Fresno State Athletics
12/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
A Women's Basketball Diary
The following entry comes from junior guard Chantella Perera. For a complete list of this year's entries, check out the side bar on the right side of the page.
 Junior guard Chantella Perera
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December 24, 2005
Merry Christmas Bulldog Fans!!!
I hope you all are enjoying the festive season, eating all that good food and catching up with the family. This Christmas we all went into a five-day break with our heads held high and excited to take a rest before preparing for our road trip against Texas Tech.
After heading down south to San Diego and taking care of business, we came back home for a four-game stretch. We took on Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside in back-to-back games and the convincing wins showed that our hard work during preseason had paid off.
During the week we held our first Junior Bulldog Clinic for our avid Bulldog ball kids! With the help of our coaches we conducted a clinic and helped these kids become future Fresno State stars!!!
We then prepared for probably the biggest game of the season so far - No.10 Arizona State. We also had to prepare for our exams as it was finals week too. We had a good week of practice and studied well as we prepared to take our last exams and the Sun Devils all in one week, not to mention that the Arizona Wildcats were right around the corner. When the Sun Devils entered our Doghouse we were ready and gave them our best fight, unfortunately we were a bit off the mark and couldn't pull off a big win. We did gain a lot of experience and maturity from the game. We learned what we will need to do to become a top-10 team.
Before we got too down about our loss we realized we had a shot to go 1-1 for the week. So we got our heads back on track and regrouped to take on the Wildcats. Luckily we were fortunate enough to have Ren ( Mirenda Swearengin) and T (Tierre Wilson) back playing with us. They passed all their classes and their professors helped out by posting grades quickly. That made them eligible to play and we were all very grateful! With our two star guards back we were an unstoppable force all around the court. We beat Arizona and finished our home game stretch with a record of 3-1.
Before we headed home for a Christmas break we had one more team to take care of - University of San Francisco. We were back on the court the very next day after taking on Arizona, to tighten up some loose ends. After practice, Coach Frank was kind enough to let us into his house and cooked us a lovely Christmas dinner. It was great for all the girls to get a good home cooked dinner - we loved it!!! The night concluded with a White Elephant gift exchange (for those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, it is where you bring something you don't want from your house and anonymously give it to someone else). We had a good laugh at some unattractive backpacks and photos that seemed to be common among our unwanted gifts!!!
With the Christmas spirit filling up the bus, we traveled north to take on San Francisco. On Monday night we enjoyed some free time and took on a tourist role looking around Pier 39, Alcatraz and watching the sea lions. On Tuesday it was Game Day. We prepared thoroughly and were very mindful we wanted to go home on a happy note. With a great frame of mind and a hot-handed Mirenda Swearingen, we beat San Francisco convincingly.
We also proved we were a tough team because during pregame warm-up we faced some unexpected adversity. While we were warming up, a scrooge came in and decided to take away the Christmas spirit and stole cash, I-pods, cell phones, DVD players and other things from our players and staff. We realized just before the game but it was a little too late as the thief had already disappeared. Much to our credit, we played with intensity and stayed focused on the task ahead. It put a sour note on our trip and the Christmas season, but it did not take away our team spirit and what we have between us and that's more important than anything material. However, we do believe in karma and those who do wrong will probably not go too much further without failure.
We bussed back to Fresno straight after the game and got a few hours of sleep before most of the girls and coaches headed to the airport to go home for a five-day break. We will be back in action on Dec. 26 to prepare for the Lady Raiders of Texas Tech.
We want to wish everyone a very Happy Holidays and all the best for the New Year. We hope that the New Year brings nothing but happiness and joy to you and your families. Thank you for all the warm wishes and generous support of our program. We look forward to carrying on our success with your support into 2006.
Watch out for us as we take on Texas Tech on Dec. 29 and then we hope to see you back at the Save Mart Center on Jan.2 when we face the Santa Clara Broncos.
Tella #11
