The Write Stuff: Heather Schreiber
The six Longhorns seniors (Jody Bell, Kala Bowers, Jamie Carey, Annissa Hastings, Heather Schreiber and Mercedes Williams) will take turns writing a weekly diary entry - The Write Stuff - from their own "Senior Slant" perspectives on topics galore! This week, Heather Schreiber talks about the No. 15 Longhorns huge road wins at Oklahoma and Missouri, about how Coach Conradt told them that the overtime win against OU was "crossing the rubicon", and about her newest interest off the court - cooking. Up next on The Write Stuff (week of Jan. 31-Feb. 6): the "Senior Slant" from Annissa Hastings. Right now, it's mid-afternoon on Saturday (Jan. 29), and we're flying back from an early game at Missouri. This morning's 11 a.m. start was REALLY early - we had to get up and be at breakfast by 7:30, and got to the arena around 9:45 a.m. It helped that we've been getting up early for class the last week, so it was easier than if we had had an 11 a.m. game a few weeks go before classes started. We've been on the road this week, playing at Oklahoma Wednesday before today's Missouri game. As we were preparing to play Oklahoma and watching film, Coach (Conradt) reminded us that OU is different than any team in our conference. With Baylor and with Texas Tech, for instance, they have a big inside presence and play a true post game. OU, however, spreads out on offense and they cut, screen and all the players can square up and shoot. They only have one really true post player, so we had to make those adjustments on defense. We started out badly, partly because we were trying to adjust to what they were doing offensively and we needed to get used to guarding them. Jamie (Carey), Daria (Mieloszynska), Kala (Bowers) and Nina (Norman) hit really big shots in the second half for us, and our "D" was really good down the stretch. In overtime, we just took over the game, with Tiffany made some big shots. When we were down by 14, I didn't sense any panic in the huddles during timeouts. We have gotten used to play from behind, and we all knew that we were NOT playing well. Making our big comeback against Baylor last week gave us a big confidence boost, as we came from behind against a team ranked No. 4 nationally. Against OU, we knew we weren't playing that well and weren't really connected when they got that big lead and we knew we had to focus on stopping them, which we did. Heather SchreiberAfter the game in the locker room, Coach said that with the comeback and overtime win that we had "passed the rubicon", and she told us to go and figure out what that meant! We all turned to Kalee (Carey), because when we want to know something, she always goes on the web and "Googles" it to get the right information. So, we found out that rubicon phrase meant that we had made a big commitment, and that we had passed the point of no return, and that the phrase came from when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River to start the war - and once he did, there was no turning back. We actually got this answer not from "googling", but from Kalee's Dad, Judge Carey! Kalee called him after the game and asked him about it. Of course, he knew it immediately. And now, so do we. So, here's a little vocabulary lesson for all of us: [rubicon - irrevocably commit to a course of action, make a fateful and final decision. For example, Once he submitted his resignation, he had crossed the Rubicon. This phrase alludes to Julius Caesar's crossing the Rubicon River (between Italy and Gaul) in 49 b.c., thereby starting a war against Pompey and the Roman Senate] Then, we got home after midnight on Wednesday and were in Austin for a day before leaving first thing Friday to play at Missouri. We practiced for a few hours Friday at Missouri, and then we met a really big fan of ours - Fran Danis, Ph.D., who is a professor at Missouri in the School of Social Work and a former professor at UT. She might be the one fan who comes the longest distance as a season-ticket holder at the Erwin Center! We know she supports us every time we come to Missouri and go to the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas. We have some great fans, and she is one of them. Dr. Danis told us how much she enjoys what our team does OFF the court as well, referring to our community service and volunteer projects like participating in the SafePlace Walk, volunteering at the soup kitchen, speaking to elementary students, etc. That was good to hear. We are so fortunate to be at UT and play basketball at this level with all the resources we have, and we want to give back to the Austin community when we can. Back to the Missouri game. Today's game was in their new arena, and it's a nice court. I liked the lighting in there - it was a little dimmer than some places, and, by the way we shot, I think we ALL liked the arena! Missouri played us in a zone and not many of our opponents have played us zone. I think part of it was that we hadn't all been shooting that great from the perimeter, but today, we all really shot well from outside. Our shooters - Jamie, Nina and myself - were able to hit. Tiffany was able to pick her shots in the lane. It was nice that E-Bay (Erneisha Bailey) and Tamra (Cobbins) got a chance to play front of their families from Missouri and Kansas. And, it was great to play that well, have everyone contribute, pick up another win in the conference, and play on FOX Sports Net national TV again. For me, it felt good to get back into a shooting rhythm. When a team plays in a zone, no one is standing in your shirt the whole game. I took my time on the shots, and once I hit a couple early on, that gave me confidence to take more shots. Hopefully, that will carry over to the next game (Wednesday, Feb. 2) against the Aggies at home. This will be an entirely different preparation for us than we had for Missouri. The Aggies like to press and run and try to force you to play sloppy and go for steals. We will have to prepare for their pressure and the style they play. Then, we go on the road AGAIN to play at Iowa State (next Saturday, Feb. 5, on FSN national TV again)! Iowa State is off to a great start, and maybe they are a little bit of a surprise to some in women's basketball, but not to us - we know they have some really good shooters and are effective at spreading the floor. I think you can tell that every time we play a Big 12 opponent, we have to keep adjusting to different styles of players and different styles of play. That's what makes winning in this league hard. We have tomorrow (Sunday) off - and I know we all are looking forward to it! It will be great for all of us to either relax, go to church, take our time, hang out with friends with friends and catch up on schoolwork since we missed two days of class this week to travel to OU and Missouri. Personally tomorrow, I am going to sleep and COOK! This may come as a surprise to many who know me, but I've been cooking a lot lately. For instance, Thursday I made breaded pork chops, using a recipe from Annissa (Hastings). I also made macaroni and cheese and green beans and hush puppies. I was pleased with the results, because I had to tweak a couple of the recipes because I didn't have all the right ingredients! George Foreman GrillOK, my family will really like to hear this! I think I am starting to cook a lot because it's time to admit that I'm getting to that age where I need to learn to cook; you know, I am a young woman now…. I never cooked until I moved out of my house to come to UT - never. For Christmas, my aunt got me a cookbook - with all the recipes from people in my hometown of Windthorst! If I know someone's Mom is a great cook, I go right to that recipe and use it! And, because I am now getting used to cooking, I think that there might be some hope for my sister (Allison) who is about to graduate from high school. She doesn't cook either, and my mom is really hoping that she picks up on what I am doing now in the kitchen! Nina and I might get together to cook pretty soon. We all know that Nina loves to cook, and right now she is making some great egg rolls. I have a really good seafood won ton recipe, so we really do need to get together! Another one of my Christmas presents was a big George Forman grill from my grandmother. Last Sunday, I made a humongous breakfast for my friends on that grill. Right now, I am planning a Super Bowl party for next Sunday. I am going to make snacks - chocolate chip cookies, Oreo bon-bons and homemade salsa (thanks to my Aunt Tracy's recipe from the Windthorst cookbook!). But, I don't want to be over-whelmed, and I know that I won't have a lot of time to prepare a Super Bowl dinner because we'll be coming back from Iowa State late Saturday. So, on Super Bowl Sunday, we'll also send out for pizzas as well! OK, I sound like I am writing for the Food Network website, not TexasSports.com … so back to basketball! We are playing well right now, and are anxious to come home and play Wednesday against Texas A&M at the Erwin Center (7 p.m.). Our games with A&M are always tough, and we REALLY need everyone's support. Hope to see you Wednesday night - and at all of the rest of our home games. Big, loud supportive crowds help us so much! Hook 'Em, Heather
|
|
