Source: XFM/Daniel Hernandez
Bill Carriere, the coach for the Fanshawe women’s basketball team lists a few reasons why the college should be excited for this season’s squad. Even if they have lost some key players, they have gained new talents and now have more players than before. One of these new signings for the Falcons is Aslyn Anderson from Latchford.
“They’ll find out pretty quickly that we have a 6 feet 3 inches forward rookie. That’s pretty solid and she’s only going to get better. I mean she didn’t have a great game tonight, but I think this is very promising. Ceiling’s high for her,” says Carriere. He adds “I think we’re going to get better as a group, the season is very young. So, it’s good to have a nice close game of the bat. and we’re going to be more composed later on.”
Thursday night Fanshawe’s women’s basketball team played their first exhibition game of the season at home against last year’s east division runner ups Georgian College. The court was filled with a big crowd for Fanshawe, as well as for Georgian. The visiting team took a strong lead in the first two quarters of the game. At one point Georgina was up by more than 10 points. However, the Fanshawe ladies pulled a close comeback to take the victory 56-55. This is what head coach Carrier had to say after the game.
“I think the support was really good tonight. I think they should open up the other side of the gym. I wasn’t really expecting this many people, but that was fun to see, and I hope that continues,” says Carriere.
The girls really stepped up their game during the second last two quarters. After taking a confident lead of Georgian, the away team caught a second wind and was regaining the advantage. As the game was less than a minute from ending, Georgian College win two free throws. At this point the score was 55-54 for the away side. Had Georgian made the shots they would have increased their advantage by three points, leaving Fanshawe with a three pointer being their only hope to stay in the game. However, the visiting team missed both free throws and with less than 30 second the Falcons were on the offensive. The Fanshawe ladies score the winning basket, and the court erupts into cheer as the time quickly runs down after.
Source: XFM/Daniel Hernandez
After the game Carriere says what else makes the team exciting to follow this year. “Compared to last year. I feel like we’re deeper. We lost some experience last year, but I think we gained some also, so I can’t say the experience is the reason for us not to go further. I think we were just as experienced as last year, and I think we’re deeper,” says Carriere.
The women’s basketball OCAA season starts on Octo. 19 for Fanshawe in an away game against Hamilton’s Mohawk College. Last year the Falcons had a disappointing finish in the OCAA west division, finishing seventh. However, they did make it to the quarter finals of the OCAA playoffs.
