Minnesota Girls High School Basketball Megan Nipe blog

"I appreciate each of those killers more and more as my first season in college progresses."

It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to blog. I have been busier then ever since school and workouts started. We are in the second week of official practice right now and let’s just say it’s very different than high school. However, I was lucky that my high school coach prepared me, to some level, for the physical demands that are being placed on me in college. I remember coming home from school telling my parents how many killers we had to run each day and how it didn’t make any sense why we had to run so much… I appreciate each of those killers more and more as my first season in college progresses.

When I first got here at the end of August, the coaches gave us the first week off to get acclimated to the academic side of school, be comfortable with our classes, and to participate in the freshman activities. After that, we got straight into preseason workouts. We had lifting three times a week, conditioning twice a week, and individual practices that focused on specific skill development. In addition to that, I still had rehab and treatments for my knee. By the time preseason was a couple weeks in, I was ready for practices to start. Now that practices have started, I’m ready for the games to begin. In fact, we have an open practice for anyone to come watch our team with a question and answer session after that. I’m excited to see what that is all about because I’ve never done something like that before.

My 19th birthday was earlier this month. The day before it I received the best present! The doctors cleared me to play! That was great news after all the work I did to rehab and strengthen my knee in the six months since surgery. Even though the doctors in D.C. stay in contact with Dr. Nelson (from Tria) I will go in to see Dr. Nelson during my short Christmas break in Minnesota.

As for my knee, it’s a long process trying to come back. It takes me a while to get my knee warmed up at the beginning of practice and by the end of three hours it’s sore again. I try not to get very frustrated anymore because I realize that it’s going to take time. There are a couple girls on my team that had knee surgery last year and their knees still bother them at times. It just shows me that I need to work through the pain but still be smart about it and know when I’m doing too much. Hopefully by the time our first game comes around (November 17th) my knee will be even better.

School wise, things are going pretty well. The workload is a little more then what I was used to even though I took college courses last year. However, it wasn’t a big slap in the face like it is to most freshmen. I’m glad I decided to do the PSEO program last year because now I’m pretty much a sophomore academically. My next step, besides working to maintain good grades, is trying to figure out what I want to major in. We'll see how long that takes.

The summer always seems to go by too quickly.   For me, it’s over on Monday, August 31st.   However, my summer has been very full with preparation for my upcoming year. I spent six weeks in D.C. for summer school, training, and rehab and the past two weeks I’ve been home continuing to prepare for the preseason…. and getting as much sun as possible. J
I left for George Washington University on July 2nd.   My mom and I spent a couple days down there before I actually moved in to get some necessary school supplies and things for my room.   I moved into my dorm on the 5th and classes started the next day.   I took two classes: Sociology of Sports and Psychology. For the first week we didn’t have any scheduled workouts so that everyone could get used to the class schedule. However, we did have pick up games every night. Due to my ACL surgery in April, I couldn’t play any sort of game yet so I watched my teammates to learn how each person plays and to identify the individual strengths on our team. It was frustrating at first but I eventually realized that soon enough I’d be right in there with them. It didn’t take too long for me to get adjusted to everything and I think that taking college classes last year really helped me in terms of class work.
The next week we started our regular work out schedule. For freshman, we had lifting everyday from 6-7:30 p.m. We alternated working legs one day and upper body the next. Since I was limited in my leg workouts, I did some upper body workout everyday.   I think I did more push-ups in those six weeks than I had done in my whole life until then. I also started doing my physical therapy with the GW athletic trainers. Shortly after I got to school I was allowed to begin running again. So I would run on the treadmill, shoot a little, and do some lighter lower body lifting for my therapy. After not doing any sort of running for more than three months, it was amazing to me how quickly I got tired. If I were to give advice to anyone, I would say to constantly stay in shape. It’s much harder to get back into shape than to stay in shape.
Here was my typical summer schedule while at GW:

10 – 11:30am – First class
11:30 – 12:30p – Quick snack/lunch
12:30 – 2pm – Second class
2:30 – 3:30pm - Physical therapy
3:30 – 5:30pm – Study/eat
6 – 7:30pm - Weights
7:30 – 9pm - Pick up games for the team/Running/shooting/drills for me
9p – ?? – Study/eat

            After a while our coaches only allowed us to play pick up twice a week because people weren’t giving themselves enough time to recover. Regardless, most of the team went to the gym almost every day to at least shoot around. Summer school ended on the 13th of August and I came home the 15th for the two week break before the fall semester begins.
            Coming back to Minnesota allowed me to have another follow-up appointment with Dr. Nelson at Tria (where my ACL surgery was performed). While I am the first to admit that I am not a patient patient, I have been pretty good at following the doctor’s orders since I know that it was by following the orders that I was able to play last season with my ACL injury. I was excited when Dr. Nelson was very pleased with my progress and has given me the green light to continue to rebuild my strength and speed over the next couple of months before the season begins.
            While I’ve been home I have been doing a workout program called Acceleration over in Arden Hills. There I work on relearning how to jump properly and to continue to strengthen my knee and work on speed and agility. I’ve been going to Acceleration since sixth grade and I knew that it was the best place for me to continue my rehab and work on my endurance while I was home for a couple weeks. I have been going there on weekdays and I have been resting on the weekends. I’ve also enjoyed getting a tan and doing some shopping since I’ve been back... what can I say? I’m a girl. J
            I go back to GW this coming Sunday and won’t be in Minnesota again until Christmas. Preseason starts the week after I get back and classes start the day after I get back. I’ll do my best to keep you all updated on how things are going in school and on the court.
Enjoy your last days of summer!
Until next time… Megs

            They always told me that my senior year would fly by… I guess I really didn’t know just how fast it would be over.
            Last March my team made it to the state tournament by scraping out an ugly win against Champlin Park. It was one of the most exciting wins I have ever personally experienced. We came back from over a 20 point deficit to get Centennial back to state. Little did I know that winning that game was just the beginning of the intense and exhilarating week I had ahead of me.
            We won our first game at state against Buffalo. This was one for the books at Centennial because this year was the first time in our girl’s basketball history that we won a state tournament game. Next, we faced Eden Prairie. Once again, we won by a small margin…but by then the last four games were all very close so we weren’t as stressed under pressure. That paid off because we kept our composure in that game against Eden Prairie and ended up getting into the State Championship game. I wish I could honestly remember how I felt at that moment but so many things were going on then, that that whole week just seems like a blur.

The next thing that I really remember is lining up getting ready to run out onto the floor for that Championship game. All the feelings that I had were starting to become overwhelming. I realized that it was truly a miracle that I was still playing basketball at this point (and I find out how much worse the damage was after the season). I looked up at both of the crowds and never thought I would see myself being the one to play in front of all of them. Last, I remember looking at the other side of the court and seeing Minneapolis South line up as well. One of my best friends, Tayler Hill, who I had played AAU basketball with for six years, was now the one I was playing against for the biggest game in high school basketball for MN.

The game was hard fought for both teams and the score was always close. In the end, we ended up being the state runner-ups. At first, I was extremely disappointed… and for those who don’t remember… I fouled out with about 20 seconds to go and couldn’t even get off the court for a long time because that’s when it hit me that we had lost. As we were getting our second place trophy, however, I looked up and saw our entire community giving our team a standing ovation.

I realized that, to them, it didn’t matter entirely that we won. The important thing is that our girl’s basketball team had brought a community together when we needed it most after some tough losses in the past.

            Hannah, Bridget and I were named to the State All-Tournament team that day and it was a special moment. The three of us have played together since sixth grade and to get the award together really meant a lot. After all the awards were given away, the team went back to Centennial where our school hosted a reception to celebrate a great season. I had a great time especially when our team lined up to have people stop and congratulate us. I can’t even tell you how many people’s hands I shook. Ha. That experience is something I’ll never forget.
            Once the season was over it was time to get another MRI. The results looked pretty much the same as the first one I had last October. We agreed to let my surgeon go into my knee to, at the least, clean up some meniscus damage I had from playing with a damaged knee. Well…when he got in there, it was a complete mess. My ACL had torn in half and while one half was attached; the other half had disappeared into my leg. Also, both meniscuses were damaged and one of them was flipped backwards behind my tibia bone.   The doctors still have no idea how I could have played like that without being in constant severe pain. However, I know that God watched over me this season and answered my prayers to be able to play my senior year. I couldn’t be more thankful. It’s ironic how the year I’m hurt the worst, our team does the best we ever had. Just goes to show how much of a team sport basketball is.
            Three days after my surgery, I attended the All-Star weekend games and the Miss Basketball banquet. Let’s just say I also want to thank God for having someone learn how to make very effective pain medication.    The 4A team ended up winning the tournament and it was very fun to watch. The Miss Basketball banquet was also very nice. There were 6 candidates for Miss Basketball. Tayler won the award which I think was a very good choice. Lol.
            Now, I am focusing on rehabbing my knee and strengthening my core and upper body. I have been in physical therapy twice a week and I do a workout program, called “Acceleration” five days a week. I have regained full range of motion with that knee and the doctor is very pleased with my progress. I am slowly getting my strength back and hope to be cleared for running late this month. Right now I can do everything but run. I look forward to the day when I can run again. Of course I never thought I would miss running!
            This past weekend I had my graduation ceremony and open house. It’s finally setting in that my high school days are over. I had many tough times throughout my last four years but the victories that I and my team had outweigh the losses without any comparison. Although I’ll miss Centennial and the basketball program and all the community support very much, I am ready and very excited to start a new chapter.

The excitement began with us finishing our regular season as co-champs of the Northwest Suburban Conference. We share the title this year with Osseo.

Next, section play began and as luck would have it we faced three teams from our conference. Park Center was our first match-up. We played hard and won big. Our next game was a different story. We played Maple Grove in the semi-finals and to our surprise they hung with us the entire game. Our team was even down by five at one point. We had to regroup and finish that game strong.

Winning those two games were crucial for us because we needed to get back to the section championships and show everyone how good of a team we really are. In the section final we faced Champlin Park who had beaten Osseo earlier in the week. Since we’ve played each other twice during the regular season, we were confident in knowing how they played and how we needed to stop them.

However, things didn’t go as we had planned. The first score I remember looking up to see was 20-8….Champlin Park was ahead. No one on the Centennial team really knew how that had happened. The rest of the first half was pretty much the same thing…we couldn’t make a shot and they couldn’t miss. It was very frustrating but there was NO WAY we were going to give this one up! You could especially see it on our senior’s faces. This was our last chance to get back to the State Tournament and we were going to do it.

The second half of the game took a turn for the better. We picked up our defense and played more in sync with each other as a team. We could tell we were making a comeback because of our fans. The closer we got, the louder they got. I would say our comeback was partly because of them. They somehow boosted our confidence by never giving up on us and knowing that we would pull it off. We ended up winning the game by a slim margin. The feeling that had been hanging with everyone since last year’s section loss was gone.

Everyone was off to celebrate that night because it was Centennial’s spring break and we had just won the section championship! However, I had to go home and finish my homework because I had class the next day. Needless to say…I got it done but I’m not sure how well it got done.

We now start our journey to the State Tournament beginning with the banquet tonight. I’m excited because I love to dress up and it’s a dress up event. J

Centennial has never won a game at the State Tournament even though we have made multiple appearances. We’re looking to change that this year. We are going to live in the moment and take one game at a time. We can’t try and save our energy for another game or to pace ourselves because if we don’t play our hardest now…there might not be another game.

"On the 27th of February, Centennial celebrated its senior class with a senior night."

I apologize if any of you have been waiting awhile to read my next blog. Things get pretty hectic in the middle of the season.

Back at the beginning of January I got a new knee brace because my old one wasn’t making my knee feel stable enough to be able to move at all like I used to. My new one is awesome and I’m excited about how my knee is progressing and getting better every week. Also, I’ve been seeing my chiropractor twice a week and he works with me on how to play on it with more intensity without being careless. I know I have to be aware and even if it feels good, it’s still vulnerable.

We had a few big games in early February that showed our team and others that we have the potential to be one of the best. Now we just have to work even harder to live up to that potential and hopefully get to that next level that we have been working so hard for thus far.

On the 27th of February, Centennial celebrated its senior class with a senior night. We were given gifts and cards and posters were made with our names on them. It all looked very nice. However, there was another event that caused more excitement then just recognizing the seniors. One of the seniors, Bridget Schuneman, scored her 1000th point! I was very happy to see that happen and it was ironic that it happened on senior night. She’s worked extremely hard for that milestone and she deserved every part of it. I believe that Bridget is the 7th Centennial Cougar to ever achieve this milestone. Leah Lekson is senior manager for our basketball team. We are fortunate to have her and she spends many hours supporting our team. The other seniors on our team are Hannah Steele and Moriah Miller. Hannah is holding the top spot for assists per game in the state. She is an extremely good point guard and can keep up with the quickest of them. Moriah is one of the hardest workers on the team and it’s been great getting to know her better this past year. This group of senior players (me included) won the 7th grade state championship. Thinking that everyone who was in 7th grade then is now a senior, we like to say that we have a good shot of repeating our seventh grade victory days.

We have gone undefeated through the months of January and February and we finished our regular season with a record of 24-2. Over my high school career so far, Centennial’s record is 99-13. Looking back, I don’t remember losing that many games but it goes to show me that I have been fortunate enough to be on a very successful basketball team filled with competitive players that work hard day in and day out.

With the end of our regular season comes the beginning of Sections playoffs. I know that my teammates and I will work hard to get to the next level as we try to take our game to the state tournament. I will be back to blog about that experience soon…….

            First things first, as most of you know, earlier this fall during a game against Lakeville North, I sprained my knee. At first, I didn’t think anything serious of it because it didn’t swell much at all and I could still walk and run. However, when I went to the orthopedic doctor to get my okay to play before tryouts started, he told me my MRI’s looked terrible. I had pulled some ligaments, had contusions (bruises) from falling, and partially tore my ACL. This was probably the worst news I’ve ever gotten in my life. I thought everything I had worked so hard for all these years was about to go down the drain and I was done for the season.
            The doctor decided to test my knees for strength and stability. He wanted to see how much damage had been done by comparing my good knee to my injured knee. To both of our surprise, my left knee (the one I hurt) was just as stable as my right knee. The doctor couldn’t think of any reason why this could be except that my muscles were strong enough that they were holding my knee in place. He also said that any surgery that he would do couldn’t make my knee any better than it is right now. Therefore, he wanted me to just take two weeks off and do only physical therapy. After that he would decide if I could be cleared to play. My next appointment with him was scheduled for the Wednesday right before Thanksgiving and the Hamline tournament.
            Well, it was a long two weeks watching my teammates go through tryouts and earn their spots on the team while I just sat on the sidelines not being able to do ANYTHING.   I continued my physical therapy and after what seemed like forever I passed the “functional” test that would clear me to play. In fact, in every exercise I did, my left leg performed better than my right leg.
            I was so excited to be cleared for the Hamline Tournament! Our first game was against Highland Park. Everything was going good until sometime in the second half and I got screened only on one side of me and my body twisted…along with my knee. I couldn’t walk on it for a couple of minutes and was pretty much crawling off the court. After I was able to put my foot down I quickly started walking and then jogging. I wanted to get back into the game. Within four minutes I was back in the game. We went on to win the game and then the tournament. I was fortunate to make the all tournament team and my teammate Bridget Schuneman, more than deservingly, got tournament MVP. She dominated the whole weekend.
            I went on to play the next two games against White Bear and Jordan, both of which we won, but in both games I tweaked my knee bad enough to where I had to come out of each game. I’m pretty sure I gave my coach a few near heart attacks (in the White Bear game I was on the ground for five minutes not able to move…it hurt). After that, my coaches and school trainer sat me down and proposed the idea of sitting out for a few weeks to see if time and more physical therapy would help. I started to realize that I might have pushed myself too hard too fast. My mind isn’t programmed to go 50%. It’s usually all or nothing. I decided to take them up on that offer and I took myself out of basketball from Dec. 6th until the Christmas tournament on Dec 29th. The team worked extremely hard and I was so happy to see them beat Roseville and Blaine. However, the hardest game to watch was by far the Osseo game. This was my last game out and I was praying like crazy to just come out of that game with a win…good, bad or ugly. I wanted us to win more than anything that night.
            We ended up losing by 3. It wasn’t any one event that caused the loss it was just an off night for the team as a whole. The only thing I could think of the whole bus ride home was that even injured maybe I could have scored 3 points.
            I truly believe this injury was a blessing in disguise. I could have easily torn my ACL all the way through and been done, without a doubt. This process has taught me more about what it’s like to be dedicated to something enough that you work at it even when you know you won’t be able to perform in front of a crowd. Also, I have a whole new perspective of the game that I wouldn’t have gotten if I was playing in it. I saw plays unfold and it’s now easier to recognize when things will or won’t work. More importantly, this has taught me patience beyond belief. I guess when I asked God to help me with being patient this wasn’t what I had in mind, but he works in mysterious ways. I realize how blessed I am with being able to stay healthy and being successful enough with basketball to be offered a college scholarship. I now know not to take it for granted. Maybe this was the only way to really make me see all this. Centennial is now 6-1 and we play on Dec 29th at Hill Murray in their Christmas tournament. I’m sure that I will have to ease my way back but I’m looking forward to being a part of that game.
            Besides basketball, I just finished my first PSEO semester at Anoka Ramsey. It was definitely a different experience compared to high school but I’m glad I made the decision to go there because it will prepare me for next year. It’s somewhat like a stepping stone between Centennial and GW. I’m now on my Christmas break until January 12th. Next semester I’ll have my plate full with Interpretive Chemistry, Macroeconomics, Medical Terminology, and College Algebra and Trig.
            My sisters (Liz, Emily and Laura) came home for the holidays and I’ve enjoyed spending some time with them. Two of them live in California and one goes to college in New York so they rarely get to visit. I’ll be sad when they leave but I’m happy about getting to see them. We’re all completely different but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
            Anyways, I’m off to practice to test how my knee feels scrimmaging for the first time in what feels like forever! Till next time…

Hello everyone. It has been a very long time since I’ve written last and a lot has happened.
            First of all, like I said before, I started school on August 25th at Anoka Ramsey Community College. I’m taking Sociology, International Literature, Government, and Women’s Biology. All of my classes are going really well so far. I just hit the mid-term mark and I’m still going strong. I hope I can finish the semester the same way with basketball starting in less then three weeks. I will be very busy!!
            On August 31st, the top 25 girls and boys in the state got together at the Target Center for the Breakdown photo shoot, Gameworks, and the Lynx game. That was a fun experience and what was even better was that three of my N.C. Heat teammates were there with me. We took a big group photo and then some other ones with smaller groups of who we play this year or who we played with in the summer. I believe the pictures that were taken will be in the Breakdown book.
            Centennial had a four week long Fall League at Armstrong High School for the last two weekends of September and the first two weekends of October. We had some strong games and came out undefeated! I’m really excited because our team is already showing some great chemistry. Despite the fact that we lost some key players to graduation, the players that didn’t get as many minutes last year have really stepped up. It’s exciting to play with another team that has a lot of potential. Now we’re in the Breakdown fall league at Bloomington Kennedy and Jefferson. We’re 4-0 and this coming weekend (November 2nd) we play Hopkins at 10:30 and Richfield at 11:30 at Bloomington Kennedy. I think that both of these games will be tough and important in seeing what our strengths and weaknesses are.
            This fall was a stressful one to say the least but very exciting and fun at the same time. I took three official visits: Rhode Island, Northwestern, and George Washington. Harvard was one of my top four schools but I didn’t make it for an official. After my visits I had to think long and hard about which place was the best for me. In the end….I chose to commit to George Washington. I fell in love with everything about the school, environment, team, coaches, etc. I can’t wait to get there. First, however, I need to concentrate on this upcoming high school season.
            I’ll close for now since I need to write some thank you cards for birthday gifts I received earlier this month. I won’t let as much time go by before I blog again.

"As we head into the latter part of the summer my focus will switch to the process of selecting a college."

Three months have gone by since my last blog and yet it feels like I was just writing it a week ago. Having this be my last summer with the Heat team and a chance to visit some colleges I’ve been going non stop but enjoying every moment of it.

In late June, Anne Berner and I went out east to do some college visits. First, we went to New York City where we saw our first Broadway musical…Legally Blonde. We both had such a great time! Then we went to Connecticut and on to Rhode Island where we hoped to go to Newport Beach but it was raining…even though we were told it never rains in Rhode Island. (smile) Next we made our way to Massachusetts and enjoyed some time in the Amherst and Boston areas. All in all, I had a really good time visiting the colleges and learned a lot while I was out there. Once I returned home, I concentrated mostly on getting ready for July knowing it was going to be a very important month.

Starting early July it was time to perform and the time to prepare was behind us. Our first destination was Atlanta, Georgia. We played a solid tournament and ended up taking second. The day that tournament ended we flew straight to Orlando, Florida. We played in the AAU National Tournament at the Wide World of Sports at Disney World. Once again, the entire team had a good tournament. Personally this one was harder than the rest. A couple games into the tourney, I pulled my quad and had to sit out for a game and a half and struggled to get back into a rhythm for the rest of the tournament. Thankfully, I had the support of teammates to keep my head up. We got all the way to the championship game but ended up taking second again. After the AAU Nationals ended we headed home for a short break. During that time I was able to see the doctor and have a few ultra sound therapies on my leg. I learned how to wrap it so that I could play in Memphis and not injury my leg further in the process. Since I had to rest my quad I enjoyed some time outdoors in the sun. Tough duty….ha.

Once the dead period ended, we headed to Memphis for the Nike River City Classic. This year was the first time we played in this tournament so we were excited to see who would be there. A few other teammates and I stayed downtown near Beale Street. That was an experience that I probably won’t forget for a long time. One of my favorite memories is the night that Annie, Katya, Mandy and I sang karaoke! No kidding–you should have seen us! Anyway, back to basketball...

Memphis turned out to be my favorite tournament this summer. I think it was the most exciting tourney because we all knew it would be the last time the Heat would play outside Minnesota. We played really well and faced many new teams including a couple teams from the west coast. We took third in this tournament after a tough loss to a California team that won the event. Anne, Tayler, and I were named to the All Tournament Team which was a great honor.

The plan had been to head right back to Minnesota for the North Tartan Meltdown but Anne and I were delayed by flight delays and cancellations. We didn’t arrive home until 4am that Sunday morning so we missed three games due to travel complications. Anne and I then missed the Monday games because we were sitting for placement exams for the college courses we will be taking this fall. (I will write more about this topic later….)

As I think back to the summer I had, I realize it’s pretty hard to beat. The NC Heat remained undefeated in the state of Minnesota and 3rd place was our lowest finish out of state. We played as many games in the month of July as most high school teams play in one season. I don’t know how many teams can say they accomplished so much. In addition, I visited many places that I had never been to before. At one point I counted that I had been to 10 different states in less than two months.

As we head into the latter part of the summer my focus will switch to the process of selecting a college. I have my work cut out for me as I consider my scholarship offers and try to learn enough about the schools and the basketball programs to find the best fit for me. It will probably get stressful at some point but I’m trying to enjoy every step of it knowing that it won’t ever happen again.

"It was a big milestone for us! It was our sixth consecutive state championship."

Since I haven’t blogged in a few months…let me give you an overview of how things have been since our high school season ended.

A couple weeks after our section final loss, my mom and I took a trip with my sister Emily (who lives in LA) to Palm Springs and Santa Monica/Beverly Hills/West Hollywood for a week. It was incredible and I fell in love with Los Angeles. Even though I told myself I was going to take the week off from basketball to relax, I found myself in the gym with my sister’s boyfriend, Michael, playing pick up games with 30 year old men. It was a little different from playing with the boys at the gym. Ha. These men were bigger and stronger. I still had fun. I was teased for playing defense and we won the game by a buzzer beater (not shot by me).

In April, AAU got into full swing. We opened the season in North Carolina finishing third. With half of our team being new, I feel we did pretty well but there was definitely room for improvement. I played on the UNC and Duke main courts which was a great once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It was cool to see what it’s like to play on the floors you see all the time on TV. The weekend after we got back we played in the Minnesota State Qualifier. We ended up winning the championship against the Minnesota Stars by two points. That made us the number one seed for the State Tournament which happened two weeks ago. We won the state championship. It was a big milestone for us! It was our sixth consecutive state championship! Tayler, Katya, Anne and I have been the four core players who have been on the team all, or all but one or two, of those years. It was special to share our last state title with them.

Last weekend, Tayler and I attended the Nike Skills Camp in Indianapolis. It was one of the best camps I’ve been to. It taught me so much to bring back and use to get ready for next season and better yet, the next level. The only downside is that I’m still sore. Ha. I have this weekend off, tournament-wise, and then I believe we play in Woodbury at the end of May.

SCHOOL IS ALMOST OVER!!! Don’t get me wrong, most of the time I don’t mind school, but lately I have been more than excited for summer. Another exciting thing I should mention is that I took my ACT Test for the second time in April. My plan was to take the better of the two scores. I scored a 28! Even though my family teases me about taking it again “to get a good score” (smile) I can look forward to other things besides testing in June. Lol.

"The hardest part of this year being over is the loss of 6 unbelievably incredible seniors."

            Well…this is probably the most difficult blog I’ve had to write so far. Last Monday we handed in all of our equipment. It felt much too soon. It’s hard to deal with disappointment but I suppose the best thing to do is to remember the good things about it and move on. So that’s what I’m going to do.
            Thursday, March 6, we played Osseo at Anoka High School for the section championship. It was a hard fought game but in the end Osseo came out on top.   They played a great game. Both fan sections were crazy and I’ve never had more fun playing than in that game even though it ended in an unexpected way. Centennial Cougars ended their season 27-1.
            The hardest part of this year being over is the loss of 6 unbelievably incredible seniors. Right now I still see them every day at school but when that’s over I’m sure it will get much harder.

Kay Kay- even though she transferred from Highland her sophomore year, she came right on the team and had a big impact. I still don’t quite know how she gets the lay ups she gets but it works for her. She’s headed off to George Washington next fall and I know she’ll do just as great with them and she did with us.
Kayla Blom- One of the craziest passers I’ve ever seen. One second you’ll see someone passing to her and the next second somehow you’re holding the ball. She’s definitely going to be hard to replace.
Emily Becken- I’ve played with Emily for four solid years and she’s somehow learned to know where her teammate is headed and knows exactly where to throw it. It’s kind of like a 6th sense. Emily is such a goofball off the court; she always knew how to make me laugh even on those tough days.
Kaylee Buffalo- Defiantly my biggest coffee buddy (always need one of those). Kaylee was so much fun to play with because she was always in such a good mood and we could always just laugh with each other. I’m going to miss her very much.
Emily Dewitt- Probably one of the better three point shooters. I swear I’ve only seen her miss a few of them this year. Em is my gym buddy outside of practice. We go to the YMCA almost every weekend and we’ve made so many memories.

Next season, we will still have a talented bunch of girls back and I’m looking forward to playing with them! It’s kind of weird how there is still a spring, summer, and fall sport that has to take place before we play again, but I’m sure time will fly by and before I know it, it will be tryouts again.
Well, this Tuesday starts the AAU season. I play for the NC Heat. I’m very excited about it because this is our last summer season as a team and I’m going to enjoy every moment possible of it.

Today, I’m going to watch the 3A and 4A State Championship games! It should be exciting!

" Tuesday is also senior night. It will be hard to speak about the seniors because I’ve grown so close to all of them, it’s going to be a sad night."

It’s been awhile…… Well, to start, on February 9th I took my first ACT Test. It was a long four hours but I’m hoping it was the only four hours I’ll have to sit through it. That same day, we were supposed to have a rematch game against Moorhead since the first Breakdown game was canceled. However, because of the snow up in Moorhead, the freeway got shut down up there and the game got canceled a second time. I don’t think we’ll be able to make up the game before the season ends.
            The third quarter of school is well under way. I think next week is mid quarters in fact. My classes aren’t too bad which I’m thankful for with the bball schedule getting more and more busy until mid march. I have Spanish 3, Choir, American Lit/Comp, and Academic Writing (a class that gets you prepared for college writing). I registered for next year and am planning to PSEO at least part time. PSEO is when a high school student goes to a college and takes classes actually at the college. I think it will help me get some required classes done with so when I graduate, I’ll already have some college credits.
            Well, this upcoming week is the last week of conference play. We will play at home against Elk River on Tuesday and at Champlin Park on Thursday. Last Friday, we played Osseo and it was a close game. We ended up winning by about 15 but anyone who was there can tell you that it wasn’t a 15 point game. Tuesday is also senior night. It will be hard to speak about the seniors because I’ve grown so close to all of them, it’s going to be a sad night. We have five seniors and so five non-seniors speak about each one of them. I get to speak about my friend Kaylee Buffalo. I’m excited, it should be fun.
            Anyways, I’m going to get ready to catch some zzzzz’s. Practice at 11.

"This past week at church I heard some great quotes that really reminded me of our Centennial basketball team."

January 8th was a night of celebration for Centennial. With close to 50 signs around the gym, the community came out and cheered me and my teammate Kay Kay on to our 1000th point milestone. It was such a special night for both of us and it’s something I’ll never forget. We played Blaine that night. I needed 7 points and Kay Kay needed 12. Our team did a tremendous job with helping us get to that point. After that was over, however, it was back to business. We went on to win that game, along with the other three that have happened since. We have played Anoka, Elk River and Osseo in the past week and a half. Our win against Osseo last Friday night, put our team at the top of the conference. Tomorrow we face Maple Grove at their house.

            Two weeks ago, on Friday the 11th, the Centennial girl’s basketball team was invited to be on Sports Wrap for being selected team of the week. It was very exciting to be picked team of the week considering there are many great teams in the metro. I got asked to do an interview and I made it through despite my camera shyness.
            Well, if you ask anyone on the Centennial basketball team, they would tell you that our weekends are filled to the top with working camps, coaching our little kid’s teams and refereeing. This past weekend, my in-house team won the 4th grade division championship. We like to say it’s because of our great coaching and not because the other team made 2 baskets on the wrong hoop. Anyways, we had the ceremony last night and during that the varsity boys and girls have a shooting contest that consists of three pointers and elbow shots. The girl’s team won for the first time since I’ve been at the high school.
            Today, I took another practice ACT test in preparation for the February 9th real ACT (the day of our game vs. Moorhead). That day, I’m going to have to switch mindsets from academics to basketball quickly because I’ll have to rush to get on the bus up to Rogers. We’re playing the make-up game from the Breakdown Classic.
            This past week at church I heard some great quotes that really reminded me of our Centennial basketball team. The first one was “What you do today, impacts tomorrow.” I really believe this because I feel that if you don’t work at getting better at things right now, you’re not going to see results later. Even when you don’t feel like it or aren’t in the mood to do anything, even taking a little step towards being more successful or getting just that much better will show. The next quote was “There is no such thing as overnight success.” This one reminds me a lot about Coach Becken because she works us hard day in and day out, physically and mentally. Centennial didn’t just all of the sudden become a good team, we have been working extremely hard and she is right there to keep pushing us to keep getting better. I feel that our team isn’t where we are by accident.

The holidays are already over. It went by too fast like it does every year and school starts back up tomorrow. My favorite part of the break was that all of my sister’s came home for the week and I got to spend time with them. I only see them a few times a year since they live so far away so I love when they come home. Emily (25) headed off late Thursday for a vacation in Thailand. Liz (28) went back to California Saturday night. She had New Years Eve plans with friends there. Laura (18) is still at home until mid January because her classes don’t start back up until then. She attends Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Our team went into the holiday break with a few conference wins under our belt. We played in the Hill-Murray Tournament again this year and were the defending champs from last year. We had to continue to play hard through the tournament facing non-conference teams. Kay Kay had a great game on Saturday night both offensively and defensively and held Chaska’s leading scorer to 13 points. Our team’s record is now 10-0. We play at Park Center on Friday.
After a tough practice we celebrated the holidays and our tournament championship by spending the day at Mall of America and then coming back for a New Years Eve party.
Our team feels like we’re improving on areas like our defense and know we have other things to improve on if we want to go to state. Every day at practice we strive to get better because we know our competition is.
Till next time…..Megs

"Our team felt very honored to be ranked #13 in the USA Today’s Super 25 rankings."

A lot has happened since the big Thanksgiving Hamline Tournament. Much excitement and a few surprises. Our early non-conference games are over and we have won our first two conference games. Our next one is this Tuesday at Andover and then we practice the rest of the week before our Christmas break. Our team was pretty disappointed about the cancellation of our Fergus Falls game against Moorhead but the game has been rescheduled for February 9th. I’m not quite sure where it will be played yet. That day, however, is the same day I plan to take the ACT test. Luckily they don’t interfere with each other.
            After the win against Central we had expected to be one of the top ranked team in the state but no one expected to be nationally ranked. Our team felt very honored to be ranked #13 in the USA Today’s Super 25 rankings for girl’s high school basketball teams throughout the country. Also, we have had a couple of nice articles in the paper and it feels good to have the team get recognized for all the hard work we do day in and day out. The best thing is that everyone is staying humble about it all and we all have our feet firmly on the ground. (I have a feeling that if any of us started to act otherwise, Coach would be quick to change it. Haha)
            We are all excited for Christmas because what comes along with the holiday is our team’s tradition of a Secret Santa gift exchange. I’m also planning on hosting the New Year’s Party. We play in the Hill Murray Tournament a couple days after Christmas and we hope to take it all. If we all play our game, I feel we will be successful.
            This time of year things can start getting very hectic! Today I had to steal away a few hours to do some Christmas shopping since I haven’t really had too most free time lately. Tomorrow we have practice from 5:20p - 7:20p. After practice I will have 20 minutes to clean up and put on a black gown for my Choir Concert. I sing in the Centennial Treble Choir and the Bel Canto Choir. We will see how well that goes. Hopefully I won’t look like I just stepped off the court. At the end of the week my three sisters start arriving back in Minnesota for the holiday week. Liz (28) and Emily (25) both live in California. Laura (18) is a freshman at Marist College in New York. I’m ecstatic that they will be home. I miss them all so much!
            Well, the homework is done so I’m off to get ready for some much needed sleep.

A lot has happened since I last blogged. The first week of practice was three hours a day for six days. Coach was on a mission! I can’t remember running so much at the beginning of a season. Coach has been known to say “we won’t ever lose a game because we’re out of shape.” She means it.
As the beginning of last week rolled around I wasn’t feeling too well but I figured it was because I was just tired. Tuesday the team scrimmaged Eastview and St. Francis. Both of those teams were tough and should have good seasons. Wednesday I found myself in the doctor’s office because I seemed to be getting worse. I could have gone home to rest, but that meant I wouldn’t be able to come to practice and if I didn’t go to practice, I wouldn’t have been able to play all of Friday’s game. So I went back to school and went through practice. Luckily, coach realized the team was tired and she took it easy on us…one of the many things I was thankful for this year. Haha. I rested and ate and rested some more on Thursday and when Friday came I was ready to roll. I tried to put feeling “under the weather” behind me and just focus on the game. We won by 21 points. Rosemount is a good squad and we were happy to come away with our first win of the season.

            Saturday was the “big game” against Central. Last year we lost to them by seven points and we wanted to prove we were even better this year. The game got off to a rough start and I remember looking up at the scoreboard and the score was 4 to 14…we were down. My shots weren’t falling in the first half and I was getting frustrated. Coach Becken kept me in and kept encouraging me. We were down by five points at half time and our whole team knew we could do much better then that.
            We came out of the locker room after half time pumped and ready to get this game going. It was a battle back and forth for the rest of the second half but we pulled away with only a couple minutes left. When the buzzer went off I was so happy! Our whole team did so well and I was so proud of everyone.
            I was fortunate enough to get the MVP of the tournament but in no way do I feel like I was the only reason we won. Kay Kay (Kiara Allums) came into the second half a force to be reckoned with. Our Guards Emily and Kayla handled the ball phenomenally against Central’s tough press, and without our Posts (Bridget Schuneman and Megan Waytashek) their “big’s” would have dominated in the paint.
            We play on Tuesday against White Bear and then we head up to Fergus Falls to play Moorhead on Saturday. I’m so excited to get the season started. I know we can be the best.

            The first day of tryouts is complete. It was hard, rigorous, and everyone was bending over in exhaustion by the end, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Last year we ended our season on a not-so-satisfactory note and I’m more than ready to get back at it. The way I see it, we have some unfinished business.
            Today, our practice mostly consisted of drills working on speed and the overall athletic ability of each person. Plus, coach always throws in a few killers every now and then. With our first game only a week and a half away, we have a lot of work to do in a short period of time. Whenever I think I’m going to keel over from exhaustion, I just think there’s really only a long week of practice and then we have a day off for Thanksgiving!!!
            A new quarter just started. I’ve already had a few tests and a lot of homework so I know I’ll have to stay on top of everything to do well, especially in Honors Pre-Calc. (But I have my math buddy Lauren Bechetti in class with me this quarter so I’ll be good… ) After our intense basketball practices, I’m still on an energy high so I don’t have a problem staying awake to finish homework. Speaking of homework, I have a lot to get done yet tonight.

            The last week of the quarter starts tomorrow! It went by very fast but I’m excited because that means that basketball starts in two weeks. I can hardly believe it! I can’t get ahead of myself though. I have to stay focused in class and finish the last week strong.
            These past couple weeks have been non-stop for me. Over MEA I visited a few schools, which was fun but very tiring. I have discovered many things that I want in a college and also, things that I don’t care for as much. I visited a very large public university; a medium sized one, and a smaller private school. What I found is that there are pros and cons to each environment. I visited with some of the trainers at the schools and found that their training program is much more intense then high school “weights” would be. According to them, a female athlete should be able to bench her body weight and squat one and a half times her body weight, do ten pull ups easily, do twenty five REAL push ups, and be able to run up and down the court twice in 28 seconds….nine times in a row. What’s most important is to find out where I fit the best.
            With tryouts two weeks away from this Monday, I only have a few sessions left of my speed, strength, and agility program. I feel like it has helped me a lot with many things to get me in shape but I know I still have to work out on my own. I usually take my best friend Hannah Steele, who is a 5’2 guard, to the gym with me to work on three-point shooting and dribbling. Also, I’ll take my other best friend Tayler Hill, and we work on everything in the book. I prefer working out with my friends than by myself because there is someone else there pushing you to go harder.
            Last night, my parents and I went to a musical at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater called “Les Miserables”. It was a great musical but it got over at 11:00 and we still had a 45 minute drive home. That would have been fine but I had to be up at 7 this morning because I referee games for our CBA in-house teams. At 8 a.m., Hannah Steele, Megan Waytashek and I coached our fourth grade team to a victory! It was our first game of the season so we were very excited.
            You can see that life has been pretty busy for me. The real fun starts in two weeks.

            Another busy week is under way. This weekend in fall ball our split Centennial teams played each other. The split team I’m on was happy to win the contest. We also played Andover and won that game. The Centennial White team is undefeated so far and we have two games left next Sunday.
            In preparation for the season, we started our open gyms. We had one last Tuesday and another one this Friday. It’s fun to get together with my teammates again to just scrimmage, even though we have to share the gyms with the boys.
            I took my practice ACT test on Saturday. It was a long four hours but I know it was worth it. I go in for my results on Thursday so we’ll see how it went. Right now the current plan is to take the ACT during the winter months.
            Like many juniors and seniors, I will be using my MEA break to go and take some unofficial visits. I’m just starting this process and am looking forward to seeing big schools, small schools, private ones and public ones.
            I love fall because I can go watch other sporting events. Last week I was at the Spring Lake Park homecoming game, and tonight I was at our Cougar volleyball game. Once basketball starts I rarely make it to any other sports like hockey even though when I do go, it’s fun to watch.
            The best thing about fall that I didn’t mention is that IT’S MY 17TH BIRTHDAY SATURDAY!!!!!

           Fall is officially here. I personally love the fall, but there are many things I will miss about the summer. Mostly, I will miss my summer team, the NC Heat. We had an awesome summer winning the Deep South in North Carolina, the Minnesota AAU State Tournament (for the 5th year in a row), and US Junior Nationals in Chicago. Also, we took fourth in the Atlanta tournament.
           With the start of school brings many other responsibilities besides homework. Which, by the way, seem much tougher than sophomore year. I started a workout program called Acceleration. It’s a program that works specifically on the sport you’re in. I work on my speed and quickness mostly and once in a while they throw in a ball for me to dribble while working on agility. On my own, I go to the gym to work on my three pointers and ball handling because those are the two aspects of my game that I think need the most improvement.
            This week will begin Centennial open gyms. I’m excited and ready to play with my school team again. I think if we work hard enough we can be very successful this year so I get excited and pumped thinking about the upcoming season. During the summer, we hang out together and keep the friendships we’ve made with each other and every once in a while we have a team sleepover, usually at my house, just to get together and have fun.
            Well, I’m off to play my fall ball games at Blaine. More later….Megs

Welcome to my blog: .......... Other Bloggers Megan Nipe Jackie Johnson AnnMarie Brown Honorary Baller Tesha Buck Becca Dahlman Apiew Ojulu Carissa Wolyniec

Welcome to my blog:

..........