Follow your ThunderWolves as they strive for a national championship at this season's NCAA Division II Central Regional Tournament in Mankato, Minn.  Get a behind the scenes look at the Pack's trip and see what it takes to play against the top teams in the nation.

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By Mary Rehfeld 

After a long, long day it felt BEAUTIFUL to settle down into our hotel beds last night.  I swear, it seemed like I closed my eyes for five minutes when the sound of my cell phone alarm woke me up to kick off my day.  A muffin, egg and fruit breakfast kept us nourished throughout the morning, which consisted of our Winona scouting report and practice. 

The Mankota facility is beautiful!  It really is a mini arena. I found it comparable (but smaller) to the University of Washington's court not only because of the purple, but the concrete stairs, bright lights, luxurious locker rooms and a decorative entrance.  Basically I just described any nice facility... Anyway; Coach Folda said the owner of the Timberwolves coughed up most of the money for the gym. 

After practice we walked across the street to a campus mall.  About half the team devoured a large plate of Macaroni and Cheese, while the rest ordered sandwiches or burritos.  After lunch we ventured back to the hotel where most of us found the comfort of our beds to be very appealing.  Rach quotes, "I know I did..." Thanks Rach.  It took us about a half hour to set up the projector to create a movie theater environment.  Once we got it working and the movie playing it only took us about ten minutes to conk out. 

Coach, Les and Folda all attended the NCAA pre-tournament meeting while we rested.  They told us to be loaded in the bus a quarter after 6 pm for an Applebee's dinner.  For the second time since JJ has been traveling with us we accidentally left him at the hotel.  Luckily Pueblo Chieftain reporter Jeff Letofsky had recently arrived with a rental car, and the two of them were able to join us. 

At dinner we had an early birthday celebration for our soon-to-be 20-year-old, RACH!  Aside from that, dinner was pretty low-key but definitely satisfied our hunger.

Rach is helping me write this article, by the way.  She just wanted all of our readers to know that currently it is 14 degrees outside, and thinks that it'll only get worse by the time we leave for shoot around in the morning.  She's also a little grumpy due to the fact that it is so miserably cold outside but shows no sign of snow.... Thanks Rach.

We decided to wrap up the night with a team activity involving the recently purchased "Thunder Deck," (cards).  Basically, four cards were dealt to the each player and each card had a aspect of our team to discuss: Team appreciation, season reflection, individual appreciation, and game day preparation.  The team was very involved and very outspoken about how far we've come and where we can go. 

Basically, we could not be better prepared and more excited for tomorrow afternoon.  We see where we need to go and we know how to get there.  To all of our fans, friends and family, expect a great game from the lady Thunderwolves.  We believe. Game time!

By Mary Rehfeld

When your day begins with practice at 6:00 AM, you're guaranteed it'll be a long one... Luckily I shared it with my oh so eccentric (in an awesome way), energetic, and entertaining teammates who happen to be the RMAC champs for the second consecutive year.  Today we made the relatively short flight from Denver to Minneapolis and a bus ride from Minneapolis to Mankato, Minnesota as we begin to prepare for our first round game on Friday as we take on the number six seed, Winona.

I speak for the team when I say "THANK YOU" to Niki, Capo and Kim for the delicious and thoughtful breakfast burritos that were provided to the team early this morning.  We took three vans up to DIA with Coach Drown, Coach Les and the one and only, Joe Folda as our chauffeurs.  The trip went by fast as most of us made up for the previous night's lack of sleep.  A quick luggage check in, some Starbucks coffee, and the departure from Denver all went so surprisingly smooth considering our group consists of nearly 20 people. 

We felt the brisk Minnesota air with our first step off the airplane.  It doesn't help one bit that our current travel gear actually retains the cool weather... but many of us layered up with sweatshirts and hats.  Again, luggage pick-up and the charter bus went way too smoothly as it only took us approximately 30 minutes.  And off to the Mall of America! We spent two hours in what looked like it could have been an airport.  The mall was phenomenal with hundreds of stores, a theme park AND a Cinnabon! Sarah scored a pair of shoes, Cait, JB and myself found some "fly" shirts, Amanda snagged a hip scarf, and Ms. Baller, Michelle found a sweet Jordan belt buckle.  We felt that our two hours and cash were well spent.

Then, we began our drive to Mankato.  It was nice having the charter to ourselves with room to spare, but it felt somewhat lonesome without our guys team...YOU GUYS ROCK! Anyway, now we're here.  A few of us soaked in the hot tub while Kristi provided us with a belly-flop performance.  Although we're preparing for post-season play, this trip feels like it should still be early in the season, like we have so much further to go; I believe that is a perfect mindset to have...because we are nowhere near being done.  Goodnight Pueblo!

Howl yeah