Sports October 24 2012 - Over the Edge MEET A STUDENT ATHLETE GEOFF SARGENT SPORTS EDITOR Every issue, OTE sits down with a student athlete to discuss their team, their background, and their life at UNBC. Interviewed this issue was Mercedes Van Koughnett, a fourth year standout for the women’s basketball tean. Like many team members, you came to UNBC right out of high school in Prince George. Was it an easy choice to pick UNBC over other schools? Yeah. I have a huge family so I decided to stay here. I’ve known Loralyn [Murdoch, head coach] since I was younger, so yeah, it was an easy choice. On the topic of Loralyn... describe her in_ three words. Commanding, intelligent, and...throw some words out there, I’m trying to be nice! Talk about what you’re taking in school, and what you want to do after you graduate. I’m in Psychology and _ it wasn’t a first choice; my first choice was Nursing in my first year, but I didn’t really like it as much. I have always wanted to go into the RCMP, so I am taking Psychology, earning a degree and then applying for policing the next year. Does the team hang out a lot off the court? Yeah, we do. The older players, not just me, the older players take initiative and ask [the younger players] to come for team movie nights and stuff like that, but our rookies this year are all crazy about school so it’s kind of hard to hang out as much as we used to. Who is your favourite rookie this year? They’re all kind of weird, in their own ways. My favourite rookie would probably be Allison [Seinen], just because she proved herself on Rookie Night. Talk a little bit about last year. UNBC won the PACWEST championships, and you were the MVP of that tournament. That was something we’d been working on in my four years. In my first year we were ranked second in Canada, and we ended up...choking...in provincials to the last place team, so I think it was a huge accomplishment in the end. Ending up with a win, especially going into CIS, knowing we’d never get a chance to do that again, it was huge. The final game was against VIU. We had a huge rivalry with them, VIU - we just did not like each other at all and it was crazy having so much community support there. A lot of people came down, we had the drummers, everyone's family, it was awesome. You’re a frequent visitor to the Over The Edge office, what keeps you coming back? Well, I’m usually here studying late at night after practice or something, so I’m walking back and forth going to the washroom and I end up stopping here and getting some food. Do you have a planned Hallowe’en costume yet? Yes. We are...the team is doing a huge thing. We’re going to be the UNBC track team, it’s an inside joke, because all we do at practice is run, So we call Loralyn our track coach because that’s all she does...makes us run. It’s kind of funny. When was the last time you dunked on any size basketball hoop? Actually, yesterday. That’s funny! Did you get a boost up to a 10’ hoop? No it was like 8’ I think, me and this girl on our team, Sarah Robin, we all call her Rupert because she’s from there, but we saw the hoop and we just started dunking on it yesterday. Who has the best nickname on the team? Probably Rupert, since that’s what we all call her on the bench. If someone says Sarah, we're like “who?” Who runs the stereo before games? Jennifer Bruce. Throw some _ bands or songs out there, what’s the go-to right now? Rattle by Bingo Players, have you heard it? [while nodding] just playing along. You need to listen to it, it’s good. [Editor’s Note: No it isn’t.] Do team road trips by plane ever get old? Oh no, never. Did you hear about the plane trip last year? We flew into Calgary, all the guys and girls together on the plane, all of a sudden the airplane just dropped, like we were all out of our seats and in our seat belts, everyone was screaming...1 swear to God I thought I was going to die. I was looking around, I look at my teammate and she was crying, I looked over on the other side, my other Nope, teammate was puking, I was like “oh my God I’m gonna die”. It was awful, so ever since then a lot of the girls and guys are sketchy about planes. It’s nice to get there quicker, though. You’re in CIS now with new rivals. What school do you want to beat? UBC-O. Actually, TRU as well. Both of them? There must be something about the Kootenays. We had a rivalry against UBC-O from PACWEST, and TRU - I was actually going to go there and take the policing program, but I decided to stay here. It would be nice to kind of show them that we can beat them. Do you ever mix it up and drop some trash talk? Oh, always, yeah. What’s the go-to line? There’s no go-to line! Actually, there is a go-to line. But it’s nothing, it’s not trash talk...I will just say “oh nice double dribble” or something. I'll be nice about it, or “nice shoes”, just try to get in their head. It’s all about the mind games. That’s all it is, yeah. Just ask the stupidest questions. “What'd you have for dinner?” I’m kind of weird on the court actually. What’s your street ball name? Probably just Merc the Great. What’s a goal you think the team will achieve this year? Successfully run all the plays in practice! That would be an achievable goal. Definitely grow as a team, become more close on and off the court. Build that chemistry. BASKETBALL EXHIBITION WRAPS UP GEOFF SARGENT SPORTS EDITOR UNBC _ basketball's program competed two weeks ago in the 45th Naismith Classic exhibition tournament hosted by Waterloo, where they played their first games against CIS opposition this season. The Timberwolves did well in the tournament, with both the men's and women's teams posting 2-1 records; the men won the tournament on a scoring differential tiebreaker, while the women were good for second place. The UNBC men fell to the hosts (80-71) on the first day and responded with victories over York (97-89) and Quebec (90- 55) to secure the tournament win; the women defeated Cape Breton (62-57) and Waterloo (73-63) before losing in the final game to Concordia (66- 52). Both teams saw _ two of their players named as tournament all-stars, as Jordan Rabbit and Mercedes Van Koughnett were recognized on the women's all-star team while Joel Rybachuk and Jose Araujo were acknowledged for the men. Araujo took home tournament MVP honours in the process. The opposition ramps up for the men next weekend, as they head to Abbotsford to participate in the Honda Way exhibition tournament. While York and Waterloo each won only five games last year, UNBC is set to play against their historically better conference rivals Lakehead and McMaster, who finished second and third respectively in Ontario last season behind eventual national champions Carleton. UNBC_ also. plays’ Langara College in the tournament, their last tune-up before the CIS regular season begins. The women's team returned from Waterloo and travelled to Calgary last weekend to play in the Cougar Classic, an event hosted by Mount Royal University. The UNBC women defeated SAIT (80-61) and Canada West foes Lethbridge (77-56), but dropped a game to Calgary (88-51) over the weekend. With their exhibition schedule = completed, the women are in full preparation for the season opening weekend November 2nd _ in Kamloops against Thompson Rivers University. Look for a full season preview of both UNBC basketball teams in the next issue of Over The Edge.