Pressure on hoop Tommies to repeat
Published Wednesday November 4th, 2009
The St. Thomas Tommies women's basketball team is coming off a dream season, but that hasn't stopped head coach Fred Connors from dreaming big again.
"It's our goal to win again," Connors said. "I think the building blocks are there. My opinion right now is that by the end of this year we should be as good as, if not better than, what we were at the end of last year."
That would be quite a feat.
The Tommies rolled to the Atlantic Colleges Athletic Association title with a 20-1 regular-season record and a pair of playoff victories, capped by a 60-53 victory over the Mount St. Vincent Mystics in the championship game.
The Mystics had won the previous two titles and Connors expects them, along with the Mount Allison Mounties, to pose the biggest threats to his Tommies.
"St. Vincent has a core of seven players back and they're going to be very tough," Connors said. "They're very big whereas we're very small and quick. Mount A is also solid. I think it's going to be a tight race between the three teams."
The STU women and men open the regular season this weekend.
Both Tommies teams host the Holland College Hurricanes of Charlottetown on Saturday, at 1 and 3 p.m. at the South Gym, before heading to Sackville on Sunday to play Mount A.
At the ACAA tip-off tournament, the STU women beat their opponents by 34, 33 and 35 points.
"We've got six rookies, so we really overloaded our preseason early with some real tough competition," Connors said. "We were looking at the tip-off tournament to try to gauge where we are. We're pretty happy with the results, for sure."
The Tommies lost six players from last year's team, including all-star starters Alicia Sterling - she was also conference MVP and an All-Canadian - Hayley Doney and Pam Carvell, along with Mali Coulombe and Katie Titus. Jasmine Parent quit in February.
The Tommies have a Carleton County contingent starting.
Heather Atherton, fellow guard Danielle Moffatt and Amy Andow used to be keys for Woodstock High while defensive standout Kerrin Everett and post Jill Lamereau used to star for Carleton North.
"When we get announced, we prefer that they say we are from Carleton County, because we're very proud to come from a region which has such a great basketball tradition," Atherton told the Bugle-Observer.
In fact, the players have their numbers in sequence, from #7 to #11, to reflect that fact.
"To say they're a close-knit group is almost an understatement," Connors said.
Fourth-year guard Melissa Russwurm, the other returning player, is quick to come off the bench.
The rookie crop consists of Renee LeBlanc from Harrison Trimble, Ashley Bawn from Kennebecasis Valley, six-foot-post Kathleen McCann, Lindsay Whittaker from MacNaughton, Alberta's Nitanis Bradley and Madison Doucet from Bathurst High.
"The six new girls have really surprised me with how fast they've been catching on," Connors said, "and their work ethic has been fantastic."
Returnees and rookies alike have been prominent on the scoresheet.
"We've had 10 players lead us in scoring over the course of the preseason," Connors said. "We really preach team basketball and because of that we move the ball well and we're unselfish."
LeBlanc has "really brought a lot of composure for a rookie and she's an excellent shooter," Connors said. The five-foot-nine Bawn, a tough defender, was supposed to be a so-so shooter, "but she's been knocking down two or three threes a game for us."
McCann, the tallest Tommy, "is the first mobile six-footer we've had in a long time"; Whittaker "is an incredible outside shooter"; the five-foot-11 Bradley "is pretty mobile and a very good shooter"; and Doucet "has really improved defensively," Connors said. "We've put her out on the floor in some really tough situations and she's really done an excellent job."
Dwight Dickinson begins his 17th season as STU men's coach, looking to guide the Tommies back to the playoffs. Last season, STU squandered three chances down the stretch and missed out with a 6-15 record.
"We came so close last year it wasn't funny," Dickinson said. "We have nine new kids, so there's going to be some growing pains, but our goal is to get back into the playoffs. On any given night, when we settle down and don't get too anxious, we can play with anybody.
"I'm pretty confident we're going to make the playoffs," he said. "Hopefully, from there, we're going to scare some people."
ACAA second-team all-star Matt Robertson, a six-foot-seven post who can also step back and drain three-pointers, is complemented in the starting five by dependable fifth-year guard Andrew Holmes, third-year players Ryan MacPherson, "who's come a long way," and Brad LeBritton, "a great leader who rebounds hard," and promising rookie point guard MacKenzie Washburn, who's sidelined with a knee injury.
"MacKenzie has made great strides since the start of the year," Dickinson said, "but he strained his anterior cruciate ligament. Hopefully, he'll get good news on that."
Matt McGrath and Brendan Davenport are first off the bench.
McGrath has "muscled up over the summer and shoots the three-ball very, very well."
Six-foot-three forward Matt Pain, from Rothesay Netherwood School, "improves probably every night out," Dickinson said.
Tristan Russell is a backup point guard. Corey Delong "doesn't make a lot of mistakes on the court," Dickinson said, "and in a basketball game that's a real asset."
Six-foot-five Steven Cordy "is the best passer I've seen in years for a big guy," the coach said.
John Bartlett, the team's trainer last year, is red-shirting this season. Danny Carson, like Bartlett, is known as a "great hustler."
Cedric Noel, a six-foot-five, 220-pounder from Belgium, is out with the basketball team after playing for STU's soccer squad.
"He's going to be a surprise in this league," Dickinson said.
Mount St. Vincent has won the men's championship four years in a row.
"The Mystics have no end of ability and talent down there, so I would think they'd be the team everyone's going to take a run at," Dickinson said. "But Holland College could well be the team to beat."
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