Winner, winner, STEAK dinner

So since my last post we have had 2 Euroleague games. And basically they couldn’t have had 2 more different results (wow, is “more different” even correct English?? I swear, my English has become terrible here and I’m going to get my Language Arts teaching certificate revoked….). Two weeks ago we travelled to Russia to take on Spartak for the 2nd time (we play each team in our pool twice). And you know how I said I would NEVER forget that Spartak win?? Welllll, I guess they didn’t forget about it either because they put a pretty good whooping on us, winning 85-52 (go ahead and cringe with me). It can basically be summed up with us playing poorly, out of sync and not being able to hit a shot while they were shooting the ball like it was warm-ups. Also, that one girl, Lauren Jackson, you know, who’s considered one of, if not THE best player in the world, has now joined back with her team and had a solid 28 points for them. So yeah, it was pretty ugly. On the personal side, although I had a whopping 2 points, I played 11 solid minutes and gave some good time beating up on Jackson…except for the play when she steam-rolled me en route to an and-1. Buuuut other than that I did ok. :) I have to say, although I’m not a huge fan of Jackson’s, especially after witnessing her on-court demeanor first-hand, it is pretty cool to say I played against her and here are some pics to prove it!! (And YES Coach Gray, I will continue to be a shameless name-dropper! :) )

Me, Noelle Quinn and Lauren Jackson

A little perimeter D for the big girl :)

Making sure not to foul. :)

Me about to block Lauren Jackson! Or her hitting a J in my face...lol. But since you can't tell from the pic I'm gonna say it's the first description!

Now, turning the tables, this past week we were back in the friendly confines of the Kaunas Sports Hall to take on the Spanish team who had beat us by 20 when we played there with all their crazy fans. Well I guess the home court advantage was the key to our win! Oh and the fact that we went 15-30 from 3-pt might have helped us just a little too. ;) Similar to the first Spartak game, we were up by about 10 for the majority of it but let them get back in it towards the end, with them tying it at the 12 second mark. Our final winning attempt was off the mark so we headed in to overtime where we were able to hang on for the win! This was again a huge shocker for all of Euroleague as Spain was at the top of our pool and of course a heavy favorite. After having some rough beat downs the past few weeks in Euroleague it sure was nice to get a big win and see the team so happy again! But unfortunately we can’t be too happy because towards the end of regulation Ausra (probably our best all-around player) hurt her knee on a play and had to come out of the game. There wasn’t any big, dramatic collision, but seeing Ausra hobble off the court, holding her knee with the look of pain on her face- you could tell it wasn’t good. It turns out that it was something with her meniscus and after having surgery this Tuesday she’ll be out about 3-4 weeks. Which yes, is about the remainder of the Euroleague season. :( It’s definitely going to be even tougher to get anymore Euro wins without Ausra, but luckily its nothing worse for her and we’ll obviously try our best to fill her place til she gets back. As for me in the Spain game, I got 13 minutes of time, with again just 2 points, but also some solid D against their two star post players, Sancho Lyttle and Erika DeSouza (again, name dropping :) ). There was even one play where I blocked Lyttle so bad that she fell to the ground and as we were going down the other end with the ball the refs had to stop the play because she was still laying on the court writhing in pain. Ok, maybe it could have been a foul but since the refs didn’t call it, I gotta admit that I was pretty darn impressed with myself. That’ll teach her not to bring that stuff in my house again!! I know, I know, I’m just as bad at trash talking in my writing as I am in real life…I guess I’m just too pure of heart, right Livie?? :)

But anyways, overall I’m starting to get more playing time as my Euro adjustment’s getting better and my confidence is growing. Both Euroleague wins have been  huge but it’s nice to know that I actually physically contributed to this one. Oh and in all the excitement of my blog about our Spartak win I forgot to mention something else pretty cool- apparently we get a bonus for every Euroleague game that we win too! I know, I know, I LOVE MY JOB. Ha. And there’s nothing quite like a coach ending a post-game talk with “and now we get more money too!” Haha. So yes, that’s why I said it- winner, winner, STEAK dinner!! :)