Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

Underdogs is a story of Brock Women’s Basketball and the growth of a program through the ups and downs. Starting with the 2015-2016 OUA season, this series will look in-depth at each season with interviews and features of players and staff associated with the program.

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The 2017 season was a year of two stories, the story of the people and the story of the players. A year with many trials and tribulations, the story of the basketball team is one that may not reflect the story of the group of people in Brock Women’s Basketball.

When you look at the 2017 season from an outside perspective, you see a group that never truly brought everything together. They were marred with injuries and the group they had wasn’t really experienced enough to take down the teams they faced during the year.

They finished 6-18, played most of their games with an incomplete roster and only had a few moments throughout the year where fans saw what the team was fully capable of. They pushed through every game and made it through on the skill of the players they had, but the bond of the players was a different story. That was a story of care and support and helping each other enjoy their year the best they possibly could.

Let’s start with the story of the people. Baelie, Allie, Shannon, Ana and Stephanie were the only returning players on the 2017 roster. Baelie and Allie had grown a connection that was inseparable while the group of five shared a bond that had carried them through much adversity, and would only improve as they were faced with more during the 2017 season.

Ginny Cape, Kristin Gallant, Miranda Smith, Lauren Zonneveld, Brooke-lyn Murdoch, Courtney McPherson and Ieva Sukeviciute, they grew closer through the tribulations they faced during the year. It started with the preseason and the time they spent together during the month of October.

Though six games in two different locations throughout three weeks is a lot of basketball, the time they spent together and the fun they had is something that cannot be replicated and it’s what forged a lot of the strong relationships that grew throughout the year.

“The basketball was really draining and tiring just because of how much we played and the amount of travelling, but I think the time we spent together with all the travelling we did and being around each other so much, was so much fun and really brought us all together,” Ginny Cape said when looking back on her first preseason in the OUA.

They lost all six of their preseason games. Three in Halifax and three in Montreal. They had a lot of fun around each other and took the experience in the best way they could. That became the story of the season for the Badgers who were getting used to the style they were playing and the identity of the team that had so many new faces. 67-60 loss against Dalhousie on October 14th, 69-54 loss to Saint Mary’s on October 15th, a 82-60 defeat at the Hands of the Memorial Seahawks on the 20th, 69-56 loss against Laval the next day and finishing off the preseason with a 63-51 loss against the UPEI Panthers, and suddenly the regular season was here.

October 25, 2017 against the Western Mustangs. A mix of nerves and excitement rushed over Brock Women’s Basketball as the season got underway. Brock started off evenly matched with the Mustangs, down 14-12 after the first quarter. Brock’s guards used their speed to get inside the paint and the athleticism of the young Badgers squad pushed them to a 29-26 lead at the half. Stephanie Findlay, a forward who transferred to the Badgers midway through the previous season, scored 13 points in the second half as the Badgers continued to use their movement to get inside, culminating in a 23-10 fourth quarter and a 62-53 win to start off the season.

“I remember I was nervous at the home opener. I was of course extra nervous because it was my first year, but I was nervous about how we would do,” rookie guard Kristin Gallant noted. Kristin scored seven points and was the leading contributor off the bench for the Badgers, and it wasn’t long until she became one of the biggest pieces for the Badgers.

Brooke-lyn Murdoch transferred to Brock from Niagara College. Men’s head coach Charles Kissi was scouting Brooke-lyn for different OUA schools, and his recommendations to Ashley MacSporran got Ashley interested in bringing Brooke in to replace Bridget and Melissa, and she ended up being the starting point guard for the Badgers alongside her Niagara College teammate Courtney McPherson.

Brooke-lyn was a pass-first point guard who used her IQ to excel her decision making, and facilitated much of the Badgers offence, while getting her own shots through the flow of the offence.

In her second game of the season against the Laurier Golden Hawks, Brooke-lyn had her time to shine. Playing 40 minutes, she shined under the spotlight and led the team with 19 points. Her size and strength helped her gain the advantage in her matchup, and her knowledge of what position to be at in different situations put her at the right spot to grab seven rebounds, six of which on the defensive side to take away Laurier second chances.

Kristin Gallant, the rookie who had led the team off the bench in their home opener, improved on her performance in their second game. She scored 13 points against the Golden Hawks and made an impact in many other aspects of the game. She secured six rebounds, the most of any of the bench players, and dished out six assists while stealing the ball on three possessions, an all-around performance that gained the trust of the coaching staff and increased her role and dependence moving forward.

The Badgers won their game against Laurier 65-50 and were 2-0 going into what was the first of many setbacks on the court that season.

Their next two games, a weekend road trip to York and Queen’s, was the appearance of a load of adversity, and how the team and the individual players handled it, was clear to see in the outcome. It started with a 55-46 loss to the York Lions on Friday November 3rd. York at the time was a big and physical team, one with a strong veteran leadership and a suffocating defence, as they’ve had for several years.

Brock, young and not as disciplined, used their talent to give the Lions a fight but in the end the consistency of the Lions kept them one step ahead of the Badgers and they sent Brock packing and on the road to Queen’s for a game the following night. Kristin Gallant was injured during the game by York All-Star Lindsay Shotbolt, and while it didn’t take her out of the game, she felt it the following day.

Brock took a bus from York to Kingston immediately after the games on Friday night, and arrived in Kingston at 2am on Saturday, with limited hours to rest before having a morning shoot at the university and a game that evening.

Kristin could barely leave her hotel room due to the pain she felt from the hit she took. She rested a majority of the day and still wasn’t close to fully recovered for tip-off at 6pm. The rest of the team pushed through, and more importantly pushed each other through to get to tip-off and they were ready to play the strong Queen’s Gaels who were solid on both ends of the court.

Adversity can be handled in many different ways, some step up, and some let it consume them, and for the starting lineup of that Brock Badgers squad, they gave everything they could, especially Kristin. Kristin led the Badgers with 23 of their 38 points, being the spark and focal point of their play throughout the game, and the energy she brought despite the soreness from the night before, inspired her teammates who played for each other much of the season.

“I think because there were so many new girls, everyone was trying to do their best. We didn’t have a single person who could handle a lot, so everyone had to do something. For a lot of the season we were kind of experimenting because of how many new players we had, and a lot of our motivation had to come from ourselves and pushing each other, because of the strain in the relationship with the coaching staff”, said Kristin Gallant when looking at the way players had to step up for each other throughout the season.

That game against Queen’s was exactly what Kristin spoke of. Individuals stepping up to take the place of others who were struggling. With the conditions and adversity they were presented, arriving at Queen’s during the middle of the night and being barely rested for a game following a physical battle the previous night, their efforts on the court had to come from individuals will to win. Through it wasn’t enough to win, individuals like Kristin and other starters showed that, and it sparked a passion to put each other in the best position to win.