Claire Sullivan - Women's Basketball Blog
Senior Claire Sullivan looks to make a strong return to the hardwood in 2007-08 after missing last season with a knee injury. The Connecticut native is a multi-year member of the Dean’s List and the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll and enters this season with 273 career assists in 57 appearances. Check back soon for her latest update.
Tourney Time - March 5
We finished our regular season at 17-12, and earned a No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, which starts this Saturday. Our first round match-up is against Lafayette. They, along with Holy Cross, beat us twice in the regular season, so we are looking forward to a little redemption. We know we have our work cut out for us though, as Lafayette out-played us in both regular season games. Our most recent loss to them was our last home game of the year, and we played terribly. We turned the ball over, could not make a shot, and allowed them to run all over us on the defensive end. Our last two games of the season were both away, against Bucknell and Holy Cross. We split, beating Bucknell and losing to Holy Cross. We have this entire week to prepare and focus on the tournament. This week also coincides with Lehigh’s spring break, so we do not have to worry about classes and can keep our focus on basketball.
There is nothing like championship week, it is what we have worked all year for, and it is basketball at its best and most competitive. Win or go home, it is that simple. We have an excellent opportunity in front of us, and the team is very excited for the weekend!
I want to congratulate three of my teammates for being recognized by the Patriot League for a great season. Erica Prosser, our starting point guard, was named to the All-Rookie team. Tricia Smith and Alex Ross, our leading rebounder and scorer respectively, were named to the All-League Second team. All three are incredibly deserving, and I’m very proud of their accomplishments!
On a personal level, I have some exciting summer plans lined up. I am going to Ireland for six weeks with the Lehigh Summer program! I still can’t believe I am going; it is such an incredible opportunity. The program is based in Galway, and although I have been to Ireland before, I have never spent any time in Galway. It will also be a nice change of scenery for me, to spend a little time away from Bethlehem.
Only two months left until graduation, which is just unbelievable. I know I am going to be here for an extra year, but it still feels like the end of an era. Any time I have a chance to think about it, I just can’t believe how fast these four years have gone by.
If you are going to be near WestPoint this Saturday, come to our game! 7:30 PM, against the Lafayette Leopards! Hopefully, my next entry will consist of very good news….
“Great moments are born from great opportunities”.
-Herb Brooks, Coach of 1980 USA Hockey Team
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Onto the second half of league play - February 4, 2008
The first half of Patriot League play is in the books, and our record now stands at 5-2, as we have lost two out of our last three games. The first loss was a 48-45 defeat at the hands of the Lafayette Leopards. We didn’t play very well, and Lafayette made things difficult for us on both ends of the floor. Their defense was solid and we played passively, not attacking the basket or executing our plays very well. On the defensive end, although we only gave up 48 points, we did not stick to our defensive game plan. Losing to Lafayette always stings a little bit more than other league games because of the long-standing rivalry between both schools. But thankfully we will have another chance, and it will be on Senior Night, our last home game of conference play.
Bucknell was our next opponent, and we played them at home this past Wednesday. Bucknell is a tough team, very athletic and talented, and we knew it was going to be hard fought. Although our shooting was not spectacular, and our first half defense was pretty poor, we managed to pull out a victory, 59-53. Alex Ross had a huge game for us, hitting clutch shot after clutch shot. We had balanced scoring across the board though, and as I’ve mentioned often, the key to our success is in our depth and balance. Personally, this was an important game for me as well, because it was my best game of the season. I’m glad I was able to make the most out of my minutes and contribute to an important victory.
Holy Cross was our next game. Holy Cross has been the premier program in the Patriot League, and has won two out of the last three league championships. They also knocked us out of the conference tournament last year in an overtime game. We started out the game slowly, and overall played a sluggish first half. The second half we played much better, and Melissa Rich and Alex Ross both made some crucial shots on the offensive end, and we played solid team defense. But we lost the game 53-51, and although the final calls of the game were questionable on the referee’s part, we did not execute in the last two minutes where we could have put the game out of reach. This is the type of loss that lingers, and hopefully we can translate this loss into victories down the road by playing with a little extra attitude.
Not only did we lose this weekend, but the Patriots were thwarted in their quest for football immortality. I have to give the Giants credit though, they made some great plays down the stretch, and their defense was unreal. Brady hadn’t been pressured that much all season, and he was rattled.
But besides basketball and the Pats losing, life is good. Being a political science major, primary season is a political version of college basketball’s March Madness, “survive and advance”, and I am really looking forward to Super Tuesday. I am supporting the Obama campaign, and I am curious to see if he will be able to further separate himself from Clinton. Also, Tuesday is the release of Jack Johnson’s new CD, which I have pre-ordered, so I am pretty confident that tomorrow is going to be a fantastic day.
This upcoming week is a bye week for us, and we don’t play again until next Saturday, at home against American. My parents are coming down for the game, and my sister is coming up from St. Joe’s, so I’m looking forward to seeing all of them! This week could not come at a better time for our team, so that we can get people rested and healthy going into the second half of league play. It seems like this season has gone by in the blink of an eye, especially compared with last season, which seemed to drag on and on. Our approach for the next seven games will not change; take each game one at a time and treat it as the most important game we have played and try to get better as a group each time we step on the court.
“There are few things in life that get me downright rowdy- almost all of them revolve around the LUWB. The unfathomable glory of Alejo Ross
bustin’ 3’s from five feet beyond the arch- one of these days I’m
liable to storm the court in a fit of jubilation. I just can’t contain
myself.”
- Taryn “Superfan” Hanley (2nd floor resident of 615 Montclair Ave., beloved friend and roommate, nimble LUSB first baseman)
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Conference play has begun- January 24, 2008
We are now four games into the Patriot League schedule, and playing with a great deal of confidence and intensity. We have won nine out of our last ten games, including all four conference games. What has been the most exciting for me is that in every game, different people are stepping up and making plays, and we aren’t relying on a single person to carry the burden. Our team is really starting to gel, and just in time, because conference play is a totally different type of basketball that requires a greater degree of intensity and execution on both ends of the floor. So basketball is going great right now, and we are not going to get complacent and lose sight of our ultimate goal; a championship and a trip to the NCAA tourney.
School started on January 14, and I am only taking three classes, which is 12 credits. It is my lowest number of credits ever, and I don’t have class on Friday. Got to love last semester senior year! I am taking a business class to complete my business minor program, and two international relations classes about global development. The international relations classes are very interesting, and I can already tell that they will both be some of the best classes I have taken at Lehigh. I can’t believe this is my last undergraduate semester, time has certainly flown by. I am actually going to get a diploma in May….so old!
We played Army this past weekend in our third league game, and we won in overtime, our third overtime win of the season. This was also our women’s basketball alumni weekend, and it was great to get a chance to hang out with the girls who were seniors my freshman year, as well as some other alumni that I have met throughout my years at Lehigh. I’m glad that the alums were able to see such a great game, and to see how much our team has improved. The alumni weekend just shows what a family environment Lehigh is, and that even when you graduate you will still be part of the program. Now that I am older I am much more aware of how important the bond is to not only my former teammates, but to Lehigh basketball in general.
We are now preparing for a showdown with Lehigh’s biggest rival, Lafayette College. Lafayette is having a terrific year, and it should be an exciting, intense game. The game is at Lafayette at 1 PM on Saturday, and the Lehigh men’s team playsLafayette at 7 PM at Stabler Arena. It should be a great weekend!
It’s a great time to be part of the LUWB, and we are going to try and keep the good times rolling!
I will post again early next week after the Lafayette game, hopefully with a recap of another big win!
“Being the most riled up, audacious fan in the stadium and infusing the Lady Mountain Hawks with spirit and vigor is all that sustains me”.
-Beloved roommate Taryn Hanley, LUSoftBall #15, in reference to her super fan status
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The New Year begins - January 7
Happy 2008 to all of you! I have a sense that 2008 is going to be a good one for the Lehigh women’s basketball team.
Before we all left for Christmas break, we played at Binghamton on December 21st. It was one of the most thrilling, exciting games I have ever had the privilege to play in. The game was a battle from start to finish, and we won in double overtime, largely thanks to the clutch play of Tricia Smith in the first overtime, and Alex Ross in the second, hitting three consecutive 3-point shots in a span of 90 seconds. Not to mention the clutch defensive play of Kaela Pearce. The win made Christmas break a lot more enjoyable than it would have been if we had all gone home without a victory.
I had a lovely Christmas with my family and friends, and the older I get the more I just appreciate the company of the people I love rather than all of the gift giving. Just being able to get home and spend a few days with my mom, dad, sister and extended family and friends was the greatest gift I received this holiday.
It was back to practice on the afternoon of the 26th and the beginning of our preparation for the Christmas City Classic. I think the first practice back from Christmas break is the hardest of the year because four days is the longest we go, by far, all season without playing. I felt like I was going to pass out through the whole thing. Needless to say, not the best practice I’ve had this year.
We opened the Christmas City Classic against Brown, and won in a blow out by 30 points. Everyone on the team had some family at the game, and afterwards we all went over to Melissa Rich’s house in Coplay, Pa. for post game festivities. As well as the team gets along, I think all of out parents get along with each other just as well. The next day we played against the Rams of the University of Rhode Island, and we didn’t bring our “A” game, but battled the whole game. The game was tied with 20 seconds to go, but URI hit a clutch 3-point shot, and we couldn’t convert at the other end. It is the second year in a row that we lost the Christmas City Classic on a last second shot. Not a happy ending to the weekend.
I celebrated New Year’s Eve with two of my teammates, Alex Ross and Kaela Pearce. We went to see Citizen Cope at the Fillmore in Philadelphia and it was a great show! We practiced New Year’s Day at 12:30, and the following day we left forConnecticut and our game against Yale University.
I was so pumped to play so close to home, and my parents had the team and coaches over for dinner on January 2nd, which was awesome. A lot of my relatives and friends came out to the game the next day, and cheered us on to an overtime victory against a scrappy Yale team that played us very tough. It was another great win for us, and we have one more non-conference game against Penn before league action begins.
For all of you keeping track at home, I didn’t earn the coveted 4.0, pulling in a 3.78 instead. I guess my professors aren’t loyal blog readers. This time off from school has been really nice, with only basketball to focus on and a lot of free time to catch up on movies, the TV show Entourage, and some recreational reading. School starts a week from today, and I’m looking forward to my friends returning to campus. But it also means that I will be starting my last semester as an undergraduate, which is a bit daunting. How did I get so old?
Until next time….
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
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First Semester Finishes Up - December 21
I just finished up watching Entourage, my new TV-show on DVD obsession. Other past winter break obsessions have includedArrested Development, Sex and the City, and Alias. I love Winter break! The semester ended for me last Saturday, December 14th, and besides basketball my days have been blissfully free of any kind of agenda. So I’ve been catching up on sleep and having DVD marathons. The last week of school and the first week of finals were filled with group projects, group meetings, papers, and studying. But the end of this semester was actually one of the least stressful that I have experienced in college. Typically I am a sleepless wreck during finals week, but maybe I have just gotten wiser with age and can handle the rigors of academia better now in my old age…although I think my stress level had more to do with a favorable schedule than anything else. And as a note to all my professors, who I’m positive are loyal readers, I am really hoping for a 4.0 GPA this semester, so please try and make that happen as an early Christmas gift!
Basketball has been going well overall, and our record currently stands at 4-6, with a game tonight against Binghamton to close out our schedule before we all head home for Christmas break. We beat Sacred Heart two nights ago, and it was a great win because of the progress we showed on the offensive end. We had a balanced scoring attack, with four people scoring in double figures. It was great to see us start to click and execute offensively, and that is something we really want to continue tonight and build on as we strive for consistency. On the defensive end, we have to remain committed to playing great team defense for 40 minutes, which is a goal we are still trying to achieve. The great thing about a basketball season is that tonight could be the night we put it all together and play 40 minutes of great team defense combined with a balanced, well executed offense. Each new game on the schedule is a great opportunity to try and achieve team and individual goals, no matter how big or small. And, if these goals are not achieved in the next game, there is consolation that the following game could be the one. The challenge for our team is to get to a level of consistency so that the team’s main goals are achieved on a nightly basis.
This season personally has been a roller coaster of highs and lows, and like the team I am striving to reach a level of consistency. It starts with practice, and each day I am trying to be a little bit better than the day before, and hopefully these day to day improvements will be visible when it comes to game time.
I am really looking forward to getting home this Saturday, December 22nd, to spend some time with my family and friends for Christmas. I am pumped to decorate the Christmas tree; my parents always save it until I get home. We are going to have Christmas Eve at our house. Christmas Day is at my Uncle Dan’s house.
Happy Holidays to everyone!
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
US poet (1874 - 1963)
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Season in Full Swing - December 3
We are six games into the season already, with a record of 2-4. The team and I just returned late last night from a road trip down to Jacksonville, Florida were we played University of North Florida and Jacksonville University. This trip closed out our string of five road games, and I think we are all very happy to return this Wednesday to the cozy confines of fan friendly Stabler Arena.
The season has not started as the team or I expected, but after our latest trip, in which we spilt 1-1, I feel like we have taken some positive steps in the right direction and have made progress in correcting some issues that had been hurting us. AgainstSt. Joseph’s for example, our first game of the year, we built a double digit lead in the second half and then let it slip away, losing the game by one point. At North Florida this past Friday, we found ourselves in a similar situation, but instead of melting under the pressure and giving the game away we buckled down, made plays, and came out with a win. Early in the season, these are the kind of progressive steps that we need to be making. As a team we still have so many things to improve on, especially rebounding and offensive execution, but I am incredibly confident in this team to continue to work hard in practice everyday to make sure that we turn these current weaknesses into strengths as the season goes on.
For me personally, the first six games have been exhilarating at times, and just as frustrating at other times. Running on the court for the first time against St. Joseph’s was the feeling I had been waiting for, the reason why I pushed myself so hard through rehab. To be back on the court and playing with my teammates has been the best feeling in the world. The frustrating part has been that I have not been playing great basketball. But I know that I can and will play better, and that’s going to start Wednesday against LIU!
The trip to Jacksonville was a great time because I love spending time with the team and playing, but I also got to see my parents and a part of my family that I don’t get to spend too much time with. My mom’s two cousins, one of whom lives inJacksonville, were both able to come to both of the games, and on Saturday I was able to spend some time with all of them in the afternoon.
The semester is coming to an end; this is the last week of classes. I am making a push for the ever elusive 4.0, I’ll keep you all posted. I am very excited for tomorrow though, because the Adopt-A-Family program is tomorrow, and each team is presenting their family with presents. It is the best event that the COACH program works on, and this year Lehigh student athletes raised over $26,000.
I also now have a friendly rivalry with Jeff Tourial in the athletics department about the frequency of my posts, so expect another one again soon.
P.S. The Pats are still perfect! The Ravens gave a valiant effort, but bottom line is that we have Tom Brady and they don’t.
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, (attributed)
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October 16 – The season is here!
The season has finally started! We opened up last Friday, and it’s been great to be back out on the court with the team. Getting through the first day was crucial, because I was definitely feeling a little anxious going into practice, since I hadn’t practiced since October 23, 2006. But after getting through the first practice it has all pretty much come back to me and I feel more confident. What has been the most exciting part of the first four practices is the level of enthusiasm and intensity. We have been working hard to get better every day, which is something that we need to sustain for the rest of the season. It’s been a great start!
Last week we had our “pacing break”, which is just Lehigh speak for fall break. It was a much needed rest from pre-season and school, and I got to see my parents and my sister in Philadelphia over the weekend of October 6th and 7th. My sister is a freshman at St. Joseph’s College, and it was her parent’s weekend, so the scheduling worked out really well. We walked around Philly on Saturday, and it was a beautiful day. We also went out to dinner to celebrate my sister’s birthday. I love getting to spend time with my family, and it was a nice break from Lehigh before the season began.
On Monday and Tuesday I got to hang out with Natalie Green, one of my teammates and housemates and her mom, who was visiting from Idaho. Classes started again on Wednesday, and that Tuesday night I had to make an airport run, which ended up being hellacious on every level. Gabby, one of our freshmen, arrived at 4:30, and Kaela, a senior and one of my housemates, was meant to arrive at 7:30. But her flight kept getting delayed out of Raleigh, NC, so she told me to just pick-up Gabby and she would figure something else out. Well, 476 Southbound toward the Philly airport was closed, so it took me about two and-a-half hours to get to the airport. By the time I arrived, so had Kaela’s flight, and poor Gabby had been in the airport waiting for about eight hours. You win some, you lose some….
School has been going well; I’m still really enjoying all of my classes, which is saying something since it’s about halfway through the semester. They are all interesting and engaging, especially my class about the Holocaust.
Another program that I am involved with at school is the C.O.A.C.H program, which is a community outreach program. Tomorrow we are having our first meeting about Adopt-A-Family, which is a program we run around the holidays in which each athletic team raises money and buys gifts and other items for local families that are having a difficult time financially. We are always looking to make this program better every year, so if you are reading this and think you would like to help, please e-mail me at ces204@lehigh.edu. Every little bit helps.
As always, thanks for reading….
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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September 24 – Working hard on and off the court
It’s been a great start to the year! I can’t believe how fast pre-season is going though; I guess that just confirms that I’m old. It always seems to drag on and on, but this year it’s going by so fast, and there are only two-and-a-half weeks left until we start official practice. Workouts have been going well, and the team is working really hard. There is a definite sense of purpose and urgency in the way we are approaching workouts; the atmosphere has been awesome. We have lifting and conditioning three days a week, three short sessions of individual basketball workouts, and pick-up three to four times a week where we just scrimmage each other without the coaches present.
We had one of the hardest conditioning workouts I’ve been through at Lehigh, where we ran eight 200-yard sprints and our recovery was to do different kinds of jumps or lunges. It was a tough workout, but what was really cool was that everyone pushed each other to reach our goal time, which was every sprint under 40 seconds. There is a good deal of competition with each other, but at the same time we have been working well as a group to achieve our goals, and this is something we need to carry over into practice.
We also had a 50 minute basketball workout with the whole team last week, which was
great for me because it was my first time back in that kind of setting since I got hurt last October. It felt so good to be back out on the floor with my teammates, and it just made me more excited for the start of practice. My knee has been holding up through pre-season, but it does get sore and swollen at times. I also have been putting a lot of pressure on myself to get everything back quickly, from my conditioning to my skills, but I still need to be patient because this isn’t the kind of injury that can be rushed. It takes time, and it’s been a tough experience for me to understand that.
School is going well; all of my classes are interesting and engaging. I have already had a couple of tests, and I have three mid-terms coming up next week, so I’ll be camping out in the library every night this week.
This pre-season we haven’t had any overnight recruits on the weekends, which has been amazing. Our Saturdays this semester have been completely free, so we have all been able to make plans that we normally wouldn’t be able to do. The third weekend of school a bunch of the girls and I went on a road trip to Princeton to watch the Lehigh vs. Princeton football game. We also got to see two former assistant coaches, Milena Flores and Lindsay Davis, who were there watching the game with Coach (Glenn) Rigney. It was great to seem them, and Milena is now a coach at Princeton, so we will be seeing her again when we play Princeton in late November.
And just as a sidebar, as I write this the New York Yankees sit only one-and-a-half games back in the AL East, so life is good!
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August 26 – Senior Year Begins
Summer is over and SENIOR YEAR is here! I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited for school to start. Even though I am a big dork and am looking forward to class, getting to play basketball with the team is the main reason why I am so pumped for the school year to begin.
I did have a great summer though. Most of my time was spent in Bethlehem, Pa., which might sound rough to some of you, but a lot of the team was around this summer taking classes and working out, which made it really fun. Alex Ross and Kristen Dalton, two of the sophomores, were my summer housemates. I loved having them around, and it was really great for me to get to spend more time with them than I did last year. The focus of my summer was to get my knee stronger and to work on my basketball skills, so I spent a lot of time in the gym and the weight room. But I also got the opportunity to go on some fun trips and get out of Bethlehem.
When finals ended last May I went out to San Francisco, California for a week to visit some of my extended family. San Francisco is such an amazing city, and even though I am by no means a city girl (as my 16 year old cousin noted regularly), it was great to be in such a different, vibrant area that has so much to see and do. Not to mention spending quality time with my West Coast family that I get to see so infrequently.
I also went to Sarasota, Florida with my mom, dad, and sister to visit my grandparents for a weekend at the end of June. They live in a nursing home and aren’t exactly “with it” these days, but it was great to see them and be with my family.
My other weekend trips were to up-state New York, where my aunt and uncle have a fabulous lake house, and to visit a friend of mine from high school in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
So even though I lived at school for the summer I was still able to see my family and friends. But as I’ve said, summer’s over and it’s time to get down to business and start working as a team to reach our goal: Patriot League Champions.
The freshmen arrived on August 22, and everyone else had either already been at school or came back over the weekend. We played pick-up the 24th and 26th, and it felt so great to be back out there playing with the girls, getting back into basketball shape. I am so excited about the prospects of the team; we have a lot of talent, and everyone’s hungry for a great season. There are 5 new additions, 4 freshmen and 1 transfer from Penn State University. Erica Prosser is a guard from Pittsburgh, and she is really talented. She can shoot from the outside or slash to the basket. Kristen Iafolla is a guard/forward fromMassachusetts, and she can flat out shoot. Definitely can’t leave her open from the outside. Courtney Dentler is fromHarrisburg, Pa. and can play with her back to the basket or hit a jumper from the outside. Gabby Contro is from Boulder,Colorado, and she is a post player who crashes the boards hard, passes well from the post, and has a great jump hook. Courtney Molinaro is our transfer, and because she transferred from a Division I school to another Division I school she has to sit out this year. She will be able to practice with us though, which will be great for the team because she is a very talented player that will push everyone she matches up with to improve. We are very lucky to have such great new additions to the team!
Classes start tomorrow, and this week for basketball we have a few meetings at the beginning of the week, and our fitness testing at the end of week. We start with our preseason workouts a week from tomorrow. That’s all for now, but I’ll be posting again soon.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”
-Lao Tzu (Chinese philosopher, 604 BC-531 BC)
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