The chorus of a popular 1990s song by the rock group Chumbawamba could serve as an anthem for the St. Thomas Tommies women’s basketball team.
As the Tommies demonstrated repeatedly through the 12th annual Ken Gould basketball tournament recently, they got knocked down, but they got up again. And coach Fred Connors believes you’re never going to keep them down.
The word that best defines the 2023-24 edition of the Tommies: Resilient.
“There’s this really unique resiliency about this team,” Connors said. “They have this unique ability to slow themselves down, buckle down, defend a little harder, rebound a little more…they’re a determined group and a resilient bunch. And it’s really fun to coach that.”
They are young – with seven rookies, three second-year players and three in their third year, “this is the youngest team I will have coached here in my 21 years,” said Connors.
And they are banged up a bit as the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association regular season looms, with the Tommies opening at home Friday, October 27 at 6 pm when they host the UNBSJ Seawolves at the Lady Beaverbrook Gym, with injuries to Ella Delorme (concussion), Michaela Hansen (knee sprain) and Charlee Connors (concussion).
The Tommies played much of the Ken Gould tournament with just nine players at their disposal. But they managed two wins, and their only loss was by two in the dying seconds, 70-68 to the Mount Saint Vincent Mystics.
“This group has a lot of that youthful exuberance,” said Connors. “It’s been really refreshing to come into the gym, and everybody just really wants to get after it and get on the floor. They really want to get better and they want to compete. We’ll see how far we can go.”
Certainly, they showed potential. In that two-point loss, third-year point guard Kylee Roi was sidelined for the second half by the stomach flu. She was back to play the next two days, diving and determined and getting up after more than a couple of hard landings.
The Saint John native, and six-foot-two-inch third-year Celine Sterckel are team captains.
“I think we’re going to shock a lot of people this year,” Sterckel said, who wears a left knee brace after suffering a torn MCL, ACL and femur and tibia break during her rookie season two years ago. The brace will be part of her uniform for the rest of her basketball career.
“I find I’m conscious of it sometimes, but I’m starting to let myself play now,” she said.
Rookie Paige Leblanc, making the step up from Fredericton High School, is playing like a veteran already.
“She’s like throwing out a third or fourth-year player,” said Connors of the five-foot-eight-inch freshman. “She doesn’t get rattled, her skill set is excellent…she’s physically and mentally prepared to play at this level. I figured she was going to be very good when she got here, but she’s even better than what I expected.”
“I love the speed and the intensity…it’s so fun,” said Leblanc.
Even with coaching 21 years at this level, Connors can’t predict what to expect from this group.
“I really don’t know what to expect…I don’t think the team knows what to expect,” he said. “But I think the mindset is, we’re just going to keep getting better every day. Wherever it takes us at the end of the day, it’s going to take us. I think they think they can win this whole thing. And I’m not going to be the one to tell them they can’t.”
“I think everyone’s underestimating us right now…we’re ready,” said Leblanc.
Connors The Tommies finished 11-7, tied for fourth in league standings last year. Three-time team MVP Vanessa Soffee and former team captain Emily Owens are significant losses, but Leblanc, Charlee Connors, Sterckel and second-year forward Katie Vidito of Charlottetown and third-year Alyssa Jeffrey of Sussex represent the next wave.
The rest of the roster includes second-year guard Kathleen Quinlan of St. John’s, NL; and rookies Ella Hoyt of Saint John, Michaela Hansen of New Maryland, Kayden Schriver and Briana Bartley of Woodstock, Ella Delorme of Aylmer, QC and guard Reegan Kerr of Fredericton.
Connors’ coaching staff includes former Tommies stars Kathleen (McCann) Johnson and Ashley Bawn, and Ray Compas.