By: Dwayne Tingley
UPEI Panthers head coach Matt Gamblin talks proudly about his players and how they approach competition in the AUS women's basketball conference.
The Panthers finished first in the regular season with a 17-3 record and will be the top seed for the Subway AUS Basketall Championships, presented by PepsiCo Canada and Keep it Social, this weekend (Feb. 28 - March 1) at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
"We have seen lots of individual improvement and growth with our players," Gamblin said. "The most important thing is that they come in every day and want to work hard together and get better."
The Panthers and second-place Acadia Axewomen (16-4), who are the two-time defending AUS champions, have earned first-round byes in the tournament.
Games will begin on Friday at 1 p.m., when the fourth-place UNB Reds (10-10) face the fifth-place Cape Breton Capers (9-11).
The third-place Memorial Sea-Hawks (13-7) will tip off against the sixth-place Saint Mary's Huskies (10-10) at 6:30 p.m.
Semifinal games are scheduled for Saturday at 1 and 6:30 p.m. and the championship game is set for Sunday at 1 p.m.
The U SPORTS national championship tournament is slated for March 5-8 in Ottawa, Ont.
The Panthers and Axewomen finished in a tie for first place with 46 points each and they split their season series 1-1, but UPEI outscored Acadia in those games to clinch the top spot.
"All of the added pressures, distractions and expectations from AUS weekend need to be secondary to just trying to go out and do our job individually and as a team," said Gamblin, who has been coaching the Panthers for two seasons.
"To be successful, we will need to execute and be able to continue growing and improving as we have done all year long, but in a different environment," he said. "The court is the same size and hoops are the same height. We just need to go out and play."
The Panthers are led by league MVP and defensive player of the year Jenna Mae Ellsworth, and AUS first team all-star Reese Baxendale.
"Women's AUS is a great league and we have some real standout players who match up with anyone in the country," Gamblin said.
Axewomen head coach Len Harvey said regular season records will be meaningless when teams hit the floor at the Scotiabank Centre.
"It was another grind 'em out year in the AUS," Harvey said. "The records didn't accurately reflect how tough each night of play was, and I think once again, any team can get another on any given night.
"It's one of the downfalls for our conference's recognition across the country, but makes for an amazing number of games for fans and lots of excitement for players and coaches with such a competitive number of teams."
Harvey said the Axewomen, who had nine new players on their roster, were successful this season because of their depth, which made "us a difficult team to play against."
AUS first team all-star guard Haley McDonald paced the Axewomen and was the conference's second-leading scorer with an average of 24.2 points per game.
Sea-Hawks head coach and AUS Coach of the Year Mark English expects his team to maintain its aggressive defensive style that was its trademark during the regular season.
"We feel good about how our regular season has gone," he said "We had a lot of new faces to start the season but we really committed to growing as a team each day and not looking too far ahead.
"We just enjoyed the process and I think that focus and approach was important to our success."
Sea-Hawks fifth-year guard and AUS first team all-star Haille Nickerson led the conference in scoring with 24.6 points per game.
Reds head coach Jeff Speedy said his team has played well on the road this season so it will enter the playoff tournament with some confidence.
"We realize we won't be favoured or even considered by some to have a chance, but we believe in ourselves and think we will be a tough out for anyone," Speedy said.
"We will have to take care of the ball and rebound the ball," he continued. "We are a totally different team when we do those two things. We have also done a pretty decent job of taking teams out of what they want to do offensively."
Fourth-year point guard and AUS second team all-star Mikaela Dodig led the Reds in scoring with 14.6 points per game. She was tied for eighth in scoring in the conference.
Capers head coach Fabian McKenzie does not hide his disappointment.
"I did not feel good about how the season went," he said. "We had to battle many injuries, which limited our success.
"We are hoping to be able to give another team some grief and hopefully steal a first-round win," he continued. "We will need to be disciplined, make shots and play solid defence,"
AUS first team all-star guard MacKenzee Ryan paced the Capers with 17.6 points per game, good enough for sixth in the league. Guard Monique Calliste was named an AUS second team all-star and finished seventh with an average of 15 points per game.
Huskies head coach Scott Munro is looking for his team to play its best basketball of the season during the tournament.
"The regular season was about what I expected with a very competitive league," he noted. "The margin between winning and losing came down to just a couple of plays both ways many nights.
"The playoffs are a new season and it is all about the next game and, hopefully, the next game. You need a lot of things to come together on the weekend to come out on top."
AUS second team all-star guard Alaina McMillan led the Huskies in scoring. Her 14.6 points per game average was tied for eighth in the conference.