TicketsNov. 27, 2009
The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team is in Alaska for the 2009 Great Alaska Shootout. Senior guard Shelly Bellman will chronicle the trip in a daily blog on GoBEARCATS.com.
Day 4
Well dang it! We were sooooo close. All losses are no fun, but losing by one point has just got to be the worst. In the championship game, we played so hard, so tough, and with so much heart, but it was close the whole game, and the other team came out on top in the end - by only ONE point.
It wasn't a normal day. It was CHAMPIONSHIP gameday, and we were pumped up. Game time was at 5:00 pm, so we woke up at 9:00 am, went to breakfast, had an hour shootaround, went back to the hotel for pregame meal, and then back to the arena for the big game. We knew what to expect with the Anchorage Alaska Seawolves, because we had watched the in their game the day before, and then we had scout film on them that we watched twice. They were one of the hardest working teams I have seen in a long time. They played so hard, and so "crazy" that they were ALL over the court. They were non-stop moving on offense, liked to press majority of the game, and were literally diving on the floor each time the ball got loose. And, they were well coached because they were very disciplined. They played tenacious defense the entire time. We did not back down though. We accepted the challenge and wanted to put up our best fight.
We headed for the gym (while it was snowing pretty hard) and had our game faces on. I could tell that we were ready to play today. You could see it in the girls' eyes. In the lockerroom, Coach Elliott gave the girls the game plan, and the girls went out and did it. We were up at halftime, but not by much. The second half was even more exciting than the first. We couldn't hit a shot to save our lives, but we were managing to stay with the Seawolves. In the last ten seconds of the game, we got the ball across half court and called a time-out. Coach had confidence in her team and said, "You guys ready to win this?" She drew up a play and I'd say it was a good one. We were going to get the last shot of this ball game to hopefully win it. Down by one point, we get the shot up that we wanted, but it hit rim and bounced off. It just didn't go in. Buzzer sounded, and we were so disappointed. We shot 18% from the field in the second half. It is very rare our team shoots like that, but like I said, we just couldn't hit a dang thing.
Carla Jacobs and Kahla Roudebush made the All-Tournament team which was well deserved by both of them. And then our team got the second place trophy to take home, and we all wish it had said first place on it. In the lockerroom, some girls were crying, some were mad, and some were replaying the mistakes that they had made in the game over and over in their head, thinking what if I did this and what if I did that. In a basketball game like that, it is not that last shot that makes or breaks a game. It is about all that had happened during the full 40 minutes; missed free throws, every turnover, every missed layup or bunny shot, and all the little stuff. Coach Elliott walked in and said, "You guys walk out of here with your heads held high. You did everything that I asked you to." She was proud of us because we played hard. We left it out on the court, and it stinks that sometimes, even when you give it everything you got, there is that risk you take of possibly suffering a loss. That is what competition is all about. You win some, you lose some, and nobody said it was going to be easy.
We went back to the hotel for the night. We got our post-game meal at the hotel, which was tacos (mmm), and then we all went to our rooms to reflect, relax, and rest for our next day in Alaska.
Day 5 to come - our last day in "The Last Frontier" (Alaska state nickname).