It is, says Saskatchewan Huskies and Canadian women’s senior team head coach Lisa Thomaidis, an entirely new era.
Gone are the days when the Canada West Universities Athletic Association could rip off 19 consecutive Canadian Interuniversity Sport titles (including six over a nine-year period won by former members of the Great Plains Athletic Association, which CanWest absorbed in 2003) and regularly place three or even occasionally four teams in the semi-finals. Not that they’ve become slouches. They still consistently place two teams in the semis.
But expansion of the league to 17 members undermined overall CanWest competitiveness because it spread around a thin pool of talent, though it arguably may promote development of the game over the long-term, Thomaidis says.
“Back then, we had six teams in Canada West and I know when I came to Saskatchewan, we were terrible. The reason why we got good is cause we played the Victoria’s, the U.B.C.’s, and the Alberta’s and the Calgary’s every single weekend. And it was adapt, get better, or you’re going to sink.”
“The talent level was so high, it was amazing,” Thomaidis adds. “Now, the influx of all the other schools coming into Canada West has diluted the talent. There just isn’t enough talent to be distributed among the number of teams that we have out here now.”
Coupled with the fact that American schools are now more aggressively recruiting Western Canada than in years past, often skimming off the cream of the crop, it has forced CanWest coaches to scramble to find talent in the United States, Europe and Australia, Thomaidis says. “Recruiting just gets bigger and bigger and you keep going to different frontiers” and devoting more and more time to the chase, rather than concentrating on the development of players.
Yet, if it is the passing of an era, the mighty Huskies may be the most immune to the effects, as they’re again the prohibitive favourite to garner one of CanWest’s two guaranteed berths at Canadian Interuniversity Sport’s 45th national women’s tournament being hosted by the University of New Brunswick in March.
“They could probably go undefeated this season,” says veteran Winnipeg coach Tanya McKay.
Saskatchewan has great post-perimeter balance, as well as the incredible luxury of maturity. The Huskies have no less three fifth-year players and one fourth-year player in the starting line-up. The former includes 6-3 post Dalyce Emmerson, who was named a 2nd-team All-Canadian despite having suffered from a nagging foot injury for the past two years, as well as hard-nosed guards Kelsey Trulsrud, Desarae Hogberg and Laura Dally, a third-team all-star after leading the league in three-point field goal shooting. She was also on the FISU team that captured a silver medal in Gwangju, South Korea over the summer.
What’s utterly remarkable is that the team that most coaches across the country peg as the favourite to also win the CIS crown will have an offence run by nothing less than a rookie point guard.
Okay, maybe not quite your average rookie. Sabine Dukate, after all, is a 5-9 wunderkind from Ventspiils, Latvia, who has played a few years of professional basketball in the European ranks.
“She could be the answer to our dreams” after graduating two point guards, Thomaidis says. “And she’s only going to get better and better with getting familiarity with our systems and personnel and coaches and North America.”
Backing up the quintet are another fifth-year senior, Taya Keujer, redshirt forward Kassidy Konkin and 5-10 rookie guard and Miss Basketball Alberta 2015 Megan Ahlstrom, a Calgary product who turned a full-ride offer from Boise State to become a Huskie.
Calgary may have the league’s most experienced and deepest unit despite having lost captain, principal defender and fifth-year Australian-born guard Ashley Hirons late in the preseason with a torn ACL. That will doubtless change the Dinos dynamic, and free-up about 30 minutes of playing time, but cerebral coach Damian Jennings still has several pieces to the puzzle, including fifth-year wing Claire Colborne, who’ll start along with Wales-product Kristie Sheils, point guard Anmol Mattu, post Kelsey Lund, and most likely, Emma Nieuwenhuizen, Brianna Ghali or Erin McIntosh at the wing.
Hirons’ injury will change everyone’s role, affecting both the defensive rotations and European-style ball screen offence, Jennings notes. “There are 10 teams that may have stronger starting fives than we have. But I think that over 40 minutes, we have enough miles on the clock with enough players that we can still be deep enough to cause problems.”
Regina appears to have a solid starting rotation in third-team all-star Charlotte Kot, Kehlsie Crone, Katie Polischuk, Alyssia Kajati and point guard Sidney Dobner, as well as a solid though somewhat inexperienced bench led by Christina McCusker. But coach Dave Taylor says they’ll need one of the above to step up and become the sort of All-Canadian answer in time of desperate need if the Cougars are to make anything like a run at a national medal.
Still, Taylor is hopeful the team’s balance will offset the seeming absence of an All-Canadian gun and land them a berth in the national draw. “It’s going to have to be who is hot that night and who’s got the best match-up,” he says. “But the real key is health, health, health. We just don’t have that depth.”
Alberta graduated its powerful front-line, including all-star Saskia Van Ginhoven, but retains one of the league’s best backcourts in point guard Jessilyn Fairbanks, Maddie Rogers and Megan Wickstrom. The Pandas will look to shore up the frontcourt with third-year Texas product Elle Hendershot and highly-touted rookie post Brooklyn Legault from North Vancouver. Edmonton Harry Ainlay product Mackenzie Cook had been expected to provide another presence in the paint but tore an ACL at the start of the season.
The development and maturation of the posts will ultimately determine the Pandas’ fate, says coach Scott Edwards. “We’re asking a lot of pretty inexperienced or young players that haven’t played a lot in the CIS. As they go, we will go.”
Despite the graduation of three-time All-Canadian Kris Young and league all-star Harleen Sidhu, UBC can never be discounted given coach Deb Huband’s glittering history (three national titles). The Thunderbirds will regroup around savvy fifth-year point guard Diana Lee, veteran forward Adrienne Parkin, off-guard Cherub Lum and posts Kara Spotton and Andrea Strujic. Among four rookies who may eventually crack the rotation is Jessica Hanson (daughter of T-Birds men’s coach Kevin Hanson).
“There’s a lot of learning when you go from a role player or a player who’s been injured and hasn’t been held accountable,” says Huband. “Now, all of a sudden they have to be able to step on the court and hold the execution to acceptable degree” at a time when their responsibilities have significantly altered.
Victoria’s losses included all-star Cassandra Goodis, leaving coach Dani Sinclair with a starting line-up that will likely feature forwards Jenna Bugiardini and Nicole Karstein, along with last year’s league rookie of the year Amira Giannattasio and fellow guards Kristy Gallagher and Jenna Krug. Among newcomers expected to contribute are provincial juvenile team members Marissa Dheensaw and Avery Snider.
“I think we’ve shown that we can score,” says Sinclair. But on the other end of the floor, “we need to keep the ball in front of us and then rebound. We’ve struggled to rebound. … We need to have more of an aggressive mindset on the boards.”
McKay enters her 21st year at Winnipeg’s helm having graduated 2nd-team all-star guard Stephanie Kleysen but the Wesmen return third-teamer Megan Noonan. Joining her in the starting line-up are point guard Kerri Kuzbyt, German rookie wing Lena Wenke, who toiled for her country’s cadet and development teams, along with posts Skylar Boulanger and Renetha Burton, an Arizona-born transfer from Alberta’s Olds College.
The Wesmen need to play with discipline, McKay says. “Right now, our inside game is not on the same page as our perimeter game. They haven’t met each other halfway yet.”
Trinity Western will rely heavily on the trio of Tessa Ratzlaff and league all-rookie selections Kayla Gordon and Jessica Brown to provide rebounding prowess and offensive punch to offset last year’s history of collapses and close losses in the final minutes of games, says coach Cheryl Jean-Paul. To that end, the Spartans must “stay healthy, knock down open shots and get tougher defensively every week – just like everyone else.”
Former men’s coach Dave Adams assumes the distaff helm at Lethbridge after Erin McAleenan bailed for York. Rookie Magrath guard Teesha Olson, Lethbridge College transfer Lily Moradel, and SAIT transfer post Malayah Bruno will likely be in the rotation, along with another rookie, Lethbridge Chinook product Katie Keith, as well as Danielle Fritzke, Zoe Dahl and Mariah Miller.
“Right now, we’re playing the point by committee,” says Adams. “For us going forward, we need to create culture and we need to infuse our program with winners.”
Brandon coach Novell Thomas continues the grind of rebuilding a program and hopes to improve on last season’s 3-17 record with a line-up featuring some combination of California-born guards Aleah Bridges and Keisha Cox, forwards Kaela Cranston and Amy Williams, University of Winnipeg transfer Lauren Anderson and Maryland-born post Alyssa Montgomery.
“We’re big,” says Thomas, a former member of the Canadian men’s national team and erstwhile European pro. “We’ve got four 6-1, 6-2 kids. We’re deeper than we have been, especially at the post positions. We definitely have more experience. … We just have to use our length and height and pound the ball inside.”
Manitoba hopes to garner more than one league win from a mix featuring forwards Montana Kinzel, Rebecca Potter and Emma Thompson, and guards Claire Harvey, Nicole Konieczny, Jenilyn Monton and Alyssa Lucier. The Bisons will try “to be a little bit more up tempo, and then, scoring by committee, so trying to really make sure they understand we need at least four people in double digits,” says coach Michelle Hynes.
Over in the six-team Explorer division, the coaches peg Fraser Valley as the favourite to earn one of the three available playoff spots.
Fraser Valley lost nearly two-thirds of its offensive firepower from last season, but some of that will be offset with the additions of Sydney Williams, Canada West rookie of the year in 2014 while playing at Thompson Rivers, and Shayna Cameron, player of the year in the British Columbia college ranks last season. Among other recruits are Mission product Taylor Claggett and Maple Ridge point guard Kate Head, who’s been starting at the point. Returnees include forward Kayli Sartori, while post Katie Brink is expected to rejoin the line-up around Christmas when she recovers from a leg injury.
“We’re a lot more perimeter-oriented than we have been for many years so the pace, we want to push it a little more and we want to move the ball,” says crafty Cascades coach Al Tuchscherer, who just two seasons ago steered his troops to a CIS bronze medal.
Dave Oldham replaces Alberta legend Rob Poole at the helm of MacEwan and his chances of a successful debut are bolstered by the return of all-stars Megan Wood and Kelly Fagan. Also in the starting rotation are Paige Knull, Kayla Ivicak and point guard Kendall Lydon. Ex-starter Kelly O’Hallahan is expected to return from ACL surgery around Xmas.
“We’ll lean on Kelly and Megan a lot,” says Oldham, who led Spruce Grove High School to eight consecutive provincial tournament appearances and a pair of silver medals. “Kelly last year was a double-double, and Megan averaged 18 points a game. They’re very skilled and great decision-makers, fifth-year kids who had four years with Rob Poole, so they’ve learned the game at a high level.”
Thompson Rivers suffered a huge loss with the graduation of second-team all-star point guard Jorri Duxbury but returns third-teamer Taiysa Worsfold, along with forward Kassie Colonna, point guard Emma Piggin and wing Michelle Bos. Burnaby rookie Lailani Carney steps immediately into the starting rotation.
“Everyone is one injury away from a drastic season,” says coach Scott Reeves. “Defensively, we’ve got to tighten up our team defence and our on-the-ball defence.”
University of Northern British Columbia coach Sergey Shchepotkin says his Timberwolves will start a line-up featuring 6-3 Greece-born post Vasiliki Louka, 6-1 Jasprit Nijjar, 5-9 forward Maria Mongomo Cavallo, who toiled on the under-16 and under-20 Spanish national teams, point guard Hannah Pudlas and off-guard Kylie Pozniak.
“It’s all about experience and mental toughness,” says Shchepotkin, noting that his troops have the classic hallmarks of youth: fabulous on one possession, less so on the next. “It’s up and down.”
Former Queen’s Gaels all-star Claire Meadows replaced 21-year coaching icon Heather Semeniuk at the helm of the UBC-Okanagan Heat and used the preseason to experiment and shake out “who can play where and who can do what.” Guard Emily Kanester, returning from a year off rehabilitating her ankle, will be “integral to our offence,” says Meadows. “She’s our best three-point shooter.” Claire Elliott will run the point, and join wing Olivia Johnson, forward Kayla McFadden and rookie post Jordan Korol in the starting line-up.
“I think we can dictate tempo with our defence,” Meadows says. “We’re going to have to mix up our defence a lot but the more pressure we can apply, that’s going to free us up a little bit on offence and utilize our transition game more.”
Canadian junior women’s team performance analyst and McMaster assistant Nathan McKibbon assumed the helm at Mount Royal when Len Harvey bailed for native Nova Scotia. As many as nine different Cougars garnered starts in the preseason, including Saint Mary’s transfer Becky Nash and Calgary rookie Michelle Tiffany.
Veterans most likely to become starters include forward Melissa Moore and guard Angela Driscoll but clearly, experimentation will be the norm at Mount Royal as McKibbon becomes familiar with the team’s capabilities. “We’ve shown that we can perform. It’s just making sure that those little periods turn into longer periods and then hopefully put together a full 40 minutes,” he says.