Capers to honour senior basketball players.
Graduating Capers play final home games this weekend
Three members of the Cape Breton Capers women’s basketball team have been through ups and downs with their team over their careers.
But Colleen Keane, Jalynn Skeir and Natasha Roach hope to have saved their best for last in their final season. The Capers host the Saint Mary’s Huskies tonight and Saturday in their last games of the regular season.
The trio, all in their fifth and final year of eligibility, will hit the hardwood at Sullivan Fieldhouse for the last time in a bittersweet farewell.
“It’s flown by. I’ll definitely miss it, miss the competition, practices and having a team and a coach always there to support (you),” said Keane, 23, a 5-9 forward from Scarborough, Ont.
Skeir said this weekend will be a time to reflect on their time with the program.
“To say that we were here during the rough times… for us to be part of that rough team and part of this team that could possibly win, it’s cool,” said the 22-year-old, 5-2 guard from Halifax.
Roach, a 5-7 guard, said she’ll never forget her teammates.
“Every one of my team members from first year to last year and how we all got better every year,” said the 23-year-old from Montreal. “The fun jokes, practice times, and I’m going to miss (head coach Fabian McKenzie and assistant coach Doug Connors). I didn’t think I could get as good as I am now and as confident as I am now.”
The Capers women (12-6) are third in the conference and are chasing first-place Saint Mary’s (14-4) in the standings. CBU is looking to snap a four-game losing streak, their longest of the season.
The three players have seen a big change since their first season, when the young Capers missed the playoffs with a 6-14 record. Now, they’re contenders for the Atlantic University Sport championship.
“We’ve only missed the playoffs twice since I was here. One was their first year,” said head coach Fabian McKenzie. “It was a total rebuild year and they gutted that out with me, so I have a lot of respect for them, the loyalty and how hard they’ve worked to help us get back here. We’ve been in the playoffs ever since and they’ve been a huge part of it, all in different ways.”
The Capers men’s squad has one graduating player, fifthyear Seth Amoah of Montreal. The 6-2 guard won’t be in action this weekend, however, due to injury. It’s been a tough season on the injury front for Amoah, who’s appeared in only seven games in his final year.
“I really wished that Seth’s senior year had gone differently for him,” said CBU men’s coach David Petroziello. “He would have been a great asset to the team. He’s such a tremendous athlete and game-changing athlete and a really smart player on the floor that having him be active for us day in and day out in practice and during the games definitely would have helped our team.”
The Capers men (0-18) will look to get into the win column against the third-place Huskies (11-7).
Tipoff tonight and Saturday is 6 p.m. (women) and 8 p.m. (men).