They broke the streak.
Lake City 56ers of Dartmouth/Cole Harbour became the first Maritime Women’s Basketball Association team to rule the regular season outside the Halifax Thunder since the league’s inception in 2022.
Lake City enters this weekend’s PRO•LINE Legacy Cup championship in Fredericton as the No. 1 seed.
The 56ers will play hometown Fredericton Freeze at the Richard J. Currie Center on Saturday.
Game time is 5 p.m.
Let’s have a look at the 56ers and how it earned an 8-2 record which tied Lake City for first place with Miramichi Her-Icanes. The Sixers earned the nod for pennant winning status after they defeated Miramichi in regular season play, the first game of the 2025 campaign, in fact.
Lake City is coached by Patrick Havard. His assistants are Chelsey Slawter-Wright, Tara Myra, Lonnie States and Payton Parker.
The 56ers have a number of weapons to keep opposition teams honest.
They can score with any team in the MWBA and can swarm teams defensively, especially in the paint.
Courtney Donaldson leads the 56ers in minutes played with just under 27 minutes a game and she averages 13.1 points per game, MacKenzie Smith brings an 18.4 points per game resume into Saturday’s game and if Lauren Armstrong gets hot from the corner, look out, a player who averaged 9.9 points per game.
Getting the scorers the ball is point guard Aki Kobayashi, who can score, but can dish, witness 4.4 assists per game.
Lake City offers plenty of size and youth to make it a difficult out in a single game showdown.
Those four players certainly have support with Lillian Fuller and her 7.7 points a game, Darah Felugrin, who gets her hands on plenty of loose balls and post Zoe Olscamp. NyKeva Brown, Emma Cameron, Emily MacNeil, Julie Campbell, Leah Martin, Abby Mercer and veteran Courtney Nordin-Cain are part of Havard’s squad that put together a remarkable season.
The 56ers scored 718 points this season which is actually the lowest output amongst the four teams competing including the Freeze, Thunder and Her-Icanes.
Its defence yielded 578 points, second to Miramichi’s stingy 566.
– Courtney Donaldson is a key member of Lake City. (Bob Pettipas Photo)
