Providence College Athletics
Coach's Corner
12/10/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Greetings from "snowy" and beautiful FRIARTOWN!
Wow - it is hard to believe that the fall semester is coming to a close! It feels like we just started classes and workouts only a few days ago. Fall semester exams begin on Saturday, December 13th and run through Sunday the 21st. This is a busy and stressful time of year for our players as they are completing last minute semester assignments and papers, preparing for exams and staying focused on basketball. The players have many "balls" to juggle and it takes discipline and focus to stay on track. Our practice schedule is adjusted quite a bit during the exam period because we have a 10-day window of time without a game and because many of the tests/exams will take place during our normal practice time. So, there is really no routine for us over the next 10 days -- and you know how coaches like routine!
Last week saw us digest two very tough losses. We traveled to Dartmouth and lost by 7 points after staging a furious comeback -- we were down 17 points with 8 minutes to play in the game. We returned home to face Rhode Island and led for the entire game but lost in overtime by 2 points. We played both of these games without our starting center (Gayle Nwafili) who was injured in our game against Oregon State out in Los Angeles. Not having Gayle is tough from a rotation standpoint because she is one of the four players that we play in our large forward and center spots. So, when we got in foul trouble and/or fatigued we had to resort to "creative substituting"! Those of you who saw our Rhode Island game can understand this totally - not only did we not have Gayle, but we also had 3 players foul out of the game!
On a brighter note, we opened this week back on the winning track by defeating Northeastern by 14 points on Monday night. Again, we played this game without Gayle who is scheduled to travel with the team when we leave for Stony Brook on Wednesday the 10th. We play at Stony Brook on Thursday, December 11th at 7:00pm and will bus immediately back to campus after the game. We then go into the exam period and do not play again until we face Harvard in Alumni Hall on December 22nd.
Stay warm and THINK FRIARS!
