Sprague Paynter

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January 10, 2006

Continuing our stretch of home games, we started off the week with a big game against John Hopkins, looking to avenge our loss from last season.  The game was close throughout and went down to the final minute, in which Lynn gave us our final lead.  In celebration of our win, we got to come back to only one practice the next day instead of the two we had scheduled. 

That night, we all got together for a team dinner and attended the Miami-Georgia Tech game.  It was a good chance to relax, although some people got very into the game as we all saw whenever the cameraman zoomed in on Bergie (which was a lot).  It was a nice change of pace watching another team play some ball, and Bugg especially enjoyed renewing some old friendships with rival players. 

On Friday we got back to work with a strong practice in preparation for our game against Case, our first UAA opponent.  Unfortunately our hard work the two previous days didn’t pay off, and we lost in a physical battle.  Of course we were disappointed with our effort, but after watching film the next day, we came back to practice ready to get better.  We didn’t have any time to dwell on the loss, as we had a re-match with Piedmont scheduled for the following day. 

The game was again a close one, but we managed to build a good lead in the second half and hold on for the win to go to 10-2 for the season.  Lora’s effort on the boards was a huge key and a couple of individuals stepped up to hit some big shots down the stretch.  The real inspiration though was Katie Anding, who came back to play in the second half after receiving another set of stitches, this time above her other eye.  We tried to reassure her that with this new symmetry you can barely notice all her battle wounds, but I don’t think she believed us. 

Corkle also had a big game for us on a big day—she turns 19 today so happy birthday!  After some serious freshmen/Mother Hen (Rizzo) bonding at the hotel, a group of us ventured to CVS, Kerry’s favorite spot to snack, to stock up on ice cream.  And today, we are all taking it easy on our day off.   

In closing, Coach T (fondly known now as Chi Chi), has been using some really nice metaphors recently to motivate us.  So, I hope that this weekend, we can make her proud by emerging from the forest as the hunters. 
 

Sprague Paynter is a junior from Wilmington, N.C. She would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.