(Editor's note: LSU junior Temeka Johnson, an honorable mention All-American in 2001-02, will share a diary with ESPN.com throughout the season.)

Dec. 10, 2002

	Johnson

You will be glad to know that we survived our trip to Miami. We went there to play in a Thanksgiving tournament at Florida International and it made for five games in nine days in three different time zones!

I think a lot of fans believe when we go to places such as Miami that we hang out on the beach and the trip is a huge party, but that's really not the case. We flew out of New Orleans on Wednesday and got into Miami that evening. On Thanksgiving Day we practiced before having Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel. That night we had our usual team meeting where Coach Gunter goes over our game plan and then watched scouting video of Washington State.

However, in between dinner at the hotel and the scouting video I did get entertained. Patty (Hanten) and Flo (Williams) are both from Miami, so we got to see their families. I went with Patty and spent the afternoon with her family. Patty's family comes from Brazil so they had a Brazilian Thanksgiving that including singing (no, I didn't sing) and a testimony from Patty's mom. They had a turkey smothered in pineapples and some other foods. To make the afternoon even more special, Patty's brother, Thomas, was celebrating his 18th birthday. Patty's family is really special and I'm glad they had me over.

Later that evening we got to take a cruise around Miami. All four teams were on the boat and it was really neat to see Miami from the water at night. Maybe because it was her hometown, but Patty opted to entertain us by dancing on the boat. When she started to do the "Robot" the entire team laughed so hard we were probably rocking the boat.

Miami vice
Our first game in the tournament was against Washington State. We were a little sluggish at first, but then we started to play well and started pulling away toward the end of the first half. In the second half, we were more consistent and pulled away to win 87-50. A lot has been said about Train (DeTrina White) this season. Trust me -- she's back! She played a great game against Washington State.

	Temeka Johnson and LSU needed only seven players to upset Tennessee in the SEC tourney last season.

We had a nice following at the game. Between Flo's and Patty's family and friends, we had as many fans as anyone. We also had a surprise guest. (WNBA All-Star and former LSU standout) Marie Ferdinand came to the game. She is also from Miami and was home for the holidays.

The championship game was against Florida International and that's just what the coaches stressed to us -- this is a championship game! Florida International has a good team and the coaches said they rarely lose at home. I think we were really prepared to play. We spent some time that night and the next day getting ready for their offensive plays and I think we did a good job of defending them. We started the game on a 10-0 run, but the Golden Panthers came back to tie the game before we extended it back to an eight-point lead at the half. I think we really played a good second half, and even though FIU would make a little run we never really let them threaten the lead.

Doneeka (Hodges) did a good job of defending FIU's best shooter. The coaches told her to "tag" her (stay right behind her) and contest every shot, and Don did; Mandy Shaffer was only 1-for-8 from behind the 3-point line. The other player who stepped up for us was Wendlyn (Jones). We were struggling a little and she came in and scored on two great moves against FIU's 6-foot-5 post player.

We got a huge trophy for winning the championship and the joke was that it was bigger than me. But that's OK -- it's a championship trophy and it came back with us.

Study, study, study
After getting back from Miami it was back to some long days. School was back in session after the holidays and we were back at practice. Because of our schedule, we haven't been able to practice much or long -- that changed.

On Friday before the Alabama State game, Coach (Marianne) Stanley from the Washington Mystics came to practice and spoke to our team. She gave me goose bumps talking about what it takes to be a championship team. I think she inspired the whole team.

Alabama State was a weird game. The Hornets tried to shorten the game by holding the ball for most of the shot clock before attempting a shot, and it made for an ugly game. We won 65-19 but we didn't come out with the kind of energy we needed.

At any rate, no games for 10 days. It final exam time! Time to study and study and study. Wish me luck!

Temeka