That's a Wrap - Rustlers Women's Basketball
Lakeland College Athletics enjoyed a season for the ages. Over the next week, we will be sharing a recap of each team's second semester finish.
Results
As CCAA Championship Play-By-Play man Greg Campbell noted at the buzzer of the gold medal game, "perfection lives forever."
Women's basketball carried their magical season to it's ideal ending, winning a national championship in the Lakeland College Gymnasium. By season's end, the team was undefeated through 26 regular season and playoff games, taking home their third ACAC title in addition to CCAA gold. Their level of dominance felt inevitable at times, as the Rustlers finished with a point differential of +22 and only faced two late game deficits all year.
Highlights
Of the many great moments during the season, the atmosphere of the CCAA tournament was certainly the highlight, with thousands of fans in the attendance over the course of four days. It was the largest single number of people cheering on the home team in Lakeland history, with capacity stretched to the limits during the 64-55 gold medal victory.
There were two All-Conference selections in Susan Ayaa - 2nd Team North and Hineapounamu 'Missy' Nuku - 1st Team North the latter of whom would go on to win ACAC Rookie of the Year for women's basketball and female sports overall, ACAC North Player of the Year, CCAA All-Canadian status and CCAA Player of the Year. Coach Chris King was also ACAC North Coach of the Year, CCAA Coach for the Year and the ACAC Coaching Excellence Award.
For tournament awards, Nuku and 5th Year Hailey Somers were ACAC selections, while Nuku made the CCAA Tournament 2nd Team, Alana Olson made 1st Team and Somers was the CCAA Championship MVP.
Statistics
Nuku lead the league in assists per game at 5.5 and was 10th in scoring and steals. Olson was 7th in rebounds pr game, Ayaa was 3rd in blocks per game and Leena Garda was 4th in field goal percentage.
Summer Outlook
Somers, Jaden Cook and Ally Pilgrim graduated as 5th year players, and other players will be moving on for their academic programs, but the rest of the core remains, with several younger players prepared to step up to bigger roles. The team will have their annual boot camp this summer and are set up for another title run in 2025.
Coaches Stamp
Chris King, Women's Basketball
"Nothing but proud of our players. With basketball, everything must go the right way, you could easily win or lose any game. To see us to succeed after being a 4-20 team, then scratching to get into playoffs, then scratching for a medal, this year was a reminder of how much we had to focus on culture."