Marquette University Athletics
A Trip to Carolina
2/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
This past weekend, we traveled to North Carolina to play East Carolina and Charlotte. We first traveled to East Carolina on Saturday and won. East Carolina was undefeated in Conference USA when we met them. We knew it would be a test for us, because playing on the road against a team that hasn't lost on their court in conference play is difficult for any team. We had a solid game plan and we did our best to execute it. Tom Ford, our academic advisor, helped get us ready minutes before the game by providing us with an inspirational story about how he got his own bobble head.
Next we traveled to Charlotte. We knew this would be a challenging game for us, but we also knew that another road trip meant more opportunities to give ourselves times of light-hearted, innocent fun amongst the seriousness. First, we had the opportunity to travel to Kelly's home that is located on a golf course outside of Charlotte. We ate a good meal there, and left for practice while a few people remained to golf. Carolyn and Kelly have gotten on a kick this year involving practical jokes. Their common target: Mary Ellen Markowski. She, an innocent supporter of the team, has been marked white and red for no apparent reason. This trip, Carolyn and her side-kick Kelly decided it would be funny to "temporarily misplace" one of MEM's clubs. This didn't detour MEM from continuing her serious game with Mr. Schwermann, in which they tied.
Yes, we are all-serious on road trips. Especially after we have inhaled a good meal at Olive Garden. There is just something about being so full that gives us a desire to exercise our vocal cords. We like to serenade the coaches, and the bus driver, with classics anywhere from Christmas carols, the Top Gun soundtrack, to Madonna.
Unfortunately, our light-hearted days were not enough to give us a win against Charlotte. We lost, 59-56, and came home with our second conference loss. There is a lot for us to learn from this loss, and we have a week to correct them before we take on DePaul in Chicago this Sunday. We hope to see everyone there to support us!
This is the 11th in a series of diary entries by junior forward Monica Frede. Her diary will appear every Tuesday on www.gomarquette.com.
