Holly Harvey, junior guard for the No. 1 Illinois Wesleyan Titans, has been blogging for D3hoops.com throughout the season. Here’s her latest report on the team’s trip to California.
Party in the U.S.A. by Miley Cyrus is my jam. If you ask any of my teammates what got them through 6 A.M. pre-season conditioning sessions I have no doubt their answers will be Holly singing Party in the USA. Naturally I was pretty pumped when I learned that our winter trip this year was to southern California because the song begins with “hopping off a plane at LAX” which is just what we would be doing. There was no time to savor the moment of hopping off the plane though because we had to run through LAX in order to make it to the car rental place before it closed. Luckily we’re in game shape and made it just in time, though I’m sure we drew some attention running with our matching green travel suits and bags.
Once we hit Hollywood and Beverley Hills the next day we blended right in with the large crowds. We walked down Hollywood Boulevard and even snagged a team picture with Captain Jack Sparrow and some of his crew from Pirates of the Caribbean. We took a tour of Kodak Theater and learned about seat fillers at big award shows. I think it’s safe to say we all took a moment to consider applying for jobs as seat fillers as we are a little star crazed. Following our day of touring we headed to the Staples Center to catch a match -up between the Clippers and the Celtics. Although there was some back and forth cheering down our row for Ray Allen of the Celtics and Chris Kaman of the Clippers, we were all really excited when the Clippers won on a buzzer beater. The following day was a more relaxed and chill day as we visited a spa. We had access to outdoor pools, hot springs, steam rooms, and our favorite, a mud bath. After a long semester, finals, and hectic holiday traveling it was just what we needed. We also got to tour one of the best wineries in California.
Along with all of our tourist activities we played two games on the west coast. We faced the University of La Verne and the University of Redlands. Although we did not seem to be on our regular game out there but we won both. Upon returning from California we finished up our non-conference schedule with a game at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. We were back on our game as we shot the ball very well and made all the rotations in our press. Junior Nikki Preston had a monster game with 25 points, she shot the lights out. We currently stand at 11-0 and I think the 87-58 victory at Whitewater was a good confidence booster heading into CCIW play this week.
We must now shift all of our focus to our conference opponents. I think we will face more challenges in conference this year but I think we are well prepared for them. I am looking forward to our second conference game against Carthage College. I think it will be a good match up and a victory could set the tone for the rest of the conference season. Our main goal right now is to go undefeated in the regular season and to host the conference tournament. I am excited with where our season journey has led us so far but even more excited for the next part of the journey into conference.