Weekend Review from Mt. Royal University

Women

ʼs Basketball: Head Coach - Randy Peron (stmu.wbb@gmail.com)

ACAC Preseason Tournament at MRU: Games vs. Medicine Hat College / Lethbridge College/ SAIT

Women’s basketball continued their preseason preparation by

Tournament this past weekend. The team set out to improve on their previous performances while

focusing on some specific aspects of their overall game with 3 matches vs. strong ACAC Teams.

Struggling in the first game vs. Medicine Hat College, the team tried to compete against an athletic, wellcoached

opponent. After a difficult first three quarters, the ladies seemed to find their rhythm towards the

end of the 4th quarter, and finished strong with improved play and better execution. Player of the game

went to Lindsay MacWilliam for the Lightning.

Wanting to carry that over into their second match of the weekend, the women prepared to go up against

against Lethbridge College. Playing their best team game of the season the team competed hard

throughout the contest and with intense team play on both ends of the court battled the Kodiaks for the

entire match. Finishing the game with both better defense and more fluid execution of the offense, the

women proved to themselves that they can play hard and compete with ACAC teams. Player of the game

went to Kaitlin Harding, who showed leadership skills and poise on the court throughout the contest.

Their final game was a re-match vs. the SAIT Trojans. The women even competed as hard as they could

despite having a short bench due to injuries. The players stuck together throughout the contest playing

with only 6 players in the 2nd half. Player of the game went to Jorja Flagel who played very well against

some very strong players from SAIT.

playing in their 2nd exhibition ACAC

Results for the weekend:

103-32 vs. Medicine Hat / 86-39 vs. Lethbridge / 105-19 vs. SAIT

Preseason work continues this week with a scrimmage against Lethbridge College here in Calgary. The

game goes Friday evening at 6pm at Rundle Academy.

St. Mary's Women's Basketball Active This Thanks Giving Weekend

This weekend St. Mary's Women's Basketball Team will be participating in the Mt. Royal Invitational Tournament along with volunteering with "The Feed The Hungry Program" on Sunday. As the team continues to prepare for ACAL league play in January they will have contests against ACAC opponents Medicine Hat College, Lethbridge College and SAIT. On Sunday all team members will be working during the morning doing food preparation for the afternoon Thanksgiving dinner for community members who frequent Feed the Hungry services.

Lightning Strikes Up New Era

There’s Lightning in the long-range forecast.
And even with two winters to wait before they join the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC), the St. Mary’s University College women’s basketball squad would love to take some of their soon-to-be league rivals by storm at SAIT’s Fall Classic exhibition tournament this weekend.
“I know what it’s like to play against ACAC teams, and I know what the competition is like, but it’ll be nice to show the rookies what the next few years will be like for them,” said sixth-year point guard and team captain Kaitlin Harding.
“We want to show them that just because we are in a lower league, it doesn’t mean that they can crush us and walk all over us. We’re still competitive. We still practise a lot. Basketball is still our game.”
A long-time top contender in the lower-tier Alberta Colleges Athletic League (ACAL), the basketball squads at
St. Mary’s — a liberal arts and science school with about
600 students — will enroll in the ACAC for the 2012-2013 campaign.
You could call this a sneak preview.
On Thursday afternoon, the Lightning were thumped 94-19 by the Mount Royal Cougars. They’ll try to keep the score closer in Friday’s match against the Red Deer Queens before a date with the host SAIT Trojans on the final day of the tournament.
“I want to see where we are in regards to the powers of the ACAC,” said Lightning coach Randy Peron earlier this week. “Mount Royal and SAIT, those two teams are nationally-ranked teams traditionally, and I just want my team to be able to compete with them.
“All of us would like to have the scores close, but the big picture — and we’ve been talking about it since training camp — is we want to compete regardless of the score and we want to improve on everything that we’ve been working on.”
Now in his fourth season at St. Mary’s, Peron calls this his best recruiting class, and he’s optimistic experience against ACAC squads will only speed their development.
After all, it’s not long before these games will mean something in the standings.
“They know the two years is going to go by quick,” Peron said. “I’m sure, deep-down, they would like it to start today — as I would — but they all understand that we need to prepare as best we can.”
wes.gilbertson@sunmedia.ca