Danis disappointed with effort on opening weekend
Youthful Bisons have 11 players with less than two years experience
Sheri Lamb, Staff
Photo by David Lipnowski.
It was not the way the young, upstart Bisons team hoped to begin the 2005-06 season.
After an undefeated pre-season, the Bison women’s basketball team began conference play on Thursday, Oct. 28 versus the rival University of Winnipeg Wesmen at the Duckworth Centre, losing 80-70.
Despite outscoring the Wesmen in the second half, the Bisons were unable to erase the 12-point deficit they found themselves in at the half, 38-26.
Entering her fifth season behind the bench of the Bisons team, coach Pam Danis was disappointed with her team’s play on Thursday night.
“I don’t think we played very well (Thursday),” said Danis. “We just didn’t play the way we need to play to be successful.”
In the rematch on Saturday, Oct. 29, the setting was different at the Investor’s Group Athletic Centre, but the result the same as the Wesmen won 79-64, leaving the Bisons at 0-2.
The Bisons began the season ranked fourth in the Canadian Inter-university Sport (CIS) national rankings after an outstanding pre-season, while the Wesmen were ranked eighth in the country.
Expectations
After finishing the regular season with an 11-9 record in 2004-05, good for sixth place in Canada West, the Bisons lost their quarterfinal series 2-1 to the University of Regina Cougars.
Danis is looking to improve upon last year’s finish, despite a heavy turnover of players and eight rookies on the team.
“I have pretty high expectations,” said Danis. “We’re a pretty young team and we faced some adversity (Thursday), which was good. We needed to face that, and now we have to see how we’re going to respond.”
The fifth-year coach is counting on her three veteran players, fifth-year Sopear Chhin, fourth-year Sarah Holder and third-year Rachel Hart, to provide leadership.
“They need to lead, both on and off the court, and I think they’ve done a pretty good job of that,” said Danis.
Competition
The Canada West division is once again home of an outstanding group of talented teams on the hard court, with four of the Bisons’ competitors joining them in the CIS top 10 the week of Oct. 24. And, the Wesmen, always a powerhouse team, were not among the week’s top teams.
Simon Fraser was ranked first, while the University of British Columbia sat just ahead of the Bisons in third spot, and the University of Saskatchewan and University of Alberta were in seventh and eighth spot, respectively.
“The competition is going to be very tough, this is a prime example of it. Winnipeg’s a good team and most of the teams in Canada West are very strong, and we just need to try and be competitive with them,” said Danis.
If the Bisons hope to be playing in New Brunswick in 2006, where the CIS National Championships are being held, they will have to get by until Christmas with a shortened roster. First-year guard Leigh-Anne Legal-Young is out with an injured foot, while second-year post Rachelle Harty-Edwards is also out with an injury.
