The days are clicking toward a new year.
That means 2026 is around the corner.
The Maritime Women’s Basketball Association is preparing to celebrate its fifth anniversary season when league action begins in early May.
Eight teams are in now in the fold, but let’s have a review, beginning with last June’s memorable PRO•LINE Legacy Cup championship that was played out at the Richard J. Currie Center in Fredericton, NB.
The Miramichi Her-Icanes would face regular season champion Lake City 56ers of Dartmouth/Cole Harbour/Preston in a memorable final, fittingly between the league’s top teams, both entering the playoffs with identical 8-2 records.
It would be Miramichi bringing home the crown.
Here’s the recap and some other moments in review from 2025:
‘Canes Use Extra Time to Earn Crown
For the first time in the four-year history of the Maritime Women’s Basketball Association, the PRO•LINE Legacy Cup is going to New Brunswick.
Miramchi Her-Icanes made that history happen with a thrilling, physical and dramatic 78-68 overtime victory over regular season champion Lake City 56ers of Dartmouth/Cole Harbour.
A remarkable game.
‘We battled and there were times where we bent and you had to wonder how it was going to turn out, but we were phenomenal during the overtime,’ said Miramichi head coach, Neil Smith. ‘That is a quality team from Lake City and we knew we couldn’t take a shift off. That game could have gone either way. We’re incredibly happy with the entire season and our playoff run.’
Both teams finished the regular season with identical 8-2 records, fitting for the MWBA final.
It was tied 64-64 at the end of regular, a last second reverse jumper from Miramichi’s Aiden Rainford clanging off iron and falling out to set the stage for extra fun.
That’s when Grace Lancaster took over.
The sharpshooting Lancaster pumped in nine points in the five minute extra session to spark Miramichi,
Named tournament and championship MVP, Lancaster finished with 20 points before fouling out late in overtime.
Rebound monster Abby Miller and Lauren Rainford, the latter who had 20 points, both fouled out in the fourth quarter.
‘We asked a lot from the players who stepped in and stepped up for us and I only asked them not to foul, keep the play moving,’ said Smith. ‘We were rewarded for being calm under some serious heat from the 56ers.’
Devon Lawlor added 14 to the Miramichi attack. Miller finished with eight.
Regular season MVP MacKenzie Smith had 18 for the 56ers, forced out of the game late with a foot injury. Aki Kobayashi had 13 and Courtney Donaldson eight.
*Player of the week award winners for 2025 included Courtney Donaldson of the 56ers, Sami Russell from Halifax Thunder, Lancaster and Lauren Rainford of Miramichi and Fredericton’s Bailey Russell.
*The league swelled to eight teams in the fall with the addition of the Truro Tidal Queens, set to begin play in May. The team will be coached by veteran Lonnie States. States was an assistant with Lake City last season.
*Miramichi won the title and was the offensive and defensive leader all season. The ‘Canes finished with a league-high 747 points and only yielded 566 against.
*MacKenzie Smith of the 56ers and Lauren Rainford of Miramichi shared the scoring title, averaging 18.4 points per outing. Bailey Russell of Fredericton was third at 17.3, Lancaster’s 15.8 was good for fourth and Freeze veteran Eva Tumwine was fifth at 15.7.
*Bailey Russell and Lindy Alcorn of Moncton Mystics were co-leaders in rebounds with 9.4 apiece. Abby Miller of Miramichi was third at 9.3, Fredericton’s Allie McCarthy fourth at 9.2 and Tumwine fifth at 7.7.
*Miller, after some delays with her working Visa, finally made it across the pond, playing her first pro season in Portugal with Associação Académica de Coimbra.
*Dartmouth’s Jen Lloyd was returned for her second term as MWBA commissioner during the league’s annual general meeting in October. Lloyd prepares for her third season at the helm. Saint John’s Lori Wall returns as vice commissioner, Fredericton’s Shelley Janes as treasurer and Riverview’s Anna Lee LeBlanc as secretary and director of partnerships and programs. Shelby MacIsaac of Riverview returns as the league’s director of social media.
*Fredericton is anticipating an announcement to usher in a new head coach early in the new year.
*The MWBA would like to thank its amazing fans, players and financial partners who have helped make the league progress toward its fifth season. Thank you never seems enough.
– Fredericton was the scene of another successful PRO•LINE Legacy Cup championship last June. (Fran Harris Photo)
