(Editor's note: Connecticut sophomore forward Ashley Battle, a WBCA and Parade high school All-American, will share a diary with ESPN.com throughout the season.)

Nov. 17, 2002

	Battle

The Halloween season is over, but being the movie buffs that we are, my teammates and I thought it would be fun to rent a scary movie. So we rented The Shining.

Some of my teammates had previously seen the movie, but just in case you haven't seen it, it is about a man (Jack Nicholson) and his family. For his job, he and his family had to move out to Colorado and serve as caretakers for a hotel. Well, they get stranded out there because of a blizzard and he is trying to stay sane and not kill his family. That's the gist of it.

Well, we took it to another level after watching the movie. The little boy was telepathic and his imaginary friend was his finger, and he would motion his finger when his friend was taking over his body. I don't know about you, but sometimes when I am getting yelled at in practice, I wish I had an imaginary friend who would take over and I could say, "I'm sorry, coach, Ashley isn't here now." That would be great!

OK, back to my story. The next day in practice, Jess (sophomore Jessica Moore) and I acted out an entire scene from the movie. But the scene that we acted out was when Jack N. was being dragged by his wife. So Jess dragged me around the gym to exaggerate what happened in the movie. It was a fun time before practice.

Ashley Battle (AB)