Scott Munro hopes this is the beginning of a new era for the Saint Mary’s Huskies women’s basketball team.
The second-year head coach has recruited eight newcomers in an effort to turn around a program that has won just three of its past 40 Atlantic University Sport games.
Leading the way are East Preston’s Justine Colley, a 5-foot-9 guard who starred for the Canadian under-19 team in the summer, and former Bishop’s Gaiters first-team all-Canadian Laura Pitfield, a 6-foot-2 forward from Ottawa.
“We’ve made huge gains with eight new players and we’ve got an opportunity to be a pretty good team,” Munro said. “We’re one of the teams with a shot to win a championship and I think we can be a really good team by the end of it.”
Colley and Pitfield join returning fifth-year all-star Kelsey Daley as the Huskies’ key players. The season opens this weekend with the Huskies visiting the defending champion Cape Breton Capers in Sydney on Friday and Saturday.
Munro has high hopes for Colley, who eschewed NCAA Division I offers and is one of the country’s top players.
“She provides instant offence, gets to the rim and distributes the ball,” he said. “She’s also a lockdown defender. She’s a great player and we’re looking forward to it.”
The Dalhousie Tigers, under new head coach Anna Stammberger, open the season on Friday on the road against the New Brunswick Varsity Reds. They went 14-6 last season and lost in the championship game to Cape Breton.
