Sophomore point guard Kate Head will be a key contributor for the Cascades this season.
The University of the Fraser Valley basketball teams tip off the Canada West regular season this weekend, as they visit the UBC Thunderbirds.
Games run Friday (women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m.) and Saturday (women 5 p.m., men 7 p.m.) at War Memorial Gymnasium, and will be webcast at CanadaWest.tv.
The Cascades’ home openers are the following weekend, Nov. 3-4 vs. the Mount Royal Cougars at the Envision Financial Athletic Centre.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL 2016-17 SEASON IN REVIEW
Regular-season record: 12-8 (8th in Canada West)
Post-season record: 3-3 (eliminated in Canada West quarter-finals)
The UFV women’s basketball team brings back a solid core of veteran contributors as they set their sights on a deep Canada West playoff run.
The Cascades are coming off a 2016-17 campaign which saw them qualify for the Canada West playoffs for the seventh straight season. They defeated the Calgary Dinos in an epic first-round series at home, and took the eventual CW champ Saskatchewan Huskies to three games in their best-of-three quarter-final before finally succumbing.
The Cascades waved goodbye to Kayli Sartori, a U SPORTS All-Canadian in 2016 who played her fifth and final year of eligibility last season, but there’s still a lot of talent and experience on the roster as they prepare to embark on 2017-18.
Shayna Litman, Taylor Claggett and Sara Simovic lead the Cascades into the post-Sartori era. Fifth-year forward Litman is the last player remaining from the program’s national bronze medal-winning season of 2013-14, and she averaged 10.2 points and 5.2 rebounds last year. Claggett, a third-year forward, led Canada West in minutes (33.8 per game) and ranked fifth in rebounding (8.3 per game) while averaging 11.8 points. Fifth-year guard Simovic is a dynamic offensive presence who posted 9.6 points per game last year.
The Cascades welcome back point guard Kate Head after a one-year hiatus, and sophomores Jessica Zawada, Victoria Jacobse and Amanda Thompson are looking to build on solid rookie performances. First-year forward Katelyn Mallette has shown a knack for rebounding in the preseason.
“I think we have the potential to have a really good year,” said Cascades head coach Al Tuchscherer, who enters his 16th season at the helm. “We have a good blend of veteran players with some younger kids, and the younger kids have played some really key minutes for us the last couple years. The entire group has had an extremely productive training season, and we’re really excited to see what that’s going to look like in Canada West play.”
UFV women’s basketball head coach Al Tuchscherer enters his 16th year at the helm of the program.
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