Katie Paganelli is a senior – finally. A member of Coach Shimmy’s 1st ever recruiting class, Katie has proven to be loyal, committed, tough, and faithful. In other words, she’s the lone survivor. As a reward for Katie’s perseverance, she is on track to score her 1000th

point as a Billiken at some point during this season & has already been a part of several record breaking teams at SLU. That however, is not enough for Katie. This senior captain wants to finish her career as a four year starter while helping to lead Saint Louis University Women’s Basketball to its best season in program history. Coach Shimmy is confident she will, assuming she finishes what she started….

 Katie Paganelli


Diary Entry #2


Where do we go from here? We are not having the season we talked about and prepared for all year long. We have lost to teams we KNOW we should have beaten. We have proven to ourselves that we ARE better than what we’re showing. We ARE a championship team, but we are at the same exact place we were last year. It is the 1st week of February and we only have 7 wins, SEVEN! What do we do from here? I have my own ideas, of course, that would make us UNSTOPPABLE!! But I am not my TEAM.

This team is very special to me. It’s not special because I’m a senior and this is the year I am always going to remember, or that I actually made it all four years, or anything corny like that. This team is special to me because it is the first time since high school that we actually have a TEAM. Aside from the wins and losses. Aside from playing time. Aside from who does what on the court and who works their ass off in practice. There are so many other things that come with a TEAM. This is the most valuable team I have EVER been a part of and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! This is why...Chemistry.

Chemistry literally is the science concerned with the composition, behavior, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions. It is also the interaction of one personality with another. It is any or all of the elements that make up something. Now some of my teammates may not like me for this one, but I am going to let you in on the composition, behaviors and properties of matter that one would think would result in COMBUSTION.

Starting with the freshmeat. Our lovely trio, Ash, Mal and Jace. They all live together. Their apartment is the hangout spot. They always have food, snacks and a big screen TV. Ashley, also known as “Trashley”, is one of the Blondies that laughs at literally EVERYTHING! Mallory, or Malby, sometime Fiona (and we really painted her green for Halloween), is one of the big girls. She keeps her hair knotted up in a ponytail and is our supporter on the team. She’s always there for a good long talk, or someone to laugh with. Personally, we like to do puzzles together, especially over Christmas break! Jacy is our little baby. She’s the youngest and the smallest on the team and always seems to get caught in the wrong situation at the wrong time…haha! Getting caught eating chicken wings the night before a game or packs of brownies falling out of her binder when coach asks to borrow it…not good. We love to tease her, but she has got to be the most generous freshman I have ever had! Next is Pooh, she’s only a sophomore and she’s the head of our team. She always wears an afro puff and REFUSES to let any of us touch it. She keeps us mellow. She’s always doing her sexy dance in the locker room and LOVES to be on her phone. Ayrie is our Big Easy transfer from the south. Jambalaya is what we call her off the court because of her New Orleans accent and her smooth groove to old school music. Nicole, also known as Nic, is our free spirit. Her interest in fashion confuses us most of the time because of the crazy outfits she puts together when we go out. Kat is our white girl with micros, yes microbraids! Most of us refer to her as “Big Country” because when she calls for the ball she says, “BAAWWL!” She could fall asleep on command and if you play music with this girl around, she will be the first one to sing and two-step to the beat. Finally, the 3 captains of the team, Lauren, AK and myself. Lauren is probably one of the funniest people I know. She can impersonate ANYONE to a T, especially Coach Gray-Miller!! She likes to refer to herself as a Diva and a dancer. She loves bright colors and boys! AK is like our mother. She’s the oldest on the team and recently was a teacher at an inner-city middle school where her students came up with the nickname, Miss K-Geezy!! Of course it stuck! And then there’s me... J!! I like to have fun with each and every one of my teammates. They call me “garbage disposal” because I eat all the leftovers at dinnertime! I love food! Anyways… can you believe all of these different personalities come together and have chemistry? Well it’s true. We are the Billikens!

Stay tuned….because conference is a whole new season. I like to think of it as “the main event”. Our nonconference schedule was practice for our main event. We have been selected to finish 10th in the conference. Are we going to finished 10th? ABSOLUTELY NOT!


Katie Paganelli #23
Class of 2010
Senior Entry #2 
 
 

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