A Rough Weekend!!

Hey everybody!! I know many of you are wondering how my games went this past weekend so here it goes. Saturday we played a team called Catz who is the best team in our league. It was a rough game from the tip. We immediately started the game down by 6 points and the lead only expanded tremendously lol I was doubled team from the moment our post tried to inbound the ball to me and was heavily guarded once I received the ball. The other team would sub in and out new players to pressure me the entire game. It was very physically draining and frustrating at the same time because I am literally the only person on my team who can handle that kind of defensive pressure and I was expected to do that the entire game. Catz defense forced us into committing turnovers well above our average, forced us into taking bad shots or simply missing easy ones. By half time we were down by 20 points and my team could not hang as a whole with Catz. They have 4 Professional athletes on their team whom each are getting paid very good money and two of them are 6'3 post players from Russia. My team on the other hand, has two Professional players and no true post player. We have three girls on my team who are 6'0 and two of those girls should be 3/4 players and they are expected to guard these legit 6'3 dominate post players but in reality they are no match for the Catz posts. By the time the game was over our fans had witnessed our desperate need for a post and the difference between the top team in our league compared to the bottom. It was completely embarrassing and frustrating to feel as if there was nothing I could have done to change the outcome of them game. The final score was 94-50 (which I am dreading to share lol) I was the leading scorer for my team with only 10 points and a bad shooting percentage. I also finished with 6 assists and 4 steals. On the bright side, I was in the local newspaper the following day and the caption under my picture stated, 'Amanda DeCoud was the only highlight for HoNsU' (Something along those lines)

Unfortunately, our second game which was on Sunday did not go any better. We traveled three hours to Helsinki to play Espoo. My team played very well in the first half with exception of a couple minutes during the half. Second half rolled around and all of a sudden we were down by 20 points. It was literally two minutes before the lead expanded like that. As soon as that happened we were done. Our shots were not falling, again their post took over and started scoring at will, my teammates started putting their heads down and bam just like that we had another 40 point lost. The final score was 87-44 and I personally felt emotionally drained because again, I felt as if there was nothing I could have done to change the outcome. My final stats included a lousy 6 points and 1 assist but an impressive 6 steals. As terrible as those games went and felt I am not letting that affect my hunger for personal improvement nor am I allowing those games define my team. I do believe we will get better and that when we play these teams again they will not beat us like that again. I also wanted to inform you that an American post player is coming down here for a try out on Thursday. So, if we like her game then she will help us, be the team we should be.

After those two game I was a little bummed because my scoring went down but I realized I should not be because at this point in league, I am leading the league in steals per game and am tied for second with assists per game.

Anyways, I hope California is treating you all well and I am sure you all are getting excited to vote in the Presidential election. I miss you and God Bless America!

Some Random Pictures

Some of my teammates waiting for our delicious steak dinner !!

My team : )

Just Me.. acting like I am a part of the band!

At the 100th year HoNsU anniversary

Me N front of a church near downtown!

My team and I eating dinner..i told everybody to make a funny face and the girls who didnt do it, told me later that they did not understand what that meant. It was a cute moment~

No Worries..this was ALL NET : )

I was heading downtown with my teammate!

My team picture minus the tallest girl in the middle

My team at our Fashion Show for HoNsU's 100th year anniversary!

It has been awhile since my last blog but not much has happened out here besides traveling 3 hours to our basketball game and two a day practices. This past Sunday we played a league game against a team called PuHu. This team is a very experienced team with everyone in their starting line up over the age of 25 except one player. The first half my team played great. We executed our offense perfectly, played the aggressive defensive our coach demands from us and everything was clicking on the court. Ending the half with a couple poor offensive decisions in a row allowed PuHu to quickly catch up. By half time we were up by 1 point which should have been 15 if it weren't for the last 2 minutes of the second quarter. Second half rolls around and unfortunately it was a whole different story. All of a sudden we couldn't make a shot, we were getting terrible calls from the refs, we were playing terrible help side defense and just like that PuHu was up by 20 points. It was so deflating because of the awesome start we had but that is the difference from being on a team with experienced players oppose to young ones. Experienced teams capitalize on their opponents mistakes and that is what PuHu did. Even for myself, I made some poor choices such as driving to the basket early in the offense and not finishing, when instead my team needed me to set the offense up and run through the plays. I also fouled out of the game which I have managed to do twice this season. Even though, I was disappointed in myself for how I played in the second half, looking back I am glad I made those poor decisions in the game. The reason is because I realize I do not want to ever feel as if I did not complete my job, which is how I felt after the game. I have a responsibility as a point guard to take control of the offense and it was clear that I did not do that in the second half. Do not get me wrong, I am not putting pressure on myself about the game and I know my entire team contributed to our lost but there are things I should have done differently in the second half. The final score was 73-53 and we are now 0-4 in league. My final stats included 14 points, 3 rebounds, 4 steals and 1 assist. To my surprise, I still was awarded Player of the Game and received a pretty cool Michael Jackson CD which is a Finnish Collection.

Our next game is this Saturday against one of the best teams in league named Catz. Sunday we travel to Helsinki to play a team called Espoo who is one of the best defensive teams in league.

Besides basketball, after our game on Saturday HoNsU is celebrating their 100th year anniversary and the girls on the team including myself, have to participate in a fashion show. I am actually excited and think this will be a lot of fun! I will be sure to update you on my weekend : )

God Bless!

CUP Game...second round

Yesterday my team and I played in the second round of the Cup games. We played a team called BC Nokia who we are currently tied with for last place in league : ( Our team has had many changes since our last game. Elise Morrison, our American post player from Darthmouth University was released on Monday, our second starter Salla was told she would be out for about three weeks due to her ankle injury. Consequently, we had a new starting line up, with two new starters and many players seeing action on the floor for the first time. Despite, the "new-ness" of our team we came out and kicked BC Nokia's butt! We were 10 times better than that team and ended up winning the game 81-59. This win was very much needed and felt good to get under our belts. Our next CUP game will be against a team called Espoo on November 12, 2008. This game will be in the semi-finals which is the furthest HoNsU has made it in the CUP games. If we beat Espoo we will be in the finals which is a nationally televised game so I will be sure to update everybody if needed. My final stats included 20 points, 5 assists, 2 steals and 4 rebounds which awarded me as Player of the Game.

This Sunday, we face a team called PuHu in a regular league game on their home court. We will travel about 3 hours near Helsinki and fight for our first win in league. Love you and God Bless!

Battling it out in conference play

Saturday was our second game of the season and we traveled 3 and 1/2 hours to a town called Forssa to play a team called FoA. This was the same team we played in our first CUP game at home which was my first game as well as my first win as a HoNsU player. This game was a very different game then the first time we played them. They started the game off on fire getting easy fast break points and pumped up. They played a zone defense either 1-3-1, 2-3 and even box-1 (which i have not seen since high school). We struggled to get some points on the board but eventually started scoring a bit. Five minutes into the game our best Finnish player Salla sprained her ankle really bad and was out for the game. This hurt us as well as not having a dominate post player. Our coach has not been happy with our newest American addition post player and sat her on the bench. Now our team had to rely on girls who usually do not play very many minutes to contribute to the game. Unfortunately, those girls came in scared and not confident. They could not catch the ball, they were shooting air balls right after the other, and became very hard on themselves. By half time we were down by 20 points and it did not look like we had much hope. As second half came around we had some of the younger Finnish players step up their game but we just did not have what it took to win the game. We ended up losing the game 81-70, a key player to an injury and potentially losing our American post player. I finished the game with 19 points shooting 2/3 from the three point line as well as having 4 steals.





Today's game was against a team who has one of the best post players in the league. At the tip of the game I was exhausted from last nights game, but I knew I had to still show up for my team. Our starting line up changed and we began the game without the American post player and obviously without Salla (due to her ankle injury). So, with two new girls in the starting line up we knew we had to hide our exhaustion and show our pride. We had some really good runs and the other team also had some good runs. By half-time we were up by 4 and feeling and looking good. There were many girls on our team who stepped up and played a much better game then the previous night. But again we didn't have enough of what it takes to get our first league win. Although, we lost 72-82, we gained many things as well. Many of our players gained confidence in themselves, many of our players gained valuable game experience, and us Americans, well Rocky (the other American guard from Delaware State University) and I, gained more belief in our team due to the many great moments we had throughout the game. This game again has left us more hungry to get our first win in league. We are now 0-3 in league along with another team whom we play this Wednesday in the Cup game. My final stats of the game included 14 points, 7 assists and 5 steals, which awarded me as the Player of the Game : )

Until next time have a blessed week!!

HoNsU vs. Huima..Season Opener

Today we had our home game season opener against Huima. Like usual it was a tough match against our cross town rivals. There was a lot of pushing and shoving, whining and complaining on the court. It was a battle! We started the game well and took the lead in the first few seconds of the game. The Huima offense had no idea what to do against our full court zone defense and once they did it was time for us to play man to man defense. The game was going back and forth until the second quarter then Huima went on a run and by half time we were down by 10.

After several missed lay-ups by myself : ( and our 6'4 post player Elise Morrison I had enough, I got a little pissy and I start taking it to them. I finished my lay-ups : ) and hit a couple outside shots and tried to stop Huima's run. With several of my teammates in foul trouble and Huima getting 8 offensive rebounds in two possessions we started to fold. Although, they started expanding the lead we did not give up. We kept fighting and try to take it one possession at a time. During those moments we cut their lead to 7 but that took so much out of us that we ran out of gas. The final score was 66-79 and the worse thing about the game was the we let a 30 year old women get a double double at 17 points and 21 rebounds! Yes, that's right 21 rebounds!! We call her THE MAN I'm sure you kind figure out why! We lost the rebounds by over 10 and ultimately we knew that would have changed the game.

My final stats included 15 points, 3 boards, 2 assists and 6 steals. I had decent numbers but I still didn't feel complete due to the missed lay-ups, 13 point lost and giving up 21 rebounds to ONE player who is over 30 years old. So, very frustrating for our team but luckily we play them two more times so I smell a sweet upset coming soon! Watch out Huima!!

Our next two games are Saturday October 12th and Sunday the 13th.

I hope everyone is doing well and that you remember to smile because it feels so good : )