THE MATCH UP
The Sea-Hawks will play their first road games this season, as they are travelling to Cape Breton for a clash against the Capers. These two teams met only two times during the regular season in which CBU won both games at home. However, the Sea-Hawks got their revenge in the playoffs, beating the Capers in the semi-finals for a chance to fight for the AUS championship. Memorial will have to repeat the same performance in order to come out on the winning side this weekend.
The Capers finished the 2018-2019 regular season at the top of the AUS standings with a record of 18 wins and only two losses. The player that deserves the most credit for the outstanding season is Hannah Brown, the AUS MVP last season. The First Team All Star averaged 26.4 points and 12.6 rebounds per game last year and after graduating left the returning Capers with a big hole to fill. The loss of Brown was evident in the opening weekend for the Capers where they lost both games to a very good Acadia team. The most likely player that will have to step up this season for CBU is Monique Calliste, a 4th year guard from Toronto that earned First Team All Star honors last year. Calliste averaged 18.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while also being one of the most accurate three-point shooters in the conference. She had a solid opening weekend against Acadia scoring 11.5 points per game but will be looking to return to last season's form this weekend. The player that impressed the opening weekend was MacKenzee Ryan, a 3rd year guard that was a member of the 2017-2018 All-Rookie Team. Ryan looks like she is ready to step up to a bigger role for the Capers this season as she is scoring 17.5 points per game. Even though CBU is coming off of two losses, The Sea-Hawks will have to play well on the weekend in order to come out with a pair of wins on what is traditionally a tough road trip.
HAWKS EYE
The Sea-Hawks started off the AUS season with a home weekend against UNB in which they split the wins with the Varsity Reds. Memorial will look to use the negative momentum that the Capers have at the moment and show the conference that they can handle the loss of two All-Stars from last year. The player that was the most deserving for the Saturday's win over UNB was Samantha Deakin-Sharpe, a 4th year guard from Brisbane, Australia. Deakin-Sharpe missed most of last season with a medical illness but impressed in her season debut earning the Subway AUS Player of the Game Award with 12 points 8 rebounds and 3 assists, all while playing very good defense.
"Being able to go out on the court and make an impact on the game meant so much to me, especially because earlier this year I didn't know if I would play university basketball again", Deakin-Sharpe said. "The atmosphere of playing in front of a home crowd is always pretty special, and I am so grateful that I am healthy and able to help out the team this season".
Haille Nickerson will look to lead this team into the challenging road-trip this weekend and will be poised to improve her performance. The 5th year guard struggled from the field this weekend, but still managed to average 17 points per game over the two games.
When asked about the key factors for the match up against CBU, Nickerson said: "Our physicality on defense will be key to come out with 2 wins this weekend and also improving our shooting and free throw percentages".
The Sea-Hawks will look for leadership from their other 5th year guard Jane Baird who performed very well over the opening weekend. Baird looked like she was ready to take on more of the scoring load this season, averaging 10.5 points per game and looking to establish herself as one of the leaders for Memorial this season.
"Going into the weekend I am going to lead by being vocal and emphasizing the defensive game plan"
Sea-Hawks look to be a deep team this year with solid performances from the whole team. Alana Short will look to bounce back from a tough weekend and provide a good performance against the Capers, while Ashley Collins will continue to threaten the defense with her outside shot. Memorial has players that can hurt opposing teams in various ways and will be a tough match-up for anyone in the AUS this year, including the Capers this weekend.
COACHES COMMENTS
Head Coach Mark English was pleased overall with the team's performance past weekend.
"UNB is a very experienced and talented team in our league, so for us to come away with a win and battle hard in game 2, we feel that is a great step forward for our young group.", English said.
The next challenge for the Sea-Hawks will be the match up with the CBU Capers which English classified as "tough".
"They had a great preseason winning some very tough games and battled Acadia hard this past weekend. I think we can put a full 40 minutes of focus on the game plan and give ourselves a chance to be successful."
Written by: Kosta Tiodorovic