By Nathan Hutton (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 15, 2014
The Canada West basketball season will be starting very soon, so inevitably all the teams are looking to get some last minute action in before the season tips off next weekend against both Queens University and UBC.
The Cascades women’s basketball teams preseason tournament definitely highlighted some errors in the Cascades game that need to be worked on before they’re challenged next season.
Their 76-50 loss to the University of Regina Cougars was perhaps the most embarrassing. “We couldn’t do anything close to resembling anything that we should have or could have; not a single aspect you could look at and say, ‘That was okay,’” said coach Al Tuchscherer.
The Cascades defense was greatly in question as they allowed the Cougars to shoot 47.5 per cent. They also lost the rebounding battle by over 20 rebounds.
If the Cascades wish to defend their pre-season ranking of fifth in the country, then this weekend’s affairs should be a warning sign for the players and coaches alike.
The Cascades’ loss to Regina was their worst of the weekend, but not the only one. They were unable to win any of their three games, dropping contests against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and the Carleton University Ravens.
The Cascades’ loss to the Huskies was highlighted with their best effort against the (preseason-ranked) sixth-best team in the country. They outrebounded the Huskies, a nice contrast to what happened with the Cougars. They carried a 45-33 advantage, but failed to keep the ball, and turned it over 28 times. Sarah Wierks, who is playing this year for the first time without her older sister Nicole, was the best player on the floor for the Cascades, collecting 13 rebounds to go with her 19 points.
Coach Al Tuchscherer praised the performance from Wierks.
“We showed we could defend at times, and we had some good performances. Sarah Wierks did some great things on defence — ripped some boards, scored some points.”
It was the first time these two teams had met since their CIS bronze medal game battle, which the Cascades were able to win, returning to Abbotsford celebrating their national bronze medal.
The last game of the weekend was against the Carleton Ravens. The game was just bad overall for the Cascades, who lost by 24 points and were unable to get anything going all night long. The Cascades not only lost the game but also lost forward Katie Brink, who took an early elbow to the face and suffered a broken nose on the play.
The Cascades start their season next weekend, where they will get the opportunity to show that this preseason action doesn’t mean anything, and they are still one of the most dominant teams in women’s basketball.
