Hello Everybody!! Since my arrival my team and I have played in three basketball games. The first game was a CUP game against a team in our league called FoA (I have no idea what it stands for!) We won the game by two and it was the first time HoNsU has ever made it passed the first round in a CUP game, so my coach was pretty excited! I started and practically played the whole game and it didn't take long for me to realize basketball in Finland is much different from the states. For one, the girls out here are not as talented basketball players but are really physical, really fundamental and did I mention they are really physical? lol I stress the physical-ness because the girls do not care and will take you out! But with no hard feelings at all. Anyways, my first game I played well I had about 11-13 points, several nice passes and a couple steals. My coach told me that I am just the player he has been looking for and is happy that I am here. He also told me his goal for me this season is too be in great shape and much stronger!
The second team we played against was named Huima. This was just a practice game since our season has not started yet. Huima is one of the best teams in our league and they have a point guard who came from The University of Texas, so I was excited to challenge her on the court. In the first half my team was doing really well we were up by 10 at half time. I scored about 15 points, was 3-4 on the three point line and was basically HOOPIN! Then the second half came...and they went zone and our team struggled! I really didn't get back in the rhythm offensively but I was still very happy with my overall performance. We ended up losing by 22 points which was bad but considering we had our 3 player playing a post the whole game it could have been much worse.
The third game we played was also a scrimmage verse the same team Huima. We were excited to play this game because our third import player just arrived the night before and we finally have some size. Her name is Elise Morrison, she played for Dartmouth University and is a 6'4 post player who lives in Detroit. Unfortunately, we still lost the game by 20 which was very upsetting because they just dominated us the entire game. On the bright side there is a lot of improvement to be made and will be made because I refuse to get handled like this every game! I ended this game with about 15 points, a steal or two, and a couple assists. But I need to do more because we play this team again three times in the regular season and our team has to be better!
Our season home opener begins next Saturday against Huima ...again! So we have a week and a couple days to improve so that we can win our first game in league. Until then we will be practicing really hard and hopefully have some fun this weekend and explore Finland.
Until next time, take care!
**Please pray for the families and town here in Finland who just recently experienced a tragedy with school shooting!
Mandy#13
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