Ladysaurs gearing up for the season

By Cole Christensen

The lady basketsaurs geared up for the regular season when they hosted the University of Calgary Women’s Invitational basketball tournament Oct. 12-14.

The Dinos battled and dominated two of their three games through injuries with an overtime loss sandwiched in the middle. The weekend started out well with a 98-81 win over the York University Lions, who are the defending Ontario University Athletics champions. The Dinos dropped a 91-87 heartbreaker to University of British Columbia in overtime Sat. All was not lost, however, as the Brock Badgers faced the wrath of the hungry squad on Sunday and were downed 112-81.

Calgary coach Shawnee Harle was upbeat about her squad’s effort.

“I was really pleased with our overall play this weekend,” Harle said. “It was a great opportunity for two of our rookies to get important playing experience and it also gave the team an opportunity to refine our offensive and defensive style of play.”

While the showing was impressive, the Canada West conference representatives–UBC and Calgary–had a relatively easy time against their Ontarian counterparts. Harle indicated there was indeed a difference between the Canada West and Ontario teams.

“The style of play isn’t much different but the level of play certainly is,” she said. “Typically, Ontario teams have a tough time competing with teams from Canada West and our tournament this weekend certainly showed that.”

Among many encouraging signs from the weekend tournament, Dinos sophomore guard Ashley Hill was outstanding during the three-game set. She accounted for 72 points on the weekend, including a game high of 27 against York and another 27-point performance in the finale versus Brock.

With only four games to go until the start of the regular season, the invitational was important in determining the strengths and weaknesses of this Dinos team.

There was certainly much to be enthusiastic about, at least from Harle’s perspective.

“We have three players that are great three-point shooters and I really want to use that weapon to our advantage,” she said. “It’s one of our strengths. We have great outside shooters as well as post players that can get it done in the paint.”