Accreon Helen Campbell Women�??s Basketball Tournament great learning experience for UNB
September 30, 2012
Even though the host UNB Varsity Reds lost all three games this weekend in the annual Accreon Helen Campbell Tournament at the Richard J. CURRIE CENTRE, they’re looking at it as a great learning experience.
The Varsity Reds are a young team, boasting just three seniors on their roster this season, and they were up against formidable opponents in Acadia, Alberta and Université du Québec à Montréal. UNB head coach Jeff Speedy sees that level of competition as a necessary step in the V-Reds’ development as a team.
“I could probably have found weaker teams or teams that we would have had a better chance of beating so this was about having three games and getting the season started and finding out where our weaknesses are so that we can get better and I would rather do that against some really good teams,” Speedy said after the tournament, “It’s never fun to lose three games in a row. We just want to get better and show the girls what we need to work on. I’m very happy with the level of all three teams that we played - they were very, very good teams and maybe experiencing that kind of intensity will help us as we get into the season.”
In their first game of the tournament on Friday night, UNB lost a close game, 66-61, to the University of Alberta Pandas. Claire Colbourne (Calgary, AB) was the V-Reds high point getter with 24 while Laura Fowler (Moncton, NB) tallied 14 points. Senior Melissa Foster (Moncton, NB) had eight rebounds to her credit. Fowler, along with Alberta’s Arianne Sakudiak, was named Player of the Game.
In the V-Reds second game of the tournament, against Université du Québec à Montréal Citadins, UNB lost 86-62. Once again Colbourne tallied 24 points and pulled down eight rebounds. She was named Player of the Game for her efforts along with Jessica Pellerin of the Citadins.
In their final game of the tournament UNB was defeated by the 2011-2012 AUS Champions, Acadia, by a score of 86-64. Colbourne was held to just 13 points while Tilley Ettinger (Calgary, AB) managed 10. The V-Reds were unable to shut down Acadia’s offence, with three Acadia players scoring 20+ points. Ettinger was named Player of the Game for UNB along with Acadia’s Kristy Moore who had 26 points to her credit.
Colbourne was the lone V-Red to be named to the tournament all-star team and was the high scorer for UNB in all of their games.
“We definitely need to have more than Claire in double figures; whether that’s Laura or Tilley or Rachel or Kaitlyn we need to have more players in double figures every game. It was great to see Laura step up and score and hit some nice shots, especially after her injury last spring,” said Speedy.
“There were times on defense where we were really, really, good but there were times when we were terrible. We certainly found some things on defense that we need to work on; that’s why you play these games in preseason,” he continued.
The Varsity Reds have several more pre-season games before AUS play which begins the weekend of November 9th and 10th when they host Acadia at the Richard J. CURRIE CENTER. Complete schedule can be found at www.vreds.ca
Tournament Scores:
Alberta 80 vs Acadia 87
UQAM 86 vs UNB 62
Acadia 69 vs UQAM 61
Alberta 66 vs UNB 61
Alberta 71 vs UQAM 57
Acadia 86 vs UNB 64
Tournament All Stars
UQAM #7 Valerie Gavin
Alberta #3 Anneka Bakker
Alberta #4 Sally hillier
UNB Claire Colbourne
Acadia #15 Emily Nkosi
MVP Acadia #9 Kristy Moore
The Varsity Reds are a young team, boasting just three seniors on their roster this season, and they were up against formidable opponents in Acadia, Alberta and Université du Québec à Montréal. UNB head coach Jeff Speedy sees that level of competition as a necessary step in the V-Reds’ development as a team.
“I could probably have found weaker teams or teams that we would have had a better chance of beating so this was about having three games and getting the season started and finding out where our weaknesses are so that we can get better and I would rather do that against some really good teams,” Speedy said after the tournament, “It’s never fun to lose three games in a row. We just want to get better and show the girls what we need to work on. I’m very happy with the level of all three teams that we played - they were very, very good teams and maybe experiencing that kind of intensity will help us as we get into the season.”
In their first game of the tournament on Friday night, UNB lost a close game, 66-61, to the University of Alberta Pandas. Claire Colbourne (Calgary, AB) was the V-Reds high point getter with 24 while Laura Fowler (Moncton, NB) tallied 14 points. Senior Melissa Foster (Moncton, NB) had eight rebounds to her credit. Fowler, along with Alberta’s Arianne Sakudiak, was named Player of the Game.
In the V-Reds second game of the tournament, against Université du Québec à Montréal Citadins, UNB lost 86-62. Once again Colbourne tallied 24 points and pulled down eight rebounds. She was named Player of the Game for her efforts along with Jessica Pellerin of the Citadins.
In their final game of the tournament UNB was defeated by the 2011-2012 AUS Champions, Acadia, by a score of 86-64. Colbourne was held to just 13 points while Tilley Ettinger (Calgary, AB) managed 10. The V-Reds were unable to shut down Acadia’s offence, with three Acadia players scoring 20+ points. Ettinger was named Player of the Game for UNB along with Acadia’s Kristy Moore who had 26 points to her credit.
Colbourne was the lone V-Red to be named to the tournament all-star team and was the high scorer for UNB in all of their games.
“We definitely need to have more than Claire in double figures; whether that’s Laura or Tilley or Rachel or Kaitlyn we need to have more players in double figures every game. It was great to see Laura step up and score and hit some nice shots, especially after her injury last spring,” said Speedy.
“There were times on defense where we were really, really, good but there were times when we were terrible. We certainly found some things on defense that we need to work on; that’s why you play these games in preseason,” he continued.
The Varsity Reds have several more pre-season games before AUS play which begins the weekend of November 9th and 10th when they host Acadia at the Richard J. CURRIE CENTER. Complete schedule can be found at www.vreds.ca
Tournament Scores:
Alberta 80 vs Acadia 87
UQAM 86 vs UNB 62
Acadia 69 vs UQAM 61
Alberta 66 vs UNB 61
Alberta 71 vs UQAM 57
Acadia 86 vs UNB 64
Tournament All Stars
UQAM #7 Valerie Gavin
Alberta #3 Anneka Bakker
Alberta #4 Sally hillier
UNB Claire Colbourne
Acadia #15 Emily Nkosi
MVP Acadia #9 Kristy Moore