1-0

1-0 START

The game started ugly but after we settled down we really looked impressive.  We were down 19-11 with 9:30 to go in the 1^st half then we started making some shots.  We ended the half on a 17-4 run and took a 12 point lead into the locker room.  We started the 2^nd half on another run and quickly extended our lead to 20.  I am not sure what it is about a 20 point lead but it is hard to keep one’s intensity.  Grinnell has a really nice player in Hannah Wolf.  She would be an all conference player in our league.  They also had some go quickness with their guards.  Grinnell was a good first game for us because we had to get back on defense and we learned that when we execute we will get good shots.  Our execution in the 2^nd half lead to our 69% shooting.

Individually we had a lot of great performances.  All sixteen players got in and contributed.  Jenn Schumann had a career high of 29 points going 12 for 13 from the field and including 3/3 from behind the arc.  Margo Muhlbauer and Katie Ebel also were in double figures.  Courtney Stoelk really had a great floor game with 8 rebounds 5 assists and only 2 turnovers. Melissa Putney added 5 rebounds and Jenni Schweitzberger was solid on the blocks.  Aubrey Hauswirth was our super sub racking up 9 points and 5boards. 

Our other awards went as follows:

 Hott Shot to Schumann 

Hammer to Ebel

Big on the boards to Courtney

Super Sub  to Aubrey

Spirit to Faith Riessen

After every game we chart ten performance goals and recognize individual performances with our special awards.  It as been my experience that when we reach 5/10 of our goals we always win.  In 20 + years of coaching only twice did we reach 5/10 goals and did not win.

I really enjoy this year squad.  They work really hard and are a lot of fun to coach.  We all feel if we stay focused on our goals and stick together then we can accomplish a lot of wonderful things.

We are back at it on Tuesday the 20^th against Waldorf.  It will be our 2^nd game and their 8^th, hopefully that will not a factor.

Hope to see you at a game!

Coach Berry

FYI Alumni Game is February 23, 2008 

October 15 is HERE!

Well October is here and the season has officially begun.  With a very solid group of returnees and a new crop of talented freshmen we are very excited and optimistic.  Practice has been fast moving and intense.  There are a lot of talented women on the floor that are all wanting to earn some PT.  Among our other new faces on the floor is Coach Emily Cline.  Coach Cline has returned to Iowa to be part of our staff this year.  Emily brings some great enthusiasm and knowledge to our program.  She was a player at Cornell from 98-00 and then has been coaching at Sewanee School of the South the last four years.  Coach Kelli Taylor Smith finished her masters degree last spring and is now working for Sate Farm.

This season we hope to continue with our ability to score points and improve on defense.

Our freshmen class includes:

Brittany Denker- a fierce competitor and very athletic 5-9 power forward from Audubon. 

Jocelyn Kock- a 6-0 athlete form Ar-We-Va high school.  Jocelyn is also very athletic and will be able to play at either the 3 or 4 spot.

Erin Williams- is a sharp shooter from Pocahontas who is 5-8 wing player.  

Dani Miller-_is a 5-7 wing from BCIG.  Dani, too is an all around athlete who knows how to win being a key part of the BCIG success the last several years

Sierra Williams- is 6 footer from Cedar Rapids Washington.   Is a block player who played in the state tournament last year.

Liz Ahrensen is another 6 footer form Clarion who will help us in the paint.

Jessica Ott is a 5-8 guard from Jefferson who will join us after the soccer season.

5 in a row!

Five in a row!!!  I am so happy for this young team.  We have really improved in the last month and feel confident as we round the corner for our final push in the IACC.  Four of our last six games are on the road. 

In our last game against Central, we were very solid offensively with five players in double figures and were dominate on the boards.  Our post players did a great job of scoring on the blocks and our guards hit the outside shots as well.  Tracy Hartwig, IIAC Player of the Week, continues lighting up from the arc.  She currently leads DIII in 3pt
FG % at 50 %.  That is out of 415 schools.  WAY to GO Tracy!  Watch for her on Media Com's Iowa Conference show.  The media-com people were on campus yesterday shooting some footage. 


Feburary 10th will be our annual alumni game.  We will be welcoming back many talented BV Alumni that day and I know I will be looking forward to seeing everyone.  We will also be honoring our seniors Tracy and Lindsey that day.


I also would like to say congrats to our JV squad.  They have had a great season.  Just last night they beat Northwestern (after losing to them badly earlier this season).  Coach Smith has done a great job with our young players.  Thanks Kelli! 

What Happen

What Happened?  I sat all of Saturday night and most of Sunday contemplating that very topic. How do we look so good one game and then get smoked against a 1-9 Coe squad?  I still do not know the answer to that question but I do know I am going to coach up this young squad so hopefully we will not let it happen again.

I do want to give a lot of credit to first year coach Randi Peterson and her team for out playing us in every aspect of the game. There was no question that on Saturday they were the better team.

Where do we go from here?  Well, we will be back at tomorrow at a feisty Central team. Hopefully we can regroup and get back on track both offensively and defensively.  That is one of the best things about basketball.  You play lots of games so you can not dwell too long on any one game.  You never get to celebrate the victories too long or sting from the losses.

Go Beavers!

Coach Berry

BEAVERS WIN!!!

It is a great day to be a beaver.  Knocking off nationally ranked Simpson I think will give our young team a lot of confidence.  I have to admit I was almost nervous when we jumped out to an 11-2 lead.  The game was definitely a game of runs.  15 lead changes and 7 ties.  Simpson has a great ball club but down the stretch we really executed and got great shots and also got to the free-throw line.

I am so proud of our entire team but want to point out a few outstanding performances. Lindsey Meyer had a break out game going 6/7 from the field.  Schumann had a career high 23 points and was awesome down the stretch.  Tracy Hartwig came up big on the boards once again pulling down 10 rebounds for her second straight double double and a career high 7 assists.  Katie Ebel set the tone early by being very physical on defense and also had a fantastic floor game.  Five players in double figures and holding the leading scorer in the conference to 5 points proved to be a winning formula.

As we begin regular conference play we hope to keep getting better defensively.  In the second half we held Simpson to 33 points.  We were able to get stops.  When we are able to do that I think we are a very good basketball team.  I love this team and am excited to see what all they can accomplish.  They proved last night that can play with anyone in the IIAC and in the country.

Happy New Year

Coach Berry

36 Points in the Paint

36 points off the blocks. 

Each game we have 10 performance goals we look at and chart.  Our team knows if we reach 5 of 10 of these goals we are going to win.  Through out my 20 year coaching career there has only been about three times when we have reached 5 of 10 goals and did not win.  This year’s performance goals include scoring 80 points, holding our opponent under 65 points, shooting 45 % from the field , 75% from the line,  18 assists, under 17 turnovers , 35 points in the paint, opponent shooting    35%, out rebound by +7 and 15 O boards.

This past game against Martin Luther here is how we came out:

Scoring 80 points = 78                                                                              

Holding our opponent under 65 points =YES 52

Shooting 45 % from the field = 43.3

75% from the line =55.6

18 assists =15

Less than 17 turnovers = 19 we created 33

35 pints in the paint= YES 36Pts

Opponent shooting    35%= 46.8

Out rebound by +7 =- 3

 15 O boards= 11

Although we only got 2/10 goals (you can see we were close with several others) we still managed to have a 26 point victory.  Our depth is definitely our strength.  Two players I would like to acknowledge are Jenni Schwietzberger and Tracy Hartwig.  Schweitzy was 6 for 6 from the field and had 5 boards in 18 minutes.  Tracy had a great floor game with 13 points 5 rebounds and 6 steals.  We still have our times that we show our youth but we are getting better every game.

We are off to Dordt on Wednesday night for a women’s / men’s non conference double header.  The Dordt’s women are finally getting their volleyball players in the flow and had a nice win over Midland Lutheran the other night.  This will be a good test for us.

GO BEAVERS!!

Janet Berry

Woulda Coulda Shoulda

We had our chances.  I am proud of the way our women battled Tuesday night.  Luther jumped on us early 9-0, but we came right back and went on a 10 – 0 run to take the lead 10-9.  The first half had 7 ties.  We let Luther go on an 8- 2 run at the end of the half and they led 37-33 at the break.

In the second half, again we let them jump out early only to battle back once again.  Our players know they can play. We were all frustrated because after looking at the stats we lost because we had too many turnovers and Luther shot too many FTs.  Luther did bring good pressure, but we made a few bad decisions that allowed them to have some easy baskets.

Margo had another impressive performance with 26 points and Katie Ebel had an awesome game with 17 points and 6 rebounds.  Eb played some great defense and only missed one shot from the field.  I have to admit that I am surprised by the offensive numbers we have been putting up, but we have to stay committed to getting better defensively. 

It is back on the bus this Saturday to play a region game against Martin Luther.

A win is a win

A win is a win.  We headed down to Lincoln Nebraska on Saturday to play Nebraska Wesleyan.  We went into that game without starting point guard Courtney Stoelk who had to sit with a foot injury.  We started Tracy Hartwig at the point and freshman Margo Mulhbauer got her first start at the wing.  Tracy and Margo both had career highs both putting up 26 points a piece.  Former assistant coach Amy Sander had her troops ready to go and they started the game by nailing two back to back threes. Coach Smith and I were both concerned that Wesleyan was going to make some shots and make shots they did.  13-19 from behind the arc kept us battling until the end.  It was 74 -74 when we exploded on a 9-0 run.  Jacquelyn Schmidt ( Jacks) gave us some great minutes off the bench hitting a big three to spark us on our game winning run.  Jen Schumman also came off the bench to give us 15 points.

All three of our centers have been able to put points on the board.  Between Jen Schweitzberger, Jen Schumann and freshman Aubrey Hauswirth we are consistently scoring in the paint.

Last week our JV team played their first game and looked impressive in a 20+ victory over Minnesota West.

We will be back on the road on Tuesday to play one of the IIAC conference favorites Luther.  Luther is always tough.  Although they lost all conference player Anne Strate they return their entire back court.  We ended our season last year with a gut wrenching overtime lose at Luther.  We plan on turning the tables this go around.

Go Beavers!

Coach Berry

2-1 Start

We are 2-1 heading into Thanksgiving and getting better everyday.  We have made a big commitment to get better on Defense and we are seeing the signs of that giving up only 51 and 52 points our last two games.  Offensively we are pleased that lots of different people our contributing.  We have had five different players in double figures and we are getting lots of production from off our bench.  I truly believe that we could go 12 deep and still be productive.

We had a great time in Chicago this past weekend at the Midway Classic Tournament. Tracy Hartwig was named to the all tournament team.  She had one of her best games of her career against Kalamazoo.  She put up 20 points and played some great defense. Both Tracy and Lindsey Meyer have been giving our squad some great leadership. The Chicago trip was a great time for our team to come together and get to know each other and also have some fun.  We had an awesome banquet at Cellular Field (where the White Sox play).  They had the field lit up and it was quite a venue.

We will be back on the road this Saturday heading to Lincoln to play Nebraska Wesleyan. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Coach Berry

Off and Running

Practice is off and running and I truly feel like we are getting better everyday. With so many new faces the first three weeks we have been trying different combinations.

            Even though we have 22 very talented women it is important that we try to get a top 9 or 10 as quickly as we can.  This has been very difficult because every one of our players is working so hard and making our coaching staff

            We had our first scrimmage on Tuesday night against Iowa Central Community College. The first half went very well both offensively and defensively. The second half of the scrimmage we got a bit out of sync but overall we accomplished what we wanted to. The fact that ICCC played zone defense the entire time and we have not even put in our zone offense gave a chance to see our team think on it feet.

            Each week we have been adding more and more things and have made a real commitment to improving our defense.  Besides wanting to show different looks we are also really trying hard to be more physical on the defensive end.  We have also been really encouraging communication on both ends of the court.

            This past weekend we hosted our annual offensive skills camp.  We had about 50 girls on campus Saturday morning.  We also had multiple recruits here this weekend.

Fall Preview

Welcome to our BVU Women's Basketball Coaches Corner. Thanks to our awesome SID, we will be able to share with you our thoughts about the upcoming season, along with giving you updates throughout the year. Hopefully, this will give everyone a better sense of what our program is all about.

            We welcomed our students back to campus August 29^th. We had our annual welcome back dinner at my house that night. It was a fun opportunity for our new people to meet and hang out with our returners.

            After graduating four incredible seniors who accounted for 60% of our scoring, we are very pleased with the talent we were able to add to our program. Combined with our returning talent; we feel that we will again be very competitive. 

            Our returning seniors include Lindsey Meyer, Tracy Hartwig, and Penni Heitmann. Lindsey and Tracy were our starting wings last season and were two of the best three point shooters in the conference.

            Our returning juniors include Jenni Schweitzberger and Melissa Putney. They both have varsity experience under their belts and have the talent and desire to help the team to victory.

            The sophomore class logged a lot of varsity minutes as freshman. Courtney Stoelk, Katie Ebel, and Katie Ernst were all contributors last year. The experience they gained last year will hopefully catapult them into having very productive sophomore seasons. Jacqulyn Schmidt and Lynnsey Davison are also returning letterwinners that saw some playing time last season. Juli Christiansen and Abbey Biedenfeld round out the returning sophomore class as leaders from last season's JV squad.  

Newcomers to the program include 11 talented athletes. Ashley Wheeldon (Johnson), although a sophomore, sat out all last season with a knee injury will return to the court this season. We look forward to her lacing up for the first practice October 15^th.  Tiffiney Belmont (Iowa City) a senior at BV has decided to pick up the ball and join the team as well. We have two incoming transfer students who will hopefully make an instant impact this fall. Jen Schumann (Newell-Fonda), who spent last season playing DII at Upper Iowa University, will be joining us this season. Jen was a local standout at NF, and we are so pleased that she will be wearing the Blue and Gold. Sarah Davis comes to us from Chemeketa Community College in Oregon. Sarah was injured last season, but she is ready to get up and down the court.

            The incoming freshman include Margo Muhlbauer (IKM), Lindsey Bolt (Omaha Sckutt), Aubrey Hauswirth (Pocahontas),  Melissa Sporrer (Carroll Kemper), Megan Hawthorne (Hinton), Jennifer Allen (Grinnell), Faith Riessen (Harlan), and Ashley Lussman (Newell-Fonda). These are seven very talented women. All of whom have state tournament experience in at least one sport and have accumulated multiple awards of recognition. As practice begins, we will see how each adjusts to college ball and see what each of them can bring to the program.