Madison Fischer's Women's Basketball Student-Athlete Blog #8

Hello Everyone,
Last night was our final game of the regular season. We played Webster University here on our home court where it was also senior night. We honored and recognized five of our players and one student coach. It was an amazing game to end the regular season. Coach Quigley started all five seniors right after the National Anthem was sung beautifully by senior captain Rana Boyd.

Senior Julie Brown scored the first basket of the game to give the Lady Griffins a quick lead!

Senior Shaerika April grabbed boards all night long!

Senior Rana Boyd played a key role locking up on defense with one of the SLIAC’s strongest players!

Senior Mal Ludwig was unstoppable in the paint!

Senior Calli Collier topped off the night with a steal and free throw to win the game!

I love my seniors! They will be greatly missed next year, but along with the rest of the Fontbonne University’s women’s basketball program, I wish our seniors the best of luck in the future. I have no doubt in my mind that these players will be successful in all they do.

Until Next Week,
Madison Fischer
Fontbonne University
(about Madison)

Madison Fischer's Women's Basketball Student-Athlete Blog #7

Hello Everyone,
Talk about busy! Work Study, basketball and 18 hours of classes make it hard to prioritize! Life right now is quite a bit of a balancing act, but somehow I’m managing to stay somewhat sane. I knew this week was going to be especially busy, but it was sure a reality check when I looked in my planner:

Monday: Valentine’s Day and American Economy Test
Tuesday: Read and Finish American Literature 100+ page book
Wednesday: English Literature Test, basketball game away
Thursday: Western Civilizations Test Due
Friday: 10 papers due at 8:00 a.m.
Saturday: Basketball game away
Sunday: Prepare for Senior night on Tuesday

Monday: 5 papers due
Tuesday: 5 page paper due

Then it will be time to breathe!

Add up work study, basketball practice, class and hours upon hours of homework each night, and you get a DIII athlete!

Basketball is getting back on track, the Lady Griffins grasped a few good wins and we hope to keep on track through hard work and dedication.

Live, Laugh, Love!

Until Next Week,
Madison Fischer
(about Madison)

Madison Fischer's Women's Basketball Student-Athlete Blog #6

Hello Everyone,
I don’t have too much to say this week. The Fontbonne Lady Griffins had a very lucky bye last Wednesday. We had sickness running around the team from Monday until Friday, but most of the team was back to at least 90 percent to gut out our conference win against Principia on Saturday. We started out a little on the sloppy side, but we never gave up and got our heads on straight in the second half.

As I’m sure most of you know we are experiencing some wintry weather this week. We had a snow day Tuesday and Wednesday so you would think I’d be caught up on my studies. However, my good intentions to study were put aside when my friends and teammates, who live in the dorms, thought we should have fun instead of a boring study day. Oh the dorm life- movies, pizza, and chocolate chip cookies! After trudging down the road to Schnucks (in sleet and snow!) we made it back and had a good day in the dorms!

Until Next Week,
Madison Fischer
(about Madison)

Madison Fischer's Women's Basketball Student-Athlete Blog #5

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back from break! I hope you enjoyed your holidays as much as I enjoyed mine! I kept pretty busy once school got out and was overjoyed when coach told us he was allowing us a few extra days with our families. Since I go to school away from home and don’t get to go back to visit often, I jumped at the chance to head home early!

While at home I spent time catching up with friends and family. I even got first place at our family’s appetizer and dessert cook-off at the Christmas Eve party! I woke up early Christmas day and went to early church before heading to my grandparents. I spent the whole day playing games and spending time with family. I couldn’t ask for a better break!

I had to leave family the day after Christmas to make it back for practice that evening. However, I can’t complain because our team was on an airplane headed for Florida the very next morning. While in Florida I enjoyed our practices that consisted of running on the beach and practicing on a beachside court. I also enjoyed some almond joy ice cream, relaxing in the hammocks, paddle boats, miniature golf, and playing sand volleyball with the team! The most exciting part of my trip was taking the trolley around town with Julie and Calli!

As for basketball, we’ve been working hard to hang on as we ride through the season on a rollercoaster full of ups and downs. The season is flying by and coming to an end. The team is working hard and keeping our eye on the goal.

“A bend in the road is not the end of the road…unless you fail to make the turn.” – Author Unknown

Until Next Week,
Madison Fischer
Fontbonne University
(about Madison)

Madison Fischer's Women's Basketball Student-Athlete Blog #4

Hello Everyone,

I had a great past week, but finals are coming up so things are getting busy and stressful. Therefore, I will be brief and hit the highlights of last week.

After a tough loss in our first conference game against Westminster College on Wednesday, the Lady Griffins made a huge turn around last Saturday. We must have gained some motivation from the loss because we came out hard and kept up the intensity throughout the entire Principia game. The men followed in our footsteps with their hard work and buzzer-beater win! The great games led to a hilarious and fun ride home for the Griffins! Possibly the best part of being a college athlete is having that great extended family.

As I said, finals week is approaching…so I have to get back to studying.

“Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.” -Unknown

Until Next Week,
Madison Fischer
Fontbonne University
(about Madison)

Madison Fischer's Women's Basketball Student-Athlete Blog #3

Hello Everyone,
The past two weeks I’ve been about as busy as Santa’s elves will be in the coming weeks. Meeting deadlines for paper after paper has kept me going.

The weekend before Thanksgiving my team left at 6:00 a.m. on Friday morning for Adrian, Michigan. We arrived in Adrian approximately 10 hours later, got checked into our hotel, and headed for the gym. We ended up losing our game that night, but fought back the next morning for an overtime win. Saturday afternoon was nothing more than a long drive back to St. Louis. After unloading the bus, I crawled into bed sometime around 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning.

Everyone was on the floor and ready to play our third game in three days by Sunday afternoon. The girls did great by pulling out another win. I didn’t hang around long after the game because I had three papers due in the next two days. I didn’t get much sleep that night or the next because I worked on the papers through both nights until the early mornings. Even with no practice on Monday I was still busy with school, but I knew if I could just make it until Tuesday afternoon I would only be one game away from Thanksgiving break!

We played a tough game against Missouri Baptist on Tuesday night and left for break after an exciting Griffin win. I had a fun night in St. Louis before I got to leave the next morning. I hung out with my family that had driven down to watch the game.

I left early Wednesday morning for home with Yurie, a Japanese exchange student and basketball teammate. The break was a blast! I am thankful for the time I got to spend with family and friends. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious and the football games weren’t too bad either. I was at the mall by 4:30 a.m. on Friday to get some pretty good deals! However, I enjoyed just spending time with little sister so I wasn’t too concerned about shopping. The following day we continued our family tradition of putting up the family tree.

To conclude, I must add one last highlight of Thanksgiving break- watching the MU vs. KU game- go Tigers! Before I knew it, Yurie and I were on our way to St. Louis for practice Sunday night. Now it’s back to routine- basketball and class.

“Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together.” – Vesta Kelly

Until Next Week,
Madison Fischer
Fontbonne University
(about Madison)

Madison Fischer's Women's Basketball Student-Athlete Blog #2

Hello Everyone,

Last week flew by as I was constantly looking toward the weekend. Friday night Fontbonne held its annual Late Night with Lee McKinney! The gym was packed with students and alumni who came to cheer on Fontbonne’s former and current players as they battled each other. Even with our slow start, the game sped up and we ended up with a 30-point win over the alumni. The boy’s game was also very enjoyable with some great athletes on both teams. I mostly enjoyed the showboat dunks throughout their game. The alumni ended up pulling out a win in the end, but the game was hard fought on both sides.

Saturday my team headed to Rolla, Mo., to play Missouri S&T. We were ranked as underdogs but nonetheless, came out aggressive and full of energy. Two natives of Rolla who play on my team had good games to show for their hometown crowd, but Missouri S&T got us in the end. This week started hard as we played the battle of Big Bend against our rivals across the street. During the first half against Washington University, 2010 Division III National Champions, we put up a good fight, but we fell to the Lady Bears in the second half. With an off day today, I’m trying to catch up on some homework before we regroup tomorrow to work even harder for our games to come. With three papers due in the next few days, I better get to work.

“Difficulties in life are intended to make us better, not bitter.”
- Dan Reeves

Until Next Week,
Madison Fischer
Fontbonne University
(about Madison)

Madison Fischer's Women's Basketball Student-Athlete Blog #1

Hello Everyone,
I’m now into my fourth week of basketball practice and so far all is going well. We were lucky to have returned eleven out of our twelve girls from last season! We are also excited to have five new girls join us this year! Every day of practice is challenging and always a competition as we strive to push one another to better our team as a whole. On the court my team plays very aggressively, but we try to leave this on the court rather than taking it into the locker room.

Off the court I’ve been spending my time hanging with friends, team bonding, working and studying. When I got a couple days off basketball over a weekend I headed up to Mizzou to hang with friends and go the homecoming game! When I got back to campus on Sunday my team got together to carve pumpkins. This proved especially fun for Yurie, a Japanese student and teammate at Fontbonne this semester. Class work and studying was pretty difficult when midterm fell on the first week of basketball; I had a lot of late nights and early mornings, but you have to do what you have to do.

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
- Robert Collier

Until Next Week,
Madison Fischer
Fontbonne University
(about Madison)

Meet the Winter 2010-11 Bloggers

The following student-athletes will write a blog entry once a week (or thereabout) throughout the winter sport season. We hope you enjoy the insight into the life of Division III student-athletes that their journal will offer.

Women's Basketball
Madison Fischer
Fontbonne University
Sophomore
Tarkio, Mo./Tarkio High School
Major: English and Social Science/Pre-Law
Career Goal: I plan to attend law school and then hope to work in a law firm or open a private practice.
Other Intercollegiate Sports: Golf


Men's Basketball
Jonas McBride
Greenville College
Senior
Perry, Mo.
Major: Physical Education
Career Goal: To serve Jesus Christ.

Megan Bunch's Women's Basketball Student-Athlete Blog #2

The season has started since I last wrote, and we're 2-3. The first couple of games were rough; it's hard with so many new people to get everybody on the same page. We're starting to understand it though, and I really think we've come a long way.

We have our first conference game tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. This time of the year is fun, but also crazy with the holidays coming up. We've hardly been able to have a break, considering we played 5 games in the last eight days. It can get tough, but mentally you just have to keep with it no matter what your body is telling you. It's almost the end of the semester also, which means it's time to buckle down with school and finish strong on the finals!

Megan Bunch
(about Megan)

Megan Bunch's Women's Basketball Student-Athlete Blog #1

I can’t believe that this is my last year...it's crazy! I’ve been playing since I was five and to get an opportunity to play in college has been awesome.

We just started practice, and the first couple weeks of practice are never fun. With our team, we only have five returners from last year, so basically the coaches have to re-teach everything. That doesn’t just mean offenses, but defenses, rebounding, everything. All of this has to be done in a matter of three weeks, so it definitely takes a lot of focus from the new people and a lot of patience from everybody else.

Being a senior, I feel like I have to help in any way that I can, because I’ve been through all of this a couple times. Not only is there a lot to learn that has to do with basketball, but there’s also school that athletes have to focus on. I’ve always felt like school work should be done before practice, because after practice is done, you’re usually tired, and just want to relax. Well, that’s all for now, time to go to practice!

Megan Bunch
(about Megan)

Meet the Bloggers

The following student-athletes will write a blog entry once a week (or thereabout) throughout the basketball season. We hope you enjoy the insight into the life of Division III student-athletes that their journal will offer.


Men's Basketball
Cory McClellan
MacMurray College
Junior
Forsyth, Ill./Maroa Forsyth HS
Major(s): Business Administration
Career Goal: Finance Analysis - focus in stocks
Other Intercollegiate Sports: Men's Golf
Athletic Achievements: Top 5 in conference in assists, steals and assist/turnover ratio (2008-09)


Women's Basketball
Megan Bunch
Spalding University
Senior
Bedford, Ind./North Lawrence HS