By: Monty Mosher
The Acadia Axewomen had to sit and watch at their bench as the Cape Breton Capers celebrated an AUS basketball title last March.
It's not the kind of memory that vanishes overnight.
The Axewomen have come back with one of their best seasons, vaulting to No. 1 in the national rankings earlier this season for the first time.
At 18-2, the Axewomen, under coach Len Harvey, will be the No. 1 seed entering the conference tournament beginning Friday afternoon at Scotiabank Centre.
The Capers, 13-7, sprinted in over the last two months, posting a 9-4 record that included a win over Acadia in Wolfville, to take second place and the other available opening round bye.
Saint Mary's, 11-9, faces Memorial, 11-9, to begin the quarter-finals on Friday at 1 p.m. UPEI, 11-9, faces UNB, 10-10, in the other quarter-final at 3 p.m.
The Axewomen, winners 97-93 at Cape Breton to close the regular season, have relied on a veteran core of Paloma Anderson, Chanel Smith, Katie Ross, Allie Berry and sharp-shooting junior Haley McDonald.
Anderson scored 18.9 points per game, second to Cape Breton's Alison Keough, the reigning league MVP who had a scorching second semester. McDonald led the conference with 58 three-pointers.
"We've been playing solidly, and really starting to execute some of the things we need to do to be successful in Halifax," said Harvey, aiming for a spot in the nationals starting March 8 in Regina. "I've been quite happy with the progress, and we are playing confidently and loose heading into the Scotiabank Centre."
But tournament basketball can be a cruel piece of business. Eighteen wins doesn't buy too many mistakes.
"This is a tough tournament, and I think everyone is a threat once again this year," said Harvey, whose team is ranked No. 3 nationally. "We need to be tough-minded and really dominate the glass to put ourselves in a good position to win."
Acadia will face the winner of the Saint Mary's/Memorial quarter-final on Saturday at 1 p.m. while Cape Breton will get UPEI or UNB at 3 p.m. The final is Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Capers went largely overlooked for much of the season, but surged in on the strength of dominant front-court play from Keough and Hannah Brown. Keough averaged a double-double with 19.2 points and 12 rebounds and Brown collected 16.2 points and 9.9 boards.
"We were picked to finish fifth in the pre-season poll so we are very happy to finish in second place," said Cape Breton coach Fabian McKenzie. "(There is) zero pressure on us right now. We will need to play good defence, have contributions from everyone and lots of luck to make a run at a title."
The Panthers make an interesting underdog. They've beaten everybody in the tournament and lost to all of them, too.
Kiera Rigby averaged 18.4 points and Jenna Mae Ellsworth 14.8 per game on offence, but coach Greg Gould is looking at the defensive end, where Carolina Del Santo led the AUS in rebounding and blocks.
With Acadia and Cape Breton getting all the attention battling for top spot, the Panthers crept home winning seven of their last 10.
"For our team to be successful we will need to play solid defence and rebound strong," said Gould. "This will be our fifth meeting with UNB this season. They are a deep, well-coached team who can get scoring from everyone on their roster. They are a senior-laden team with six fifth-year players."
It has been a rocky road for coach Jeff Speedy's Varsity Reds. He's had three players suffer ACL tears this season with two-time all-star Grace Wade among them. Wade, a senior, is playing despite the injury.
They also had all-stars Hannah Currie and Laura Kaye, also seniors, out for extended stretches of the second semester with ankle troubles.
The team, lost five in a row to close January, but won four out of five coming home.
"We have won three in a row and are starting to get healthy, so we are optimistic we can play well in Halifax," said Speedy.
The Huskies still have some players, notably Katrina Murrell, Kennisha-Shanice Luberisse and Shanieka Wood, who played significant roles in their run of four straight AUS titles that ended a year ago.
But Scott Munro's team had a 2-5 run in February with two losses to both Cape Breton and Acadia. They lost by 15 at Memorial on Sunday to cap the regular season.
"We're playing MUN for the third game in a row so I don't think there will be many surprises," he said. "We will have to find a way to score consistently starting with the first game. We have to rebound hard."
Memorial has all-star Sydney Stewart back from an ankle injury that cost her five weeks. She had 34 points in two games last weekend against Saint Mary's in a series split.
The Sea-Hawks won four of their last five games.
"I feel we are playing well," said Memorial coach Mark English. "We finally have a healthy line-up, which is exciting. "To finish the season with two games against your eventual first-round match-up is interesting. We got a good look at each other last weekend.
"They have the best defence in the conference. I feel if we can match their effort on defence, limit their second chances and play with high intensity on offence, we will give ourselves a good chance."
The AUS champion is the only guaranteed berth in the nationals, although Acadia would be a contender for a wild-card entry if they don't win this weekend.
For tickets to the 2018 Subway AUS Basketball Championships, please visit www.AUSHoops.ca.