Over the Edge - November 16

sports

2011-2012 SEASON PREVIEW: WOMEN'S B-BALL

Coach Murdoch returns fo the bench

PUNEET HAYER
SPORTS EDITOR

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The fate of this season may be determined by the play of Jennifer Knibbs

ith one great era in UNBC
women’s basketball end-
ing, another one returns.

The UNBC women’s basketball team
begin a post Christine Kennedy era
this season, but welcome back their
Head Coach, Loralyn Murdoch.
Coach Murdoch returns to the bench
after taking a maternity leave last sea-
son and now faces the challenge of
leading her team back to a consecu-
tive appearance at Provincials, while
concurrently trying to identify which
players to move forward with in the
CIS next year.

The UNBC women’s basketball
team is a very regionally based team
with twelve of their thirteen players
from British Columbia, the major-
ity from Northern British Columbia.

Coach Murdoch’s typically regionally
based teams have been very competi-
tive, however it will be difficult to
continue the trend without Christine
Kennedy. Therefore, much of the
hopes of the season will rest on her
replacement, second year point guard
Jennifer Knibbs. Subsequently, a ma-
jor question going into the season for
the women’s team will be how well
Knibbs will be able to orchestrate
Coach Murdoch’s system in their first
season together.

In addition to losing Christine
Kennedy, the women’s team also lost
forward and leading rebounder Sarah
Moxley. This is a crucial loss for the
team since rebounding was not one of
their strengths, and losing a leading
rebounder will present great challen-

ges. Coach Murdoch has addressed
this need by recruiting local prospect
Nicole Schlick, but it cannot be ex-
pected for a single first year player
to handle the rebounding responsibil-
ities. Therefore, 3rd year forward
Emily Kaehn will have to keep up her
strong play on the glass. Neverthe-
less, the team’s fate will parallel their
ability to address their inconsistent
rebounding.

This season also marks the return of
guard Kady Dandeneau, who missed
last season due to injury. Dandeneau
did not look at full strength in the
preseason, which means that Coach
Murdoch will need to find a way of
mitigating the injury and incorpor-
ating her back in the lineup without
sacrificing the chemistry of the team.

Regardless, the team is lucky to have
her back, but the team may benefit
best when she is at full strength be-
cause of their deep bench.

The women’s team has a solid bench
with a number of scoring options and
great defenders. Second year guards
Chelsea Thorne and Sarah Robin pro-
vide sound defensive presences off
the bench. Forwards Jennifer Clyne
and Mercedes Van Koughnett will be
relied upon to score with the loss of
Christine Kennedy. Returning guards
Jennifer Bruce and Ashley MacMil-
lan will help starting point guard Jenn
Knibbs operate the offense. Versatil-
ity and depth will be critical to the
team’s fortunes this year as this team
lacks a bonified go-to player with
Christine Kennedy gone and Kady

PHOTO CRED. PUNEET HAYER

Dandeneau injured.

As a result, the major questions
for this year’s women’s squad will be
the maturation of point guard Jennifer
Knibbs, the team’s ability to address
their rebounding deficiencies, and
the re-assertion of Kady Dandeneau
in the lineup. Despite these chal-
lenges, the team still has enough to
compete for a birth at provincials; but
as of now it could be one challenge
of many to compete in the CIS. The
return of Coach Murdoch and Kady
Dandeneau provide optimism and ex-
citement for another eventful year for
UNBC athletics.