Like recent Nanaimo weather, Vancouver Island University Mariners women’s hoops team made it rain in their last home game of the season.
The VIU women, playing against the Columbia Bible College Bearcats on Saturday, Feb. 3, scored a 83-64 win.
With a 37-31 half-time lead, the Mariners poured it on in the second, outscoring the opposition 46-33. The M’s helped their cause by going 13-of-34 (38 per cent) from three-point range. Guard Mackenzie Cox led the Mariners with 14 points.
Tony Bryce, VIU women’s coach, told the News Bulletin the team heated up from beyond the arc in the second half.
“In the second half, we were moving better and that ended up getting them running around and our shots were wide open shots, practice shots,” he said. “We were fortunate enough to make some and that helped us pull away.”
The Mariners were mired in a four-game losing streak in January, but have rebounded, posting a 4-0 record their last four. Players have been buying in, the coach said.
“Often a loss is an eye-opener, so to get into that funk, now you’re breaking down tape a little bit more, you have people asking questions, it needed to happen and now there’s just a better level of focus in what we’re doing, even during the week,” said Bryce.
Mariners’ guard Chloe Scaber played the last home game of her collegiate career, chipping in with eight points and a team-high six assists. The win was special, she said.
“I mean, I’m not a crier, but in my heart this is huge,” said Scaber. “It was a huge transition [transferring to VIU] and Tony had to put a lot of trust in me to develop as a player and develop into what he described as one of the pieces of the puzzle instead of the piece of the puzzle … it ended bringing me so close to my team and my coaches and it’s hard to say goodbye.”
The team will close its regular season with four road games – two games against the Camosun Chargers and a pair versus the Langara Falcons.
The M’s women (16-4) also defeated the Bearcats 56-47 in a home win on Friday, Feb. 2. Scaber scored a game-high 18 points in that one.
VIU’s men (19-1), meanwhile, won both their games against Columbia Bible College on the weekend, scoring an 80-30 blowout Friday, Feb. 2, then following up with a 92-84 decision. Kaeleb Johnson scored 30 points in the first game, with Adam Anhold adding 14 and Kai Leighton pulling down 11 rebounds. In the rematch, Anhold scored 22 and Peter Li contributed 18.
