Last Road Test

This Wednesay will be the last CAA conference game of the season for the Pride, well that is before we head to Upper Marlboro, Maryland for conference tournament play. Senior night for our three great leaders was successful. We came out and played team basketball and secured the third spot in conference. That basically means that we will have to beat JMU to get to the championship in Maryland if things just happen to play out how everyone thinks they should. Northeastern is also trying to secure a spot in the rankings and this win against us would be huge for them. Yeah their record may not speak volumes, but the talent they have is deadly. You also have to give them credit because they were able to beat a team that we have not yet beaten this year and that is JMU. Now you notice that I said have not beat "YET." Our defense has stepped up these past couple games and in order to make a statement in the conference tournament we need to sestain that. We know we have a lot of basketball to play and we definitely are not satisfied as of right now. We have to be smart with our bodies and get our mind right for rest of this memorable season.

The Big Three

This sunday the Hofstra women's basketball team will be playing their final home game of the regular season as they take on the University of North Carolina-Wilmington Seahawks. Not only will it be senior night to three of Hofstra's greats, but it will also help the Pride in CAA rankings going into the CAA tournament. If we win than we will automatically be third and if not than we will have a tie-breaker for third between UNCW and Drexel. Now I could sit here and talk about all the coulda, woulda, shouldas, but that would not be any fun would it? The real reason behind this post is The Big Three. In my previous post I said that I never had a better group of leaders while playing basketball in my life and I meant every word. These three seniors have made me into the player that I am today and have helped me to become a better person. Never could I thank them enough for everything that they have done for me. I do not even know if its possible to describe what they each mean to me.

Candice Bellocchio- I do not even know where to begin. You have climbed every milestone that there is to climb in basketball without even winning a championship here at Hofstra. You are the best point guard that I have every gotten to play with and sorry to say but it will be tough to ever play with one like you again. You are such a great person and so down to earth and that is why everyone loves you and so I. You have taught me to step back and appreciate life and to turn negatives into positives. You have taught me to not take things too seriously and it is okay to make mistakes as long as I learn from them and fix them. So many kids and adults look up to you as a leader and so do I. The way you handle yourself on and off the court is something that no one can teach. For you it just comes natural. I will always remember walking around the mall with you on my visit and you answered every question with honesty and I knew that you were someone I could talk to about anything and you would listen. I do not know if you will ever understand how much you have meant to me and done for me in my two years here but you definitely have made me want to be a better person and I will never forget you. You will always be my point guard and hopefully you will always be my family because I would not want it any other way. I know that once you leave here you will always have a special place in Hofstra's heart as well as mine. Thank you Can for everything

Marie Malone- My 6'2 walking beauty and one of the greatest people that I have ever known. I always joke around that you talked to me as if I were from another world while I was on my visit but I never told you that you were so nice to me and that I was able to open up and feel more comfortable around everyone because of that. If it were not for you being so nice I do not know if I would have been able to give Hofstra a chance. We were not that close my freshman year but this year definitely changed that. You have been there for me on and off the court more than anyone has been. You have taught me to just relax and that everything is going to be ok. When were out on the floor you bring a sense of calmness for me and I feel like nothing else matters. You never bring me down and only want to make me better. You have taught me to not care what anyone else thinks about me and that it should not matter. You taught me to be myself and people should love me for me. You taught me to be there for others because you never know what anyone is going through. You definitely have my back whether its off the court or saving my ass when I get blown by on defense. That is one thing I will always appreciate is you having my back and knowing you will be there for me no matter what. There are not many people who will stick by you no matter what and you are so special for that. I hope that whatever you do down the road you excel at (which I know you will) and I hope many more people get the chance to meet you because hopefully they will get the chance to see what I see. There will always be that special place for you in my heart and never will it be taken.

Nicole Capurso- Where to even begin. You were my host on my visit when I came all the way from Idaho. I will never forget how nervous I was coming out to a big city from a town of 20,000 AT LEAST. The first time I met you I felt like I had known you for years. You have this confidence that everyone wishes they could have. As well as myself. You know how to handle every situation, you know basically every answer to every question, and if you don't than you will find a way to know it. That is why I look up to you so much. Not only do we play the same position and love to shoot the basketball but you have given me confidence in myself that I could not find while growing up. You are not afraid to take the last second shot because you know that its going in and if it doesn't than oh well! If it were not for you being there telling me to shoot the basketball when I see any type of space (which is not very much lol) I would not have been able to make an impact that I have been able to make thus far. You became my big sister from the beginning and I could not ask for a better role model. I do wish that I could have spent more time with you these past two years but the time that I did get to spend with you I will cherish for the rest of my life. I don't know if you will ever understand how much I appreciate the confidence you have given me not only with basketball, but just in everyday life. You have taught me to hold my head high and know that I can handle any situation that anyone brings my way. You have taught me not to doubt myself if I am not sure and if I am wrong that oh well at least I tried. Like I said before I could not ask for a better big sister and thank you so much for instilling the confidence in myself that I was not able to find before and probably never would have if I never was able to meet you.

With that being said, this win on Sunday will be for you.

I love you seniors

Its About How You Finish

This week is the final stretch for the Pride. We take on University of North Carolina-Wilminton this Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Mack Sports Complex, and may I add that it will be senior night for our 3 great seniors. I can assure you that I have never had a better group of leaders in all my years of basketball. Sundays game will definitely be a tough pill to swallow. Then next Thursday we will wrap up our conference games at Northeastern. So the Pride will be Boston bound. Last year Northeastern had a tough year and we were able to beat them both times. This year we played them already and won, but let me tell you they have been on a roll lately so we have to go in there and take care of business. We are currently third in conference and still behind Delaware and James Madison. We have to finish strong because we want to be seeded top four for the conference tournament so we have a bye our first game to give us some much needed rest. I feel like our opponents are sleeping on us now since we have had a rough stretch recently, but I do promise you that you will see a different team this week. Its back to the drawing board for us now. Its about us and only us.

Roll Pride.

Big Road Test

Thursday, February 22nd, is a big day for the Pride. We head to Harrisonburg, Virginia to take on James Madison University who is currently 2nd in the CAA. We are currently third with only one loss seperating us from the second spot. James Madison beat us last time we played them handing us our first CAA loss of the season so us ladies have a little revenge that we would like to give the Dukes. We just came off a big win Sunday afternoon against Towson University and it came down to a last second three pointer by shooting guard Nicole Capurso. Our main focus for the rest of our conference schedule is to not lose anymore games, and by doing that we have to come out focused every time we step between those four lines. Nothing else matters right now. Like our coach always says its about us. We know that we are the best team in this conference, and the numbers may not show but our overall talent is glaring to others, but not ourselves. We have to accept the fact that we truly can beat everybody, its just a confidence factor. We need to have confidence no matter what. This game will be televised on ESPN3 which is online. I advise you watch the Pride beat those damn Lady Dukes. Go to  http://www.gohofstra.com/ and click on the womens basketball link for all your latest information about the Lady Pride.

Battling to Stay Healthy

This past month has been tough for my team and I. About 3 1/2 weeks ago I took my first hit to the back of my head when I went to take a charge against a girl name Taysha Pye. Pye is William and Mary's star player who averages about 17 ppg for the Tribe of William and Mary. When I took the charge on her late game the refs called it in her favor. I ended up hitting the back of my head pretty hard and got a pretty bad concussion. Then I had to miss the next two conference games against Georgia State and Old Dominion. Against Georgia State and Old Dominion that week we won.
Then I came back to take on James Madison who is second in our league as of right now, but at the time they were third and we were second. We ended up losing that game at home. Then we got to play Northeastern at home and we won and I had played pretty well. I just began to get my grove back. Our very next game we played William and Mary at home this time and with 46 seconds left in the game I got a rebound and two girls from their team pushed me straight down and I ended up hitting my head in the exact same spot as the time before. Boom! My second concussion folks. This time I miss a full week again and we lost to Old Dominion and VCU. It was rough to watch my team battle against those teams and lose and I had to sit there and just watch. I wanted to be out there so bad. In college there are steps that you have to take to get back on the court. First you have to fill out a sheet with numbers ranging 1-5 on the severity of your pain in the certain category. For instance headache, dizziness, sensitivity to light, etc. Then once you are all 0's then you have to take a bike test and go hard for a total of 30 minutes with a lot of resistance. At any time if you feel dizzy or nauseous you have to stop and you do not pass and you would have to take it again. So after you pass the bike test then you have to do 30 minutes of cardio the next day, and 45 minutes the second day and the whole time you should be symptom free. The fourth day after being symptom free you then get to practice without any contact. So you are limited to certain drills. Then the day after no contact you may do contact, and the day after contact you are fully cleared to participate without and precautions. So a lot of people think that if you feel well you can just step back on the court and everything is normal but that is not it at all. But now I am back and healthy and we have a big game coming up this Thursday against the Delaware Blue Hens who the tenth best team in the COUNTRY and have the leading scorer IN THE COUNTRY on their team by the name of Elena Delle Donne. People are saying were the only team who has a shot at beating them and if we do that will be really huge for us. So far they are undefeated in conference. We will be wearing our pink uniforms to support breast cancer that night, so come out and support because this game is probably the biggest game of the season not just for us but for the whole league.