The Maritime Women’s Basketball Association is getting down to crunch time.
The Pro*Line Stadium Series Legacy Cup championship is set for Dalhousie University in Halifax from June 22 to 23 with the Final Quartet.
It’s shaping up to be an amazing stretch run over the next two weeks, leading into the MWBA’s exciting new playoff format to decide who gets to attend championship weekend.
There are also a number of individual statistical data to keep fans of the league on the edge of their seats down the stretch.
First, let’s begin with the standings.
This is packed, this is fun.
Let’s take a spin around the MWBA – celebrating its third season – and see who’s doing what and who’s playing where.
The expansion Miramichi Her-Icanes are playing like anything but a new team. The ‘Canes are a tough out and are paced by the league’s leading scorer, guard Lauren Rainford, who is averaging 23.3 points per game. Elizabeth Iseyemi of Dartmouth’s Lake City 56ers is second at 20.3 and Leonie Elbert of Moncton Mystics stands third at 19.4 points per outing. Alaina McMillan of Halifax Thunder is fourth at 19.0 and Courtney Donaldson of Lake City a step back in fifth at 18.0.
Iseyemi leads the board brigade with 9.3 rebounds a game, but this one is tight with Kaylee Kilpatrick of Saint John’s Port City Fog and Miramichi’s Abby Miller second at 9.2 each. Kelsey McLaughlin of Moncton is fourth at 8.6 and Hannah Brown of Halifax Hornets is fifth at 8.5.
The playmaking leader is Rainford with 5.7 assists a tilt. Katie Upham of Thunder averages 5.2 dishes a game and Kilpatrick is at 4.8. Toni Bianchini of the Hornets is fourth at 4.4 and McMillan and Amanda Pearcey of the Hornets are deadlocked for fifth at 4.2 each.
Kelly Vass is the pickpocket leader, bringing 5.4 steals a game for the Mystics. Rainford is second with 3.7, Iseyemi is at 2.7 and Allie McCarthy of Fredericton Freeze has 2.5. Donaldson is fifth with 2.5 a game.
From beyond the arc, the Thunder reigns supreme with three players atop the board, paced by Sophie Atkinson and her 60 per cent accuracy. Katie Ross is second at 55.6 and McMillan third at 55.2.Abby Cameron of Lake City is fourth at 44.4 per cent and the top five is rounded out by Thunder’s Justine Colley-Leger at 37.5 per cent.
MWBA action picks up Thursday with a key tilt in New Brunswick.
Moncton hosts Port City at 7 p.m. at Harrison Trimble High School.
Of course, in this remarkable season of parity, it’s a key game.
Port City sits tied with Miramichi with 3-3 records and a share of fourth place. A Fog win pushes it into a tie with idle Fredericton at 4-3 and the inside track for hosting a single playoff game to get to championship weekend. Moncton enters the game with a 1-5 mark Ja, trying to make a late push to move up in the standings and create a four-way mess amongst the NB squads.
It all leads to a busy weekend with five games on the slate.
Moncton is in Dartmouth to play Lake Cit at 2 p.m. at the Zatzman Sportsplex gymnasium while an hour later, Hornets visit University of New Brunswick at Saint John to face the Fog. The evening tilt should be absolute dandy as Thunder makes its first-ever appearance at Miramichi Valley High School at 7 p.m.
It will be a guaranteed raucous house for that outing.
On Sunday, there are two games set for 3 p.m.
The Hornets depart Saint John for the Madhouse on Miramichi and Freeze welcomes Thunder.
That game has been moved to Fredericton High School due to the massive School’s Out Shootout youth tournament at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton.
– Moncton’s Kelly Vass leads the MWBA in steals this season (Tanya Everett/Mystics Photo)
