New-look Panthers are set to make mark on AUS
The UPEI Women’s Basketball Panthers will look a little different from the team that lost in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) championship game last spring.
A total of eight new faces will sport the green and white in an effort to bring championship glory to UPEI.
“When you have eight new players, it takes a little bit of time for it to come together,” said head coach Greg Gould, who decided to return as coach after taking a year off. “I thought I wouldn’t miss it, but I did.”
Entering his forty-fifth year of coaching, third as the Panthers’ bench boss, Gould has his work cut out for him. But he isn’t shying away from the challenge ahead. Gould said he’ll deploy a read and react-style offence focused on reading what the defence gives them and reacting accordingly.
“It’s not something that comes real quick, so you can’t diagram it. It will be a learning process and you can’t really speed that process up.”
Gould’s perimeter-oriented read and react scheme will allow each player to showcase their skills—an advantage that will make scouting a nightmare for the opposition.
“You can watch all the tapes you want, but you don’t know what they’re going to do,” he said.
Gould will lean heavily on six familiar faces to execute his game plan, and they’ll get every opportunity to lead the Panthers back to the postseason.
Jane McLaughlan and Kiera Rigby are expected to jump in the starting lineup alongside fifth-year players Katelynn Donahoe, Anne Kiberd and Tamara Tompkins.
“We expect them to be solid as they all have experience playing at the AUS level.”
At 6’2”, Elysia Drost will come off the bench and add length to a lineup that lacks size. While Chicago, Illinois native, Angenay Williams, will add a scoring punch in the second half of the season, when she becomes eligible to play.
The final seven roster spots will be filled by freshmen looking to make their mark on a young team.
The culture of winning is there, said Gould. The key is getting the young players to buy in to his system.
“If we can get our younger players up to speed quickly, we feel we can compete with most teams in the AUS.”
After a 4-4 preseason, the Panthers had their home opener on November 6 against St. Francis Xavier X-Women, followed by a second game against them on November 7, ending with impressive results both times for UPEI.
The Panthers were victorious in both games, winning 66-65 on Friday, and 75-66 on Saturday. High scorers in Friday’s game for UPEI were Anne Kiberd with 33 and Jane McLaughlin with 12 points while Katie Donahoe led with 25 points and Anne Kiberd with 14 in Saturday’s matchup.
“It came down to a battle of two different styles of play. They’re very post-oriented and we’re very perimeter-oriented, and our style won out in this round,” Gould said.
Contributed by Thomas Becker
