The Lady Royals women's basketball team enters this new week with the past behind them. It's a different year, a different team, and a different result. Redeemer won it's first women's league basketball game on Saturday in seven years against the Sault College Cougars.
The team will no longer have to answer the question of whether or not the team will win a game this season, as the Royals ended all speculation with a convincing 30-point victory in Sault Ste. Marie Saturday afternoon. Not only did the team win the game on Saturday, they were two points away from starting the season 2-0 after a 47-46 loss to Algoma University the night before.
In the win, Redeemer rookie Jesseca Brown (Grand Manan, N.B.) had a game-high 29 points for the Royals. Victoria Pickering (Campbellville) had 17 points while Morrisa Lychak (Nepean) added 16. Danielle White and Keisha Giroux had a team high 11 points each for Sault College. Jesseca Brown also had 26 points in the loss to Algoma on Friday.
The past has not been kind to the Lady Royals and beginning this week the team will be happy to be moving on from it. Despite a few wins in exhibition and tournament play, the team has not won a league game dating back to February 10, 2006 against St. Clair College. The score was 67-56. Cross town rival Mohawk College began the Royals losing streak on February 17, 2006 and the Royals have not won a meaningful game since, for an unflattering 0-87 record.
Fleming College in Peterborough recently lived through its own losing streak that began in 2005. They were riding a 74 game losing streak dating back to 2005. They broke the streak on October 28, 2009 when they defeated Centennial College 57-43.
It is clear that the program is moving forward behind the direction of the coaching staff of Rob Hooper and Greg Best. The team has brought in a number of recruits over the summer, has worked hard to successfully bring in a number of key sponsorships, and have added an exhibition trip out East to kick off the 2012-2013 season.
Athletic Director Dave Mantel commented regarding the women's basketball program. He said, "We see a great opportunity for improvement in women's basketball within the OCAA. Over the last year or two we have received a great deal of interest from elite athletes interested in coming to Redeemer. We are continuing to make improvements to the program so that we have a lot to offer to them. We've been blessed by significant community support that has allowed us to make these improvements. Now it is a matter of getting people talking about everything that is going right with our program rather than focusing on the past."
Lady Royals veteran Morrissa Lychak was asked about the losing streak. "It was a big deal to us. We talked about it often. The coaches want to turn the program around and they are being very proactive. We understand that it's not going to happen overnight but it is exciting to see the time and effort that is being put into the team in so many different ways". Dave Mantel was also asked about the streak. He said, "I'm happy this year's team has already put the losing streak behind them. We want to have a positive outlook towards the future and move forward."
In the other matches of the weekend, the Men's Basketball team fell to 0-2 after a 74-50 loss to Algoma University on Friday and a heartbreaking loss to Sault College 54-53 on Saturday. Calvin Turnbull (Burlington) led the Royals in scoring with 13 points in the loss to the Cougars.
Both men's and women's teams will get back to work with a full week of preparation before taking the court on Friday and Saturday in their home opener weekend. Friday, the teams host the Sheridan Bruins at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. and on Saturday, the Fanshawe Falcons stop in for games at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Source: Redeemer University College