UNB hoopsters get another shot

Women | UNB plays host to Eastern Regional under new format allowing losing teams to earn berth at nats

Esteemed baseball author Thomas Boswell wrote a best-selling book entitled "How Life Imitates the World Series."

The University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds would like to pen its basketball equivalent this weekend.

The V-Reds' women's basketball tome might be called "How Geography Imitates CIS Women's Basketball."

It would document how any trip to the CIS women's basketball championship tournament in Windsor, Ont. will likely pass through London, Ont. and Toronto first.

That will almost certainly be the case for the V-Reds. They lost the Atlantic University Sport Women's Basketball Conference title to the Cape Breton Capers last week in Newfoundland, falling 65-60 in the championship game. But, under a new system in vogue in CIS women's basketball this season, their runner-up status gives them a chance to get in by the back door.

So they'll open the doors to the 70-year-old Lady Beaverbrook Gym one more time to welcome the University of Western Ontario Mustangs Friday night at 6 p.m. in one East Regional semifinal, with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues locking horns with the Fraser Valley Cascades of Abbotsford, B.C. in an 8 p.m. tipoff.

Winners play at 4 p.m. Saturday for a ticket to Windsor.

Similar regional tournaments will be held in Ottawa, hosted by Carleton University, and Regina, hosted by the University of Regina Cougars, to produce two more participants. After that, one more berth will be available via wild card, to be declared next Sunday, March 13.

Those four teams will join the four Conference champions - the Ontario champ and tournament host Windsor Lancers, Canada West champion Saskatchewan Huskies, Laval Rouge et Or of Quebec and the Atlantic champion Cape Breton University Capers.

If they had their druthers, the V-Reds would rather not be playing this weekend, preferring to have already punched their ticket by winning the Atlantic crown last weekend. The alternative: they could have put the basketballs away for another season by now.

"So it's kind of in-between, I guess," said V-Reds coach Jeff Speedy. "It could be better, it could be worse."

V-Reds were within 21 seconds of victory last Sunday in St. John's, tied with the Capers. Jahlica Kirnon of the Capers made a play to the basket that would give CBU a lead they would not relinquish. Amanda Sharpe was called for an intentional foul that sent her to the line and allowed her to pot the decisive points.

Losing Sunday "was very disappointing," said Speedy. "We played as well as we could play on Saturday (a 78-58 win over St. FX), and I don't think we played poorly on Sunday. We had some turnovers, and we shot 3-for-18 from the three-point line. Those kind of things happen. I still think we played a good game on Sunday and it was a very good battle. We had some missed shots and some bad breaks down the stretch."

Speedy isn't wasting time worrying about it, but he maintains the officials missed a clear travelling call on a Caper. They subsequently called Sharpe for an intentional foul that essentially decided the game because it sent her to the line and then gave the Capers the ball back, too.

"I don't understand how you can let one go and not let the other go, nor did I get an explanation on it," said Speedy. "But if we were four for 18 from the three point line and went 3-for-18, we're probably talking about 'how was the celebration and how many days do the girls have off?'

Instead, the attention turns to a University of Western Ontario team which finished second to powerhouse Windsor in the OUA West with a league record of 19-3. The Mustangs were actually listed higher than the V-Reds in the national rankings for most of the season and reached as high as third nationally in mid-February.

V-Reds can harken back to their head-to-head meeting at the Don Grant Classic in Moncton, when they beat the Mustangs by seven, 90-83.

"They're arguably one of the best teams in the country," said Speedy in sizing up an opponent which won its last five regular season games before stumbling to fifth place in the OUA playoffs. The only two teams to beat the 20-2 Windsor Lancers this season are both here: Toronto beat them by five in November, 66-61, and the Mustangs won by three. 57-54, in early January.

"I've had three coaches who have talked to me this week say 'Man, what an unlucky draw,'" said Speedy. "I think if you polled the 12 coaches playing this weekend, a lot of them would say Western would not only get to nationals but do some damage when they get there. It's not an easy draw, and it's not an easy team coming in here."

The Mustangs are led by six-foot-two inch forward Matteke Hutzler, the OUA West defensive player of the year who had 41 steals, 16 blocks, and 94 defensive rebounds this season. She was a first team league all-star. The health sciences major helped the Mustangs to their No. 3 ranking with 299 points this season.

Hutzler is a first team all-star. Jenny Vaughan was named a second-team all-star. Two other players were named to the all-rookie team.

V-Reds, of course, feature the veteran post, Sharpe, the MVP in the Conference, AUS rookie of the year Claire Colborne, with the Corby sisters, Leah and Megan, revving it up in the back court.

The winner advances against the winner of the University of Toronto (18-4 in Ontario East) and Canada West contestant Fraser Valley Cascades, 12-12 in the regular season.

Even a loss is not necessarily fatal for the V-Reds: there's one more wild card spot to be declared after the dust settles from the various regional tournaments, with the final entry to be determined on March 13.