There wasn’t a lot to pick and choose in the Maritime Women’s Basketball Association.
No undefeated teams. Plenty of parity. A tough first-year experience for one team.
But all teams now have 10 regular season games in their back pockets and it’s time to start fresh.
The pursuit of the PRO•LINE Legacy Cup begins this weekend.
We will dig into the matchups later in the week, but first let’s take a spin around the circuit at our leaderboard and the Wonder Auto&Tire Player of the Week.
Rookie Maddie Eustace of the Moncton Mystics paced all scorers across the MWBA this season, averaging 20.6 points per game. Bailey Russell of Fredericton Freeze was second at 18.2 and her teammate Allie McCarthy third at 16.9 points an outing. Elizabeth Beals-Iseyemi of Halifax Thunder was fourth at a 15.9 PPG clip. Her teammate Justine Colley-Leger rounded out the top five at 14.9.
In the assist department, Aki Kobayashi of Halifax Hornets set the table at 5.9 helpers per game. Ann Bastien of the Freeze was second at 5.6 and Colley-Leger handed out 5.3 APG. Russell was fourth at 4.2 and Ava MacNutt of Thunder was fifth at 3.8.
Another Moncton rookie, Eva Kalala, was the league’s top rebounder, grabbing 10.7 boards a game. Lucy Beaumont of the Hornets was second with 10.5 and Charlee Connors of Miramichi HerIcanes was third at 10.0 RPG. Ainsley Green of the ‘Canes was fourth with 9.2 and McCarthy fifth at 9.1
McCarthy paced all players with minutes played per game, logging 37 minutes and three seconds a game.
Russell was second at 36:54 seconds and Bastien third at 35:27 seconds. Fredericton’s Kristen Taylor was fourth at 31:26 seconds and Fog’s Grace Tilley fifth with 31:26 seconds.
Moncton’s Eustace and Jesse McCarron paced all steal leaders with 3.0 per game. McCarthy, Colley-Leger and Port City’s Ella MacDonald all had 2.6.
Beaumont was the shot block leader at 2.0 per game. Kendra MacKinnon of Truro Tidal Queens was second at 1.6 and Thunder’s Kali Grootenboer at 1.5. Russell was third with 1.4 BPG and Evie Hargraves of Lake City 56ers of Dartmouth/Cole Harbour/Preston and Maika LeBlanc of the ‘Canes tied at 1.2.
Colley-Leger was the top plus-minus at positive 23.6. Beals-Iseyemi placed second at +20.7 and Clara Gascoigne of the Hornets third at +20.7. Thunder’s Bianca Helmig was fourth at +19.8 and Grootenboer fifth at +18.9.
*Thunder finished the season at 9-1 and will be No. 1 Nova Scotia Division seed entering provincial playoffs this weekend. Thunder draws No. 4 seed Truro (0-10) in a 6:30 p.m., game at DAL Plex. The Nova Scotia No. 2 seed Hornets face the No. 3 seed Lake City on Saturday at 2 p.m., at Mount St. Vincent University.
*In New Brunswick, No. 1 province seed Moncton hosts No. 4 NB seed Miramichi at 6 p.m., Sunday at Crandall University. No. 2 NB seed Fredericton greets provincial No. 3 seed Port City at 6:30 p.m., at Lady Beaverbrook Gymnasium.
*All provincial semifinals are sudden-death, meaning the surviving teams in both provinces advance to the PROLINE Legacy Cup June 20 to 21 at the Richard J. Currie Center in Fredericton. Semifinal games will be Saturday, June 20 at 5 p.m., and 7:30 p.m., and consolation games goes June 21 at 11:30 a.m., setting the stage for the 2 p.m., final. Championship playoffs will be determined once the provincial showdowns are completed Sunday.
*Fredericton needed three wins last week in four days to ensure it finished as second NB seed. It earned all three wins and Bailey Russell was a key reason why. Russell scored 14 points in a win over Moncton, added 18 points and 11 rebounds in a thrilling win over Thunder and was back for 19 points and 14 boards in a win over Truro. Other players considered for the away were Lucy Beaumont of the Hornets, Lake City’s Olivia Logan, Port City’s Celine Sterckel, Truro’s Courtney Cain-Nordin, Thunder’s Beals-Iseyemi, Moncton’s Lindsay Black and Miramichi’s Ava Sprague.
*League MVP and first and second all-star teams will be announced leading up to the PROLINE Legacy Cup.
– Aki Kobayashi of Halifax Hornets led all MWBA players in assists this season. (DW Photo)
