Follow the Maryland women's basketball team during 2005-06 with junior Shay Doron as your guide. Doron is a National Player of the Year candidate and last year was an WBCA Honorable Mention All-American and first team All-ACC pick. Over the summer, she led the Israeli National Team to the Division B European Championship title and was named MVP of the tournament. She was also named MVP of the Maccabi Games in Israel, leading the USA to a gold medal.
Feb. 12, 2006
Under 10 seconds left in the game... Terps down three to the undefeated, No. 1 one team in the country, on their home court. The referee hands the ball to Toliver. Toliver inbounds to Doron, Doron shoots a three, MISSES! The rebound in Carolinas hands ... wait the ball is loose! Ashleigh Newman picks it up heaves a final prayer up towards the basket and... IT'S GOOOOOOD!!!!! Oh my God!!! OVERTIME!!!! Unbelievable!
Everyone who has followed us this year knows that overtime is OUR TIME. We are now 4-0 in overtime games ... including the overtime win at North Carolina this Thursday. As the buzzer sounded off, the team rushed the court, hugging and jumping for joy, ending Carolina's hopes of an undefeated season and proving so many doubters wrong about our team.
As I sat on the bus, thinking about Ashleigh's shot that took us to overtime, I thought about how on that court Michael Jordan played and hit some amazing shots that went down in history and will forever be remembered. Well for me, and for all the Carolina and Maryland fans sitting there that night, that shot will forever be engraved in their minds as one of the most amazing, clutch shots. So this blog in dedicated to you, Ashleigh Newman ... even though you were 0-for-8, you kept playing hard and were rewarded by making that amazing shot, one I will never forget and helped us beat the number one team in the country for the first time in 13 years!!!
GO TERPS!
Jan. 25, 2006
Well, it's back to school again today, even though just yesterday I took my final for my winter class.
On my first day, I had one class but have decided to drop ... I've got a pretty manageable schedule this semester, with classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and a discussion class on Mondays-Wednesdays-Fridays. It does not get any better than that. I am taking a criminal law class, a math statistic class, a leadership class and an anthropology class (which I may change to a nonverbal communications class. I'll have to wait till next week to decide which to choose).
Our new teammate, a transfer from Tennessee, has arrived today. We all are very excited to have Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood aboard. She will make us a better team. We will have to wait until next year to have her play in games, but we are glad she is here now. However, she can practice with us while she sits out, so she'll help us get better now even though she can't play in games.
Tomorrow we play Georgia Tech. We are all ready to play since we were not pleased with the way we played the last two games (even though we won them both). It will be a good battle and it's nice to be playing at home again.
Anyway, I'm off to watch our guys team play Georgia Tech on TV, till next time...GO TERPS!
Jan. 18, 2006
Well, we are currently sitting a 2-1 in the ACC. We have one of the toughest stretches coming up with back-to-back away games at Virginia and Virginia Tech (two of the hardest places to play). That's tough, but the great thing is knowing we can win if we continue to improve and work hard. Some teams go on some road trips almost expecting to lose, with little hope. But not us. We step out knowing we can win every single game if we play our way. There is no better league or schedule that can prepare us better for the NCAA Tournament. All of the games, all of the practices, the traveling, the sacrifices, all add up to being prepared to play in the NCAA Tournament and get to Boston this April.
Right now, we're in the middle of the winter session, but, luckily, it is about to end - only three classes left. Winter classes are always the toughest because you have to learn in three weeks what usually takes three months to learn in a normal semester. Hours upon hours are spent studying and in class every single week, along with basketball. It leaves very little free time for anything else. And just when you think it's over, a day after winter classes ends, the spring session begins.
School is my number one priority. Women do not graduate and go into the WNBA making millions. We (women) need to prepare for our future and make sure we are well educated and well equipped to take on the real world once this amazing college experience comes to an end. There would be no better ending than to my college career than "Shay Doron - University of Maryland graduate with a degree in criminology." Oh yeah, and, "Shay Doron - member of the 2005-06 Maryland Women's Basketball NCAA Championship team."
NOTE: Shay Doron was recently named to the Dean's List for the fourth-consecutive semester, earning a 3.5 GPA or higher. She is a two-time Academic All-ACC honoree and was selected to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Distric 2 All-America squad last year.
Jan. 9, 2006
Well, its hard to believe that its Jan 9 in 2006.
I'm a junior now... still can't believe that the time is flying like it is. We have already played two ACC games even though it feels like just yesterday we were being run into the ground by our conditioning coach Corliss White during preseason.
This year is expected to be different for us. No way would we settle again for falling in the second round. This whole summer was spent, by all of us, ensuring that that goal is met. All the hard work, the sweat, the pain, the sacrifices we all made to return to Maryland much better, and ready to move on to the next stages.
This year's team is surprisingly closer than last year team, which I was shocked to believe we could get even closer. But it happened... and it shows every time we step out onto the court to play.
Our freshmen came in and meshed with the returners at a record-setting pace. If you ask me, that is the biggest thing that separates this team from all the others. Our pure love and will to play for one another. We are all such different people with different backgrounds and experiences and, still, we've all come together to achieve ONE goal - win an NCAA Championship. No one on this team will settle for personal glory over that goal. In fact, nothing else pushes us. Many other teams have to deal with so many other things but not this team. If we continue with this mindset and continue to work hard and improve everyday, the sky is the limit for Maryland Women's Basketball in 2005-06.
To be continued....
