Pepperdine basketball players will take Waves fans behind the scenes as the orange and blue of Malibu plays its 2003-04 women's basketball schedule. We've also added a link so you can submit your own questions for players to respond in their next entry. Being a collegiate basketball player creates an interesting journal, but being a collegiate basketball player at perhaps the most beautiful school in the country that is flocked with celebrities is a whole other story. Enjoy...

Dec. 7, 2003

Kelli Spencer
Jr, Forward
Diary Entry No. 6

Well, this has been an interesting week to say the least. We began it with one thing on our minds...playing the number one team in the nation, UConn. The fact that they are number one didn't really affect how we approached the game, we prepared for it like we do all games. However, this week we had to change our practice times due to NCAA volleyball. I would have to say this is the one bad thing about not being at a huge university, lack of gym space. This meant that we had to practice at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 6:00 a.m. on Thursday, and had our pre-game shoot around at 7:00 a.m. on Friday. Actually, 7:00 a.m. didn't seem so early after Wednesday and Thursday.

I wish I could say that practice went well prior to the game, but I think anything at 6:00 a.m. is destined to have something go wrong. We have been struggling to come together and play well as a team and it showed on Thursday morning. Despite the poor performance on our part, I think a lot of positives came out of it. Anytime your weaknesses are exposed it gives you an opportunity to see what needs to be worked on. By Friday night our team felt ready. We were focused and believed that we could pull off an upset. The mindset going into the game was great. Unfortunately, it only lasted for about ten minutes of the first half. We hung around for a while, but our inability to convert and make stops on defense ended in a loss.

It really makes you think when you lose a game and know that you didn't play at your best. Like I said before, it exposes your weaknesses and shows you what you need to work on. I think I would rather play every preseason game against a ranked team and see what things we need to improve on rather than playing against teams that we will beat only because we are more athletic. So even though I am upset with the loss, I am excited to get to practice this week to fix the things that need to be fixed. That is why basketball is so great, there is always another game, and another opportunity to go out do a better job than you did the night before.

On another note, this week is the beginning of finals. I am sure that my teammates have been studying most of the weekend in order to get ready. I feel like this is the best time of year. After this week there is nothing but basketball. No classes, no study hall, no tutors, just basketball. It makes it so much easier to focus and not have to worry about what is due in class tomorrow. With that in mind, I have to get back to the books. Finals are no fun preparing for, but once they are over it feels great. So until next time.....

Go Waves!

Kelli Spencer # 11