Contact:
Elizabeth Blevins, Director, Office of Communications
Office: (740) 351-3810; FAX: (740) 351-3179; Cell: (740) 464-4854
940 Second Street – Portsmouth, Ohio 45662
E-mail: eblevins@shawnee.edu 
Web site: www.shawnee.edu

            The love and willingness to lay it all on the line for one another has helped the Shawnee State Women’s Basketball team accomplish one of its goals in making the Final Four. It just so happens the love for the team doesn’t stop on the court.
            Shawnee State may not have as many fans as other teams in the seats at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, but no other team has fans that love and care for not only the team, but each other as the fans in blue cheering on Shawnee State.
            “We all just love each other so much – we’re like a family,” Konnie Meyer, mother of Bears forward Alison Meyer, said.
            The family that Meyer is referring to is the group of parents and fans that have been mainstays in the stands at SSU games both home and away since the trio of seniors’ arrival in 2006.
            This year at the National Tournament five schools from the state of Iowa have been represented on the court and in the stands. While local schools such as Morningside College and Briar Cliff University nearly fill the lower bowl of the Tyson Center, Shawnee State occupies half of one seating section. Small in numbers, the fans of the Bears hardly go unnoticed.
            “It’s amazing. To have everyone here just makes this experience that much greater,” Bears forward Jill Cropper said.
            When watching the group of families together in Sioux City you would think they have been lifelong best friends and not just parents whose kids have played four years of basketball together. They tell stories of past road trips, laugh at jokes and rarely mention the fact that this is the last week they will all be together as a group cheering on their daughters.
            But not all of these die-hard parents will be leaving this year. David Ballman, father of sophomore guard Abby Ballman, said one of the hardest parts of this season ending and next year beginning will be losing the friendship of some of the other parents.
            “We’re going to miss them terribly,” Ballman said. “I get choked up just thinking about it.”
            It’s this type of camaraderie that the parents have passed down to their daughters and makes it easy to see why the Bears are one of the tightest knit teams in the country. In each game in Sioux City leading up to the Final Four a different Bear has stepped up and led the team to victory. Several years from now fans will look back and remember the 2010 Final Four team as one that was balanced and unselfish.
            It’s not just the parents that travel the 14-hour 1,000-mile journey. Several of Shawnee State’s biggest supporters, the Golden Bears, have also made the journey to Sioux City.
            Larry and Judy Pitts have been coming to Sioux City since 1998 to watch the Bears, only missing one year. Friends of Coach Hagen-Smith, they started watching SSU in 1995 and have been hooked ever sense.
            “Everyone asks which one is our daughter,” Judy said. “We don’t have anyone on the team, were just fans.”
            Present for the National Title win in 1999, Larry sees traits in the 1999 team that can be translated to the 2010 squad.
            “The closeness of this team is remarkable,” Larry said. “They stick together and get it done.”
            While some teams in Iowa such as College of the Ozarks, who bring a rowdy 150-persons student section, pride themselves on the size of the cheer block at Nationals, Shawnee State will be happy with their small but lively group of fans.
            One of the things that the 2010 Bears have steered away from in the National Tournament is superstitions and rituals that some teams may get caught up in. While the players may not take part in such shenanigans, the parents are watching every move they make before games. The superstition that may be the talk of Sioux City is Konnie Meyer and “the penny.” Meyer had found a penny before the game against Haskell University and then was determined to find a penny before each game the Bears have played.
            Fred Williams, father of Whitney Williams, in previous years had purchased a full tournament pass, expecting the Bears go too deep into the tournament. This year Williams decided he would instead purchase single game tickets.
            “In past years I have always bought a tournament pass and this year I told the girls we were going to take it one game at a time just like they should, so I just buy single tickets each day,” Williams said.
            Fred’s wife and Whitney’s mother Debbie gets so nervous during the game that she literally cannot watch the action.
            “I don’t watch anything,” Debbie said. “If it’s a close game I just look around and focus on something else.”
            Debbie Williams may not be focused on Whitney shooting her trademark three-point shot during the game, but you can bet Monday night the Bears will be focused on one thing. Getting to Tuesday night.