This is the last Pressbox of 2010. Going on a week’s vacation from the hustle and bustle of the local sports scene.
Of course, it is Christmas and I will be sharing time with my family. I want to wish all of you out there a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
WHAT A WEEK for women’s sports!
Actually for me the anticipation of the start of the high school basketball season was great. We got to see Becky Carlson reach that coaching milestone of 400 career wins. Iola High’s Fillies handed it to her right off the bat at Osawatomie in the season opener.
Carlson has guided Iola teams to 70 wins now. Not bad in just over five years of coaching at IHS. We all tip our hats to the tremendous players who “worked hard” at Hillsboro High School for Carlson throughout her coaching years there.
We start locally. Now, we move to the college ranks on the national level.
Last Saturday, Penn State won its fourth straight NCAA women’s volleyball title sweeping California in three sets in Kansas City, Mo., at the NCAA finals. Penn State won 25-20, 27-25, 25-20.
Blair Brown had 18 kills and 10 digs and Deja McClendon added 16 kills for the Nittany Lions (32-5), who won 19 of their last 20 matches and extended their record streak of national titles.
The Golden Bears (30-4), who had won each of their previous five tournament matches by sweeps, lost 3-0 for the first time since Penn State beat them in last year’s regional final. Penn State has beaten Cal four straight years in the postseason, all in sweeps.
Then on Sunday, in Waltham, Mass., Barbara Stevens of Division II Bentley University became the fifth coach in NCAA women’s basketball to reach 800 victories, just a few hours before Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer was stopped again in her attempt to reach the milestone.
The Falcons beat C.W. Post 93-60, putting Stevens in exclusive company. The only other coaches to reach 800 wins are Tennessee’s Pat Summitt, former Texas coach Jody Conradt, Rutgers’ C. Vivian Stringer and Sylvia Hatchell of North Carolina.
The No. 3 Cardinals lost to No. 6 Tennessee 82-72 in overtime on Sunday night.
And of course, the big story on the hardwoods right now — the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team and its amazing 89-game winning streak. That’s 21⁄2 years worth of hard work during practices to be the best each game night.
UConn plays a pretty tough schedule. Tuesday night to get the all-time win streak record for NCAA Division I basketball — women and men — the Huskies defeated 22nd ranked Florida State. During the streak, the Huskies have beaten 16 top-10 teams.
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma gave Florida State its due during postgame activities saying, “All you guys from Florida State, it wasn’t easy to be part of all of this. I hope you don’t feel disrespected by all this. You played a heck of a game.”
Even before UConn tied UCLA’s record, the two programs were linked.
Auriemma acknowledges that his team runs the same offense that Wooden perfected 37 years earlier. But it’s not just the Xs and Os. The top block of Wooden’s pyramid of success reads: “Competitive Greatness: Perform at your best when your best is required. Your best is required every day.”
