Our “lopping” skills put to work!

Last Saturday morning, we continued our annual women’s bball tradition of partnering with Portland Parks for community service.  It was the 6th straight year for our team and second in a row that we worked at  Johnson-Tidewater Creek Park along the Johnson Creek Watershed.  This year we climbed a hill with ‘loppers’… tearing, cutting, pulling, and removing invasive ivy species.  Occasionally, we also took a coffee and donut break. Rumor

Coach Hristou showing good technique!

 is Coach Fulks had 3 donuts during the morning to stay ‘energized’. The weather held out and after the morning – we had made a significant dent in the hill and even made a few paths through to the top.  Check out all the pictures!

Pio Patrol! Helping out the local neighborhoods!

Halloween was an exciting, jam-packed weekend for L&C and our players!  We jumped from women’s volleyball Friday night (go Marg!) to the NWC Cross Country Meet & Pio Patrol on Saturday and ended with our first scrimmage of the actual season on Sunday.   Thanks to Christina, Kristina, T, Caitlin, Spence, Emily, Sara & Jodi for helping work the XC meet.  After watching the end of the two race’s all the down-backs in basketball didn’t look nearly as bad!!   

Pio Patrol was a new event this year, hosted by SAAC, where our student-athletes went into the area neighborhoods and helped with safety while passing out candy to trick-or-treaters.  Our team split up and ended up running into professors in the neighborhoods and a major Halloween party complete with the giant “jumping tent”.  Spence and Caitlin spent a lot of time “helping” at that house! 

Finally, after gaining an extra hour of sleep on Sunday, we headed north for our scrimmage against Lower Columbia Community College.  It was great to see the progress since Canada and figure out where we still need a lot of work.  The evening ended with dinner at Coach Deichsel’s house!!!  IT WAS AWESOME!  Thanks to the Deichsel family!!!    

Now it’s back to the grind preparing for our next exhibition game vs. Oregon State and then opening day, Nov. 15th!

HUGE FALL PROMOTION!!!!

L&C Athletics Department is preparing to roll out a brand new, major, huge promotion!!  

Want a hint?  

Like more of this???

Our first 4 home games will give 10 contestants each game a chance to be the ‘daily game winner’ and qualify for a chance to win big, big dollars on Nov. 30.  Will you be one of the lucky 4 winners who has a chance at major money?

More details to come and promotions will be everywhere!

5 Home Games:

1. Sunday, November 15   2:00 pm vs. Evergreen State

2. Tuesday, November 17   7:00 pm vs. Warner Pacific

3. Saturday, November 21    7:00 pm vs. Northwest

4. Tuesday, November 24   7:00 pm vs. Concordia

5. Monday, November 30    7:00 pm vs. Corban

How strong are you?

Who says post players can't do pullups!?!

1. 5 Miles     Bench Press   Leg Press    Pull Ups     Bar Dips       Squats      Military Press     Quick Feet

… and then practice.

That’s how Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday started.  Running, 3 maxing stations and then up to the gym.

This past week marked the 6th Annual “welcome to women’s basketball”  at L&C!!  Of course there is a lot of gym time, but the week also marks a week of pride in their personal development over the summer and their dedication to each other.  They have taken it upon themselves to lift, run, and improve physically and then they get to show off their preparation and quite possibly have their name go in the record books. 

And this year, the group came in prepared and knocked off many records including 3 brand new names to the 1.5 mile run!  Congrats to all and know our basketball staff was very, very impressed.

 

Canada: Day 4 “We’ll be back!”

Guest Writer: Coach Tal (Check out the Pictures!)

Blog Guest Writer ..and super fast!

Day 4:

Early morning wake up call today in Victoria …. after 3 days of non-stop on-

Very Unusual Pre-game Meal

the-go activities, 7am came really early today.  Coach Em, Coach Fulks, and myself shuffled in and out of the bathroom and downstairs just in time to see the ladies looking just as tired as we were.  But the good news for me was we were headed for coffee …

Breakfast of champions today was Safeway bagels, bananas and peanut butter!  We found ourselves in high spirits in the Safeway Cafe for over an hour,  talking about anything from Megan Spence’s hometown distance from our current location (apparently we need to work on map education) to Paige’s Grandmother who was coming to attend our game.

With game 4 on day 4 and playing in the morning, we had to get a move on to University of Victoria (UVIC) for our last scrimmage.   As we pulled into campus, we noticed how quiet it was due to the Thanksgiving holiday being tomorrow.  Most people had already left to spend the holiday with family and friends.  However, there was a women’s field hockey game going on when we got there which most of us wished we would have had time to

On the schedule!

watch and support like our sportsmanship at the hockey game yesterday.  No such luck, apparently we were there to play basketball still

UVIC was very similar to SFU in terms of the size of campus, but with not too much time to spend looking around, we hustled to the gym after noticing they had placed us on the official 2009-2010 schedule on the wall … pretty sweet for us to see as it lined their athletic office hallways.  We had 5 official fans at this game!

Thanks to our fans!

Megan Spence’s mom and sister, Paige Dinnie’s Grandmother, and Christina Herrings parents who made the whole trip with the Pioneers.  Thanks so much to those of you who were able to join us and take part in our international adventure!

Our scrimmage against UVIC was another very good chance for us to get better, playing against much bigger girls than we have played against in the past, getting us ready for our Exhibition Game against Oregon State.  The refs were very helpful and allowed us to call time-outs from our bench this scrimmage, helping us get used to our style of play.  In fact, they even let Coach Fulks make a few calls for them …!

After our first game, we talked about things we did well and things we needed to work on individually; and we saw these improvements throughout the weekend and in our final game.  It was very exciting to see these improvements from our players, as they had not only come together as a team socially, it was transferring to the court as well.  We couldn’t have been more proud after only 10 days of practice and 4 full days together.

We had to hustle to the ferry station as it was a smaller ferry than our first one and had to ensure our spot so we could make it back to US Soil.  There was a marathon in downtown Victoria this morning, so that created a bit of

Our ride home..

chaos for us as we crawled along the downtown streets, but allowing us to see a bit more of Victoria on our way.  Once we parked at the ferry station, we were greeted by humorous US Custom Officials who made jokes with us and helped continue our good spirits on our long stretch home.  After a bit of hassle with Paige, whom they almost didn’t let come back with us, we got her just in time to pull onto the ferry and run (we literally ran) to the food counter upstairs.

After food, ice cream, and chit-chat, some girls started in on homework, others slept, and some of us played card games to pass the time.  Coach Em

Is this one?

was the group’s ring-leader in a card game called SET that I made her sit out a round so the rest of us could have a chance at winning.  As soon as we were about 30 miles from Port Angeles, cell phone service regained and a lot of the girls were checking back in with family and friends.

Once we docked at Port Angeles, we were on tunnel vision to get back to Tacoma, Washington where we would meet Coach Whitesel.  My van sang songs and told jokes, led by Freshman Tiffany Wang, and closed out the trip with the Alphabet Sign game.  I heard the other van came up with new games called: Dedication, Karoke, and Talk Show (shout-out to Max’s mom)

The trip to Canada was a success!  Not only did the girls have a blast, so did the coaches. This allowed many of us an opportunity to visit places we had never been to, nor might we ever not have visited.  Quite the experience for those who haven’t ever visited another country and may never get to experience Canada again.  Thanks to CANADA for their hospitality and UBC, SFU, VIU, and UVIC for an opportunity to play against some of the best players and teams in Canada.

The Pioneer’s have this week to recover before we can start official practice and plan for the upcoming season.  We are hoping to rid the colds and catch up on the sleep we need to be back at 100% next week.

Don’t worry Canada … we’ll be back.

Canada: Day 3, Honorary Canadian

Guest Writer: Coach Tal (Check out the pictures!)

Human Canada Sculpture!

Day: 3

Greetings from Vancouver Island, Nanaimo Canada!

We're On A Boat!

Today started like any other day so far on the trip, where Coach Fulks says ‘Morning Canada’ as we both scurry around gathering up the Pioneers for our day’s adventure.  Today embarked a new journey for us, as we were taking our first ferry ride of the trip over to Nanaimo for our game against Vancouver Island University!  Good news …. we fit on the Ferry with about 2 inches to spare above the van to the roof of the ferry car park. Phew!

This was going to be our first ‘exhibition game’ as the first two were scrimmages against UBC and SFU…  so the girls were very excited to put on their black Uni’s today and play hard! Our ferry ride took us a good 2 hours to get to the island where we had a plethora of things going on while floating across the big blue pond.  Some girls slept, some played cards, some did homework, and some watched film with Coach Fulks and I, during a mini film session in one of the vans.  We went through a few things that we did well the previous night against SFU and some opportunities for us to improve on for our game tonight against VIU.

As we docked in Nanaimo, we all noticed the scenery was a bit different from Vancouver.  The island was more spread out, less metropolitan influence, and many more trees; looking very much like the NorthWest we

Happy and Well Fed

were used to.  We pulled through downtown Nanaimo and found a spot to feed the hungry girls and coaches.  A hungry coach is NOT a happy coach  Our waitress at the Modern Cafe gave us a few suggestions of things to do since we had about three hours to use before game time.  We walked along the Seawall on the edge of town peering in and out gift shops,

Skills on the SeaWall

walked along the water,  and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  Our-in house dance team, Neva Houser and Jodi Snider, Salsa danced for us along the seawall while a local played the guitar;  some of us pretended not to know them, although they did a fairly good job!

After our trip to the Seawall, we scoobied up to the VIU campus.  From the very top of campus you could see for miles! It was BEAUTIFUL.  We also noticed the Nanaimo Ice Center in the distance, so we hopped in the vans and decided to see what kind of trouble we could get into there.  Of course it wouldn’t be a trip to Canada without a HOCKEY GAME!  We filed into the rink, feeling

Hockey!!

like little kids with all of our eyes sparking and big smiles on our faces because there was a women’s hockey game going on right then!  Because we usually cannot go anywhere without laughing and having a good time, we were all coaching both teams by the end of the first period.  Clearly, we thought we knew what should be going on more than the girls on the ice!  We started the wave, cheered for the losing team, and yelled to let the girls out of the penalty box.  Now that I think about it, it’s probably a good thing we don’t have a penalty box in basketball, as I don’t know if we could keep a full 5 people on the court.

Game time came and we were warmly welcomed from the VIU staff.  They were very helpful, kind, and genuine.  After a very intense back and forth game, we were able to pull away with a victory in our first game! The girls

Game Time!

played VERY well after 2 scrimmages the two previous days.  Senior Talerra Rich finished with 16 points and led the Pioneers in rebounding.  The other piece of good news,  we didn’t have to learn any new rules this game, as we had learned them all the hard way the previous two days.  The girls were exhausted but very excited to have our first ‘W’ under our belt for the weekend.  VIU even helped our Canadian, Paige Dinnie, feel at home as every time she went in, or took a shot they commentated and played the OH CANADA tune.  After the game, we re-grouped in the schools ’squash’ room (which to most of us is a racquet ball court) where the school provided us with pizza before our next van journey.  Thanks to VIU and their amazing Canadian Hospitality.

Before we knew it, we were out of Nanaimo and on our way to Victoria for our game tomorrow.  Some girls slept, others chit-chatted about Halloween costumes, while the coaches just plugged along the dark road into Victoria.  Arriving at our hotel around 10pm, our night could not be complete without a quick team bonding game where we shared a room full of laughs

Sat in the wrong spot...

and hysterical activities.  Thanks to Neva and Jodi for being such good sports tonight!

After day 3 down and 1 more to go, I am wondering if I can be an honorary Canadian if I start throwing some ‘eh’s’ into conversation?

Canada: Day 2, Eh?

Guest Writer: Coach Tal   (Click here for more pictures)

Day 2:

Eh! Troops …
 
Well … we made it through Day 2 in Canada, and it turned out to be just as eventful as the first!
 
After a late night last night, some extra hours of sleep this morning, and a trip to the local coffee shop, we were ready to give Day 2 in Canada our best efforts.  Our day started with a trip to Stanley Park which is like Vancouver’s version of Central Park.  We spent the morning looking at the Totem Pole Park, Lions Gate Bridge, and walked along the water that surrounds the city.  It was breathtaking to say the least and I am trying to figure out how I can managed my next trip back here.   Apparently Megan Spence spends every summer at Stanley park with her family … so she gave some insights from the peanut gallery along the way.  Caitlyn Relyea also let us know she had tandem biked around the park before with her family … not something she made sound like anything relatively fun, so not something I will be adding to my next trip.  Thanks Cait.
From there we went to Granville Island where they have an on-going farmers market, lots of local tourist shops, cafe’s, and art galleries.  It was packed! We have been trying to figure out why everything has been so busy this week and come to find out … its Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday ~ who knew.  Apparently Paige failed to mention that tp me before now.    Because of this, there is a lot of hustle and bustle throughout town right now; and not to mention the city is very much getting ready for the Olympics that will be here this winter.    Our players have found themselves quite fond of the 2010 Olympic Cartoon Characters, again … who knew.  
 
We had just enough time to snag a pre-game meal,  re-group before our game, and set-off for our next destination.  Simon Fraser (SFU) sits on the East side of the Vancouver in the Burnaby area.  As we were pulling in, we decided that the buildings looked something like the Pentagon; concrete, low-rise horizontal buildings.  Although sterile, it was beautiful scenery and they have top notch facilities.  Once we arrived in the arena, we were welcomed by the Canadian National Anthem for the first time … Paige couldn’t have been happier. And quite frankly so were the coaches, they actually had a player sing it for us.   Their coach also informed us that SFU will be joining the NCAA DII in 2011 as part of the Greater Northwest Atheletic Conference (GNAC).  They will be playing with American Rules vs their own as well as having 4 year eligibility athletes  vs the 5 years they do now.  This will be a very big change for them moving forward.  The Pioneers came out strong after spending some time off the court today against the Reigning National Champs from FSU…even won the first quarter 22-21.  We  played to our strengths and continued to show signs of improvement and athleticism. 

We bolted back to the hotel after the game after a team vote for Pizza.  A nice way to get back right away and rest up for the next two days … or so we thought.  After an hour and a half of waiting for it to be delivered, Coach Fulks ‘hit a wall’ and called to find out where it is.  After she very kindly told the person on the other end of the phone that we hadn’t received our order yet, we eventually got fed and only paid half the cost.  I am sure those ‘kind’ words had something to do with it.  After pizza, we were able to spend a bit of time learning something new about all of the players and the coaches.  Everyone had sent in a text message to Coach one thing others did not know and we all tried to guess who each item fit.  Let’s just say, we have players with a fake tooth (Jodi Snider), a former gymnast (Coach Em), yes really,  even a former Homecoming Queen (Coach Fulks).  Many laughs later, everyone scurried off to bed for an early morning wake up call tomorrow.   
Tomorrow marks a new adventure for us as we will have a 2 hour Ferry Ride crossing to Victoria for our next two games at University of Victoria and Vancouver Island.  This should be interesting as we are not too sure if the vans will even fit on the boat!  (Coach Fulks and Coach Sexton (golf/assoc. AD) believe they will!)
 
Happy Friday!

We Made It!

Guest Writer: Coach Tal

I thought I would give a go at the blog this week as we are underway on our very first International trip for the Pioneers!

We made it to OH Canada today, home of Senior,Paige Dinnie, with all 11 players, three coaches, and two 12 passenger vans in one piece.  Step 1 – Check!  

 There were a few initial things to get used to right away, like the speed limit.  Canadians measure speed in KM’s, so when it said 80 KM’’s I got a little nervous realizing i was driving about 20 mph over the speed limit.  Thanks to Coach EM, who let me know underneath the mph on the speedometer, it is KM’s.  Learn something new everyday – thanks EM.   When it came to distances though for freeway exits, everything was measured in Meters.  That one, well, we all just gave up on right away since we didn’t want to do the math, and our ‘in house’ math wiz student, Kristina Williams, was in the other van. 
 
We played University of British Columbia today, that has somewhere in the realm of 30,000 students.  It is a massive campus, set right on the hills of Vancouver.  And of course the oldest building on campus is the GYM.  We weren’t quite sure we were ever going to find our way into the gym, as one student told us it was on a different side of campus, and every door we seemed to try to open was locked.  Once we finally made our way to the gym, a female UBC athlete was walking out and Coach Fulks leaned over and said,  ”i sure hope she is on the volleyball team” since we were basically looking at her knee caps at eye level.  
 
The UBC Thunderbirds had 13 girls suited up for our scrimmage. We played 4, 10 minute periods vs 2 halves.  We had 8 seconds in the back court and a 24 second shot clock vs our no back court time line and a 30 second shot clock.  We played in the trapezoid key, and went to the bonus every period after 5 fouls a period.  Since breathing in Canada seemed to be a fould, we were in the bonus for every period which did not help our cause.  The Pioneers came out strong and showed some major headway for the up-coming season.  After a very long day in the car and on the court, the girls were more than ready to catch up on some much needed sleep. 
We are staying in downtown Vancouver tonight and tomorrow night.  I was pleasantly surprised to see what an amazing city Vancouver really is. Very new architecture, lots of trendy downtown living, great independent restaurants (thanks to the Cactus Club Cafe for a great dinner), and some bright neon lights reminding some of us of New York City.   To get into the city we took a large highway bridge over a  beautiful bay at sunset that crossed into the heart of the city which looked just like something out of a magazine; high rise buildings with mountains tall behind them, and water surrounding everything.  Vancouver, the best kept secret in the NorthWest … after Portland that is.
 
Plans tomorrow include sleeping in and coffee for the coaches, and thats as far as we have gotten.  We will be doing some sort of sight seeing tomorrow, since our evening plans will be playing Simon Fraser.  The REIGNING NATIONAL CHAMPS of Canada. This game will too, follow the same rules and will be in the same scrimmage type format.  We will head to Victoria on Saturday for our game that day and Sunday.    
 
Looking forward to what tomorrow in BC will bring!

Talia Hristou

OH Canada…HERE WE COME!

Birthplace of Paige Dinnie

Tomorrow marks the beginning of our four day adventure into the homeland of senior, Paige Dinnie and the first outside competition for the 2009-10 pioneer squad.   We’ve asked lots of questions about Canada over the years… some funny, some educational, some not-so-smart.  We’re hoping that this four day expedition is “Lewis & Clark” style and includes lots of exploring as well as visiting 4 Canadian Universities.   On the docket are the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University (reigning Canadian National Champions), Vancouver Island University, and the University of Victoria.    Additionally, we will have a few ferry rides that hopefully double as ‘whale watching’.  We’ve spent 10 days prepping and are ready to go! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsYE-FPu59M

P.S.  Paige -  in honor of this adventure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwDvF0NtgdU

Check back for daily updates and lots of pictures…

2009-10: Officially Started!

The first week of practice is officially in the books and week 2 hits off today!  Week 1 included 4 practice days, lots of shooting… and bring on that defensive footwork!

Reach Step Ladies!!

Additionally, the team got started with a wide range of motivational hits as the coaches surprised them with a CD of all their fav’t workout songs.   It’s hard work but if it wasn’t hard- everyone would be doing it!   Check out more photos from the first week!

Website In Progress

Fans, Recruits, Family and Friends of Pioneer Basketball,

Our new blog site is under construction, but will be up and running within the next week.  It will be filled with details, updates, photos and videos of the team taking on the challenges of college life.  Check back with us soon to find out what the girls are up to this fall!

Regards,

L&C Women’s Basketball Staff

Team Bonding at the Nature Park

Jodi, Neva, Caitlin and Megan

Mac and Vega

Kim and Taylor

Christina

Team Photo

Coach Hristou, Coach Dub, and Coach Fulks

Kim and Christina

What are you doing Christina?

The team

A day in the Mulch…

Our team, coaches, and alumni spent quality time together on Saturday at the Tideman Johnson Nature Park, where we got down to the nitty gritty.  Let’s just say there were lots of wheel barrow races and by the end of the day we were all experienced shovelers and mulch movers. It’s Homecoming weekend at L&C which brought recent alumni back to the park with us!  The team partners every year with Portland Parks to plant, remove non-native species, and other tasks necessary to keep the parks’ plant-life healthy and thriving! Good times every year!

The Scavenger Hunt

The basketball and softball teams joined this afternoon to have an intra-team video scavenger hunt challenge on campus. The players were partnered in teams of 4-5 from their respective team.   Each team carried along a digital video camera and a list of challenges to carry out and objects to obtain within a 60 minute time period. The tasks varied in difficulty, and the more difficult the task, the more points awarded. To give you an idea of how much fun it was, some of the tasks on their list included performing a movie scene on the theatre stage; playing duck, duck, goose on the grassy knoll; finding a professor and serenading him/her with their favorite song; and even finding/bringing back a prom dress. It was a great time for everyone and it gave the players a chance to do some team bonding and meet new people. We compiled their videos into a short movie… Check it out for some good laughs.

Open Gyms Finished… Practices Start on Sunday

Our players had their final open gym tonight before the season officially begins this Sunday, October 19. Throughout the pre-season and post-season, the team gathers weekly in the gym to continue playing. The pre-season open gyms allow the new team to get to know each other, work on their basketball skills, and continue their conditioning.   It also allows them to get all the alley-oops and AND1 moves out of their system before the real practices begin!

Coach Fulks Travels Overseas

“Understand the Game Tour”

Coached Fulks finished her third trip with “Understand The Game” this summer.  She traveled to Amman, Jordan and Cairo, Egypt where she teamed up with a number of talented coaches, including Cynthia Cooper (WNBA) and Detlef Schrempf (NBA).  The trip featured several coaching clinics working with youth, national teams, and coaches of each country.  Additionally, the group visited a special needs center for developmentally challenged youth that provides Jordanian children the opportunity to expand their capabilities and their expectations.   On the occasional day off, the team visited several historic sites including the Dead Sea, Petra, and the Pyramids.  Check out some of the photos from the trip!

First Day of Practice…

Today was our first practice of the 2008-09 season!

Our team started practice in the weight room where we measured individual strength & conditioning and then moved upstairs to the gym.  Practice entailed teaching a variety of fundamentals and the beginning sequences of our offenses and defenses. 

Everyone was really excited to jump back into the swing of things and officially start the much anticipated season of Pioneer Basketball!  Expectations are high and the players have worked extra hard in the off-season to meet our team goals… and that work ethic carried into practice today.

Check out our video footage from the first day!  

Young Pios Basketball Clinics

 

Shawna Castle (L&C alum '08) looks on as the young pios practice ball handling

 

The women’s basketball staff is currently running a Young Pios Basketball Clinic at Hockinson Elementary School in Brush Prairie, Washington.  The clinic is using our L&C basketball staff, players, and alumni to teach local area girls the fundamentals of basketball.  Our coaching staff is having a great time with this, and all of the girls are loving it.  

The free clinic consists of girls between the ages of 8 and 12 years old and it runs every Sunday afternoon.  Go (Young) Pios!

 

Basketball shows some love to teammate Margaret and the Volleyball team

 

Margaret Dowling, one of our freshman forwards, has been earning numerous accolades on the volleyball court for the Lady Pios this fall. Margaret plays two sports and is currently finishing up in volleyball before transitioning into the basketball season. 

The volleyball team, who currently stands in third place in the Northwest Conference, is one of our most loyal and energetic fan bases.  They attend nearly all of our home games and we love showing them the same support.  Volleyball will finish out their season with two home games Nov. 7th & 8th and you can bet that we will all be there.  Go Pios!

As you can see from the pictures below, our team loves to go out and support Margaret and volleyball in their battle to finish at the top of the Conference.

Student Athletic Trainers in Action

Aside from their busy school and basketball schedules, three of our players also find time to log hours in the training room as student athletic trainers. Michaela, Emily, Paige, and Taylor are all members of the athletic training staff. This job is available to students who have passed the Athletic Training Course offered every Spring, taught by our Head Athletic Trainer, Mark “Petie” Pietrok.

As student trainers, their duties include but are not limited to: administering treatment to athletes, taping ankles, wrists and fingers, and updating electronic treatment records. Aside from putting in time in the training room, the student trainers also gain experience in the field, where they are able to observe the evaluations of injuries occurring during various sporting activities.

We are very proud of our student athletic trainers! Keep up the good work.

Team Dinner

The ladies got together on Friday night for dinner and a movie at Emily Deichsel’s house. Our lone senior, Em, cooked pasta, garlic bread, and baked brownies for the team.

As coaches, we were happy to see the ladies unwinding and having a good time. They were all very excited to get off campus and eat a home cooked meal. We are very proud of all of the energy and hard work they have been putting forth both in school and on the court. They are all extremely busy with basketball and school, and with finals approaching in less than a month, I am SURE that they have been spending lots of time in the library…

Idaho Trip…

We departed for Idaho on Thursday, November 20 at about 3:30 pm via charter bus, putting us in Lewiston a little after 10 pm. Immediately after arriving, all the coaches and players headed to their rooms for bed, as we had to wake up early for shootaround on Friday morning. We played our first game against LC State on Friday night and then turned around to play Montana Tech on Saturday afternoon.

We have provided some video footage for all of you to see. This short movie that we put together includes our dinner at The Spagghetti Establishment, a long bus ride, and also some pre-game footage.

Pioneer Classic – Hayward, California

On Thursday the 4th we departed for Hayward, California where we played in the Cal State East Bay Pioneer Classic alongside University of Puget Sound. Many of our players are from the northern California area, so it was a great opportunity for family and friends of those players to come out and support Pioneer basketball. On Friday, we won our first game of the tournament against UC Santa Cruz. That night, we all headed over to Burlingame, where Margaret’s parents had prepared a delicious dinner for all of us. All family and friends were invited, and it was a great opportunity to get to know those who are close to the players.

On Saturday, we beat the host of the tournament, Cal State East Bay. That night, Christmas came early… We took the team to In-N-Out Burger. We’ve never seen them so happy. We all had a great time and came home with two W’s, so the coaching staff was extremely pleased.

Here are the pictures that we took, we hope you enjoy them. A very special thanks to the Dowlings for taking us into your home, as well as all of the family members and friends who showed their support this weekend.

Go Pioneers!

Snow Day…

Today we had our first snow day of the school year, and of course, the girls were very anxious to finish our morning practice so they could get outside and make their snow angels. Unfortunately for our players, the snow has arrived right in the middle of finals week, but that didn’t stop them from taking a few study breaks. We took a couple of pictures to share with all of you… 

 

Southern California…

 

We took another long road trip last weekend, December 19-21, to southern California. We arrived at LAX on Friday morning and then drove to Cal Lutheran for our scheduled practice. After practice, many of our players spent some time at the mall, finishing up some last minute Christmas shopping.

 

On Saturday we played Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks. After the game we went out to pizza to celebrate the victory, and turned in early for the night so that we could be well-rested for our game the following day.

 

On our final day in California, we woke up early and traveled to San Dimas, Christina’s hometown, where her parents had made us a fantastic breakfast. After mingling with parents and family and filling up on eggs, sausage, and potatoes, we headed back towards Riverside for our second game of the weekend against La Sierra.

 

After our victory on Sunday, everyone parted ways for our 5-day break; some were flying home, some were staying in the L.A. area, and those who were returning to Portland had a big surprise in store. PDX had cancelled all flights on Sunday due to the inclement weather that had been lingering for over a week. With four players (Meg, Vega, Em and Taylor) and Coach Whitesel stranded at LAX with no possibility of landing in Portland until after Christmas, we had some quick thinking to do. Desperate times called for desperate measures… after renting an SUV, Coach Whitesel “Dub” drove 17 hours from Los Angeles to Portland, with a pit-stop in Sacramento for a short nap.   

 

Despite the grueling journey for those traveling to Portland, everyone made it home to their families safely for Christmas. Not surprisingly, the trip was a lot of fun, as is always the case with this awesome group of people.

 

 

 

 

Dance, Dance Revolution

As we finish up our first round of conference play, it seemed appropriate to allow the team a day to “loosen up” after working so hard for three months. After practice last week we all gathered downstairs in the Pamplin mat room for a team activity… HIP HOP DANCE LESSONS. A local dance instructor, and also a friend of Coach Hristou, was kind enough to give us an hour-long lesson, as she choreographed a dance and taught it to the team. Many of the players revealed their hidden dancing talents… and many others should never, ever dance in public again

Here is a preview of the video footage… The movie montage will be coming soon! Be sure to check back… you won’t want to miss it!

First Day of Classes…

Today is the first day of the 2009 spring semester, as all of the players were challenged with the task of early rising this morning. After having an entire month break from school, I am sure the team is very anxious to get back in the classroom for those lectures and tests.

Aside from their rigorous efforts in the classroom, the team will finish up the first round of conference play this weekend at home against eastern Washington teams Whitman and Whitworth.

Go Pioneers!

Our Practice With Upward…

Paige Signs Autographs

We shortened practice on Monday so that we could spend some time with a children’s organization called Upward, a church sponsored national program. The group consisted of a mixture of 5th and 6th grade girls basketball teams, led by a former L&C basketball player and alum, Jenny Pratt. We spent an hour together playing games and working on fundamentals. We have invited the group to come back to see us on Saturday, when we host Pacific Lutheran. The teams will be playing a short game during halftime.

We would like to thank Jenny and all of the Upward teams for their support of Pioneer basketball. We wish them the best of luck!

Senior Night… “Em’s Night”

Friday, February 13, was senior night as we said farewell to our lone senior, Emily Deichsel. We celebrated her Pioneer career on our home floor prior to tipoff of Friday night’s Linfield game. “Em” has devoted herself to this program and this institution, and for that, we are incredibly grateful.

Posted are some pictures from the Senior Ceremony on Friday night. The final home game of her career could not have gone any better, as we earned a win against the Wildcats. We went 2-0 on the weekend, beating Willamette on the road on Saturday night. It was a great weekend for Pioneer basketball!

Former Pioneers Take On Coaching Roles…

Former Pioneers, Shawna Castle and Allison Farr (Class of ‘08), have spent the past four months in the gym, not as players, but as coaches. After graduating from Lewis & Clark in May, the two ladies took coaching positions here in the Portland metro area. Shawna coaches the Hockinson 5th grade girls squad, while Allison coaches the Lake Oswego 8th grade girls team. Both coaches had successful seasons and enjoyed the many rewards of their coaching experiences.

Starburst Tournament

We finished out our season on the road, traveling to eastern Washington to play Whitman and Whitworth on the 20th and 22nd of February. Like all of our road trips, the team found interesting ways to entertain themselves… and the coaches might have been entertained as well While at our hotel, we came up with what we call “The Starburst Wrap-Off Tournament” [see bracket below - courtesy of Coach Dub]. This year’s 2009 Starburst Champion was T, although “Large Marge” put up a great fight in the final round. See our photo shoot from the tourney.

2009 Starburst Tournament Bracket

Pioneers Helping March Madness Fans Prepare For Battle…

Aron Phillips, a Lewis & Clark alum and former practice player for our team, reached out to the L&C athletes to help out with a local Nike basketball event put on last weekend by  “Dime Magazine”. The event centered around the NCAA tournament, as Portland’s Rose Quarter was selected as one of the tournament locations.

Emily, Christina, Talerra and Kim, along with several other L&C students and alumni, offered their time, spending all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the Nike Pro Combat Station, helping prepare March Madness fans for battle. “Battleproofing” fans was the main objective, as they offered face paint, free t-shirts, food, a custom photo booth and the NIKEiD studio. The event also allowed our players an opportunity to be introduced to many executives of Nike and Dime Magazine.

Pioneers in a Different Uniform for the Spring…

Caitlin and Michaela have switched gears for the Spring, as they have helped lead the Pioneer softball team in the 2009 season. At 3rd base, Caitlin joins Michaela, who is in her sophomore season as the 2nd baseman. The duo has proved to be a driving defensive force for the Pioneer infield. The Pioneer softball team has just two games left, as they head to Dallas, TX for their final weekend of play.

Go Pioneers!

Student-Athlete Awards Dessert…

Senior

The athletic department held it’s annual Pioneer student-athlete awards ceremony on Tuesday, April 21 in Council Chambers.

Pioneer basketball was proud to honor our lone senior, Emily, as well as Margaret for her accomplishments in both basketball and volleyball. Margaret was awarded the Female Rookie of the Year and Mary Hunter Multi-Sport Athlete of the Year.

The ceremony was a chance for all of the Pioneer athletes to come together and honor and congratulate one another for their dedication and accomplishments across all sports this year.

Rookie of the Year

You can click on the link below to view a full list of all of the award winners for the 2008-09 year.

[Pioneer Athletics]

Senior

Multi-Sport Athlete of the Year

Rookie of the Year

Final Farewell…

On Sunday, May 10th, Emily walked across the stage, receiving her degree in chemistry. Following the graduation ceremony, the seniors were joined by the athletics department, family and friends for one final celebration, as they leave Lewis & Clark and begin their new adventure. Emily is going on to work with Lahash doing missionary work in East Africa before going on to med school next year. We would like to wish her the best of luck on her new adventure. If you would like to learn more about Lahash click on the link below.

http://lahash.net/travel.html

Congratulations Emily!

Pioneers host opening Summer Camp!

Question & Answer Session

Game Time!

Lunch time in the trail room…

Our staff has teamed up with Lake Oswego HS for a week of basketball camp! The campers are mixing learning new basketball skills with other fun activities on campus such as swimming, water balloon fights, and games on our outdoor court!!  The camp ends Friday with player competitions and our ending award ceremony.

Portland!! Why does everyone love it?

Over the past week, Coach Fulks had a former college teammate visiting Portland for the first time.. and her question was simple- Why does everyone love living in Portland? As an Ohio native herself, Coach Fulks can attest to the Portland appeal and come up with quite a few different answers….besides it being so green!   But, the answer is not typical.

Portland’s appeal happens to be a mix of cuisine, entertainment, arts, culture, sports, and natural beauty… with the ”Portland” twist into the realm of Atypical.   The Atypical makes you love this city.   We have all the ‘normal’ big city items to enjoy: Professional sports,  tall buildings downtown, countless malls, chain restaurants, big name concerts, and major company headquarters.  We have ‘the expected’ that every city should offer.  But, it’s the other stuff that makes you sometimes shake your head in both amazement or perplexity…or both.

Atypical #1:  ”Why did Mother Nature spend so much time here?” The list of sights is too abundant but the big ticket items are: Mount Hood, Multnomah Falls, Silver Falls, Columbia River Gorge, and the Oregon Coast (where scenes from both Goonies and Twilight were filmed).  You can snowboard, surf, hike, and bike… all in one weekend.  (Photos!!)

Atypical #2: “Who thought of these restaurants?” For example, Voodoo Doughnuts serves doughnuts 24 hours a day and provides anything from Captain Crunch Doughnuts to an Arnold Palmer and  Fire on the Mountain runs a special for free wings if you can bounce on a pogo stick for a minute.  Interested? Then also try Fat City Cafe, Por Que No?, St. Cupcake, and don’t leave out Portland City Grill, while both trendy and hip, offers a panoramic view of the city from the 30th floor.

Atypical # 3: “How do so many different types of people co-exist?” Good question.  Most likely because Portland comes with a friendliness that promotes good feelings…. maybe it’s all that fresh air.   But, no doubt, we have a variety: hippie, trendy, classy, sporty, green, old-fashioned, liberal and combinations of each.  We like different music, different sports, and different art.  But, we can all come together and celebrate the ‘atypical’ that makes Portland unforgettable.

After all, when was the last time you were driving and had to wait to turn for someone riding their unicycle.

Class of 2007… Rollcall

Let’s start with 2007 Trivia…

1. The top grossing movie was Spiderman 3

2. The Indianapolis Colts won the Super Bowl

3.  Sarah Moon, Carrie Centlivre, & Chloe Hansen graduated from L&C College

And this past week, I had the chance to sit down with each of them and catch up and re-visit the ‘good ol days’

Carrie, Soph

Since graduation, they have taken three different paths.  Carrie (known for being on the floor more than standing) went straight into the working world and creates internet websites with a local Portland Company…proving a liberal arts degree allows you to jump within a variety of fields.

Moon, Soph

Sarah (known for the cross-court skip pass) took a year off and then moved to the University of Texas-Austin with an internship through Campus Crusade.  She finished the year off by mentoring and ministering in NYC and is now headed to graduate school this fall at Fuller Graduate School.

Chloe, SR

Chloe (know as 1460 by dub) took a year off to enjoy Portland and then entered graduate school at the University of Syracuse.   She was offered a full assistantship position and will finish next spring with a Master’s in Rhetorical Studies. 

All together, the three have done quite well for themselves and our staff enjoys every chance we have to see them and catch up.  They were sophomores on our first team and many of their stories (star jumps, CD releases, shin splints) are passed down from year to year… and were essential building blocks for our current team.

Check out these Photos from their years at L&C! 

Coach Fulks

Now THAT’S a summer vacation!!

Talerra Starting the Tri!

“What I did over summer vacation stories”  are a long honored tradition when returning back to school and L&C is no different.  The end of August has arrived!  Over the past few days, they have started to trickle back on campus and we wanted to honor this August tradition by telling the  “stories” of our two Seniors, Paige and Talerra.

Paige Dinnie (Resident Canadian)

Not Just Horsing Around

Imagine waking up early on a Thursday morning, loading the horses, and driving the trailer southbound for 14 hours.                                                                                                                                           Destination? Aspen Farms in Yelm, Washington. Reason?  The weekend

Paige & Chance

equestrian event!

Bonus?  Finally an event close enough that fans can come watch.   Paige has grown up living on a horse farm in Canada and loving horses is in her blood.   Every summer she travels with her family to a variety of locations (Montana, Washington, all over Canada) to compete in local riding events and this summer… we just happened to be able to go watch.  Check out more photos!

Yes, that IS Coach Fulks on Chance

Talerra Rich (Los Alamos, New Mexico)

Swimming, Biking…. and Running?

6:00 AM: Alarm Clock Blares    6:30 AM: In the Pool

It’s not how many would choose to spend their summer vacation, but Talerra had to get a ’swim’ in before the work day began.   This summer’s pattern was a new endeavor for Talerra and it required an assortment of workouts and plenty of ‘double days’.   Her training was a success as she completed the 35th Annual Los Alamos Triathlon last weekend in her hometown.  Rumor has it that is she planning on competing again this fall in Portland… and is trying to get Coach Fulks to join in.

CONGRATULATIONS TALERRA!!!

Welcome Class of 2013!

Yesterday was the first official day at L&C for the class of 2013! Moving in started at 8:00 am  and New Student Orientation has been in full swing ever since.  Our staff would like to officially introduce you to the L&C Women’s Basketball Class of 2013.

Tamar Cartun, Gunn HS, Palo Alto, California

Mirin Fader, LACES HS, Los Angeles, California

Sara Villanueva, Poly HS, Sun Valley, California

Tiffany Wang, Cupertino HS, Cupertino, California

Kristina Williams, Oak Ridge HS, El Dorado Hills, California

Welcome to L&C College! Click here for more NSO Photos!

2009 PioFair! Let’s Celebrate Together!!

Manor House Lawn Buffet

PioFair is our annual fall gathering celebrating the beginning of school and bringing together all of the extra-curricular events.   An added bonus this year: local Newfoundland groups brought their purebreds to campus in honor of the L&C Newfoundland Mascot: Pio1

Check out more Photos from PioFair!

Coach Hristou and Pio1 Mascot

Calling all Trivia Lovers…

Lewis, Clark, & Seaman

Please step up and share your knowledge.  And gain your L&C bragging rights.

In honor of our excellent academic tradition, we would like to quiz you about Lewis & Clark… the explorers, not the college. 

Of course you know your college basketball, but do you know your history?  Try these 6 questions and prove how well-rounded you really are!

Question 1: Which president sent Lewis & Clark to explore the newly purchased Louisiana Territory?

a.  Thomas Jefferson           b. Barack Obama

c. James Madison                d. James Monroe

Question 2:  How much pay did enlisted members of the expedition originally earn per month?

a.  5 cents          b.  50 cents       c.  5 dollars       d. 50 dollars

Question 3: What position did Meriwether Lewis hold before becoming leader of the expedition?

a. Men’s basketball coach at Lewis & Clark College     b. Map Maker

c. Ambassador to France     d. Personal Secretary to Thomas Jefferson

Question 4: How many miles did the expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, roughly cover round trip?

a.  80 miles       b. 800 miles     c. 8,000 miles      d. Did the boat have an odometer?

Question 5: Lewis & Clark were the first Americans to see which animal?

a. Wildcat       b.  Bearcat     c.  Coyote     d.  Big Foot

Question 6. The Lewis & Clark Mascot, Pio1, is in honor of Meriwether’s dog which accompanied him on the journey.  What type of breed was his dog?

a. Boston Terrier   b. English Wolfhound  c. Chicuahua   

d. Newfoundland

Answers:  1) a    2) c   3) d    4) c   5) c   6) d