I had a similar situation. I have been fortunate enough to reach another level in women's basketball to work with so many great officials. At the higher levels it is a brutal business. This is only my second year at this level and my 1st year getting conference games. Last year was all either non-conference or exhibition games. This is the 1st year I did conference games where winning/lossing can cost the coach their job. I was put in a crew w/ another official who is in the exact same senario as myself and a rookie official. I still am a rookie at this level w/only 1 more year experience. We were assigned a conference game in which I was designated as the "R". My pregame was very in-depth. We discussed a ton of situations.
Needless to say I was assigned with this official 5 times. I took this as an opportunity to prove myself qualified to officiate at this level. The games were not perfect, but we made the calls that needed to be called. At this level, it is with EXTREME caution to expand your area.
My advice is to have the same mindset and believe that this will be the best officiated game of the year.(I try to have this attitude for every game...no matter what level)
My partners seem to feed off of this and the games (all 5 completed)went well. Have a good pregame and just do the game. Think positive and be confident of yourself and your partner and don't get frazzled.
"Control what you can control, and just survive the rest"
GOOD LUCK
