Hi everybody! Erica here. After four of our best victories of the year so far we received the
21st ranking in the associated press poll! We were and still are happy about the ranking and our accomplishments so far, but we know we want more. Right now our record stands at 16-1 overall and 7-0 in the MAAC conference. Since you last heard from us we won four conference games vs. Iona, Niagara, Loyola and our latest St. Peters.
The Iona game was a huge game for us because they are our rivals and always play us tough. We won the game 81-58 with Rachele Fitz scoring 26 points with 16 rebounds, Lynzee Johnson with 14 points, myself with 13 points and freshmen Brandy Gang with 11 points. Against Niagara we won 98-51 with everyone on our team scoring in the game. The cool part about the game was that our four freshmen all scored in double figures with Gang scoring 16, Corielle Yarde 15, Kristine Best 10, and Emily Stallings 10. After our home game vs. Niagara we traveled to Loyola in Maryland where we have been known to play poorly. This year was different as we jumped on them early and won the game 86-44. We were led by Fitz with 27 points, Viani with 15, Gang with 14, and Yarde with 12. We played this game shorthanded as Kristine Best our backup point guard was sick with a virus that she is still recovering from. The last game we just played this past Friday vs. St. Peters we came out victorious 78-58 on our home court. We also played this game without Best and fellow freshman Emily Stallings as she had an injury to her side. The stat Coach Giorgis was most impressed with was that we only had 12 turnovers against a team that pressures all game and wins games by forcing turnovers. Rachele Fitz also paced us in this game scoring 22 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for another double double. Viani chipped in with 18 points, Johnson with 9 and Gang and myself with 8.
After these games the MAAC rewarded Rachele Fitz with Player of the Week honors and fellow teammate Brandy Gang with Rookie of the Week honors. Giorgis really believed we had great practices leading up to these games and that we had great production from our bench to help us put together 40 minute games. It was really an exciting week for us with the wins and getting ranked. We also gave ourselves a 2 game lead in the MAAC that we need to keep the rest of the year.
Aside from basketball, this past Monday on our day off seven of us took a trip to New York City to shop and then to Brooklyn to Maria Laterza's house for some Italian Cooking! When we got to Brooklyn it was so much different then being in Ohio. Only two of the people that went were from New York while the other five were from Ohio or Pennsylvania. In Brooklyn the houses were so close and everything seemed to be in walking distance! When we got to Maria's house the only thing I wanted to do was to sit on her stoop so that I could tell everyone that I sat on a stoop in Brooklyn! It's the little things that make people happy but that was definitely a cool experience for all of us. After that it was dinner time (or dinna time as Maria says it) in the Laterza house. Her mom cooked us Italian lasagna, salad, bread, and sausage and peppers. We were supposed to bring back leftovers for our coaches but the seven of us love to eat and knew there would be none left to take back! The lasagna was amazing. My mom cooks lasagna sometimes and I mean it's good but nothing like Mrs. Laterza's lasagna! Sorry Mom! After we ate we were stuffed and had to have good luck to catch the 10:12 train. After boarding the train in Brooklyn and stopping wherever we had to transfer trains, we had to run to catch the train so that we could make it to Grand Central Station. Once we got to Grand Central we also had to run from there to catch the train that was leaving soon. None of us knew where to go so we were following Maria and trying to find our train. Definitely wasn't a day off for us because we finally caught the train we wanted to be on but we were sweating and exhausted from the long day and running! Overall it was a great experience especially after we had a great week in basketball.
On Sunday January 18th we travel to Siena to play them for the first time this year for our 8th conference game. We are looking to steal a road victory and to play well going into next week. Classes will also be starting Tuesday and were not really looking forward to that! We want to cap off a good break with a good win. Wish us luck!
Erica Allenspach
21st ranking in the associated press poll! We were and still are happy about the ranking and our accomplishments so far, but we know we want more. Right now our record stands at 16-1 overall and 7-0 in the MAAC conference. Since you last heard from us we won four conference games vs. Iona, Niagara, Loyola and our latest St. Peters.
The Iona game was a huge game for us because they are our rivals and always play us tough. We won the game 81-58 with Rachele Fitz scoring 26 points with 16 rebounds, Lynzee Johnson with 14 points, myself with 13 points and freshmen Brandy Gang with 11 points. Against Niagara we won 98-51 with everyone on our team scoring in the game. The cool part about the game was that our four freshmen all scored in double figures with Gang scoring 16, Corielle Yarde 15, Kristine Best 10, and Emily Stallings 10. After our home game vs. Niagara we traveled to Loyola in Maryland where we have been known to play poorly. This year was different as we jumped on them early and won the game 86-44. We were led by Fitz with 27 points, Viani with 15, Gang with 14, and Yarde with 12. We played this game shorthanded as Kristine Best our backup point guard was sick with a virus that she is still recovering from. The last game we just played this past Friday vs. St. Peters we came out victorious 78-58 on our home court. We also played this game without Best and fellow freshman Emily Stallings as she had an injury to her side. The stat Coach Giorgis was most impressed with was that we only had 12 turnovers against a team that pressures all game and wins games by forcing turnovers. Rachele Fitz also paced us in this game scoring 22 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for another double double. Viani chipped in with 18 points, Johnson with 9 and Gang and myself with 8.
After these games the MAAC rewarded Rachele Fitz with Player of the Week honors and fellow teammate Brandy Gang with Rookie of the Week honors. Giorgis really believed we had great practices leading up to these games and that we had great production from our bench to help us put together 40 minute games. It was really an exciting week for us with the wins and getting ranked. We also gave ourselves a 2 game lead in the MAAC that we need to keep the rest of the year.
Aside from basketball, this past Monday on our day off seven of us took a trip to New York City to shop and then to Brooklyn to Maria Laterza's house for some Italian Cooking! When we got to Brooklyn it was so much different then being in Ohio. Only two of the people that went were from New York while the other five were from Ohio or Pennsylvania. In Brooklyn the houses were so close and everything seemed to be in walking distance! When we got to Maria's house the only thing I wanted to do was to sit on her stoop so that I could tell everyone that I sat on a stoop in Brooklyn! It's the little things that make people happy but that was definitely a cool experience for all of us. After that it was dinner time (or dinna time as Maria says it) in the Laterza house. Her mom cooked us Italian lasagna, salad, bread, and sausage and peppers. We were supposed to bring back leftovers for our coaches but the seven of us love to eat and knew there would be none left to take back! The lasagna was amazing. My mom cooks lasagna sometimes and I mean it's good but nothing like Mrs. Laterza's lasagna! Sorry Mom! After we ate we were stuffed and had to have good luck to catch the 10:12 train. After boarding the train in Brooklyn and stopping wherever we had to transfer trains, we had to run to catch the train so that we could make it to Grand Central Station. Once we got to Grand Central we also had to run from there to catch the train that was leaving soon. None of us knew where to go so we were following Maria and trying to find our train. Definitely wasn't a day off for us because we finally caught the train we wanted to be on but we were sweating and exhausted from the long day and running! Overall it was a great experience especially after we had a great week in basketball.
On Sunday January 18th we travel to Siena to play them for the first time this year for our 8th conference game. We are looking to steal a road victory and to play well going into next week. Classes will also be starting Tuesday and were not really looking forward to that! We want to cap off a good break with a good win. Wish us luck!
Erica Allenspach
