Dec. 19, 2007
The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team just returned from a four-day road trip to Mississippi that included two big wins.Sophomore Brigitte Ardossi, a Melbourne, Australia native, wanted to share her experience from her first trip to the state of Mississippi:
Boy was I excited to see we would be spending a few days after another hard semester at Georgia tech in Mississippi. Finals were over and we were on our way to face another Southeastern Conference team on the road, with one goal in mind, win!
Saturday morning we departed on our journey to our first location, Starkville. Although we were greeted with a small airport, we knew we had a big task to face, and that was to claim our program’s first SEC win on the road since 1978. Something had been taken from us last year on our home court and we were on a mission to reclaim what was ours, and that was victory.
The build up for the game was tremendous; we were in a fellow teammate’s home state. Janie Mitchell, undoubtedly the backbone of our team could smell Mississippi air and knew that not only did we have a task but so did she. We banded together and played 40 minutes of Georgia Tech basketball and played it not only for the pride of Georgia Tech and the ACC but for our teammate. We owed something to her, and we delivered. Downing the Bulldogs on their home court was a defining moment for all of us. Our first SEC win on the road!
We were then onto our next location, Greenwood. The bus ride was supposed to be three hours, but because of the excitement we all exuded, time flew, we were having fun still high from our win.
I didn’t get to see Boo Radley’s house, but we did stay at undoubtedly one of the best hotels ever. The Alluvian was luxurious and modern, for a small town, it was a big time hotel. No study hall, and plenty of time on our hands to unwind and take in the beauty. Greenwood delivered us a sunny day with a warming blue sky, something we were missing in Atlanta. Warned that this was not going to be an easy turn around, or an easy game, we prepared ourselves for a battle.
And a battle it was. Playing Mississippi Valley State was great preparation for what we face at the end of our Atlantic Coast Conference season. In a 48 hour turn around we pulled out two W’s. It was a great test of our focus and concentration, to see whether we could execute two game plans in such a close amount of time. I was so glad to be in Mississippi, and I can’t wait to go back. It was beautiful and the two sweet victories made it even better.
