Well, it's hard to believe but it's that time of year again. The returning players have been running open gym scrimmages and conditioning workouts for girls interested in playing for the Lady Pioneers during the 2010-11 season, and official try-outs have been scheduled for Oct. 18-19.
This should definitely prove to be an interesting season for the team as several key contributors from last year's squad have either graduated, injured, or finished their eligibility. So this means there are many great opportunities for new players to step up and make a difference early. I've been impressed with some of the freshman and transfers I've watched play, and there are still a few girls that can't scrimmage yet because of volleyball and soccer. I honestly think the potential is there for a successful team if some of these newer players will commit to working hard in practices.
Click here for this year's challenging schedule. You will see a great balance of home and away games, as well as a traditional region schedule that proves to be the most challenging in the nation. We also have a great non-region schedule again this year, including games against 3 teams that participated in last year's national tournament in Philadelphia.
Anyway, just wanted to touch base with you and let you know that with the changing leaves here in the north woods, our attention is rapidly turning towards basketball!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Basketball Camp Begins Monday!
It has been a busy and fruitful summer at Northland Camp, and difficult to believe the staff has been together for 8 weeks already. But as we enter this week of Camp, it also marks one of my favorite of the entire summer: Basketball Camp! Understand, Girls' Basketball Camp is only one of eight camps going on this week (Guys' BBall, Soccer, Volleyball, Music, Drama, Teen, PV), but totally unbiased, it's the BEST!
I'm anticipating 35 girls arriving here tomorrow to begin a week that will be filled with basketball, Bible, new friendships, laughter, and memories. We will spend over 20 hours on the court in drills, personal development, and scrimmages, but more importantly, the entire week emphasizing the greatness of our God and our dependence on Him. We'll enjoy the preaching of Evangelist Jeremy Frazor in the evenings, and our Life in the Gospel study through I John 4 with Evangelist Will Galkin.
I'm also thrilled to have Coach Moses helping me with the Camp again this year, in addition to Lady Pioneers Tiffany Chatfield and Taylor Ollila. Former camper Erin Stuerewald will also be returning to help with camp. We also have 4 of our summer camp counselors assigned to help (Holly Stuerewald, Emily Kutz, Sarah Hayes, and Tiffany Bennett), as well as super program guy Aaron Boyce.
So, despite the chaos of administrating all of the camps and being responsibile for the girls' basketball camp, it's definitely a week to get excited about. Please pray for us!
I'm anticipating 35 girls arriving here tomorrow to begin a week that will be filled with basketball, Bible, new friendships, laughter, and memories. We will spend over 20 hours on the court in drills, personal development, and scrimmages, but more importantly, the entire week emphasizing the greatness of our God and our dependence on Him. We'll enjoy the preaching of Evangelist Jeremy Frazor in the evenings, and our Life in the Gospel study through I John 4 with Evangelist Will Galkin.
I'm also thrilled to have Coach Moses helping me with the Camp again this year, in addition to Lady Pioneers Tiffany Chatfield and Taylor Ollila. Former camper Erin Stuerewald will also be returning to help with camp. We also have 4 of our summer camp counselors assigned to help (Holly Stuerewald, Emily Kutz, Sarah Hayes, and Tiffany Bennett), as well as super program guy Aaron Boyce.
So, despite the chaos of administrating all of the camps and being responsibile for the girls' basketball camp, it's definitely a week to get excited about. Please pray for us!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Register for Basketball Camp NOW!!
Depending on where you are in the country, it may be difficult to think about summer camp. Here at Northland, we have enjoyed some of the warmest March days in years, with temps today hitting 65!
I wanted to take the opportunity to remind all of you about our Girls' Basketball Camp here at Northland. This year's camp is July 26-31, and promises to be a great time of physical and spiritual challenge. In addition to on the court instruction about basketball, the coaches and I enjoy presenting a Biblical philosophy of athletics that we desire to see them take with them back to their schools and teams. We also have quite a bit of fun!
Please click on the here for more information, or feel free to email me for additional details!
Tiffany Named All-American
I was thrilled to hear that one of our captains, Tiffany Chatfield, was selected as a 2nd team All-American by the NCCAA. Tiff had an outstanding season for us offensively, and filled the roles of student-athlete, team captain. and a first-year wife very well!T averaged 18.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.2 steals per game. She finished 1st in the region and 5th nationally in scoring, 6th in the region in 3-pt fg percentage (33%), and 5th in free throw percentage (73%).
Although a junior, this was T's 4th year of eligibility in basketball. This was also only her 2nd complete season as she spent a semester traveling on a ministry team for Northland, and 2nd semester last year with Nate while he student taught. I'm confident T could have challenged some Northland basketball records had she played 4 full seasons, but I'm thrilled God allowed her to be a part of this team for as long as He did.
I also know T would want to thank her teammates for their support and play, making an individual honor like this a possibility. This marks the 3rd straight season that a Lady Pioneer has been selected to the All-American team.
Congrats T!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Postseason Honors
We had several players receive NCCAA honors on Thursday night at the Midwest regional tournament hosted at Kuyper College in Grand Rapids, MI.
Rebekah received the honor of National Scholar-Athlete. This goes to any junior or senior that has a cumulative GPA of at least 3.40.
We also had 5 players named to the All-Region team. Rebekah, Lydia and Jenna were all Honorable Mention as voted by the coaches. Ellie and Tiff were named to the All-Region team, and Tiff is nominated for All-American honors as a result of her finishing in the top 5 of voting.
Congrats to all of these players and their teammates that made these awards possible!
Rebekah received the honor of National Scholar-Athlete. This goes to any junior or senior that has a cumulative GPA of at least 3.40.
We also had 5 players named to the All-Region team. Rebekah, Lydia and Jenna were all Honorable Mention as voted by the coaches. Ellie and Tiff were named to the All-Region team, and Tiff is nominated for All-American honors as a result of her finishing in the top 5 of voting.
Congrats to all of these players and their teammates that made these awards possible!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Regional Tournament
I must say I had no idea what awaited me and this team a week ago as we prepared to leave for our Minneapolis trip. But here we are without Lyds, a banged and sewed up Jenna, and a 4th seed tournament draw that seemed impossible at best, 3rd place at worst.
But the girls responded to the challenge Thursday night against Grace like they have all year, with a quiet confidence and focus. If you have read any of these posts in the past, you know how slowly we typically start. I told Lyds just before the tip that the only thing we couldn't really afford was a slow start. Honestly, this was our worst of the year. We went nearly 6:30 minutes without scoring, but our defense kept us in it. Tiff hit a few timely 3-pointers to keep us in reach, and we went to the locker room at half down 24-20.
We played fairly well to start the 2nd, but could never get the lead. Grace also changed to a diamond and one defense on Tiff, so we had to be creative. Ellie and Jenna developed a rythym, and Rebekah controlled the boards. Brooke VanLaanen (Van) started and defended their outside shooter. She played a great 30 minutes of basketball, limiting their scorer to 6 points, while scoring 6 herself. She also grabbed 5 rebounds and made 6 steals. We took our first lead of the game with 6:30 left, leading 42-41. We limited them to 3 points the remainder of the game, and pulled away the last few minutes. Tiff led us with 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 steals, 0 turnovers. Jenna scored 15 and grabbed 7 rebounds. Ellie played one of her best games in her two years and tallied 11 points. But the bigger line for her was only 2 turnovers in the game. Rebekah grabbed a game high 11 rebounds.
As speechless as I was after our devestating Faith loss, I was almost as speechless after this game. I am so proud of these girls. They have surpassed expectations and overcome adversity. They are young ladies of character and have been a rebuke to me. I'm definitely blessed to serve with them! This puts us in the semi finals on Friday against Maranatha. That will be very difficult, but we will do our best.
But the girls responded to the challenge Thursday night against Grace like they have all year, with a quiet confidence and focus. If you have read any of these posts in the past, you know how slowly we typically start. I told Lyds just before the tip that the only thing we couldn't really afford was a slow start. Honestly, this was our worst of the year. We went nearly 6:30 minutes without scoring, but our defense kept us in it. Tiff hit a few timely 3-pointers to keep us in reach, and we went to the locker room at half down 24-20.
We played fairly well to start the 2nd, but could never get the lead. Grace also changed to a diamond and one defense on Tiff, so we had to be creative. Ellie and Jenna developed a rythym, and Rebekah controlled the boards. Brooke VanLaanen (Van) started and defended their outside shooter. She played a great 30 minutes of basketball, limiting their scorer to 6 points, while scoring 6 herself. She also grabbed 5 rebounds and made 6 steals. We took our first lead of the game with 6:30 left, leading 42-41. We limited them to 3 points the remainder of the game, and pulled away the last few minutes. Tiff led us with 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 steals, 0 turnovers. Jenna scored 15 and grabbed 7 rebounds. Ellie played one of her best games in her two years and tallied 11 points. But the bigger line for her was only 2 turnovers in the game. Rebekah grabbed a game high 11 rebounds.
As speechless as I was after our devestating Faith loss, I was almost as speechless after this game. I am so proud of these girls. They have surpassed expectations and overcome adversity. They are young ladies of character and have been a rebuke to me. I'm definitely blessed to serve with them! This puts us in the semi finals on Friday against Maranatha. That will be very difficult, but we will do our best.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Road trip to Gogebic, and the MBBC rivalry game
Well, we're coming down the home stretch and things are coming more and more into focus for us as a team. Truth is we (players and coaches) can see our strengths and weaknesses, but reality is that time is running out to correct and improve. Never was this more evident for us than the past two games.
On Saturday we traveled to Ironwood, MI to play at Gogebic Community College. We had lost to them earlier in our gym by 13. Traditionally in the past we have gone there and not been very competitive. We talked about some obvious areas of emphasis, and played pretty well. A late basket after an offensive rebound gave them a 26-24 halftime lead. Not bad considering we trailed by as many as 12 in the first half. We came out strong in the 2nd half and took the lead by as many as 5 points. However, foul trouble once again became an issue, and we found ourselves down by as many as 11 with just four minutes remaining. The girls turned up the full-court defensive pressure and over the next three minutes cut the lead to three, but that was as close as we could get, dropping a 66-61 decision.
Tiff led us with 27 points, Lyds added 17and Ellie 10. While tallying a lower than usual 6 rebounds in the game, Rebekah contributed in other ways with 4 assists and 4 steals.
On Monday afternoon we traveled to Watertown, WI for the best rivalry in Christian sports - our games with Maranatha. The MBBC women have been dominant in the NCCAA Midwest region, winning 28 consecutive games against Midwest opponents. Long-time coach, and current friend, Clayton Morrison does a fantastic job with his teams year in and year out. This may be his best coaching job in my five years in the region as he has a team made up primarily of underclassmen, and regularly starts at least four freshmen. They are talented and deep, so we were aware it would take our best effort to compete. Add to it that there would be a crowd of 500+ throughout the game, bulding in the 2nd half to 1000+ as we approached the tip time for the guys' game.
We started fairly well, and kept it close early on. However it became obvious to me in the first four minutes of the contest we would struggle to compete because of the tightly officiated contest. With 15:00 left in the first half, Tiff and Ellie had two fouls each, and we had five as a team. The half played out well as both temas exchanged the lead a few times, MBBC going up by as many as 7, but us cutting it to 39-35 on a jumpshpt by Jenna with 10 seconds remaining. We shot 45% in the first half, and knew exactly what we needed to do to pull of the upset in the 2nd half. First, our defense was as poor as we have played in years. And for a team that shoots 62% from the ft line for the season, we were 6 of 18 from the line in the half. But the most troubling and glaring issue on the stat sheet was the foul count. Tiff, Ellie and Jenna all had 3 fouls, and Rebekah and Lyds had 2. To be fair, the officials were calling fouls at an alarming rate on BOTH teams. However, our issues involved all of our starters. There would be no way to compete at this rate.
We had a phenomenal start to the 2nd half. We strted on a 7-0 run to take a 3 point lead in the first 4 minutes, but after a miss on the offensive end, a whistle came that changed how we played the rest of the game: 4th foul on Jenna. We played as well as possible for the next four minutes, and with 12:00 left, trailed 48-44. It was then we hit the wall, and watched as MBBC began hitting inside and out, finishing the game on a 27-8 run to capture a 79-56 win. It does us no good to say that the game was closer than the score indicates because we honestly didn't care. We came to win, played well enough for 28 minutes to do so, but didn't close. Give Clayton and MBBC all of the credit. They are extremely talented and well-coached. It is awfully difficult to see frehman guard Autumn Peotter on the other sideline. She was a long-time basketball camper that I grew to really love and appreciate. She is an outstanding player, but more importantly, an outstanding young lady. She played a great game for the Crusaders.
Tiff once again led us in scoring with 19 points (5 of 12 from 3-pt). Jenna added 17 points and 10 rebounds, Lydia 7 points, 3 assists and 2 steals, and Rebekah 14 rebounds. Brooke Byard gave us a lift off of the bench with five points including a huge 3-point basket in the 1st half. But our poor free throw shooting carried into the 2nd half, and we finished a staggering 10 of 31 in the game.
The loss drops us to 8-11 on the season, 4-3 in the region, and likely a 3-seed in the Midwest tounament next week. It was great seeing Utica Christian School senior Erin Steuerwald and her family at the game. Erin is a wonderful young Christian lady that happens to play a good game of basketball!
It was exciting to see our guys pull out a big win in the night-cap in front of 1,000+ fans and an extrremely slippery court (due to a roof leak and humid conditions). The atmosphere is unequaled, and always incredible to watch hundreds of studnets from both schools flood the floor after the game to reminisce about high school, church, missions trips, and summer camp ministries together!
After arriving back on campus at about 2am, were back in the gym at 3:30pm to keep getting better in preparation for the weekend in Minneapolis.
Thanks for reading!
On Saturday we traveled to Ironwood, MI to play at Gogebic Community College. We had lost to them earlier in our gym by 13. Traditionally in the past we have gone there and not been very competitive. We talked about some obvious areas of emphasis, and played pretty well. A late basket after an offensive rebound gave them a 26-24 halftime lead. Not bad considering we trailed by as many as 12 in the first half. We came out strong in the 2nd half and took the lead by as many as 5 points. However, foul trouble once again became an issue, and we found ourselves down by as many as 11 with just four minutes remaining. The girls turned up the full-court defensive pressure and over the next three minutes cut the lead to three, but that was as close as we could get, dropping a 66-61 decision.
Tiff led us with 27 points, Lyds added 17and Ellie 10. While tallying a lower than usual 6 rebounds in the game, Rebekah contributed in other ways with 4 assists and 4 steals.
On Monday afternoon we traveled to Watertown, WI for the best rivalry in Christian sports - our games with Maranatha. The MBBC women have been dominant in the NCCAA Midwest region, winning 28 consecutive games against Midwest opponents. Long-time coach, and current friend, Clayton Morrison does a fantastic job with his teams year in and year out. This may be his best coaching job in my five years in the region as he has a team made up primarily of underclassmen, and regularly starts at least four freshmen. They are talented and deep, so we were aware it would take our best effort to compete. Add to it that there would be a crowd of 500+ throughout the game, bulding in the 2nd half to 1000+ as we approached the tip time for the guys' game.
We started fairly well, and kept it close early on. However it became obvious to me in the first four minutes of the contest we would struggle to compete because of the tightly officiated contest. With 15:00 left in the first half, Tiff and Ellie had two fouls each, and we had five as a team. The half played out well as both temas exchanged the lead a few times, MBBC going up by as many as 7, but us cutting it to 39-35 on a jumpshpt by Jenna with 10 seconds remaining. We shot 45% in the first half, and knew exactly what we needed to do to pull of the upset in the 2nd half. First, our defense was as poor as we have played in years. And for a team that shoots 62% from the ft line for the season, we were 6 of 18 from the line in the half. But the most troubling and glaring issue on the stat sheet was the foul count. Tiff, Ellie and Jenna all had 3 fouls, and Rebekah and Lyds had 2. To be fair, the officials were calling fouls at an alarming rate on BOTH teams. However, our issues involved all of our starters. There would be no way to compete at this rate.
We had a phenomenal start to the 2nd half. We strted on a 7-0 run to take a 3 point lead in the first 4 minutes, but after a miss on the offensive end, a whistle came that changed how we played the rest of the game: 4th foul on Jenna. We played as well as possible for the next four minutes, and with 12:00 left, trailed 48-44. It was then we hit the wall, and watched as MBBC began hitting inside and out, finishing the game on a 27-8 run to capture a 79-56 win. It does us no good to say that the game was closer than the score indicates because we honestly didn't care. We came to win, played well enough for 28 minutes to do so, but didn't close. Give Clayton and MBBC all of the credit. They are extremely talented and well-coached. It is awfully difficult to see frehman guard Autumn Peotter on the other sideline. She was a long-time basketball camper that I grew to really love and appreciate. She is an outstanding player, but more importantly, an outstanding young lady. She played a great game for the Crusaders.
Tiff once again led us in scoring with 19 points (5 of 12 from 3-pt). Jenna added 17 points and 10 rebounds, Lydia 7 points, 3 assists and 2 steals, and Rebekah 14 rebounds. Brooke Byard gave us a lift off of the bench with five points including a huge 3-point basket in the 1st half. But our poor free throw shooting carried into the 2nd half, and we finished a staggering 10 of 31 in the game.
The loss drops us to 8-11 on the season, 4-3 in the region, and likely a 3-seed in the Midwest tounament next week. It was great seeing Utica Christian School senior Erin Steuerwald and her family at the game. Erin is a wonderful young Christian lady that happens to play a good game of basketball!
It was exciting to see our guys pull out a big win in the night-cap in front of 1,000+ fans and an extrremely slippery court (due to a roof leak and humid conditions). The atmosphere is unequaled, and always incredible to watch hundreds of studnets from both schools flood the floor after the game to reminisce about high school, church, missions trips, and summer camp ministries together!
After arriving back on campus at about 2am, were back in the gym at 3:30pm to keep getting better in preparation for the weekend in Minneapolis.
Thanks for reading!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)