My thoughts about making the NCAA tournament and the entire
journey leading up to that..
This was my first time as well as majority of the team to
make it to the NCAA tournament. For practice we did more film than usual to get
ready for the first round. Going to play the home team in the first round was
going to be hard and we all wanted to continue on so we knew preparation was
serious. The NCAA tournament is like any other travel trip but at the same time
different. We had never played that team before and for travelling we used a
bus, which we do not normally do. I was nervous but extremely excited to be
there and go to the next round. Since I have been here we have always ended
second at the WAC tournament so winning was not only a huge accomplishment but
opened a door to another opportunity to play. Throughout season we had ups and
downs. We started very strong winning major games in the beginning of the year.
Then through conference play, we had lulls that hurt us. As a team we get along
great off the court and could not figure out why things did not mesh together
on the court often. The WAC tournament was by far my favorite. We played great
together and seemed to have a different flow. I think we may have taken teams
by surprise since we did not play like that throughout the season. We showed
excitement even when we were down to get back up. Taking Utah State who was the
first seed in three was just incredible. I am hoping through spring we continue
to work together and want to have a steady flow next year and show teams what
we are like. It is in our future to go farther than the first round of the NCAA
tournament!
#15 Stephanie Ziegler
