Community Service - A staple in our program...

Once again around the New Year, we were able to travel to Lima South Middle school and conduct a basketball clinic with the 7th and 8th grade teams. This is our chance as a team and program to give back to our community through the game that has given our players so many opportunities. We have worked in this partnership with Lima South for the last 4 years, and each year, we are reminded how great it is to help someone else, especially with the game of basketball! We have our players put together the plan for the clinic and implement the skills, drills, and games. Each member is responsible for doing her share to make the event a success. I was really proud of our team for working so well together on this project, but most importantly, for working so well with these middle schoolers. Everyone had a great time and a lot of laughs!

Erin Waehner, Jo Snyder and Kara Dysert work some ball handling drills (above)

Left, Steph Hicks had the passing drills down, and Katie Jones, Heather Armbruster and Britt Schroeder offer some guidance.

Above, we are getting ready for some full court ball handling, while below, Britt Bogart cheers on her basket, along with Lauren Cassell and Allie Drewes and Kara Dysert during the lay-up competition (s).

This was my favorite part of the morning as it required our team to actually demonstrate a proper defensive stance...below, our middle schoolers get a little appreciation of the effort involved in staying low!

After our session is over, we answer questions as a team. Here, Coach Durand offers insight into our program and what it takes to be successful in college. Our basketball team did an excellent job representing Ohio Northern University, and our Women's Basketball program. I believe our team are excellent role models to these youngsters.

Our staff has maintained this relationship with Lima South Middle school because we believe in community service. And, we believe that it's a win-win situation. Our players also get a whole lot from this experience too. When it's all said and done, there are a lot of laughs and an appreciation of a game that can always bring people together.

All Smiles....Lima South Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Girls Basketball and Ohio Northern University Women's Basketball

Holiday Happenings for the Polar Bears...

We are back into basketball mode after a nice break following our Defiance home victory on December 22nd. We came back to campus on Sunday, December 27th to prepare for 2 tough non-league games this week against Adrian and Wittenberg. It's been nice to focus on basketball as well as enjoy time together as a team. One annual event we do over the Holiday break is our basketball Christmas party....this year's theme for the Dirty Santa game was to find a gift which starts with the letter "N." There was some creativity. Below Brooke Hayden shows off the New Balance shoes (signed by Men's Basketball Coach John Rhodes) that Kara Dysert contributed as her "N" gift...needless to say Brooke was not all that happy about her gift, nor did anyone feel the need to "steal" it from her as the game went on!

Some more pics from our party... Jo Snyder, Steph Hicks, Erin Waehner and Brooke Hayden (below)

Above: Jeanne Bockey, Katie Mengos and Morgan Dumbaugh
Below: Lauren Cassell and Brittany Schroeder

Team shot above...Overall, there was really good food and a whole lots of laughs. In fact, the ladies wanted me to display a picture of the gift I received during the game on this blog posting... And, well, it's best that I refrain :) I think I won't live that down for awhile! Happy Holidays!! ~ Coach Terrell

TOP 5 FALL QUARTER GPA

Fall quarter GPA's are in - Congrats to OUR TOP POLAR BEARS:

1. Brooke Hayden
4.0 GPA
Engineering

2. Joanna Snyder
4.0 GPA
Math Education

3. Katie Mengos
3.72 GPA
Pharmacy

4. Stephanie Hicks
3.52 GPA
Chemistry



CONGRATULATIONS LADIES !!!

Turkey Day Reflections

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY REFLECTIONS....

For as long as I can remember, my family has always got together at my grandma's for Thanksgiving dinner.
I am very thankful for my family, friends, being able to continue my basketball passion, and of course my dog, Jake :)

Jeanne Bockey

Junior

Education Major

Team Potluck 2009 - Kick off to our Season!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve! I am way behind on blog updates, so now that I have some time to breathe this Thanksgiving break, I am going to get everyone caught up to speed on women's basketball happenings!

Who are some of these faces? I was able to snag a few family shots...

top right: Caroline, Joanna, Laura & Ed Snyder.

bottom right: Margret, Lauren & Jeff Cassell.

bottom left: Brittany and Dave Bogart.

These pics are from November 7th's family potluck. Every fall before we kick off our season we invite all friends and family of our program to our Black and Orange day potluck. This event accomplishes several things. First, it's a chance for Coach Durand to go over program expectations. This is important as it keeps everyone on the same page. Secondly, it's a chance for our families to be together (see a few of the lucky mug shots above!)With this being said, our parents have a chance to get to know other families in the program. This was exceptionally important this year because we have soooo many new people in the program! Finally, it's a chance to eat really good food - especially the dessert portion of the table. Thanks to all of our parents who helped make this event happen!

Sophomore Spotlight - Captain Kara Dysert

Hello. My name is Kara Dysert. I am writing to give you a little background about me, my family and experiences, and why I am Ohio Northern.

My parents are Ken and Bridgette Dysert. My dad graduated from Ada High School where he played basketball. He is the Lima city President for Citizens National Bank. My mom is from Indianapolis. She is a social worker at St. Rita's Medical Center. I have a younger brother named Brandon who is a student at Rhodes State College. My family moved to Ada the summer before my freshman year.

I graduated from Ada High School in 2008. I feel that my greatest accomplishment academically in high school was graduating with a 3.98 GPA-I had one B in four years. My greatest accomplishment in sports was breaking the all time rebounding record my senior year. I am especially proud of this because my dad holds the rebounding record for the boys and my goal was always to bypass his mark. I am also the second leading scorer at Ada. I was the first for awhile until Morgan Dumbaugh (my teammate now) broke my record her senior year. I received numerous awards in high school-the best being named 3rd Team All Ohio my junior year.

Playing college basketball has always been a goal of mine. I visited several schools throughout Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan before deciding on ONU. I chose ONU because of its academic reputation, small class sizes, and because I wanted the opportunity to play in the fiercest DIII conference in the country, the OAC! Also, my parents have been my biggest supporters and it was important to me that they be able to watch me play. My first year at ONU was a learning experience. I think the game is a lot faster and way more physical. I also had to learn how to balance my time so I could maintain my grades and still give it my best in basketball. We were a young team but had several highlights like key wins over Capital and BW last year. I was also named OAC Freshman of the Year. This season, I want us to place at the top of the conference. We definitely have the players to do so. We are even younger than last year, but we are so motivated, competitive, aggressive and UNITED! We are the POLAR BEAR NATION!

When I'm not studying, practicing or working, I like to hang out with my friends, watch movies and sleep. One thing that some people might not know about me is that my nick name is "Bear". How fitting for an ONU Polar Bear! I have been called this ever since I can remember. I have a huge collection of stuffed bears. My favorite one is an old brown one with a mis-shapen head and faded fur named..."Bear"! He has attended every basketball game I have ever played in from 4th grade through my first year at ONU. .

Academics - our first priority!

ONU was once again rated by the US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT as one of the premier institutions in the Midwest. This distinction is certainly impressive, and with the women's basketball program, we pride ourselves on living up to the expectation of excellence. Academic success is our program pillar, and as a staff, we have put together a game plan to achieve our goal of a 3.2 Team GPA every quarter. This is what we call our ACADEMIC MENTORING PLAN:

Here's how it works:
1. All new persons in the program are assigned a coach (Coach Durand or Coach Terrell).

• This person meets with that coach every other Friday during fall quarter (5x on a 10 week quarter). These meetings involve checking planners, going through course syllabi, talking about the transition to our university as well as problem solving for areas that might be causing the student-athlete trouble. It's a great opportunity to offset potential problems, but it also gets the athlete in the office to talk with coaches! Typically, our new people start off quiet - that does not last long though :)

2. All new persons in the program are assigned a PEER mentor within the program:

• We partner new people with a veteran in the same major or a like major. This is their "peer mentor." That mentor is responsible for that person - they have to set up distinct study times for the week based on arranging schedules. We ask that they get 4 hours of time together a week (2-2hour blocks)
• We put them with a peer because of 2 reasons - first, that person has gone through what that new person is going to experience, especially in the like major, and secondly, it makes that mentor take on leadership responsibility. They are responsible for reporting to the coaching staff any concerns, the days that they are meeting, etc. This is a great way as a team to emphasize that we are all in this together and it's our responsibility to each other to make sure we are being the best students we can be.

3. We do grade checks/reports that go to faculty 2x / quarter

Having this game plan and implementing it consistently has brought us success academically. We are proud of our 100% graduation rate, but we are also proud to be leaders in the classroom on campus. It's expected to always be the best in everything we do. Typically, we don't have too many issues - our students come in with high expectations of themselves to achieve academic success. But, from the coaching staff standpoint, we make sure we are all on the same page about our priorities.

From our Spring Quarter (2009) our top 3 GPA student-athletes were:

Ericka Holcomb - Business / Psychology Major









Heather Armbruster, Pharmacy

Stephanie Hicks, Chemistry