Our Pink the Pete game was a great turnout and a great success. As for the game, we didn't have one of our best first halves, but in the second, we came out and picked it up. Cincinnati is a great team. At this time of the year, everyone is pushing for something in the Big East and we didn't want our opportunities to slip away.

After our Cincinnati win, we knew we still had a tough road ahead. Next up was our rival West Virginia and the Backyard Brawl. The Backyard Brawl is always a fun game. You know that it is going to be a great game no matter what. WVU jumped out early, but we rebounded well for the win.

Heading into Louisville this weekend, we can't let them do that same thing to us. We have to come into this game really focused and be ready from the jump ball.

With our win over West Virginia, we secured a top three seed in the Big East tournament so we are happy. It's the best seed we have had since I have been here and I am happy for Coach B because she works so hard. We aren't really satisfied with that though, because we have big things planned for us. We want to make history.

This game at Louisville is really important. Angel McCoughtry is leading the country in steals and is definitely one of the top players in the Big East and in the country. It should be a fun battle between our teams. We are looking forward to it. It will be their senior day so I know they will be up for the game too.

Until next week...

Tae

Coming off our loss at Connecticut, we had another big challenge. Villanova is a completely different team and we had a lot of preparation to do. They were in the third spot in the Big East and with us being in fourth, they had what we wanted so we needed that win. They are well-coached and have great leadership from Laura Kurz, but we got a much-needed win.

Next up, we have Pink the Pete against Cincinnati. Pink the Petersen is our breast cancer awareness day and I am glad that we get to have this opportunity to help people. One of our teammates lost her mother to the disease and I think that so many people are not aware of how serious it is. We want to make people aware that you can start at home with self checkups. It was too late when our teammate's mom found out about her cancer, but it doesn't have to be too late for other people and that is what we want to remind them.

As for the game, we have an opportunity to get our 20th win of the season. It would be the fourth 20-win season in a row for Pitt and that would mean I would have 20 wins in all four of my years here. We love playing at home because our fans are so great. But when our students pack the seats, it just gives us that little extra excitement. Regardless of the crowd, we have to be ready to play. Cincinnati is a great team and we need to be ready for them. Every win for us now is a must win.

At the beginning of the week, I found out that I was named the Dapper Dan Sportswoman of the Year, which is the most prestigious sports award in Western Pennsylvania. I am so honored to have won. My coach won it twice and Swin Cash, who is fantastic, won it twice, so I was very proud and very honored. I absolutely have to thank God for the opportunities I have, and to the people who voted for me. It is humbling.

Until next week...

Tae

The week is off to a good start for us. Going into Rutgers on Tuesday night, we knew it was going to be really tough. We feel like we really weathered the storm though. We were down by eight late in the game, but the thing I love about this team is that we always stick together no matter what. We pulled together and came up with a great overtime win -- our first ever win at the RAC.

We really had some key defensive stops down the stretch and I think when Z (Xenia Stewart) took a charge, it definitely sparked us. Offensively, we started hitting some shots and we kept making defensive stops when we needed to. Another big play was when Phro (Sophronia Sallard) stole the ball at midcourt and tied the game.

Rutgers is a really good team and they have a great coach with so much tradition, so this win felt really good. Epiphany (Prince) and Kia (Vaughn) are difference-makers on that team. If there was another post in the Big East I could choose to have join our team, it would be Kia. She is really a presence inside and we got a big lift from Selena Nwude when she came off the bench to guard her.

Even though it was a great win at the RAC, we have more business this weekend and there is no time to celebrate. We are playing the No. 1 team in the country in Connecticut. It will be emotional for us because we will see our former coach -- Shea Ralph. We will be really happy to see Coach Shea and get to talk to her, but when the ball is tipped, its game time!   

This city is on fire! It's so exciting to be in Pittsburgh right now. We have won six games in a row, our men's team is playing really well and the Steelers just won the Super Bowl! Nothing is bigger than that, especially around here!

The Steelers winning was so much fun. Our team has had a lot of fun with it and it is cool to see everyone react to how crazy things have been. Our team got to celebrate with all the Pitt students after they won, but we knew we couldn't stay out late -- we had business to take care of on Tuesday!

We feel like Notre Dame has become one of our biggest rivalries so we always get excited for that game. It was a great feeling to score my 2,000^th point against them, but I owe all the credit to my coaches and especially my teammates. They make all of that possible.

All the excitement from beating Notre Dame is over though because we have two tough road games coming up at Rutgers and Connecticut. We can't allow ourselves to stay excited for too long. I'm not to worried about that though because we are all so excited to play Rutgers.

We always look at the Big East standings after our games to see where we need to be. We want to be one of those top seeds that gets a two-day bye in the tournament. We know that it is going to be a dog fight in the Big East and we will have to do whatever it takes to get those wins. Every team is good and even teams that were picked towards the bottom in the preseason are doing well. Villanova was picked 10^th before the season and they are fourth! So we can't take any game off.

That's all for now... see you next week!

Tae