"Sweats. Sweats. More sweats," said the senior center for the University of Hawaii Wahine basketball team, preparing for the road trip to Colorado State and Wyoming. "And I need to make sure my game is in there."
Leeburg had half of her game going last week, finishing as the WAC's leading scorer with a combined 39 points in wins over Air Force and UNLV. But her rebounding was missing in action as the 6-foot-3 Leeburgh finished with a total 10 in the two victories.
"Mentally, I have to be ready for these two games," said Leeburg. "The rest of our team does, too. This is a really important road trip, against two of the best teams in the conference at their place.
"We don't want to use any excuses about the altitude or how far we had to come. It's going to be a formidable task but we don't want even a split."
The road to respectability in the WAC begins tomorrow for the Wahine, winners of their last 10. Hawaii defeated the four bottom teams of the Pacific Division the past two weeks and next will face Colorado State, the defending conference co-champ and preseason division favorite.
The Rams (12-2, 3-0) dominate the WAC statistics with two of the league's top scorers, sophomore guard Becky Hammon (21.1 ppg) and sophomore forward Katie Cronin (17.1). The 5-6 Hammon was named the division player of the week Monday in part due to her 30-point performance in a 75-61 win at Wyoming Saturday.
Hammon ranks second in scoring and third in free-throw percentage, 3-pointers and 3-point percentage. Her supporting cast includes the WAC's second-leading rebounder, 6-2 sophomore center Shannon Randles (8.6 rpg), and freshman reserve guard Jacque Johnson, the conference leader in 3-point percentage.
"Colorado State is very talented," said Hawaii coach Vince Goo. "They've got talent at every position and a bunch of people who can score.
"We've never been there and never been in that high of altitude. But I think we're in pretty good physical condition. We are going to have go with the shuttle, using lots of players. The only altitude we're concerned with is 10 feet. That's how high the basket is and it's the same at our place as it is at theirs."
The Wahine did make some changes in preparation for the trip, where the high temperature yesterday at Fort Collins was 7 degrees. The team ran extra wind sprints during recent practices and began a high-altitude diet last week that calls for plenty of liquids and no caffeine, sodas, red meat or fried food.
"There's a lot more 'nos' than 'yesses' with the diet," said assistant coach George Wolfe. "Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, and things like chicken without the skin. It's the kind of diet most of the team follows anyway."
The keys to the Wahine's winning are slowing down the Rams' offense - CSU leads the league in scoring at 78.1 ppg and 3-point field goals - and to being patient with their own offense.
"Hawaii is second in the WAC in turnover ratio and fifth in scoring defense.
"We've played in spurts the last two weeks," said Goo. "We have answered every time a team has made a run at us. But obviously, those teams do not match up with Colorado State or Wyoming.
"Nani Cockett (junior guard) is not scoring as much as she did earlier but she's going all the other things that are helping us win. That's just unselfish play on her part.
"But whenever we've needed her, she's been there," Goo added. "And we're going to need her on the road."
Cockett, the WAC scoring leader two weeks ago, has slipped to third with an 18.9 average. She leads the conference in blocked shots, is third in steals (3.1 spg) and fifth in field-goal percentage (.464).
"To win two would be huge, mentally and emotionally for our team," said Leeburg, ranked second in shooting percentage (.538). "I think we have some respect, coming in from the Big West, but we're still coming in as the new team.
"Colorado State and Wyoming are both favored to win at their house. They've got more pressure to win at home and we've got nothing to lose. Our pressure is from the expections we've put on ourselves.
"Coach (Goo) is telling us we're going to hit a wall there but we've got to play through it."
Leeburg did not leave any room in her suitcase for excuses.