Veteran makes early return for UPEI women
The UPEI Panthers will have one of their veterans in the lineup tonight when they tipoff the Atlantic University Sport ( AUS) women’s basketball season.
Jenna Jones, a fourth- year Panthers guard from Riverview, N. B., was expected to miss the first half of the season. But she has put off having a knee procedure to December and has been cleared to play.
“It’s great to have her back,” said coach Greg Gould. “She is one of our fourth years, a captain and a real leader on the court and, of course, she gives us that great perimeter shooting.”
Her outside touch — she shot 40 per cent from behind the arc last season — opens the floor for her teammates to penetrate and finish at the rim or kick to a teammate.
UPEI will open the season tonight at 6 p. m. against the Acadia Axewomen.
The Panthers graduated three players ( Julia McKenna, Carly LaFave and Emily MacEachern) from last year, but have a strong class of six recruits coming in.
“The big challenge initially is to blend those two groups into an effective working group,” Gould said.
The mindset has changed from this time last year when first- year coach Gould was trying to instill a winning attitude around the team. It took some time, but has worked.
“They believe they can win. They believe they should win,” Gould said.
The team will look to pressure the ball more on defence and get out and run in transition when possible.
“We’re trying to be a little bit more of a transition team. We’re trying to push the ball on offence and try to create some early scoring opportunities,” the coach said.
The Panthers missed the playoffs last year, despite finishing sixth. With hosts UNB not finishing in the top six, only the top five and the host team made the playoffs.
This time around the Panthers are guaranteed their spot as host, but are not happy simply to play at the conference championship.
“We want to be a contender. We want to be there with a good opportunity to win in March. That’s our goal,” Gould said.
The coaching staff is looking to its veterans to provide leadership early on as the new players get accustomed to the team and league.
It draws a tall Acadia team right off the bat. They played twice in the pre- season, but the Axewomen were missing one of their top players in Abbey Duinker.
“We know they’re a good team,” Gould said. “We also know they’re two games that are winnable.
“We’d certainly to love to come out of the weekend with two wins to start the season.”