Fresh off a Maritime Women’s Basketball Association championship last summer, Grace Lancaster is finding her stride early with the Atlantic University Sport’s University of Prince Edward Island Panthers.
Lancaster leads or is near the top in a number of offensive categories as the AUS women’s conference kicks into high gear as the calendar turned to November.
She was a key player for the MWBA’s Miramichi Her-icanes on the road to a Legacy Cup championship last season.
Lancaster is tied atop the scoring leaderboard with Amanda Cruickshank of the Cape Breton University Capers. Both players average 21.3 points per outing.
Sami Russell of the Acadia University Axewomen sits fourth in scoring with 16.0 per outing. Russell played with the MWBA’s Halifax Thunder last season.
Former Fredericton Freeze guard Kylee Speedy – who was out with injury last MWBA season – sits fifth with 15.3 points a game for the University of New Brunswick Reds. Lauren Armstrong of the MWBA’s Lake City 56ers of Dartmouth/Cole Harbour/Preston is next with 14.5 points per game with the Saint Mary’s University Huskies. Former Freeze Katie McAffee with UNB is a step back at 14.3.
Armstrong is the leader in field goal percentage at a 47.8 success clip.
She averaged 15.8 points per game last season with the ‘Canes.
UNB’s Zoe Olscamp, who played for Lake City last season, leads the league in rebounds with 10.8 per game. Russell is a close second at 9.8.
UNB and St. Francis Xavier University X-Women are tied atop the standings with 4-0 records entering play this week. Acadia sits 3-1 for third.
The Axewomen visit Antigonish on Wednesday to meet St. FX at 6 p.m.
UPEI and Saint Mary’s are tied with 2-2 marks and Memorial University Seahawks of Newfoundland are 1-3.
Both Cape Breton and Dalhousie University Tigers are 0-4.
There are four games Friday including Dalhousie visiting Memorial, St. FX returns the favour to face Acadia in Wolfville, UNB welcomes the Huskies and UPEI visits Cape Breton.
All are 6 p.m. starts.
The Saturday games include Saint Mary’s at the Reds and UPEI at the Capers in 2 p.m., starts while Memorial greets Dalhousie again at 6 p.m.
– Grace Lancaster (8) in action last season with Miramichi. (JP Photo)
