Women’s basketball hits the books on the road
With the end of the semester coming to a close and finals right around the corner, students around campus are gearing up for the final few weeks. Student athletes are no exception to that, especially those on the Utah State women’s basketball team.
“Being close to finals does add a little bit more pressure, but I try to juggle it and plan my days to where I can separate business from school,” said senior Jenna Johnson. “Basketball is definitely a priority for me, but so is school. Being a senior is crunch time to do what I need to get done and accomplish everything to get my straight A’s.”
The Aggies opened the season with eight of their first nine games on the road and are in the midst of playing six-straight away from the friendly confines of Logan.
“The first eight out of nine games are on the road, that is a brutal schedule,” said USU head coach Jerry Finkbeiner. “I think the home team has a 7-8 point advantage just right out of the gate, so for a college student on the road thinking about school and the game, its not a life of leisure that’s for sure.”
Despite playing so many away games to begin the season, the players have found time to stay ahead in school. Finkbeiner makes it a priority to recruit players who have high academic standards who know what it takes to stay on top and not get too far behind. The team also has an academic advisor in Jason Thompson who Finkbeiner said does a good job of getting players to get their work ahead of time.
During the 2011-12 season, Devyn Christensen, Jenna Johnson, Jennifer Schlott and Pua Furtado were all named to the Western Athletic Conference all-academic team. The coaching staff hopes to add more players to the team this season.
Many players on the team are taking online classes this semester, which eases the burden of missing classes while on the road. For those who don’t have online classes, Finkbeiner tells his players to attend class early in the year.
“We tell the girls early in the year go to class and stay on top because when basketball hits, you need to understand that’s who you are and what you need to go through,” Finkbeiner said.
Before leaving on their road trip, players contact their professors to get all the classwork and homework they will be missing while on the road so when they get back they aren’t too far behind.
“To say the least, my bag is very heavy,” Johnson said.
Freshman Stephanie Bairstow said it’s hard work being on the road for an extended period of time and missing class because there is so much going on while on the road trip.
“Obviously its hard because you are doing so many things on the run, like when are you going to eat and sleep,” Bairstow said. “You just have to use the time you do have, like on the bus, to get homework done. It’s just really important to prepare yourself before you leave.”
Although the team doesn’t have a study hall, the players use traveling and off days to do their school work and leave games days for strictly basketball. Many players go their separate ways when it comes to school work so as not to distract one another.
The senior leaders step in when needed to keep the team on track.
“As a captain and leader of this team, I know they are accountable for themselves and they are going to do what needs to be done,” Johnson said. “If its not done, that’s when I’ll step in and say ‘Let’s go, we need you on the team.'”
The Aggies will return home from their six-game road trip Saturday when they host Montana State but will be right back on the road to take on BYU and Notre Dame.
– jborba@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @JBorba15