Women's Basketball - Update

Hi Folks,

Time for a mid-summer update – let’s start with a quiz.  What do the following 10 players have in common?

Marianne Alarie

Liz Boag

Gemma Bullard

Abby Dixon

Emily Hazlett

Nicole Morse

Robyn Pearson

Andrea Priamo

Sarah Saftich

Jenny Wright

Answer – see bottom of this note.

Our summer basketball camps have gone very well.  All but our earliest camp have been sold out.  We have two camps left in August --- the Basketball Camp (Gr.2-5) is sold out, and we have just opened another section in the Basketball Academy (Gr. 6-8) running August 17-21 to accommodate the growing waiting list.

Our league schedule is up on our website (www.queensbasketball.net) and will have our exhibition schedule up as soon as possible.  To date, this is what our exhibition schedule looks like:

Thursday, August 27 10:30am (local time) @ Lima Horta (Spanish Pro Team champions) Barcelona

Friday, August 28 10:15am (local time) @ Sant Adriá (Spanish Pro Team) Barcelona

Monday, September 21 @ St. Lawrence College (Kingston) 6pm

Friday, October 2 @ Concordia University (Montreal) 8pm (following a men’s game)

Tindall Tournament

Friday, October 16 vs. UQAM 6pm

Saturday, October 17 vs. Memorial U. 6pm

Sunday, October 18 vs. Carleton U. 2pm

Thursday, October 22 @ Brock U. (St. Catharines) 6pm (time to be confirmed)

Friday, October 23 @ McMaster U. (Hamilton) 1pm

Saturday, October 24 @ Guelph U. (Guelph) 6pm

Saturday, January 9 vs. McGill 2pm (to be confirmed)

Also in conjunction with the Tindall Tournament will be our Alumni vs. Alumni game at 1:00pm on Saturday, October 17.  A reception and silent auction will be held in the ARC following our 6:00pm game where we will be honouring team members from the 1995-96 to 1999-2000 teams.  Wendy Moon will be on hand to speak on behalf of those teams.  All friends of Queen’s basketball can register for the event (and receive a discount on game tickets) at:  http://gogaelsgo.com/sports/2011/8/19/WBB_0819114220.aspx?path=wbball

You can also check out our facebook page at:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Queens-University-Womens-Basketball/410735072319684?sk=timeline&ref=page_internal

Training Camp and our trip to Spain is less than a month away.  Players have been working hard on their strength and conditioning programs, as well as on court basketball skills.  We will be ready to compete in Spain.  We also have a number of tours planned in the region – I’m sure there will be plenty of photos posted on facebook in time.

Hope you are enjoying your summer.

All the best.

Dave.

	All 10 were recognized as Academic All-Canadians (over 80% average)

 

Answer:

This is an amazing accomplishment for any varsity athlete, but especially with the long basketball season ….. and to have 10 in one year is unprecedented!  No question our team environment has helped the student-athletes, who support each other both on and off the court.

Women's Basketball - Update

Hi Folks,

A few things to catch you up on………

Our Colour Awards (Athletic Banquet) was held in late March, revealing some extraordinary accomplishments and accolades, namely:

1.       Our team awards were presented to:

a.       Marianne Alarie as the Rookie of the Year

b.      Gemma Bullard and Jenny Wright as co-recipients of the Coach’s Award

c.       Liz Boag as the team’s Most Valuable Player

2.       Kathryn Telford, our lead Student Trainer won the Hal Dunlop trophy as the university’s top student trainer.  Kat has been an integral part of our team for the past two seasons, and will be moving on to Chiropractic College this fall.

3.       Liz Boag received the PHE 55 Award as the Top Female Athlete in the University.  Liz is one of only a handful of athletes to capture the Alfie Pierce Award (as the Top Rookie) in her first year and then be awarded the PHE 55 in her fifth year.  Outstanding!

Two days after Colour Awards, our team headed to Toronto to catch the Raptors-Lakers game at the Air Canada Centre.  Courtesy of Robyn Pearson’s parents, the team was treated to a Skybox experience for the second year in a row (complete with food and beverages), and were invited down to floor level for the Raptors warm up.  Raptors commentator, Jack Armstrong, was kind enough to come over and chat with the players.

Our trip to Barcelona, Spain, scheduled for late August is starting to take shape. Still a number of tweaks to be made, but hopefully I can share the itinerary in the next newsletter.

Our Alumni Game and Reception (complete with Silent Auction) has been established for the fall, again in conjunction with our Tindall Tournament.  October 16-18 are the dates, with the Alumni Game to take place on Saturday, October 17, 2015.  We will be honouring team members from the 1995-96 to 1999-2000 teams.  Please put these dates on your calendar and I will follow up with more information in a later Newsletter.

We are gearing up to host the JUEL and JUEL-Prep Championships on May 8-10.  In addition, we are also hosting the OUA All-Star game as a feature on the Saturday evening (7pm tip time).  The All Star game will include Jenny Wright and Liz Boag.  Over the course of the weekend, we will have up to 5 gyms running at time – a huge undertaking.  Anyone wishing to help out would be welcomed with open arms – just drop me a note.

Lastly, we are heading into Summer Camp Season with our Thursday nights, Elite Training and Scrimmage the first to hit the floor, beginning May 28^th.  For a list of all our camps, please check out:  http://rec.gogaelsgo.com/sports/2015/2/18/CAMPS-KIDS_0218153233.aspx# (under Sport Specific Camps).

That’s it for now.

All the best.

Dave.

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

A very disappointing performance against McMaster, left us with a 45-74 loss – our first double digit loss in league play this season.  Both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net early in the game, going more than 3 minutes before the first score (by McMaster) and more than 5 minutes before we broke the ice.  We ended up shooting 5-20 in the first quarter (25%), managing only 12 points (equaled by Mac).  Then the game went askew – Mac shot 12-19 in the second quarter, while we shot 3-20, and were outscored 26-9.  We continued to be outscored in the third and fourth quarter, 17-11 and 19-13 respectively.  McMaster scored 19 points off our turnovers, and had 21 second chance points (dominating us on the boards).  Gemma Bullard was our lone player in double digits scoring with 11 points, while Robyn Pearson grabbed 12 boards.

Q’s SID Report:  http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2015/2/7/WBB_0207153844.aspx?path=wbball

We sit in second place in our division with a 9-6 record, only 1 game ahead of Toronto.  We host the first and second place teams in the Northern Division (Ottawa & Carleton), before completing the regular season on the road against Division rivals, Toronto & Ryerson.

With Saturday being our last regular season home game, we will be honouring our graduating athletes (Liz Boag, Gemma Bullard & Jenny Wright) immediately following our game against Ottawa.  At half time of that game, we will be honouring the parents of our entire team.

Up Next at Home:

Friday, February 13 vs. Carleton  6pm

Saturday, February 14 vs. Ottawa  6pm  (Graduating Athlete Night)

Up Next on the Road:

Friday, February 20 @ Ryerson  6pm

Saturday, February 21 @ Toronto  6pm

Have a great week!

Dave.

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Just one game to report on this week; a win over York 66-56.  This marks our 5^th consecutive league win, running our record to 7-3.  It also marks the first league game where we had all of our players healthy as Gemma Bullard returned to the lineup, having been sidelined since the middle of October.

It was a game of quarters as we jumped out to an early lead – as big as 10 points – but York kept battling back.  We led 22-17 after the first.  Our offense was solid, but our defense was inconsistent.  York owned the second quarter as our shooting went cold (4/22), managing only 10 points to York’s 15, to leave us tied at 32 at the break.  Our third quarter was by far our best, going 11/22 from the floor while racking up 24 points and holding York to 8.  The fourth quarter was a repeat of the 2^nd with York cutting into our 16 point lead, but never really threatening the outcome.  Jenny Wright finished with 15 points and 7 boards, while Liz Boag has 12 points and 5 assists.   Andrea Priamo also had 12 points and 7 boards.

Q’s SID Report:  http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2015/1/17/WBB_0117152501.aspx?path=wbball


On a separate note, Emily Hazlett was named Queen’s Athlete of the Week last week for her outstanding performances against Nipissing and Laurentian.

A quick update on our Shoot for the Cure initiative.  Thanks to some recent donations, we have now pushed the total to over $4,000.  Thanks for making this such a successful venture.  Special thanks to Andrea Priamo, Gemma Bullard, Nicole Morse, Abby Dixon and Emily Hazlett for donating their hair for the making of wigs.

Up Next at Home:
Friday, January 23 vs. Toronto  6pm
Saturday, January 24 vs. Ryerson  6pm

Up Next on the Road:
Friday, January 30 @ Windsor  6pm
Saturday, January 31 @ Western  6pm

Have a great week!

Dave.

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Another very successful league weekend as we beat Nipissing 90-34 and Laurentian 89-62 to move our league record to 6-3. Our defence was sloppy to open the game against Nipissing, allowing 13 first quarter points to a team that is averaging only 27 points per game.  We still led 19-13 after the first, but then tightened our defence in the second to surrender only 6 points to our 32.  Our defence caused the young Nipissing team to turn the ball over (34 times) allowing us some easy run out points and a shooting percentage topping 46%.  Jenny Wright finished with 15 points, while 3 players had 12.  Robyn Pearson had 8 boards to go along with her dozen; rookie Maddie Morris notched her career high; and Emily Hazlett also grabbed 7 boards.

We started the game very sharply on Saturday against Laurentian – the best first half of basketball I have seen from our team in a number of years.  Our defence completely smothered Laurentian, forcing bad shots, hurried shots, and many turnovers.  We outscored them 26-9 in the first quarter and 29-8 in the second quarter to lead 55-17 at the half.  Our focus was not as sharp in the second half as we rode the big lead into the 89-62 final.  Five players hit double digits in scoring: Liz Boag with 19, Emily Hazlett 17 (and 7 boards), Robyn Pearson 12 (and 9 boards), Andrea Priamo and rookie Marianne Alarie (a Sudbury native), each with 10.

Q’s SID Nipissing Report:  http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2015/1/9/WBB_0109152322.aspx?path=wbball

Q’s SID Laurentian Report:  http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2015/1/10/WBB_0110151224.aspx

The Nipissing game also marked our Shoot for the Cure initiative to help raise money and awareness of Breast Cancer.  Five players donated their hair for the purpose of making wigs for cancer survivors.  Andrea Priamo took the lead on this initiative and also raised the most amount of money.  In addition to Andrea, Abby Dixon, Emily Hazlett, Gemma Bullard, and Nicole Morse all donated their hair.  Thank you to all who donated: more than $3,800 was raised.  If you would like to donate, please visit:  http://my.e2rm.com/TeamPage.aspx?langPref=en-CA&TSID=529602

I am very pleased to announce that Gael Alumni, Claire Meadows has been named the next Head Coach of the University of British Columbia-Okanagan.  She will assume her new position following the completion of this season.  Claire was a Gael from 2002 to 2007 capturing many awards.  She was named the team’s Rookie of the Year in her first season, followed by the team’s Most Improved Player in year 2.  She was the team’s Defensive Player of the Year in her 3^rd season and followed that with consecutive team MVPs and OUA All-Star selections.  She finished her career as Queen’s second all-time leading scorer.  While working towards her Master’s Degree in Coaching in the summers, Claire interned as an assistant coach at Queen’s for the 2010-11 season.  The following year, she interned with the University of Alberta, before securing the Assistant Coach position at the University of Lethbridge in 2012.  Please see the UBC-O press release for further details:  https://news.ok.ubc.ca/athrec/2015/01/06/26500/

Up Next on the Road:

Saturday, January 17 @ York  6pm

Up Next at Home:

Friday, January 23 vs. Toronto  6pm

Saturday, January 23 vs. Ryerson  6pm

Have a great week!

Dave.

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a great holiday break and were able to relax and enjoy time with family and friends.

We headed to Montreal for the Concordia tournament for 3 games, capturing only 1 win against 2 losses.  We beat Bishop’s 64-56, lost to Concordia 47-66 and to McMaster 48-75.  We are still not at full strength with Gemma Bullard & Gia Spiropoulos out of the line-up with concussions (and Emily Hazlett missing the last game of the tournament with a shoulder injury), but we are still struggling with our “finishing.”  We shot 34% vs. Bishop’s, but only 26% against Concordia and McMaster.  Our offensive execution was actually not bad (considering we had been off on holidays for a while), but our finishing and overall ball handling was questionable.  I am confident our scoring touch will return soon – we are too good a shooting team to be bogged down much longer.

SID game reports:  http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2014/12/28/WBB_1228144954.aspx?path=wbball

Shoot for the Cure – Breast Cancer Fundraiser game is this Friday, January 9^th against Nipissing.  Five of our players will be cutting their hair following our game and donating the locks for the making of wigs (Abby Dixon, Andrea Priamo, Emily Hazlett, Gemma Bullard, & Nicole Morse).  We are having a little contest (not that basketball players are competitive J) to see who can raise the most money – of course Breast Cancer Research is the ultimate winner.  If you would like to donate, please visit:  http://my.e2rm.com/TeamPage.aspx?teamID=582540&langPref=en-CA&Referrer=direct%2fnone

You can donate to an individual player or, if you wish to support all of them, you can donate to Queen’s and we will divide the donation equally amongst all 5 players.

I forgot to mention in my last Newsletter, that 2015 recruit, Myriam Fontaine, captured the Gold Medal at OFSAA in Cornwall in late November, leading the way with 16 points in the finals.  Congratulations to Myriam and her father, Steph, coach of the La Citadelle Patriotes.

Up Next at Home:

Friday, January 9 vs. Nipissing @ 6pm (Shoot for the Cure game)

Saturday, January 10 vs. Laurentian @ 6pm (Kingston Impact Day)

Up Next on the Road:

Saturday, January 17 @ York 6pm

Have a great week!

Dave.

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Despite playing short-handed (again) we managed two home wins during the week, beating York 73-38 and Algoma 72-38. Gemma Bullard, Gia Spiropoulos and Liz Boag all missed the games, while Emily Hazlett sat out almost the entire second half against Algoma after taking an elbow to the head.  Our defensive pressure was really the story in both games forcing York to cough the ball up 30 times and Algoma, 36 times.  Our shooting percentage against York still suffered (32%) from the floor but we had 24 more shots than York thanks to our offensive rebounding (22) and their turnovers.  Against Algoma, our shooting percentage was much better (41%) which is pushing closer to where we would like to be on the season.  With balanced scoring against York, our high scorer only recorded 12 points (Jenny Wright), with two others at 10 (Emily Hazlett & Abby Dixon).  Abby continued to find her range against Algoma, posting 20 points to go along with her 7 steals.  Jenny Wright added 11 points, with the rest of the scoring spread across almost the entire roster.

That ends our fall schedule with a league record of 4-3 (12-5 overall), with 12 league games scheduled for January/February. We spent the fall ranked in the Top 10 in Canada, but fell to #12 last week.  Not likely to climb back into the Top 10 this week, but stranger things have happened.

Hopefully, with the break now, we can see our sidelined players recover and return to full strength following the holiday break.  Time will tell.

Q’s SID reports:

http://www.gogaelsgo.com/index.aspx?path=wbball&tab=basketball(w)

http://www.gogaelsgo.com/index.aspx?path=wbball&tab=basketball(w)

We hosted our Annual ID/Training Camp on Saturday with 21 players attending (9 Grade 11s and 12 Grade 12s).  It was a very successful and busy day.  Thanks to all the players (and parents) for making the effort to attend.

Up Next on the Road:

Concordia Tournament

Sunday, December 28 tbd

Monday, December 29 tbd

Tuesday, December 30 vs. McMaster 12 noon

Have a great week!

Dave.

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Sorry for the delay in getting this newsletter out.  We had a disappointing split on the weekend, beating Guelph 65-55, and losing to Brock 64-73.

Our defense was quite strong through the first 3 quarters of the Guelph game, limiting them to 9, 12 and 11 points respectively.  After building an 18 point lead, we relaxed a little too much and surrendered 23 points in the fourth quarter, holding on for a 10 point win.  Our scoring remained quite consistent throughout the game (16, 17, 17, 15).  Our shooting percentage improved slightly from previous games, but is still not where it should be.  Our scoring was well distributed, with four players hitting double digits: Jenny Wright 15, Liz Boag 11, Emily Hazlett and Abby Dixon each 10.

Down another player (Liz Boag was injured late in the Guelph game – Gemma Bullard & Gia Spiropoulos continue to be sidelined by concussion) we battled step for step with Brock, ending with a 21-21 first quarter.  Shooting percentages dropped in the second quarter, while turnovers climbed, resulting in a 10-11 lack luster performance.  The third quarter proved to be our nemesis as we went down 13 at one point before pulling back to within 10 at the end of the third, 44-54.  We continued to chip away in the fourth going on an 11-1 run and tying the game at 55.  We never did gain the lead, having many opportunities, but unable to convert.  Down 3 late in the game, we were forced to foul and Brock went 6 for 6 from the line in the closing seconds leading to the 64-73 final.  Emily Hazlett led the way with double double from her point guard position with 19 points and 10 rebounds.  Abby Dixon and Jenny Wright each had 13 points, while Robyn Person hit double digits with 11 rebounds.

Our league record has fallen to an unenviable 2-3, and not surprisingly have lost our Top 10 ranking, dropping to #12.  We are looking to turn things around with our last two league games before the Christmas break, both at home.

The OUA “Uncovered” Magazine (Season Preview edition) was recently released which prominently featured our program, both on the cover and inside.  It can be seen here: http://issuu.com/ontariouniversityathletics/docs/2014-15_f_basketball_preview

Also note that all of our league games (home and away) are streamed on OUA.TV.  They can be watched live or afterwards by going to this site:  http://portal.stretchinternet.com/oua/

Last call for of our annual ID/Training Camp on Saturday, November 29, 2014.  This is an ideal opportunity for anyone in Grades 11 or 12 to display their talents and receive instruction from the Queen’s coaching staff.  The day’s schedule is as follows:

 

     9:30-11:45am On-court session

     11:45-12:15pm Lunch break (on own)

     12:15-12:45pm Facility Tour (parent’s welcome)

     12:45-1:30pm Q&A session with Q’s coaches (parent’s welcome)

     1:30-3:30pm On-court session

 

There is no cost for the ID/Training Camp – just let me know so that I can prepare for the numbers. We have just over 20 attending at this point.

Up Next at Home:

Wednesday, November 25 vs. York 6pm

Friday, November 28 vs. Algoma 6pm

Have a great week!

Dave.

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Just one game to report on this week: a 69-60 victory over Ottawa.  It was nice to be back at home where our record, dating back to last season, is now 21-2.  Great to play in front of our home town crowd.

Queen’s 69 – Ottawa 60

There are a couple of important notes about this game.  One, Ottawa had a very depleted line-up, missing their starting post player (6-2), their starting forward (6-1), and starting point guard (5-11).  This left them with a fairly small and inexperienced line up.  Two, despite the final score, this was one of our worst executed games, resulting in 21 turnovers and only 50 field goal attempts (we normally have over 70).  Ottawa did a very good job of taking us out of our rhythm, making it difficult to get any sustained runs going in the game.  On the bright side, we did force 26 turnovers, but had difficulty converting the turnovers into points.  We were aggressive taking the ball to the basket and were rewarded with 45 foul shots.  However, we only converted 25 of those shots, leaving behind 20 points from the foul line.  The one bright spot (without a caveat) was our 3 point shooting, going 6-15 (40%).

Jenny Wright led the way with 18 points, while Liz Boag added 13.  Abby Dixon and Andrea Priamo, both added 11 points and grabbed 7 and 6 rebounds respectively.  Robyn Pearson continued her dominance on the boards with 11 rebounds to go along with her 8 points.

SID Report:  http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2014/11/1/WBB_1101140546.aspx

A reminder, we will be holding our annual ID/Training Camp on Saturday, November 29, 2014.  This is an ideal opportunity for anyone in Grades 11 or 12 to display their talents and receive instruction from the Queen’s coaching staff.  The day’s schedule is as follows:

 

  9:30-11:45am On-court session

  11:45-12:15pm Lunch break (on own)

  12:15-12:45pm Facility Tour (parent’s welcome)

  12:45-1:30pm Q&A session with Q’s coaches (parent’s welcome)

  1:30-3:30pm On-court session

 

 There is no cost for the ID/Training Camp – just let me know so that I can prepare for the numbers.

Our fall exhibition season has come to a close, with league play starting on the road this weekend.  Our overall record is 8-3 (7-3 vs. CIS schools) and we are ranked #9 in Canada in the first poll of the season.  Realistically, we need to be playing better by the weekend if we want to beat a very tough Lakehead squad, on the road.

Up Next on the Road:

Friday, November 7 @ Lakehead  6pm

Up Next at Home:

Friday, November 14 vs. Waterloo  6pm

Saturday, November 15 vs. Laurier  6pm

Have a great week!

Dave.

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

We had a bit of a rough weekend as we played 3 very tough teams in the Carleton tournament, beating Memorial by 6 (71-65), losing to UQAM by 9 (65-74) and losing to Carleton by 5 (61-66).  Memorial actually ended up winning the tournament as they won both their other games.  I thought our performance on Friday versus Memorial was so-so, lacking consistency and, at times, sloppy.  Saturday versus UQAM our execution and intensity was very poor – possibly our weakest performance of the year.  On Sunday versus Carleton we had a brutal start to the game, going down 18-2 before beginning to play possibly our best basketball of the weekend.  Liz Boag was selected to the tournament All-Star team after amassing 56 points and 12 assists.

Our next biggest challenge is to get healthy.  We have two players out with concussion (Gemma & Jenny) and numerous others battling the flu.

Queen’s 71 – Memorial 65

Queen’s 65 – UQAM 74

Queen’s 61 – Carleton 66

Queen’s Sports Information recap:  http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2014/10/24/WBB_1024141252.aspx?path=wbball

A reminder, we will be holding our annual ID/Training Camp on Saturday, November 29, 2014.  This is an ideal opportunity for anyone in Grades 11 or 12 to display their talents and receive instruction from the Queen’s coaching staff.  The day’s schedule is as follows:

 

 9:30-11:45am On-court session

 11:45-12:15pm Lunch break (on own)

 12:15-12:45pm Facility Tour (parent’s welcome)

 12:45-1:30pm Q&A session with Q’s coaches (parent’s welcome)

 1:30-3:30pm On-court session

 

 There is no cost for the ID/Training Camp – just let me know so that I can prepare for the numbers.

Up Next at Home:

Saturday, November 1 vs. Ottawa  6pm

Up Next on the Road:

Friday, November 7 @ Lakehead  6pm*

*first regular season league game

Have a great week.

Dave.