In the Tiger’s home-opener win on Wednesday night, Emily Budde had one of the best offensive performances for DePauw women’s basketball, dropping 38 points while adding six rebounds and three assists. Her point total placed her second on the all-time list in the program’s history. Budde also tied the school record for three-pointers with eight. Yesterday, The DePauw was able to ask the sophomore forward a few questions about her recent performance and her view on the Tiger’s young season.
The DePauw (TDP): Your 38 points marks the second highest point total in DePauw women's basketball history. What does that mean to you personally?
Emily Budde (EB): It feels good, but it was definitely… in the flow of the game, so it kind of just happened. It was a good win for the team, we really looked good.
TDP: As a sophomore, how do you think you’ve improved personally? What did you do over the offseason to make these improvements?
EB: It’s definitely a lot easier coming in knowing what to expect… You don’t have to worry about all the little things anymore… I just worked hard over the summer. We have a summer workout… they give us and I just kind of stick to it and workout everyday. It’s a lot of work but it pays off.
TDP: How have you handled becoming a regular starter in just your second year?
EB: It’s been a big change from last year, but to me, I’m still just playing basketball… It’s not different necessarily in (minutes) but more like the leadership I guess, people looking to you. I think I’ve figured out… I can be a leader even though I’m a sophomore so it’s kind of a role I have to take on.
TDP: With last night’s game being the home opener, what was the general atmosphere of the team?
EB: Everyone was excited. We have a lot of pregame ritual stuff… Like we get to have our own warm-up CD, that’s always fun. (It has) all of our team songs… It’s always fun playing in front of your own friends and family, especially since we’ve been away the last three weekends. It was nice not to be traveling for once.
TDP: In preparation for Saturday, what has the team been focusing on this week?
EB: Our focus this week kind of started out with… getting better flow in our offense, which we actually did really well (Wednesday). Now we’re trying to focus on defense. The team we’re playing Saturday is a lot better. They’re very good shooters (and) drivers. They’re just a very offensively-good team. We’ve just been working on really improving our defense (and) really becoming more locked down.