Day 9

One game away from being National Champions! A 68-55 victory over Walsh gave us the win to send us to the National Championship gave versus Northwestern who beat Morningside in the game following us. Tomorrow we will have a shoot around, head to our sponsor Todd’s house then it is off to pregame meal before relaxing for our game. The game will be played at 7 p.m. CST or 8 p.m. EST. Be sure to listen or watch the Davenport Women’s team continue their chase to a National Championship.

Tyson Event Center after our game

Day 8

Today we enjoyed a day off to relax and prepare for tomorrow. To start of the morning, we headed to IHOP for breakfast before going to the Tyson Event Center for an hour practice. From there, we went straight to our sponsor Todd’s house. There we took full advantage of the free time to do homework, play on their Wii and pin ball machines and watch basketball games. Together with our sponsors we then went to Outback Steakhouse were one of our sponsors Gary treated us to dinner and dessert. Ironically, tomorrow’s opponent Walsh was there at the same time as us. Tomorrow we will take on Walsh at 6 p.m. Central time in the Final Four. Be sure to watch or listen! Go Panthers!

The team, coaches and Amber playing Just Dance on the Wii.

                             The team at dinner along with Gary's daughters Kathleen and Tess.

Day 7

Kristi and Jeanie preparing for the game.

Julie getting on her shoes.

We are making school history and heading to the Final Four for the first time in the Davenport Women's Basketball program. Today, we defeated Cedarville 84-61. Monday we will take on Walsh, a number one seed in the tournament. After dinner tonight at Chilis, members of the team divided up between visiting their families and watching the Morningside and Northwestern games. Later tonight, we met as a team to discuss our plans for a day off tomorrow before the seniors headed off to the casino with Coach Youngs.

Raina and Leah hanging out after the game.

Day 6

It's on to the Elite 8 for the Lady Panthers. We jumped out early on Briar Cliff from the opening tip and were relentless the rest of the game, gaining a 30 point lead at one point. After the game, we headed to Olive Garden with some of our family members then headed back to the hotel to relax before having a quick team meeting. Then, while our parents went to our sponsor's house to hang out for the night, some players of the team went back to Tyson Event Center to watch Morningside play. When they returned, we went over the game plan for Cedarville tomorrow that will take place at 1 p.m. Central time.

End of Day 5

Today was a nice day off for the team. Early this afternoon we headed to Holy Cross Elementary School where we visited the classrooms. The kindergartener, first and second graders offered us tips on how to win games and what they know themselves about basketball. After practice and lunch, we left to watch WHAC opponent Concordia play Daemen, a team we beat in overtime in New York this December. Concordia ended up losing the game. We then ended the day with dinner and a team meeting to prepare for tomorrow's game. We will take on Briar Cliff at noon Central time, or 1 p.m. Michigan time. Be sure to watch or listen!

Pictures of the team visiting the students

Pictures

Memebers of the team before opening ceremonies.

The team waitingin line at Coldstone.

Team huddle during the game versus Maine at Machias.

Coach Rose and Kristi before the banquet last night.

End of Day 4

Coach Youngs and Barb having some fun.

First win of the national tournament for us beating Maine at Machias 102-27. We fell just short of tying two tournament records of least points scored in a game for an opponent and largest margin of victory. Tonight was also opening ceremonies at the Tyson Event Center where all 32 teams gathered to be acknowledged and exchange gifts with another team. From Maine at Machias we received a draw string bag and t-shirt. Tomorrow is a day off for us, so we will spend the day relaxing, practice and watching Concordia play.

All the teams gathered at the opening ceremonies.

Day 4

First game of the tournament for the Lady Panthers against Maine at Machias! 1:45 central time, 12:45 for all of you back in Michigan. Be sure to watch or listen!

End of day 3

We finished out day 3 with the banquet. The theme was Mardi Gras which the team had lots of fun with. There was even a little dance party and many people on the team were out on the dance floor showing off their moves to the Cupid Shuffle and Teach Me How to Dougie. Tonight we were joined with the rest of our basketball family when Coach Youngs wife Amber and the rest of our coaching staff showed up. Now that we are all here, it's game time tomorrow! For those of you that aren't here, the game starts at 1:45 and you are able to watch it online if you purchase the game and/or games package.

Karli and Barb enjoying the Mardi Gras theme.

The team posing for a picture at the banquet.

Day 3

Today has been a pretty chill day so far. We have hung around the hotel and relaxed most of the morning. We then trekked over to the YMCA down the street for practice. When we got back, our wonderful bus driver, Lee was waiting with our Jimmy Johns to eat before we headed up to our rooms to get ready for the worship service and banquet tonight.

Karli Harris taking time to relax and do homework!

Leah Sevcik and Taylor Nauta getting ready for the FCA worship service and the banquet tonight.

We leave in 15 minutes to head to the worship service. Most of the girls are attending and are excited to hang out with some of the other teams here as well. I will post some photos of the girls dressed up at the banquet when we all return back to the Marina Inn.

End of Day 2

After getting in a good practice, we headed to our sponsor Todd's house for dinner and a movie. After spoiling us with great food, we gathered together to watch the Secretariat. Then before we left, we were all given gift bags filled with goodies. Now, we are all off to bed....hopefully the construction here in the hotel doesn't wake us up too early in the morning!

Day 2 pictures :)

Our sponsor Todd's house.

Barb and Karlee keeping warm in the snuggies.

Kallie playing pinball with one of our sponsors, Todd.

The team getting comfortable before the movie started.

Day 2

After a day and half of traveling on a cold bus, we have finally made it to our hotel in Nebraska! We can look out our hotel windows and across the river see Iowa and then look just below us to see where Cornerstone's Women's team is staying. As for the rest of the day goes, we heading off to practice shortly then on to our sponsor’s house for dinner and a movie.

Introduction

Welcome to the DU Lady Panthers 2011 National Tournament blog.  Freshman Monica Confer will be writing this year's blog and will keep you up-to-date on our trip and our quest to win the National Championship!  Please follow along and cheer on those Lady Panthers!!