Win and they’re in

Hurricanes can clinch nationals berth with win today in ACAA semifinal

Darcy Zinck is looking to extend her college basketball career by a few more games. The Halifax native and her Holland College Hurricanes teammates begin the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) women’s basketball championship today in Sackville, N.B.

A win today gets the Hurricanes into Sunday’s final and clinches them a berth in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) championships in Edmonton, March 15-18. The ACAA has two berths in this year’s nationals.

Zinck, who turns 25 at the end of the month, is in her final year of eligibility.

“It’s a little bittersweet because it’s my last year, so I . . . want to stretch it out a little bit longer,” the guard said before practice earlier this week. The Hurricanes went 17-1 in regular season play and enter the playoffs as the top-ranked team. They play the St. Thomas Tommies today at 1 p.m. in semifinal action.

“We really earned it. We really gelled and worked very hard for coach (Mike Connolly) and he worked very hard for us,” Zinck said. “With (assistant coach) Katie (Hamilton) kind of taking control of our offence, I think that we’ve got all the pieces to be very successful this weekend and hopefully successful at nationals.”

The team can put up a lot of points but has given up too many in recent games, Connolly said.

“We just didn’t bring the energy level and the urgency that’s required,” he said. This weekend, “we’ll be playing a pressing game. We’ll be up and at ’em, in passing lanes, anticipating and allowing our athletes to be athletes.”

Zinck said the team has the talent to be a good defensive squad.

“We’ll lock up defensively and we’ll be good to go.”