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Inside The Huddle With Ataira Franklin
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Members of the Virginia women’s basketball team have been blogging throughout the season. In this edition of ‘Inside the Huddle’, Ataira Franklin checks in after a hard-fought battle at seventh-ranked Duke. The Cavaliers’ new website, www.ExperienceUVaWomensBasketball.com was launched on Jan. 2 – check there and VirginiaSports.com for the latest news and notes on UVa.
Season’s Greetings Cav Fans! Finally the ACC season is getting underway. Even though we were all excited to start the second part of our season, it was great to get a few days off for the holidays to relax and spend time with family. However, it is now time to refocus. We’ve definitely learned a lot about ourselves in our non-conference play. From meeting our new coaches, to defeating Tennessee, to facing some tough road losses, this is definitely a team that has experienced a lot in a very short amount of time. Not every team can say that they have worked hard, bought into a new system, and have seen results all BEFORE the toughest portion of the season. We can and this is just the beginning.
After getting some time to unwind, it was great to be able to step on our own court and play in our Marriott Cavalier Classic tournament. It felt even better to win the tournament and defend our home floor. After the Marriott Cavalier Classic we began preparing for what had the potential to be a “signature road win” for us against Duke. We fought hard but in the end we fell short. It was a tough loss that left us with a lot of things we need to work on. Being able to find the benefits in games like that and using the loss to help make us better will make us a tougher team when conference play gets down to the wire.
In the midst of our crazy basketball schedule we’ve been able to enjoy some time with the team now that classes are over and winter break is in full swing. Having nothing to do but just focus on practice and games has been awesome, although this is one of the most fun times of the year because we get to spend some quality time off the court enjoying each other. The team brought in the New Year together by supporting our football team in their bowl game then counting down the seconds to 2012 and a new season. From baking, to shopping, to movie nights, to our seemingly daily trips to Sweet Frog, there’s never a dull moment at this time of year.