Bobcats to face Bisons in return from outbreak

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This article was published 11/02/2022 (1501 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Energy is the theme of the Brandon University Bobcats weekend.

That’s what it takes to keep up with a speedy Manitoba Bisons women’s basketball team, and what might be hard to come by after half the Bobcats were out with COVID-19 last week. Luckily, they’re just 40 minutes away from another week of recovery after tonight’s contest at the Healthy Living Centre at 6 o’clock.

“It took us a while to get our feet back this week because over half of us were sick but I think we’ve got a good energy going now,” said second-year guard Sydney Teece. “We have to come in with a lot of energy. We have to play our game, play fast. Rebounding the ball is going to be a huge thing this week.”

That’s essentially Teece’s game. The Regina product is last in team scoring at 0.9 points per game despite playing nearly 15 minutes a night. The five-foot-eight forward brings quickness to challenge guards on the perimeter and physicality to hold her own down low. She’s fifth in team rebounding with 2.8 per contest, and Brandon’s 2-3 zone defence simply looks better when she’s part of it.

“I love to rebound the ball, I love to play defence, that’s my thing,” Teece said. “Any time I go out there I love to have an impact on the floor and bring as much as I can to the team as possible.

“It comes down to communication, talking, being big. We’ve worked on our zone a ton in the past month so it comes down to keeping the fundamentals and communicating.”

The men’s game was postponed due to the Bisons having too many players in COVID protocols.

The Bobcats had last weekend’s games against Regina postponed to Feb. 24-25. They play Manitoba tonight, then again on Feb. 18 in their final home game of the season. The Bisons games serve as their best chances to sneak out of last place in the 17-team conference. While everyone plays in the post-season tournament in Calgary March 4-6, the Bobcats (0-12) are on track to play a near-.500 team to open the single-elimination event. A couple of wins can move them as many as three spots up.

The Bisons, however, are a whole lot tougher than their 2-12 record appears.

They’re small but play fast, chase steals and find ways to score. They nearly handed 13-1 Saskatchewan its second loss of the season on Saturday, dropping a 58-55 nail-biter they actually led with six minutes remaining.

The Huskies should have been able to dominate with their size mismatches down low, but the Bisons held Summer Masikewich and Carly Ahlstrom to 29 points on 12-for-33 shooting combined.

Meanwhile, Taylor Randall went off for 13 of Manitoba’s first 18 points, hitting four three-pointers. Six Bisons hit triples, seemingly all at key moments to erase a 13-point deficit and take the lead a few times.

Guards Lauren and Deidre Bartlett, along with Randall, make defences pay whenever they’re given a hint of time and space with the ball in their hands. Randall pops almost seven threes a night and leads the team with 11.9 points per game. Lauren Bartlett is among the most accurate three-point shooters in Canada West at 41.9 per cent.

“You get really good guard play,” said Bobcats head coach James Bambury of the Bisons. “Their three guards, the Bartlett sisters and Randall as their fifth-year scorer, she’s going to graduate as one of the leading scorers in Canada West history. She can really fill it up and she can do it quick.”

Brandon switched to almost exclusively playing zone defence this semester. While doing so against a guard-dominated offence can be likened to fighting fire with gasoline, this zone isn’t about simply packing the paint.

The Bobcats forced 47 turnovers in two games against the Cougars and 41 against the Huskies, with 24 in the second game.

“A lot of people will see a zone and think we’re sitting in or picture what a high school zone looks like,” Bambury said. “I think our zone has become far more disruptive and I think causing turnovers and being able to get out and run puts a lot more pressure, especially on smaller guards.”

Manitoba matched up man-to-man with Saskatchewan all game and likes when offences slow down. Once the players and ball get moving, however, open looks aren’t hard to come by. Now Bambury attributes that to the Huskies’ talent as much as anything — “Sask makes everyone look that way” — but noted his team is focused on better movement on offence.

That gets open looks for Brandon’s leading scorer, Reetta Tulkki, who’s averaging 12.2 ppg.

At least a few Bobcats will need to heat up on offence to keep pace, though they lost the first two matchups in November by just 14 and 13 points, respectively.

BU VOLLEYBALL: The Bobcats and Bisons might pass each other on the Trans-Canada Highway today, as the volleyball teams visit Manitoba today and Saturday. The BU men are last in the East Division at 5-7 while the Bisons are tied for second at 6-6. The women’s playoff picture is spreading out as third-place Brandon (5-5) can just about cement Manitoba (3-9) at last in the division.

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