The St. Thomas University Tommies women’s basketball program was one win away from an Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association banner last year.
They return seven athletes from last year’s team, Madison Owens, Emily Owens, Kiandra MacMullin, Becca MacNeil, Christina Richardson, 2018-19 CCAA All-Canadian, Bridget Frazee and 2018-19 ACAA Rookie of the Year, Vanessa Soffee. Added into the mix are four rookies, Abby Draper, Cassy Hemphill, Sam Stordy and Emma Connors, and two ACAA transfers in Morgan McHatten and Kassidy Hamilton. Put it all together and the Tommies have a solid core for the 2019-20 season.
Head coach Fred Connors knows what it takes to win at the ACAA level, and has his team looking beyond the individual accolades.
“We expect everyone to come and play hard and work together as a team. All of our players have one goal that we want to reach and it’s not an individual award.”
With nine players in their first or second year with the team it can be tough to find a rhythm early in the season, and that has been the case at time with the Tommies. They have a nine-game preseason schedule before they open up regular season action at home November 2nd vs the Mount Allison University Mounties.
“We like our roster,” said Connors. “We are still learning how to play together as a unit, but we have a nice balance of skills and experience. The returning group is eager to compete, and the new players are very keen and energized to make everyone around them better. We have seen some impressive spurts in the pre-season, we just need to keep working towards consistency.”
As is always the case with a new ACAA season, there has been some movement around the league and each team is looking to the 2019-20 season with optimism.
“We know there has been a lot of movement in the league and are seeing some strong squads across the ACAA,” said Connors. “We are going to focus on us and our growth and keep learning as much as we can to get ready for the season.”
Connors has always had a defensive minded squad that puts the team first, and that can be expected once again for the upcoming year, with Connors knowing there is a balance of control and pace in the tempo of play.
“We would like to get out and run and play at a high tempo. But we also want to do that with a sense of control and purpose, which can be a delicate balance with the players. We will work hard and be intense.”
The Tommies will continue their preseason schedule this weekend with Tommies Nation able to see them in action live during the Ken Gould Invitational starting Friday night when they face the Champlain Lennoxville Cougars at 6:00pm.