Buckle Up with Brooke

Everyone knows that Ohio Northern Women's Basketball is different. We are a family. I was counting down the days until I was back on campus with my teammates. Needless to say, we are spending an absurd amount of time together.  We graduated seven seniors off the roster, so this year is focused on rebuilding. Those seniors were key elements in every game plan. They made sure we were always following our core values on and off the court. I think one of the unique aspects of our team is how much we care about whom we are becoming as individuals. We were brought together to play basketball, but life is so much bigger than a leather ball. Our coach places a precedent on the quality of people he has in his program. He wants us to leave the program as better people than we were when we came in. I can say this process is not an easy one. In high school, I was a key offensive player with many accolades. Praise was a key piece in feeling confident in myself. The world of college basketball k...

It feels like yesterday my first collegiate basketball season ended, but I find myself with virtually a full schedule again. Spring basketball events are all optional, but my team truly loves being together in the gym. I was so excited to see everyone at our first open gym. I think it is funny how much we didn't realize that we missed each other. Basketball season is very long and demanding. Aside from class, we spend almost every hour of our days together. It felt weird to go to class and not have practice afterward. After our first open gym, we went to dinner together and took over an entire room in the engineering building. We had so much to tell one another. Personally, I missed laughing until my stomach hurt. My teammates are joys to be around. We started voluntary conditioning this week. We condition at 5:45 a.m., but I like working out early in the morning. There is no better satisfaction than completing an entire workout while everyone else is still asleep. My teammates and...

Last Thursday, we traveled to John Carroll to compete in the OAC conference tournament semi-finals. Going into the game, we believed that we were going to win. John Carroll had beaten us twice before, but we knew that they hadn't seen our best effort yet. It is no secret that there is a great rivalry between us and JCU. As expected, the game was heated. Fouls were being called left and right. It is not uncommon for tournament games to be more physical than normal games. The referees try to call the games even, but conveniently in tournament time, the whistles go away. I actually prefer them not calling the little fouls. It lets the players play the game through pressure. Sadly, we lost to John Carroll by 12.  I don't think the score represented the effort that was given by every single player on the team. The bench was absolutely electric. The best yet worst feeling in the world is when you jump up screaming from a great play and sit down with a headache from being lightheaded....

Our first big assignment for our social media class was a live-tweeting assignment. Honestly, I was so confused and had no idea of what to cover when Dr. Aggie explained the assignment. My basketball team was traveling to the OAC semifinals on Thursday, so I couldn't do a Public Relations Student Society of America meeting. Somehow, I missed the email about National Polar Bear Day Celebration in front of the library. I was lost so I decided to look at all the collegiate sports schedules for Sunday. The games were going to bed great. Top 25 women's basketball matchups were being streamed all day, and I was thrilled. After playing basketball since I could walk, you would think the assignment was a piece of cake, no.  The top matchup I chose to cover was #8 ranked LSU vs #16 ranked Tennessee. This was a pivotal matchup because the winner of this game would be the second seed in the SEC tournament. The two teams fought tirelessly. My project only covered the first half of the game,...

Happy OAC conference tournament week! I am so excited for my team to be in the position we are in going into the conference tournament. This season has been nothing short of easy. We have battled every obstacle thrown at us this season such as Covid-19, injuries and of course, exhaustion. Our team wants to win this tournament so bad. A championship is right in front of our hands, but it is going to be a fight each night. Last night, we traveled to Otterbein to take on the cardinals in a quarter-final matchup. We knew this was going to be a total battle. Otterbein had a pretty successful season. They upset John Carroll at the end of the year and stole a win from us. This was only the second time we were playing Otterbein. The first game was canceled due to us having 13 girls sick with Covid-19. From the start, our team was ready to play. We were extremely disappointed in our efforts in the first game, which made us fight even harder. The referees didn't call too many fouls, but I di...