Korissa WilliamsVeteran Korissa Williams and teammate Jocelyn LaRocque will compete for their fifth CIS women’s basketball crown this weekend.

Women’s basketball team seeking fifth straight national title

The Lancer women’s basketball team has a chance to equal a record mark this weekend, but its senior members can set a record impossible to beat.

The squad will be looking for a fifth straight Bronze Baby Trophy at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship in Quebec City, tying the record set by Laurentian from 1975 to 1979. No Voyageur played for all of those banners, so fifth-year Lancer guards Korissa Williams and Jocelyn LaRocque enter the competition with a chance to become the first players in history to win five CIS women’s hoops rings.

The eight-team tournament, hosted by Laval University, gets underway Thursday and culminates Sunday at 1 p.m. with the national final. Windsor will play its quarter-final against eighth-seeded Laval Thursday at 6 p.m.

The remaining contenders are the second-seeded UBC Thunderbirds (Canada West champs), No. 3 McGill Martlets (RSEQ champs), No. 4 Saskatchewan Huskies (Canada West finalists), No. 5 Alberta Pandas (Canada West bronze medallists), No. 6 Saint Mary’s Huskies (AUS champs) and No. 7 Ryerson Rams (OUA finalists).

“We are happy to have qualified for the national championship for the seventh straight season,” says 10-year head coach Chantal Vallée. “It is a testament to all of our players who have been here before, to the winning culture of the program and to the direction we are continuing to head in the future.”

The Lancers averaged more than 80 points per game, best in the CIS, and led the national rankings through the season. Read a full tournament preview at goLancers.ca.