Monday, October 31, 2011

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Just one game to report on from the weekend, and unfortunately it was our first home loss. Concordia handed us a 64-56 defeat, marking our lowest point production to-date. The fast pace was much to our liking in the first half and although we trailed 19-17 after one quarter, we began to wear Concordia down in the second, outscoring them 15-9 to go into half time with a 4 point lead.

Concordia, however, managed to grind the game down to a much slower pace in the second half. The third quarter, the lowest point output of the season, saw us outscored 13-5. The fourth quarter produced much more scoring (with a correspondingly high number of turnovers on our behalf) leaving us down another 4 points (23-19) and the 64-56 defeat.

Hanna Koposhynska had another solid game with 13 points and 9 boards. Paige Robinson was the only other Q’s player with double digits with 11 points, but Christine Wallace did have 9 boards to go along with her 8 points.

Link to Q’s SID report: http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2011/10/29/WBB_1029115509.aspx?path=wbball

Up Next on the Road:
Friday, November 4 @ 6pm vs. Nazareth College (Rochester, NY)
Saturday, November 5 @ 2pm vs. Geneseo College (Geneseo, NY)

Up Next at Home (start of league play):
Friday, November 11 @ 6pm vs. Lakehead University
Saturday, November 12 @ 6pm vs. Guelph University

The Globe and Mail recently released their annual rankings for Canadian Universities. I am pleased to report that Queen’s ranked 1st in the country for a medium-sized (enrolment) university. Here’s a link to the Q’s press release: http://www.queensu.ca/news/articles/queens-first-class-globe-and-mail-university-rankings

We will, once again, be hosting our ID/Training Camp for high school players in grades 10-12 interested in playing basketball at the CIS level and who also have an interest in Queen’s. Details below:

Sunday, December 11
9:30 – 12:00n On-court
12:00n Break for Lunch
12:30pm Athletic Centre Tour & Question and Answer session (parent’s welcome)
1:30 – 3:30pm On-court

There is no cost to attend, but please drop me an email, so I have an idea of numbers.

Have a great week.

Dave.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Women's Basketball - Game Reports

Hi Folks,

Pretty successful weekend as we captured our own Tindall Tournament Championship for the second consecutive year – this time with a perfect 3-0 record.

We opened with an 80-70 win over Dalhousie thanks to some outstanding shooting: 54% from the floor and 52% from beyond the 3-point line (11-21). We lead by three after the first quarter, 18-15 and pushed the lead to 5 by half, following a 24-22 second quarter. We came out very flat in the third and were outscored 20-12 to trail by 3 heading into the fourth. Outscoring Dal, 26-13 over the final 10 minutes secured the 80-70 win.

Brittany Moore showed why she is the all-time leading scorer at Queen’s pouring in 27 points including 5-10 from beyond the arc, and was named Player of the Game. Hanna Koposhynska continues to play well with 12 points and 6 boards, while rookie Jenny Wright had another double digit game with 11 points to go along with her 4 rebounds.

Saturday we faced our provincial rivals, Guelph. A slow start left us trailing by 5 after the first, 15-10 (in what would turn out to be our lowest scoring quarter of the tournament). We found our stride in the second quarter dropping 24 to Guelph’s 15, to lead by 4 at the half. Guelph cut the lead to 2 with a 15-13 third quarter, but our fourth quarter continued to be fruitful as we outscored Guelph 25-18 for the 72-63 win.

Five players hit double digits (all 10 dressed players scored and collected a rebound), with Brittany Moore, once again, leading the way with 15. Hanna Koposhynska (Player of the Game) added 14 points, 8 boards, while Liz Boag continued her solid play at point guard with 11 points and 3 assists. Paige Robinson had 10 points, as did Jenny Wright, to go along with her 6 boards.

Sunday we faced the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM). Last Sunday we had a very flat start against U of T, so avoiding this was a point of emphasis for this third game in three days. The players responded very well, racking up a 20-15 first quarter lead. UQAM continued to press in the ¾ court and play a 3-2 zone in the ¼ court, but we continued to build on our lead with a 16-12 second quarter. We came out flat in the third quarter as UQUAM went on a run to close the gap to 3. But that was as close as they would get as we would stretch it back to 7 at the end of the third. Again, strong in the fourth, we outscored them, 17-10 to finish with a 72-58 win.

Brittany Moore dropped 17 to lead all scorers, while Liz Boag added 12 points and 8 boards. Rookie, Jillian Siemieniuk was named Player of the Game with 10 points, 4 boards and 4 steals.

Liz Boag was named to the Tournament All-Star team, while Brittany Moore was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

SID game reports can be found at:
http://www.gogaelsgo.com/index.aspx?path=wbball&tab=basketball(w)

Up Next at Home:
Saturday, October 29 vs Concordia 6pm

Up Next on the Road:
Friday, November 4 @ Nazareth College (Rochester, NY) @ 6pm
Saturday, November 5 @ GENESEO College (Geneseo, NY) @ 2pm

Have a great week.

Dave.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Closing the Books on the Preseason














The preseason has come to a close. 11 matches. Not a lot of wins, but if this year's preseason was just about wins and losses, we would have set up an entirely different schedule. This year is about playing the highest level teams we possibly can, so as to best prepare ourselves for the CIS tournament at the end of the year.

There are lots of reasons to be pleased, and a few reasons to be concerned as well. In the positive column, we have gotten better every time we have played, and that is our job and our mission. Many of our rookies have seen far more playing time that we (or they) might have expected and that is also a plus. All of them have shown great composure in matches and are ready to contribute as needed.

Injuries continue to play a role in our team, and are just part of our reality at this point, so no excuses for our performances. The guys who are on the floor know they need to step up and get it done. In Calgary, both Matt Taylor and Will Sidgwick performed at a new level and splitting rightside duties, Mike Tomlinson and Phil Goyer both held their own.

In terms of injuries, here is a status report for those of you who are following us closely:
Joren Zeeman - ankle sprain is almost better and he should be back next week.
Bryan Fautley - vertebrae is healing well and he is beginning physio - on schedule.
Dan Rosenbaum - is in therapy with a firm diagnosis and is optimistic for second half.
Niko Rukavina - sees the surgeon this week and will continue to play defense until he is cleared to jump.

So we continue to juggle the balls and are grateful for a large and deep team. As we enter league this week we will look forward to continued growth and progress in our game. We have taken a couple rest days, since arriving back in the middle of the night from Calgary (thanks to the 401 being closed for an 'unscheduled collision' (as per the MTO site).

First up is RMC, here at home, this Friday night at 8pm. Come celebrate Halloween with us as we take on the cross-town boys. Then we open November with games at Windsor (Friday the 4th at 8pm) and Western (Saturday the 5th at 8pm).

Come out and support the Gaels!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Our first road trip of the season saw us finish 1-2 in the Bishop's Invitational Tournament. We have made significant improvements since our RMC outing, but with lots of things to work on as well. I am generally quite pleased with the direction this team is going -- should make for an interesting season.

Q’s 74 vs. Bishop’s 64
Our first game in almost a month and it showed. Bishop’s lit us up early and often – we looked like deer in headlights and were down 12-4. But that was only the first 5 minutes. Then we began to settle down and find our rhythm finishing the quarter on a 10-3 run. The pace of the game was very fast – not something from which we will shy away. Having 11 players in our line up (more than all last year) allows us to go 11 deep. We outscored Bishop’s 18-14 in the second quarter to go into half time with a 3 point lead, 32-29. Our shooting stats were mediocre to poor, but our rebounding (including our offensive rebounding) was solid. We continued to improve through the second, making better shot selections (primarily due to better offensive movement), consequently improving our shooting percentages. We outscored Bishop’s 20-15 in the third and 22-20 in fourth to finish with a 74-64 win.
Brittany Moore led the way with 24 points, including a perfect 11 for 11 from the foul line. Paige Robinson had an excellent all round game with 19 points and a Player of the Game selection. Liz Boag continued her solid play with 14 points, 3 assists and 8 rebounds.

Q’s 62 vs. Montreal Dynamo 67
We played this Senior Women’s team last year and were schooled – a very talented, savvy group of ex-CIS All-Stars, All-Canadians and National team members. We came out, however, with what I will call attitude. Something oppositions are generally not pleased to face, but as a coach, it reminded me of some earlier Q’s teams that were very successful! We finished the first quarter with a 21-19 lead, thanks to some very good perimeter shooting and aggressive defence that led to many turnovers. The second quarter was not quite as quick as the first, but still as intense. We outscored the Dynamo 18-13 to lead 39-32 at the half. Our scoring dropped significantly in the second half, primarily due to the Dynamo changing to a zone defense for the entire half. While we have instituted a zone offense in practise, we have spent little time on it and the reads required to exploit the defense. Moving forward, our zone attack will develop and improve greatly. We were outscored 18-9 in the third and 17-14 in the fourth to finish down, 67-62. Four players however, finished in double figures with Hanna Koposhynska leading the way with 12 (along with 5 boards). Jenny Wright (4 assists, 6 boards), Lisa Minutillo (6 boards), and Rachael Urosevic each had 10 points, with Minutillo being named Player of the Game.

Q’s 62 vs. Toronto 69
The intensity and focus of the previous game was sadly lacking as U of T controlled the tempo and flow of the game from the opening tip. Playing in a tentative and reactive mode left us trailing 18-11 after one quarter, and 38-22 at the half. We did open the third quarter with a much more spirited effort to close to within 7, before slipping back to a 14 point spread at the end of the third. We continued to battle, however, closing to within 5 with 2 minutes to go. The final ended up 7, at 69-62. Jenny Wright and Lisa Minutillo each had 14 points (Wright named Player of the Game), while Hanna Koposhynska added 10 points and 6 boards, and was named to the Tournament All-Star Team.
We accomplished many things in the tournament, not the least of which is the identification of the areas needing improvement.

Up Next at Home:

Tindall Tournament

Friday, October 21
6:00pm Queen’s vs. Dalhousie
8:00pm Guelph vs. UQAM

Saturday, October 22
6:00pm Queen’s vs. Guelph
8:00pm UQAM vs. Dalhousie

Sunday, October 23
12:00n Dalhousie vs. Guelph
2:00pm Queen’s vs. UQAM

Have a great week.
Dave.