for all us that we spend it doing absolutely nothing but relaxing. Sunday night was an exception though. Our head coach Kelly Graves loves Halloween and puts together a pretty good haunted garage he calls `Spook Alley'! A few players and I go every year to check it out. This year Coach outdid himself. I went in twice and there were a few kids I saw go back multiple times. Coach even scared Janelle Bekkering pretty good when she was stepping out of the garage. It was pretty funny.
Well that is about it for this week. Off to practice, weights or class.
**Check out my first sit down interview with a teammate. This week is with Janelle. We talk Canadian National Team and Spokane. Hope you enjoy! **
ENTRY ONE: Monday, Oct. 25
Basketball season for everyone across the country has officially started. However, because of the recent rule change, the Gonzaga women's basketball team has already completed three weeks of practice. This will be my fourth and final year playing at Gonzaga and I couldn't think of a better way to start it off then to start three weeks earlier! We are coming off of a season that made the Gonzaga women's basketball history books. We are all excited to be a part of something that people will always remember, but the best part about it is that the members of this team aren't satisfied. We worked all summer and fall to make sure that this season we have the opportunity to be above and beyond where we were last season.
There is no questioning the loss we took from our seniors that graduated last year. We had an incredible senior class that was our leaders throughout the season and in the tournament. I know there has been a lot of concern regarding how we are going to replace such valuable pieces to our team. Well first I want to make clear that we have not found another Heather Bowman, or in that case another Tiffanie Shives or Vivian Frieson. I think we all know that those types of players and people are irreplaceable. BUT, I wouldn't worry too much about this Gonzaga team. What we do have are 15 very talented, hard-working young ladies that are willing to do whatever it takes to win basketball games. With that in mind, I won't bore you with the details you already know, so let me give you some insight about the future of Gonzaga women's basketball. Our freshman class this year may be as talented as the class we just said goodbye too. Our three true freshman (Stephanie Golden, Jazmine Redmon, Danielle Walter), and redshirt freshman transfer (Haiden Palmer) combined have the future of Gonzaga women's basketball looking up! We are expecting big things from the four of them.
I and the rest of the Zags are anxious to begin our season and we believe that we have the type of team to once again make history. I am not going to list the reasons why we believe this, instead why don't you be the judge of that and come support the team in our exhibition game with Western Oregon University, Saturday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m.! Come see and meet the future of Gonzaga, I spoke so highly of, in action alongside the returners from last year's Sweet Sixteen squad. Let's start this memorable season of right by packing the Kennel. See you there! Go Zags.
