For many teams, playing in a national championship is a dream.
For this year’s Olds College Broncos women’s basketball team, under the guidance of ACAC Coach of the Year Avery Harrison, it was business.
The Broncos captured their first Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) gold medal since 2012-13, defeating the host Keyano College Huskies 54-51 during the ACAC Women’s Basketball Championship in Fort McMurray to bring the banner back to Olds.
Better known for their offensive efforts throughout the regular season, the Broncos proved they can keep up defensively throughout their week in Fort McMurray, holding all three opponents to 51 points or less.
Now, their focus turns to the CCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship in Quebec City, where the Broncos will open the tournament against the Vancouver Island University Mariners on Thursday, March 14 at 1 p.m. Mountain Time.
Led by ACAC Player of the Year and CCAA All-Canadian Brittney Thibeaux (27.2 points, 9.8 rebounds per game), the Broncos consistently found themselves in the national rankings throughout the season, reaching a high of fifth early in the year before finishing the season ranked ninth.
With a regular season record of 17-4, the Broncos earned the second seed in the South for the ACAC Women’s Basketball Championship.
After defeating the NAIT Ooks 55-46 in the quarter-final, they beat the Lakeland College Rustlers 60-51 in the semifinal to officially book their ticket to Quebec City before facing Keyano, who will also make the trip to Quebec City as a wildcard entry.
Thibeaux was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
In addition to Thibeaux's and Harrison’s accolades, Kyla Adams (St. Paul, Minn.) was also named to the ACAC South First All-Conference Team and the First All-Tournament Team in Fort McMurray, with Kristina Bajovic (Belgrade, Serbia) also earning First All-Tournament Team honours.
It will be Harrison’s 10th national championship appearance as a head coach, while Michaela Allen-Gullion (2016, St. Mary’s University) and Madison Simmonds (2017, NAIT) bring national championship experience to the court.
All games during the CCAA Women’s Basketball National Championships will be webcast at CCAA.ca.
Men’s and women’s futsal
Closer to home, the Broncos men’s and women’s futsal teams, both led by head coach Niels Slotboom, will head to Lethbridge College this weekend (March 15-17) to compete in the ACAC Futsal Championships.
The women’s futsal Broncos have enjoyed a stellar tournament season to date, winning the Prairie Pilots Futsal Classic in Three Hills in January.
They followed that up by capturing the Broncos Futsal Invitational on home court in February, going undefeated in both tournaments and giving up two goals or less in every matchup to stake their claim as a team to watch this weekend.
Meanwhile, the men’s futsal Broncos, the reigning ACAC silver medallists from last season, have experienced a mixed bag of results this season.
They won the men’s division of the Prairie Pilots Futsal Classic in January with an unblemished record, but then stumbled to a fourth-place finish in the Broncos Futsal Invitational after losing the bronze medal game to the Lethbridge College Kodiaks.
All tournament games will be available online at ACACTV.ca.
Men’s curling
Finally, the men’s curling Broncos are also chasing a national championship as they head to Fredericton, N.B. for the CCAA/Curling Canada Championships, running from March 13-19.
The Broncos, skipped by Brody Nestorvich (Red Deer County), are one of four ACAC teams heading to the East Coast to compete, joining the Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder, the NAIT Ooks and the Lakeland College Rustlers.
Competition begins Friday with two draws as the Broncos will face the Thunder at 9:30 a.m. (all times Mountain), before squaring off with the OCAA’s Confederation College Thunderhawks (Thunder Bay, Ont.) at 5:30 p.m.
For more information, please visit https://www.curling.ca/2019college/.
Geordie Carragher is an athletics information officer for Broncos Athletics.
