I love Pajamas!!!

And Dixie Chicks lol!

Coach Day

Check out the blog about Coach Day all the way from LA.

Umpqua Crossover

This last weekend our team was fortunate enough to travel to Roseburg Oregon for their Crossover tournament. During the 7+ hour trip, we took turns reading from a favorite book of mine entitled "Making the Big time Where You Are" by Frosty Westering. I was impressed at how much this book touched our team. Everyone really absorbed and learned so much about each other and themselves. It truly changed our perception of what the Big Time really is.

The following day we got up early had waffles for breakfast and took off for our shoot around. I informed the girls to wear something warm as Cheryl drove us to our next destination. The Umpqua Safari!!! As a early Christmas Gift we took the girls on quite an expedition. It was a wild life refuge for endangered animals. We saw so many cool animals, many of them were free to roam their designated area "Africa, Asia and the Americas." We saw Lions, Monkeys, Bears, Giraffs, Zebras, Cheetahs, the list goes on and on. My least favorite of the animals were the Yaks and the Crazy Emu that chased us from Africa to Asia and all the way to the Americas. He literally was pecking the glass, I think he wanted to watch our game vs the Umpqua All-Star team later that night. Which was absolutely fantastic.

We had the opportunity to test our skills versus a very good alumni team consisting of Division 1 talent and players who were stars in other 4 year programs. We got down by as many as 14 points with 6 minutes to go. We through on a press and ended up coming back to win the game by 2 points. It was a lot of fun and inspiring to see how well the Umpqua girls had stayed in great shape and continue to play the game that they obviously love so much.

The next day we played the regular Umpqua team. They are an extremely fast and energetic team that applies pressure defense at every inch of the floor. This was the second time we played them and unfortunately they have accounted for 2 of our 3 losses this season. However, I felt that we improved a ton since playing them in November, it was a good gauge for our team.

On Sunday we played Highline for 3rd place in the Crossover. Highline made the NWAACC tournament last year and they always have a competitive team and program. Not to mention after watching them play we felt that the two teams were extremely even on talent. We reminded the girls numerous times how the team with the most heart would win the game. We told them "It is gonna come down to who wants it more." We found ourselves down by 4 with 50 seconds to go, when Chelsi Pakootas managed a steal and Jenny Beamer converted a lay up to bring us with in 2 with 22 seconds to go. Highline brought the ball across half court and called a timeout to draw up a play. On the inbounds pass, Chelsi dove on a loose ball and tied it up. Fortunately, the possession arrow was in our favor and we brought the ball across the floor and called a timeout. They gave us the ball underneath, and we drew up a last minute inbounds play, Chelsi got the pass from Heather Arnone and converted on a floater in the middle of the key to tie it up and send us to overtime. We ended up winning the game by four in OT, it was a fantastic game and the icing on the cake was that Chelsi was put on the all tournament team.

Pakootas Family Article

Check out this months Inside Women's Basketball for an article about Chelsi Pakootas' younger sister Chenise who plays for Mead High School.

One of the toughest decisions to make as a coach, is to bring someone in midseason. It is difficult from so many standpoints. You have to ask yourself, how will they fit with the team? What will they do to the chemistry? Will they work hard? Will they create problems? Will players who have been there from the beginning resent having someone take their minutes? However, we were faced with a couple unique situations where I felt that our team could benefit greatly from having two great people.

In November we were blessed with an amazing individual who has truly been a shining light on our team. Tricia has showed us what perseverence means. In addition she brings an enormous amount of positive vibes to our team. We are so happy to have her and we cannot wait till January when she becomes officially eligible.

We added Alisha Crane one week ago. Alisha practiced towards the end of the year with our team last season. I knew from the moment Alisha stepped on the floor that she was a "coach Martin" kid. All heart and hard work. Fortunately, we do not have to wait for January for Alisha to make game contributions. In her first two contests Alisha has shot to the top of the NWAACC and #2 in rebounding. Nice work Alisha!

Warrior Classic

This weekend was a great weekend to be a BMCC Timberwolf. Beginning Friday our team made the 45 mile trek to Walla Walla for the Warrior Classic. Our First game we played the WWCC women's alumni. Me being an alum from WW, I was invited to play against my team. However, our typically laid back team captain, Chelsi Pakootas informed me, "NO YOU ARE COACHING." It felt pretty good (and a little scary) to have a player be so adamant about you coaching them, so I didn't even consider playing on Friday.

The game was tight in the early going and after overcoming some chaotic scorekeeping and confusing technical fouls our teamed held tight and won 71-42. We hurried off to pick up some El Sombrero for Sabrina's eh hmm 15th birthday bash, after Sabby finished her chicken nuggets pranced around in her "sombrero" and was serenaded by Sandra and her self proclaimed cousins in the spanish version of happy birthday we made our way back to the gym to scout the WWCC Seattle CC game. The girls jumped in the van and headed back to my house for a little game film and bed.

After our 8:30am shoot around we headed back to Mike and my place again, for a breakfast made by our newest welcomed addition Alisha Crane, Sabby made toast. The girls devoured the cheese eggs, bacon and toast and went back to there intense Garage Band playing. Although it was Sabby's birthday, she was quite upset over the fact that Alisha was better than her at the karaoke part of garage band. Quite hilarious, I might add. As I was cleaning up with much appreciated help from Ginna, I told her, "this is what coaching for me is all about; the team chemistry, the family atmosphere, spending these moments with some very special kids who are so appreciative.

We played a very tough Seattle team, that placed 5th in the NWAACC tournament last season. After 6 lead changes including being up by 13 and down by 9 our t'wolves truly came together. They executed the offense, read mismatches and finally started playing to their potential. With 9 minutes to go, we were tied at 59. Chelsi did a fantastic job of getting to the hole and withstanding the pressure, she finished the game with a career high 22 points. We finished the game 69-62, holding the storm to 3 points in the final 9 minutes.

We are 4-2, which means that we have already improved our record from last years dismal 3 win season. I am so proud of all of the girls, it is fun to have everyone contributing in a positive way.