ST. JOSEPH, Mo. --- The Pioneers are in town! The Tusculum College women's basketball team arrived Sunday morning in St. Joseph, Mo., the site of the 2010 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Elite Eight.
The Pioneers, the Southeast Region champions, settled in for a full day of activities to prepare for this week's games, starting with Tuesday's national quarterfinal match-up with top-ranked Gannon University.
The team left the Tusculum campus at 7 a.m. (EST) Sunday morning as fans came out to send the team off to Missouri. Jim and Helen Smith placed a shamrock lei around each player's neck, while also giving them a hug and a good luck shamrock as the team is making their first-ever NCAA Elite Eight appearance. Team members also got good luck hugs from Tusculum Sports Benefactor Award recipient Mary Helen Paxton.
The squad traveled to the Tri-Cities Airport in Blountville where they boarded their chartered jet and made the 2 ½ hour flight to St. Joseph. Not only is this Tusculum's first trip to the Elite Eight, Sunday was also a monumental day for first time flyers Brenica Shephard (Charlotte, N.C.), Kendal Baxter (Sevierville, Tenn.) and Kate Lowe (Helenwood, Tenn.).
When the Pioneers took off from the Tri-Cities Airport, the sun was shining with the temperature above 50 degrees. When the plane made its approach to Rosecrans Airport, the players saw an old friend out the window… snow. The captain of the plane informed the passengers that Sunday's forecast for the western Missouri region was for sunny skies, but the current temperature at 10:30 a.m. (CST) was 31 degrees with wind gusts up to 14 knots.
The team went straight to lunch to sample the local culinary delights, where they visited Jimmy John's, a local sandwich shop. Following the meal, the team went to check-in to its hotel headquarters at the Ramada Inn, but learned their rooms were not ready.
While waiting, the team was treated to a tour of the city of St. Joseph by the team's bus driver this week, Mr. Keith Matthews of Heartland Tours. The tour included the local mall, area restaurants, movie theatres, as well as a tour of the campus of Missouri Western State University, the host institution of this year's Elite Eight. The MWSU campus had one massive construction project on display with the building of a new Indoor Practice Facility, as the home of the Griffons will be the summer training home of the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs starting this upcoming season.
Following the tour, the team returned to the hotel where some of the players and staff were able to check into their respective rooms. After receiving taping and treatment by assistant athletic trainer Amy Brooks, the team re-loaded the bus and ventured back to the Missouri Western campus for the team's practice at the MWSU Fieldhouse. The team got a chance to see Tuesday's opponent in person for the first time as Gannon had the practice time before the Pioneers.
Following the 90-minute practice, the team returned to the hotel to settle in and get ready to hit the town Sunday evening for dinner.
Tusculum fans are invited to visit www.tusculumpioneers.com this week as junior guard Brittni Oliver (Kokomo, Ind.) will be blogging from St. Joseph each day. Oliver's blogs will be posted nightly throughout the team's journey in this year's Elite Eight.
On tap for Monday, the Pioneers will be involved with a community engagement event on the MWSU campus as they will meet the students of Dekalb Middle School of St. Joseph, Mo. The students of Dekalb have been following the teams of the Southeast Region very closely and will have a meet and greet session with the Pioneers.
Following that program, the team will arrive at the St. Joseph Civic Arena, the game site of the Elite Eight. Later in the afternoon, Tusculum head coach Adell Harris will be participating in the Elite Eight Press Conference back at the Civic Arena.
On Monday night, all participating teams will be attending the NCAA Banquet of Champions at the MWSU campus.
Tusculum (23-9) is riding a nine-game winning streak and have won 13 of its last 15 contests. The Pioneers are making their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance as TC punched its ticket for the postseason by winning the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament, a first in the history of the program. Coming out of the No. 7 seed in the Southeast Regional, held in Greenwood, S.C., Tusculum knocked off the regional's top three seeds to punch its ticket for the Elite Eight. Four of Tusculum's last five victories have come against nationally-ranked opponents, including last Monday's 70-63 win over 11th-ranked Lander University in the Southeast Region championship game.
- TC -
