The women’s basketball team ended their season on March 5 with a loss to the Crandall Chargers in the ACAA semifinals. The Mounties fought hard but just fell short of matching last year’s ACAA finals appearance. Despite the loss, the Mounties had an overall solid season. They finished with a 13-5 record in the regular season, good enough for third in the ACAA. They started the season with eight straight wins and only suffered losses to the Chargers and the Holland Hurricanes, the two teams ahead of them in the overall standings.
The highlight of the season was the overall defensive effort and skill of the Mounties. They led the league, allowing 53.4 points per game. The future of the Mounties looks bright, in part because of the play of first-year forward Kiersten Mangold. Mangold received the ACAA rookie of the year award, averaging 9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in her inaugural season. First-year player Kathleen Morrison also showed great potential, averaging five points and a team-leading 7.5 rebounds per game. The future potential does not stop there, with the team led by a quintet of second-year players: Jillian Edwards, Sara McGeachy, Becky Miller, Sara Ripley and Erin Steeves. All of them played major minutes for the Mounties this season. McGeachy led the group with 10.8 points and 2.6 assists.
The Mounties had two fourth-year seniors on the team this year who were leaders on and off the court and a large part of the Mounties’ success over the past two seasons.
Katie Lund has been a very steady player for the Mounties in her four-year career. She does a little bit of everything from her forward position. Using her great court awareness, Lund always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, whether it be to receive a pass, set a screen or draw the defense to create holes for her teammates. Her off-the-ball play is what is so valuable to the Mounties’ offence, and when she was asked to chip in on the scoreboard she did so with her soft hands and great ability to finish. This past season she averaged a team-leading 2.6 assists per game, to go along with 4.1 points and 5.8 rebounds.
The Mounties’ energy always seems to come from Maddyson McDonald. Whether it be from her diving on the floor to save a loose ball or finding the bottom of the net from a deep three, she seemed to always come through with a big play when the Mounties needed it. Always having to cover the best guard on the opposing team, she displayed her suffocating on-ball defence. She led the team this past season with 1.9 steals per game. Offensively she is the Mounties’ most dangerous threat from the three-point line with a percentage of 31.1 per cent to lead the team. This three-point prowess also helped her to lead the team with 10.9 points per game.