The Lancer women’s basketball team will defend its Canadian Interuniversity Sport title Monday, playing the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds for the Bronze Baby trophy.
Windsor advanced with an 81-71 win Sunday over the host Calgary Dinos. The Lancers’ 48-point margin of victory in a 94-46 drubbing of Acadia on Saturday to open the Final 8 was the second-most lopsided game in the tournament’s history.
Tonight’s game starts at 9 p.m. Eastern Time and will be webcast at http://www.ssncanada.ca/games/. More information available at goLancers.ca.
Windsor forward Bojana Kovacevic (right) drives past Calgary’s Tamara Jarrett. The Lancers defeated the Dinos 81-71 Sunday to qualify for the CIS title game for the third straight year.
Lancer honoured as women’s basketball defensive MVP
Canadian Interuniversity Sport named point guard Miah-Marie Langlois of the Lancer women’s basketball team its defensive player of the year Friday during celebration of its Final 8 tournament.
Langlois, one of three Windsor players honoured, was also named to the second all-star team. Forward Jessica Clemençon was named a first-team all-star and Laura Mullins received the Tracy MacLeod Award in recognition of her determination and perseverance.
MVP of last year’s CIS championship team, Langlois led the country with 3.5 steals per game and finished first in the nation at her position with 5.2 defensive rebounds per contest. Thanks in large part to her fierce defending, the Lancers ranked second in CIS allowing only 51.7 points on average in conference play.
The business economics student also chipped in offensively this season with a provincial-best 4.9 assists per game and an 11.6-point average, good for second on her team. Her all-around play helped the defending national champions take first place in the OUA West for the fourth straight campaign with a 20-2 mark and achieve No. 2 status in 12 of 14 weekly coaches’ polls.
Langlois represented Canada at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China.
“I am extremely proud of Miah’s development this year because of the commitment she made to become a top defensive player in the OUA,” said Windsor head coach Chantal Vallée. “We always knew what a tremendous offensive player she was but this year she grew into a force in all facets of the game. Her defensive stats in CIS speak for themselves and I believe her play this year was a big factor in our team’s overall success.”
Mullins, a Windsor native, is the first Lancer to receive the Tracy MacLeod Award.
After being named to the Ontario University Athletics west division all-rookie team in 2008, the five-foot-10 guard continued to help the Lancers in her sophomore season until tearing her ACL and MCL in January of 2009. She had to observe from the bench while her team won its first OUA championship and finished fourth at nationals.
The human kinetics student was determined to return to the roster for the following campaign after fully rehabilitating her knee during the summer. Showing no signs of injury, she averaged 50 per cent shooting from the field that season until she partially tore the same ACL again in January of 2010. She still battled to play with a deficient knee and helped the Lancers win their second OUA title and claim the silver medal at the CIS championship in Hamilton.
However, in July of 2010, Mullins suffered a full ACL and Meniscus tear and ended up missing the entire 2010-11 schedule as she had to get a second surgery on the same knee, one again forcing her to watch from the sidelines last winter as the Lancers claimed their first Bronze Baby Trophy. After more rehab, she intended to play this season, but had another setback in the summer when she was diagnosed with a blood clot behind that same knee and had to remain inactive for months with a possibility of not being able to return to play. In mid-September, she received the green light to start training again and has ended up making an impact on the court all season for the Lancers.
“It’s been hard to see Laura battle back-to-back injuries but also rewarding as she has shown her determination and has been an example of relentless hard work to her teammate,” said Vallée. “We feel privileged she is still playing with us!”
Clemençon was also a first-team member a year ago, when she claimed the Nan Copp Award as the top university player in her sport. This season, she averaged 17.6 points and 7.2 points per game.