Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

Tuesday October 31st, the OUA women’s basketball season gets underway when the Western Mustangs host the Windsor Lancers in a OUA West matchup. Tuesday night game, halloween night, odd for those who’ve followed U SPORTS basketball but it’s basketball nonetheless. Only one game on tap for the opening night but it is not short of storylines to watch for between two teams that could be fighting for the division come February.

The Mustangs and Lancers are two great rebounding teams. Just a couple years ago they shared the top of the OUA leaderboards in rebounding and they’ve continued the style that got them there, with varying success in the preseason. They are both teams that will get contributions on the boards from players up and down the roster.

Through Western’s games at the Darcel Wright Memorial Classic at TMU, they stuck with teams during their offensive struggles using their rebounding to create and take away second chance opportunities. In their game against Victoria, eight players recorded at least one rebound and that is something that the Mustangs with the newly acquired length of MacKeely Shantz playing alongside Morgan Tamminga can capitalize on.

Western on the glass in the preseason made up for another area that they struggled with, and that Windsor can take advantage of, which is taking care of the basketball executing on offence. Western had a turnover problem in the preseason with passes getting picked off and ball pressure forcing turnovers, and Windsor strives on pressure and defence.

Windsor, in their preseason game against the Varsity Blues, showcased a defensive press that Toronto had trouble getting out of. They were very opportunistic in the passes they jumped and they were quick to jump on any careless ball movement and create transition opportunities which they either turned into baskets or trips to the foul line. Windsor’s high pressure defence can cause problems for the Mustangs and as a team that is at its best when it doesn’t get trapped in the half court, creating offence off defence will be a big key for the Lancers.

A player to watch on the Mustangs side is their newest addition via transfer from the Guelph Gryphons, MacKeely Shantz. MacKeely adds length to the Mustangs roster that they lost which will help defensively keeping teams on the perimeter. On the offensive end, MacKeely’s ability as a catch-and-go stretch forward or three guard, should add another facet to the Mustangs offence that will space the defence allowing Emily Capretta and the other guards to get to the rim easier.

Emily Capretta has emerged in the preseason as the new starting point guard, taking the minutes of Ariane Saumure who is in Ottawa now. How she is able to get into sets and execute the offence through the pressure of Windsor will be a key for Western keeping control of the game.

On the side of the Lancers, their edge on the glass will help them massively on both sides of the ball, and that starts with Kali Grootenboer. Kali gives the Lancers a lot of height inside the paint, and controlling the glass along with Reine Ndome who crashes the boards from the perimeter, will give Windsor important second chances and opportunities to draw fouls and get to the free throw line.

Reine Ndome provides energy and a steady force for the Lancers to keep the team on a path. Reine’s ability to crash the glass and play with a pace that others feed off of is vital for the Lancers, and the standard Reine sets for the team on the floor will go a long way in setting how the Lancers match up on Tuesday.

These two teams finished one game apart from each other last season with Windsor at 12-10 and Western at 11-11. Windsor and Western tied the season series with Windsor taking the slight tiebreaker beating Western by two while only losing to Western by one point. There couldn’t be much less that separated these two teams last year, but it’s a new slate starting Tuesday, and everything is to play for.