Flying to Albuquerque: 2 hours
Driving to Silver City: 5 hours
Driving Back to Albuquerque: 5 hours
Driving to Las Vegas (yes in New Mexico, not the one people want to visit): 3 hours
Sweep the weekend dance: Worth it all!

Our first road trip was well…quite the journey. Through the late nights on the bus, waking up early to travel on our day off, the weekend was well worth it. We defeated our two first conference opponents NM Highlands and Western NM, considering our performances last year they do not know what hit them. As a team we had our moments of fun, like Han, Chelsea and Meagan belting out the theme song from Rent, while unknowingly being filmed. Or perhaps watching “Love Actually” on the bus, that had let’s say one or two inappropriate scenes, but not to worry Kara was on her toes quickly skipping through those particular moments. Overall, our team persevered through the longevity of this trip and came up with two big wins! Now we are 4-0 in conference, which already surpasses our total conference wins of last season, but last season is in the past and we look forward to continuing our win streak against Metro this Saturday! Thank you for your support and enjoy the holiday break!

Submitted by Meghan Hollenga (Han)

Future Rangers

Here is the link to an article about our 3 signees!

http://www.regisrangers.com/sports/wbkb/2010-11/releases/20101213tkec9e

Conference

We are 4-0 to start our conference season, including a win against Nebraska-Kearney whom we had not beaten in 3 years. Our team has shown toughness and courage in overcoming some pretty major obstacles. Our guards have had to really "woman up" as our rotation has been very depleted. Thanks to their great effort we were able to win 2 on the road in New Mexico.

One more game, Metro on Saturday, before Christmas break. Our players are busy taking finals this week. Our group has done a great job in the classroom and we are expecting a high team gpa, as usual!

I want to give a quick shout-out to Melissa Jolly, Hayley Sprenger, Maddi Moran and Gen Go. They are our fabulous practice players and managers. They add a lot to our team and we very much appreciate their contributions.

Merry Christmas and Go Regis!

Regular Season

The team will head to Wichita this week for our first regular season games. We will play at Newman University in our annual Catholic School Tournament. First up for us will be Rockhurst University. Traditionally, a very solid team, they should be an outstanding test for us. After three DI exhibition games, we are looking forward to playing some teams our "own size". We have learned a lot about ourselves in the past weeks and are eager show our stuff.

Leave some comments and let us know what you think about the player write-ups we have been doing.

Bain

Salina

Salina Kuiper is a senior post player here at Regis. She is one of the sweetest girls you’ll ever meet, although you wouldn’t guess that from the animal she plays like on the court. Salina is studying psychology in hopes of someday working at a medical day care. When she is not in class or at basketball, Salina loves skyping with her friends back home in The Netherlands, going to dinner, and watching movies. Her favorite being romantic comedies, Love Actually in particular. Although Salina may not be the best of cooks, or so her housemates say, she sure enjoys food, especially Italian. Salina is a big part of our team and is an inside presence that will help our team greatly. You should also know that she is one of the best friends and teammates anyone could ask for. J

Submitted by Erin O'Toole

Game Day!

Our first opportunity to play outside competition is tonight. We head up to Greeley for our annual, opening exhibition game. We look forward to trying out different line-ups and working on new plays against good competition. Be sure to check the website for an update on how the night goes.

We will play our next exhibition game Sunday the 7th at DU.

Brandi Collins

Brandi Collins was born in Colorado Springs on May 9th 1992 to Ramona and Corey. She was the baby of the family but that did not stop her from big dreams! She was going to be in the NHL. Forget ballet or tap dance, this girl had a plan!! Since she started walking at 10 months you can only assume that she was ice skating in no time. Eventually she realized that being the first girl in the NHL might be a little more challenging than she first thought so she shifted her focus to basketball. When playing basketball, Brandi claims that she always wears Nike shoes….NOT ANYMORE!!! Now she is a Ranger and this year we will be rocking Addidas Moon Shoes!! Brandi is a freshman this year, and her transition has been a little stressful but an enjoyable experience overall. In her time at Regis, Brandi will be studying to be a teacher and playing the point guard position for the Lady Rangers. However when she is not studying, playing basketball, lifting weights or memorizing the office and Linda’s many offensive and defensive terms, she enjoys all the malls Denver has to offer and tries to spend as much time as possible with her family.

Submitted by Chelsea Porter

Get to know Kari Ameling

Kari Ameling is originally from Greeley, Colorado. She has recently been defined as 95% muscle and 100% awesome. How did we reach that conclusion you might ask? It started with her 97% shooting percentage. During her free time she likes to go back home and spend time with her family. While she may be studying psychology here at Regis, her true passion lies in fettuccine alfredo. Kari is an excellent addition to the basketball team at Regis. Not only is it her loud, outspoken demeanor that we love, but also her wild and crazy attitude. To help you get to know Kari on a more personal level, we had her fill out this mad lib for you. Enjoy!

Hello my name is Tori Colin . I am a newcomer to Regis team and am so delighted to be here! If I had to describe our team this year I would say we are excited, calm, and energetic. But anyways, this dog, at least I think that's what this internet thing is called, is supposed to help you get to know me, so here we go.... I am originally from Paris, which makes me miss the mountains a lot. I am studying psychology with hopes of becoming a veterinarian. I think it should all work out. I am truly happy coming to practice and get super tired when game time rolls around. When I'm not on the basketball court I like jumping around Denver, with my favorite stop being the Hawaiian store. My favorite color is blue because it reminds me of basketball. Every night I eat fettuccine alfredo, but it has to be cooked just right: crazy and colorful. Oh, and I usually don't tell people this, but I'm feeling rather boring today, so I can never sleep without my bed! Bet you never saw that coming! :)

Thanks to Kara and Lauren for this post!

Practice!

8 practices under our belts! Seems like more, somehow. Only a week and a half before our first exhibition game at UNC in Greeley. We play them every year and they are always a very tough opening act. Our goal is to play solid defense and be able to handle their pressure.

Our recruiting this fall has been awesome. The coaches work diligently throughout the year to identify talented players who will fit into our systems. In the fall we host prospects on visits to get to know them and find out if they are "Regis" material. Our players do the bulk of the work- spending time with recruits, entertaining them and giving them the inside scoop of what it is like to be a Regis student-athlete.

By and large, prospects make their decision based on how the feel they will fit in with their potential teammates. We have had a great response from our recruits and feel great about those who have already committed. By rule-I can't tell you who they are, yet! We expect to have 4-5 young ladies commit this fall.

Keep checking back, they players will be doing some posting soon!

Bain

Season Begins!

We don't do midnight madness here at Regis but we did start practice at 6:30 this morning! The first day is under our belts and for our seniors; their last "first day" ever. We started fast jumping right into transition defense and half court offense. With a slew of returning players and top-notch newcomers, we are have high expectations and plan to get our systems in place quickly.

Be sure to get on the website to keep up with our schedule. You can follow all of games via Live Stats and most of our games are streamed online, as well.

Go Regis!

We have a couple of weeks under our belts. Everyone is doing well and getting adjusted to the new year. Our spirits and expectations are hi. The coaches are looking forward to working with a great group of experienced and talented players.

Next week marks the beginning of team workouts. We will do a fitness test and get started in the weight room. We also get to work with our players in small groups on the court. This is an important time of year to start establishing our team identity, every year and every team is different no matter how many returning players we have. Everyone is eager and anxious to show what they can do.

Stay tuned for updates on our fitness test!

Back to School!

The new school year is upon us. We have seen many of our team members already in the gym working on their game and of course, their fitness.

We welcome 3 new players to the team. Kendahl Avery from WY, Kari Ameling from Greeley and Brandi Collins from Co. Springs. Be sure to check out their bios on our website.

Coach and I have spent many hours this summer working on our plans for the new year and believe we have many positive and exciting changes ready to put into place.

We are also working hard to bring in several high quality recruits for visits, soon. We are super excited about some of the prospects we have seen and had a chance to visit with. Our number one priority is to bring great people into our program. Unlike many other programs, we do not just throw scholarship offers around and hope one sticks. We believe strongly in trying to get to know a person before we invite her to be a part of RUWBB. Regis is a special place and being part of our team an honor and privilege.

I hope to keep the posts rolling as much will be happening. We are looking forward to an awesome year, as we believe our team is comprised of very special and gifted people.

Feel free to leave a comment!

Smart Girls

The following is an email to our team from Coach Raunig:

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that I received a press release from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association regarding this past years Honor Roll. Congratulations – we were #7 in the nation at the Div II level for team gpa with a 3.534. We were just .198 from the #1 team. I am very proud of you especially considering we had eight new players on our roster last season!

Congrats to Kendahl as well as her junior college team was #1 in their division for team gpa.

Keep up the good work!


Thanks,
Coach

Senior Farewell

During my experience with Regis Womens bball, I learned a lot of life lessons that I will be able to take with me. I learned about work ethic through the hundreds of practices, I learned about teamwork as well as leadership as we grew together as a team, and also about determination and perserverance as I battled through injury. I loved being a part of the team. There is something about being with your teammates everyday as you endure hardship, success, conditioning, and and simply practice. This type of realtionship is like no other, and while you may not always be the best of friends with every person on your team, you have an inexplainable bond with them for life.

Through each year I became a different part of the team, and I grew with each new role that was put before me. My college bball experince as a Ranger shaped me into the person I am and the values I keep. For me, the past 4 years have been filled with laughter and tears, frustrations and success, and most of all growth. My coaches and teammates have helped me become the person I am and I cannot thank them enough for that. I can't say I loved every second, for instance the early morning preseason conditioning was not a highlight, however overall I wouldn't change the experience for anything. :)

Ashley Pope

Thanks Em!

Miss Emily Kuipers,

Emily is the other of the two seniors that we are saying farewells to (in the basketball sense J). She has been a part of the Lady Rangers for 5 years (indicating she is a senior and above). Emily’s commitment to this team was more than just being there and working hard. Her time commitment through the last 3 seasons has been two fold compared to everyone else's. Having to be in the training room before hand to warm up and do exercises so that she could be ready to go by the time practice started is just one account of her time commitment. The other major thing she did was continually working on her shot in the gym. If you have ever had the pleasure of watching Emily when she is on “fire”, you know there isn’t much that you have seen that outdoes that. One game that will always stick out in my mind is the UCCS game at their gym (which was packed to the max) when Emily went 10-12 from the floor and looked like she couldn’t miss.

Although I didn’t have the opportunity to be with Emily her freshman year, I have been with her ever since and what a joy it has been. I do know, however, that Emily went through some major awakenings when she got to college, and she had the help of teammates through that transition. Now she is as crazy as ever; in the sense that she is fun to hang out with and is down to do whatever. She was definitely the quiet type, but that only meant that she was a good listener. Anyone could be in a bad mood before seeing Emily, and immediately, with comment about something or just laugh at something you said, would have you in a better mood.

Due to injuries of the knees, Emily and I really became close. I will never forget that year because she helped me recover just as much as I helped her. On road trips that we were allowed to go on, Coaches always roomed us together. This made our friendship stronger than ever. Emily is one of those people that will do anything for a friend and I know we all appreciate that.

Emily, like any other player, had her ups and downs throughout her career. It’s how she rebounded that was so amazing. Before her knee injury Emily was one of the fastest people on the team, and could do things she couldn’t do now. But the overwhelming presence of a smarter player is what the team needed and that is what she gave us after her recovery. She is a player that, in women’s basketball, comes around once in a lifetime. Emily we will all miss playing with you.

LOVE YA

Jax

Senior Farewell

RUWBB has impacted my life in a very positive way. The coaches have been my mentors and friends these past five years. Coach Bain and Coach Raunig have always helped me step through my milestones. The life skills that I have learned from them are to be confident, take advantage of every opportunity that is presented, and of course to BE DELIBERATE! I was very blessed to have those two as my coaches.

The teammates that I had were the most wonderful group of girls I've ever been around. Every person on this team was different and we've all become good friends. I always looked forward to practice especially on a rough day because they would always make me smile and laugh... And of course the roadtrips were the best. I'll never forget Stevi's HSWOOMS (spelled swoosh upside down) or having the bus pretend to leave and watching some of my teammates panic and chase after us. I would like to talk about all of the hilarious moments but this would turn into a book.
Overall my experience with RUWBB was amazing. For the recruits who are playing here next year, or thinking about playing here, you will not regret your decision.
-Emily

Senior Tribute

Miss Ashley Pope

Ashley was one of the two beloved seniors we had to wish farewell (in a basketball sense) to a little over a month ago... Ash had a been a Lady Ranger for four hard-fought years. Her career at Regis was, to say the least, a BUMPY road. Due to a hip injury Ashley had to sit out over 50% of her freshman year. Unfortunately, injuries don't always heal as we want them to... Ash's hips have been a chronic problem for her throughout her career, but she never let it impede on her dedication, commitment, and enthusiasm toward the team. She fought every practice through the pain, and then iced her hips from all angles afterwards (that is a sight that none of us will forget- Ashley's butt tripled in size when she would emerge out of the training room after practice!).

Back to the point.... From the beginning Ashley grasped the concept of Ranger Pride. Our freshman year, she was always the loudest cheerleader. As a sophomore and junior, Ash started emerging as a vocal leader for the team. She knew when to motivate, when to congratulate, and when to demand more from her teammates.

Having played with Ashley all four years, her senior year was a period of time I will remember as her friend... Ashley's injuries finally decided to cooperate, which allowed her to come into her own as a collegiate basketball player. She added to her role as a vocal leader and became a leader on the floor. She knew her role well, accepted it, and dedicated every moment of game time to it. Defense, Defense, Defense, and Run the Show on Offense. We could always count on Ashley to apply irritating defensive pressure to the opposing guards, hustle for lose balls, and make the perfect assist for our favorite team shot- "laaaay-ups". Ashley played with a sense of confidence this past year that I hadn't seen in the previous years: she stepped into her shot and let it fly, she called plays with authority, and dug her heels in on defense and rarely let her girl go by her. Imagine if her body would have let her play all four years...

Congratulations Ash on finishing off your Regis career on such a high note. The team and I are proud of you. It was more than a pleasure to play with you and it is comforting to know that you will always be a teammate and friend. We'll miss your passion and caring attitude next year. Best of luck in all you do,

Lo

Off-Season

The great part of being a coach is the seasons. Each phase brings new challenges and let's us experience our relationships in different contexts. We are currently on spring break and will have taken two weeks off before starting our spring activities. We are allowed to train for up to 8 hours per week in the off-season. At Regis, we rarely require our team members to commit that much time. We think it is important for our players to be able to be "regular" students for the few weeks we have in the spring.

That being said, we will be starting up in the weight room soon and working with individuals on some skills they really want/need to get better at. Everyong who knows anything knows - players are made in the off-season. Teams are made during the season. We have more returning players this year (12) than ever before. Which means we have a great opportunity to build on the progress we made over the course of the season.

We really love our team and the individuals who make it up. We believe in their ability to improve and really contribute and invest in becoming a great team. We love the new players we are bringing in and believe they are also "Regis Kids" who will commit to our goals and values.

Off-Season 2010 - Season of Optimism

A big thanks to all the parents and fans who supported us all year. We value you and all the miles you travel to be there for the team.

Kellie Deremo "Mo"

Kellie came to Regis this year from a little town named Dove Creek and is a business management major. When asking her what the biggest difference between Denver and her hometown is, her answer concludes that is is pretty much everything! Living in a big city has many advantages. One of these is that she doesn't have to drive 35 minutes to get to a grocery store. Another big difference is that there are more people going to Regis than are living in her hometown. She chose Regis because she loved the school and liked every single girl on the team.
Kellie loves spending quality time with her wonderful roommate Meghan Hollenga. ( here's your shoutout Han!) Kellie suffered a shoulder injury at the beginning of the season, but has been back in action for awhile now. We love having Kellie on our team, and are happy she made the move to the big city.

By Salina Kuiper

Recruiting at Division II

Recruiting is a hot topic in the world of college sports. We constantly hear stories about high profile recruits and coaches; scandals and stories of triumph. The process can be confusing and overwhelming for young athletes and their parents. I want to do a short post to provide a bit of insight to the world of recruiting from the DII/Regis perspective.

My first advice for families is to take control of the process. Recruiting takes as much or more energy on your part as the college coaches. Sitting back and waiting to be "discovered" is a passive and risky way to approach what is probably the first major decsion a young person will make.

As a family, make a list of things that are important to you when searching for a college. Think about location, size, academic offerings, public v private, etc. Add the athletic piece in and come up with a vision of what would be a good "fit" for the student-athlete. Go on to identify some colleges that match what you think you might want. Contact these schools.

Something I would caution people: Be very skeptical of "all or none" types of statements. For example, "only kids who play club ball get full scholarships". We have 14 players on our team, all 14 have different recruiting stories about how they ended up at Regis. It's also dangerous to assume all schools recruit about the same way. There as many recruiting philosophies as there are coaches.

At Regis, we love it when people contact us. Having people be interested in Regis and our program is over half the battle. We are a staff of 2. It is simply not possible for us to know about every player in the region who might be a good fit for us. We have 3 criteria we never waiver from in recruiting. Find good people, serious students and great basketball players. In that order. We are trying to find players that are a good fit for us and who will be happy here. You are doing the exact same thing. We are going to ask you questions and get as much information as possible, you need to do the same thing.

Ok, so maybe that wasn't a short post. The message is BE PROACTIVE. Look around for resources, ask questions, get informed. Don't let recruiting (or no recruiting) happen to you. The following is a link to the NCAA Guide for the College Bound Student Athlete.

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/ncaahome?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/ncaa/NCAA/Legislation+and+Governance/Eligibility+and+Recruiting/InformationforCollege-BoundStudent-Athletes

Game tonight at UCCS, 6pm. They must be worried-they are having a live Mountain Lion there before the game.

Coach Bain

Emilyyyyyy!

The gym gets quite just about the time Coach Raunig decides to gently remind Emily to stay off the sideline. Yep, that's Emily, getting the job done. All she has done is record back-back-back double-doubles, earning her "RMAC Player of the Week" honors.

http://www.rmacsports.org/sports/wbkb/2009-10/news/0910_rmac_wbb_week9.pdf

Nice job Em!