VARSITY ATHLETICS

February 13, 2008

Big Cities, Big Weekend for Basketball's Tondo

By Sophomore Guard - Ashleigh Tondo - McDonald, Ohio

This past weekend we traveled to NYC and Boston to take on the Violets and the Judges. We arrived to New York City and the weather was surprisingly warm for this time of year and the city was as alive as ever. The city traffic made travel seem ten times longer than it should’ve been, but it was nice to take a look at the craziness of the city in slow motion. After our Thursday practice at NYU, we made our way back to the Radio City Apartments, just a block or two away from Times Square. A few of us met up with my parents, who made the journey from home, and went to a restaurant right outside of the Apartments for an amazing pasta dinner.

The next day we played the Violets for the second time in a row. We beat them the Sunday before, but we knew it wasn’t going to be easy since we were playing at their place this time. The fans were mean, the atmosphere was loud, and there was just built-up tension between the two teams. At one point in the game we were down by 13, but I knew that we could control the tempo and come back if we just kept our heads up. Well, we did, and we ended up beating them by 10 points. This was probably the best win for us so far this season. The fact that Case has only beaten NYU three times in history, and our team made up two of those wins in one week is incredible. After the game, my parents and I (along with two of our family friends) enjoyed a phenomenal steak dinner at the Joe Allen restaurant. To top off an amazing night, my roommates (Julia, Anna, Mary) and I enjoyed my favorite smoothie place of all time: Jamba Juice. We called at 11:45 p.m. to see if they were still open and after we sprinted down the block we were the last smoothies they made just before closing.

The next morning we headed for Boston with high spirits. We made a great comeback the night before and we were heading into Brandeis after just losing to them by 2 points in OT last weekend. After practice both teams had a great dinner in a VIP room at Cheers and then we went back to the Double Tree Hotel, which serves the best chocolate chip cookies (but don’t ask the men’s team about it). Unfortunately, the game the next day didn’t turn out quite like we would’ve liked. For some reason we just weren’t playing up to our potential and we just lacked the fire that we had against NYU. We ended up losing the game by nine points, but the loss just put a damper on the weekend.

Head Coach Jennifer Reimer and Assistant Coach Dana Halicki hang out with Red Auerbach in Quincy Market in Boston.

We came back with a 1-1 record to a snowy and cold Cleveland after being delayed in Boston for about an hour. The feeling of beating NYU twice in a row is something that I’ll never forget, and I’m glad I got to share that memory with my teammates, coaches, and parents. Beating Brandeis would have made this a perfect trip, but overall the trip was really great. I’m looking forward to Throwback Weekend and taking on Wash U and Chicago this weekend.

Posted by: Creg Jantz February 13, 2008 12:06 PM | Category: Women's Basketball

Posted by: cnj4 (Creg Jantz) February 13, 2008 12:06 PM | Comments (0) | Trackback