Today's post is written by Lindsey Rujawitz:
Hey bloggers!! Man, how the time flies! Last time I wrote for our blog I was a junior and now I am a big senior. The conference season is well underway and great things are happening with our family here at Southern.
As a recap of our early non-conference schedule, we opened up with Arkansas Fort Smith at their house and we showed some great character as a team being down big and making a furious comeback to eventually lose by 2. The next game on the schedule was ta op-10 nationally ranked opponent, Northeastern State University. The game proved difficult as we were unable to get the win....0-2 to start the year :( They say that life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you respond to it. It was time for us to respond.
The next week consisted of some very pointed film sessions and some GREAT practices as we prepared for our Thanksgiving Classic!! We had gone back to the practice floor determined to make good on our goal of winning 20 ball games this year. The tournament was a great kickoff to getting us going in the right direction as we got two great home wins. Back to 2-2 and headed in the right direction!!
Conference play was next up and we knew we had to play well to get off on the right foot! As you all well know, the MIAA conference is an exciting race from beginning to end. The preseason polls picked us 6th and we are determined to show that we were deserving of much higher. After falling to Truman to open the conference season on the road, we had a "players only" meeting and reminded everyone of 2 things...1.) We have 5 seniors on our team, 2.) We have 8 people that know our system because they are returners from last year!! We then laid out some of the things that had to change in order for us to get where we want to go.
The next 3 games (Central Missouri, Missouri Western and Lincoln) for us were all at home. This was a chance for us to have our home crowd supporting us as we righted the ship and really got back to Missouri Southern basketball. As a team we made a complete turnaround. After beating Central Missouri, Missouri Western and Lincoln University, we now sit 3-1 in conference and 3rd in our league!! We not only made a complete turnaround but we have also had 6 different Lions (Jasmine, Erin, Michelle, Larrita, Kelby, and Me) set their career high scoring marks this year!!
FINALS WEEK!! We are finishing up Final Exams this week and then we play at Southwest Baptist University on Saturday! It is imperative that both academically and athletically, we finish this semester strong!! As a senior I could not ask for anything more for my last year. As a team we really are a true family and we have all formed great relationships on and off the court. As far as basketball is concerned, naturally I want this year to finish with a bang!! We look forward to working everyday as hard as we can toward our goal of playing with an abnormal energy level and passion!! We can't wait to have you along for the ride with us!!
Until next time...It's a GREAT day to be a LION!
Lindsey Rujawitz
Senior Forward
