Courchene emerges as two-way star at Crocus

Iliana Courchene has shown flashes of massive potential for years.

Now, her individual talent is blending seamlessly into the Crocus Plainsmen system, and the results are evident.

The senior guard recorded eight points and five assists as the Plainsmen varsity girls’ basketball team beat the Selkirk Royals 68-28 to open the Coffee Culture Java Jam tournament on Thursday.

“Iliana has certainly made a ton of strides in our program,” said Plainsmen head coach Adam Hartman.

“She’s a kid who you can tell spent a lot of time developing outside of practice and outside of the season, keeping a ball in her hand and developing her skills. The biggest thing for her was to let those skills be exposed within the team setting. The more she’s gotten comfortable with how to play in our systems … it’s allowing that skill she’s worked so hard on to really shine.”

The Sioux Valley Dakota Nation product can feel the ways her game has expanded, too.

“Last year, I was just in the corner, only relying on threes. Now, I’m the one who has to pass it around, and I think it’s pretty good. My shot-making abilities have been better,” Courchene said.

“I’ve worked a lot over the summer, knowing I have to be a leader this year.”

While Courchene has always been a threat to catch and shoot from range, her focus has clearly shifted to attacking the rim and drawing defenders in. If she’s in a one-on-one scenario, she’s likely to blow by her defender. If a second one drops in to help, she’s been good at hitting the open teammate.

“If it’s not my shot, it’s still a good shot,” she said.

Perhaps the only time Courchene looks more energetic than with the ball in her hands is when the other team has it in the backcourt.

On Thursday, the Plainsmen scored just four points in the first six minutes but applied their full-court press and gave the Royals major problems.

Courchene, Kinsley Penner, Genesis Lopez Mejia, and Mary Williams led the charge, getting steal after steal and turning them into easy buckets to break the game open.

“I like pressing better because we can trap,” Courchene said.

“If they get it in the key, it’s a harder thing to defend. If we can keep them out of the three-point line … then if we get beat, we know our teammates are there and we can really count on each other.”

Kate Hiebert led Crocus with 16 points, while Kinsley Penner dropped 13. Cassidy Laing led Selkirk with nine points.

The Plainsmen lost the city final to current Brandon University Bobcat Jessie Sumner and the Vincent Massey Vikings, who used their length and speed to dictate the championship series. Now, they’re trying to do the same.

They’ve secured a bye to the city final with one game against the Vikings remaining on Tuesday.

“Our identity has been our ability to defend in the full court and play a fast, transition-style game,” Hartman said. “We were a little sluggish at the start (on Thursday), and that’s why we couldn’t get it going. Selkirk is a strong, physical team, and they were able to slow us (down).

“Once we addressed that in a timeout early, talked about our lack of energy and footwork defensively, it certainly cleaned it up for us.”

Neelin beat Massey 57-52 in their opener on Thursday.

The Plainsmen take on the Portage Trojans today at 10:45 a.m. If they win, they’re through to Saturday’s final at 2 p.m.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com