The Maritime Women’s Basketball Association added the Miramichi HerIcanes to its stable of original six teams in 2024.
The league then added the Truro Tidal Queens to the circuit last season, bringing the MWBA to eight teams, equally divided with four teams in New Brunswick and four in Nova Scotia.
A bid to add a ninth team and interest percolating in another province was weighed heavily by the league following the completion of the 2026 season in late June.
PUSH Cape Breton, located in Glace Bay, NS, had formally applied to the MWBA to become its ninth team to begin Season VI next spring. Expansion talks with Charlottetown, PEI, also yielded solid conversations and visions, but in the end, it was deemed to ensure sustainability and stability, growing the league received a red light.
‘We knew talks with Charlottetown were more informal, but PUSH Cape Breton came in with a very strong bid and presentation that impressed all of us around the table,’ said MWBA commissioner, Jen McKenzie, of Dartmouth, NS. ‘There were many pros and some cons, but the general consensus was keeping our league with eight teams for 2027. Ideally, there is still interest in Cape Breton and PEI for 2028.’
The bid for PUSH was proposed by Tyrone Levingston, a veteran of professional basketball administration with the former Cape Breton Highlanders of the defunct National Basketball League, based in Sydney, from 2016 to 2019. He would then become president and general manager of the league’s St. John’s Edge in the Newfoundland capital through 2021.
His business partner, Wade McNeil, was also involved in conversations with the MWBA.
‘There is interest in Cape Breton because we know its love for basketball and programs like PUSH that are training young women and starting to showcase the talent that is there,’ said McKenzie. ‘We just want to ensure we’re doing this right. When some of us were talking at our recent championship in Fredericton, we discussed the fact we have just finished our fifth year of operations. This league continues to grow and mature and we’ve watched plenty of change the past two seasons on the court with the talent teams are signing. We feel comfortable going into the 2027 season with eight teams and continue to learn and grow.’
The MWBA features Port City Fog of Saint John, Moncton Mystics, Miramichi and Fredericton Freeze in its New Brunswick Division. The Nova Scotia Division features Halifax Thunder, Halifax Hornets, Truro and Lake City 56ers of Dartmouth/Cole Harbour/Preston.
The MWBA introduced two rules for the 2026 season that enhanced the circuit in different ways.
Teams are allowed to sign three graduating high school players as a way to continue sustainability. Not all teams used high school players, but Moncton’s Maddie Eustance, bound for Atlantic University Sport’s Cape Breton University Capers, was the MWBA’s top scorer this past season.
The league also brought back the no touch backcourt rule that allowed speed to take over the game without officials handling the ball on out of bound plays.
‘We want to be innovative, but ensure we’re doing things to enhance the game,’ said McKenzie. ‘The league is evolving and getting younger, but we don’t want that to be a deterrent to our veteran players. We want the veterans like (Hornets) Jasmine Parent and (Moncton’s) Jenna Jones playing the game the love. It just makes for an outstanding mix.’
– Miramichi and Moncton are NB Division-regional rivals. (Tanya Everett Photo)
