Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

Whether you call it rebuilding or retooling, the Guelph Gryphons women’s basketball team is going through some substantial changes this summer. After a 16-6 season that ended with a quarterfinal loss to the McMaster Marauders, the Gryphons are losing 4 leaders and there’s going to probably be an adjustment phase throughout the 2023-2024 season.

The Gryphons will be without MacKeely Shantz, Natalie Vigna, Marielle Kleuskens and Tatjana Burke, four instrumental pieces to the Gryphons success the last 3-4 seasons. In their place they’ve added Macy Weber, Ella Thomas, Keryl Ousey, Sarah Metwally, Grace Kelly and Delaney Cortes as their recruits for the 2023 season.

Guelph starts the season at home against the Ottawa Gee-Gees and Carleton Ravens, throwing the team into the fire immediately against two of the leagues top teams from last season. Starting off the year with those opponents followed by two divisional games against the Waterloo Warriors, the Gryphons will need their veterans to step up in a big way against these experienced squads.

Specifically, i’m looking at Renee Armstrong and Julia Colavecchia. Ottawa is going to provide a massive challenge on the glass for the Gryphons and they lost a lot of their rebounding with their veterans departing in the offseason. Julia being able to space the floor offensively but also crash the glass on both ends will be vital going against the size of the Gee-Gees, and will be a way for the Gryphons to gain an advantage inside against the Ravens.

Renee Armstrong will probably have to handle a majority of the point guard responsibilities for this year with the loss of Vigna and Shantz who both brought the ball up at times. The Gryphons brought in several guard recruits in Grace Kelly, Sarah Metwally, Delaney Cortes and Macy Weber, but as they get acclimated to the Guelph system, Renee will have to not just be a mentor but one of the main pieces that the game flows through.

Keryl Ousey, a 6’2 C from Australia will be replacing Marielle Kleuskens and Tatjana Burke inside the paint. With help from Trinity Papamandjaris and the aforementioned Colavecchia, the paint presence of the Gryphons will be tested not just against Ottawa but midway through the season when they travel to Kingston to take on the Queen’s Gaels who added size of their own amongst their recruits.

Looking within their division, the Gryphons hold an advantage in the front court, specifically in their depth compared to the teams who finished at the top last season. Guelph’s backcourt while deep with their additions of the four guards plus the returning Alexandra Urban and Renee Armstrong among others, may have some growing pains getting all of the new faces into the system and going against a Waterloo team who have as much foundation in the backcourt, it doesn’t appear as a clear advantage.

Where this benefits the Gryphons is in their inside-out play style. The last couple years, Gryphons played great when they got the ball into the post and Natalie or MacKeely worked off the ball using screens and constant movement to try and clear up a lane or an open elbow three. With the Gryphons strengths inside the paint and the knowledge their group of forwards have, using their forwards as facilitators in the half court can benefit the group of guards they have.

I expect there to be growing periods with such a large recruiting class. Questions lie in how quickly the backcourt can gel together but with how they play and the players they still have, an opportunity awaits for the Gryphons to make a run at their division that was held by Waterloo last year, and get off on a strong foot in what looks to be a transition towards a new core of players.