1981-82 CCAA - women - From Naismith to Nash

(1)	John Abbott	92
(8)	Mount Royal	50	John Abbott	75
	Medicine Hat	74	Medicine Hat	61	John Abbott	81
	Fanshawe	49
							—–JOHN ABBOTT
	Langara	69
	Red River	38	Langara	76	Langara	57
	Wascana	69	Wascana	30
	Cape Breton	55

In the quarterfinals, held at Calgary’s Mount Royal College, the top-seeded John Abbott Islanders thrashed the host Mount Royal Cougars 92-50 as Althea Yard scored 26 and Beth Jordan 21. Sandy Robertson paced the Cougars with 18. The Islanders broke to a 40-13 lead and romped. They led 50-20 at the half.

The Medicine Hat Kudus whipped the Fanshawe Falcons 74-49. “We haven’t played anybody with a man-to-man that good,” Falcons coach Peter Campbell told the Medicine Hat News. “They’re some of the best I’ve seen around. And we got behind and that didn’t help. Not to take anything away from Medicine Hat, because they played a hell of a game, but maybe one-third of our turnovers were uncontested travelling, double dribbles and mental errors.” Kudus coach Marg Sihvon said her troops got their transition game on track. “I had heard they are a running team, but they didn’t show it. We ran pretty well.” The aggressive boardwork of Kim Gapka, Adele Lansing and Sharon Kubian allowed the Kudus to get their running game on track. Campbell noted that “we didn’t box out, and Medicine Hat went to the board really hard.” The Kudus led 15-6 early and 44-21 at the half. Mare McConnell paced the Kudus with 24 and was chosen player of the game. “Mare shot the eye out of the basket,” Sihvon said. Karen Bongaards added 17. “I’m not sure 10 (Bongaards) didn’t deserve the MVP,” noted Campbell. “She’s a hell of a player.” The Kudus led by as many as 31. Nancy Burton led the Falcons with 18. Maria Colizza added 14. “Burton is our best player, but she’s emotional,” said Campbell. “She didn’t play her best today. She gets too tight and if the others are not playing well, she gets frustrated.”

The Langara Falcons stomped the Red River Rebels 69-38. Brenda Borne paced the Rebels with 13. Donna Faryon added 12.

In the last quarterfinal, the Wascana Institute Wildcats dumped the Cape Breton Capers 69-55.

In the bronze quarterfinals, the Cape Breton Capers edged Red River 60-57.

In the other bronze quarterfinal, the Fanshawe Falcons edged the Mount Royal Cougars 61-58 as Maria Colizza scored 21. Dianne Lawlor led the Cougars with 18.

In the semis, the John Abbott Islanders defeated the Medicine Hat Rattlers 75-61. “We could have beat them,” but suffered sporadic lapses in concentration, said Kudus captain Mare McConnell. Kudus coach Marg Sihvon told the Medicine Hat News that “if we run into any good, big player — six-feet or over — then we’ll be in trouble. We simply don’t have anyone who can handle that. We didn’t meet one big girl, basically we met three” in 5-11 Althea yard, 5-10 Chris Pozzan and 5-9 Beth Jordan. “It was an excellent effort. I ’m proud of them because we were so badly out-sized and out-experienced.” McConnell said “usually we play teams with one or two big girls that aren’t too good. But they have three that are good.” The Islanders built an 18-5 lead by pounding the ball inside. But Maria Schapansky and Sharon Kubian came in off the bench and began to battle on the boards as the Kudus trimmed the margin to 31-29 as Karen Bongaards started nailing jumpers. “We got some boards when we started to run,” said Sihvon. Islands coach Chris Hunter noted that Bongaards “is a good shooter. We went to a zone because we were in a little foul trouble and it let her shoot. That’s why we went to a man-to-man in the second half; so she wouldn’t get an easy shot. But she still made some.” The Kudus lost their intensity as the Islanders rebuilt their lead to 47-37 early in the second half. “We sort of lost our composure for that spurt; they also couldn’t hit easy shots,” said Sihvon. “You have to put the ball in the hoop. They missed what I would call gimmes. It’s not hard to be 10 down when that happens.” But they awoke and rallied to within 59-55 with less than eight minutes to play. “Our big guy (Pozzan) picked up her fourth foul and I decided to sit her out,” said Hunter. “She didn’t want to sit out but you never know; you lose one big guy and things can happen. I wanted her for the end of the game.” But the Kudus went cold and the Islanders soon led 73-57. “We played in spurts,” said McConnell. “It’s too bad we couldn’t put the ball in in the second half.” Yard led the Islanders with 17 points and 12 boards. Pozzan added 15 and Jordan 14. Bongaards led the Kudus with 18. McConnell added 16.

In the other semi, the Langara (then the Vancouver CC) Falcons whipped Wascana Institute 76-20.

In the bronze semis, the Medicine Hat Kudus dusted the Cape Breton Capers 69-53.

In the other bronze semi, Fanshawe clocked the Wascana Institute of Applied Social Sciences 68-57.

In the bronze medal match, the Medicine Hat Rattlers defeated the Fanshawe Falcons 75-63 in a rematch of their opening round game. “At the start of the year never did I dream of this,” Kudus coach Marg Sihvon told the Medicine Hat News. “You got three returnees, Adele (Lansing), Kim (Gapka), and Mare (McConnell), and with Karen

(Bongaards) out of high school you know you have something. But the whole key is how those eight fit together. Last year we had what I thought was a good team, but they didn’t jell together as a team. This year they fell together so well. Everybody respects each other. Look, we’ve got three second-year players and six first-year players and we’re third in Canada. It’s very hard to get up for a team you’ve already beat. Our game is intense, pressure, running. It worked early when we were up 19-4. But maybe we got the lead too quick. We started playing not too poorly, but not great. We quit moving; we just stood there.” The Falcons knotted the score at 21 on a 17-2 run ignited by Maria Colizza. Falcons coach Peter Campbell said “I told them before the game there are very few times when you get a second chance. I thought we played better when we got off the man-to-man in the first half. And we moved Maria back to guard where we could use her sense for the ball and her moves to get it back up

inside.” The Kudus led 35-29 at the half and then Sharon Kubian took command of the boards. “Sharon turned the game around for us,” noted Sihvon. “When she went in, she dominated the boards, broke up the court and scored

some. She completely turned it around. Sharon hit the floor a few times, mind you it was three on one when that

happened.” Campbell, recalling how Kubian knocked Colliza to the floor in a scramble of rebound, noted that “she plays the game for keeps. “You know Maria went to the floor, but I’m glad it was her because she just gets right back up and plays.” Kubian rallied the Kudus to a 59-45 lead with her defence. “Defence is intensity,” said Sihvon. “When we played well defensively, we created the steal. Most of our game is started by the defence, so when we can steal, we can run and we get our confidence.” Karen Bongaards paced the Kudus with 20. McConnell added 14. “Mare can do it all,” said Sihvon. “Without her we wouldn’t be here. I’m not knocking Karen (Bongaards), but we need Mare’s leadership; we expect so much from her.” Nancy Burton paced the Falcons with 24. Colizza added 17.

In the final, the John Abbott Islanders defeated the Langara Falcons 81-57 as Althea Yard scored 21. Beth Jordan added 19. Jamie Nystrom scored 19 to paced the Falcons.

The all-tourney team featured: MVP Althea Yard (John Abbott); Karen Bongaards (Medicine Hat); Marie McConnell (Medicine Hat); Lora Favor (Vancouver CC); Jami Nystrom (Vancouver CC); and Beth Jordan (Vancouver CC)

The bronze medalist Medicine Hat Kwahommies: Karen Bongaards; Mare McConnell; Karen Hagemester; Adele Lansing; Sharon Kubian; Kim Gupka; Cathy Ferguson; Debbie Biccum; Maria Schapansky; coach Marg Sihvon; assistant Murray Sihvon

The silver medalist Langara Falcons: Jamie Nystrom; Lora Favor;

The gold medalist John Abbott Islanders: Althea Yard; Beth Jordan; Chris Pozzan; coach Chris Hunter; assistant Debbie Yarmidy