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Basketball
team Atlantic champs
Two
for two
(March 9, 2000, Gazette)
Sea-Hawks arrive
at the airport with the championship banner and trophy.
Video capture by CAMS
The Memorial Sea-Hawks are the 1999-2000 AUAA women’s basketball champions, following up a win at the AUAA’s by the women’s volleyball team last month.
Memorial
defeated the University of Prince Edward Island 53-40 in the
final at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, March 5.
Ann Murrin scored 18 points for the Sea-Hawks who led 32-23 at
the half. Erika Stokes finished with six points and 14 rebounds
and was the player of the game for MUN.
Erica Coultas capped off a great tournament by being selected as the playoffs’ most valuable player. The Sea-Hawks were the fifth seed in the six-team tournament which meant they had to take the long road to the championship.
Memorial put forth a gutsy effort in knocking off defending champs University of New Brunswick, 69-60, in the quarterfinal. In that game, Ms. Murrin led the team with 21 points and captured player of the game honors. Amy O’Reilly dropped four successful three-point attempts to finish with 12 points and Melissa Skanes netted all of her 11 points in the second half.
Memorial faced the third ranked Dalhousie Tigers in the semis. Dal had owned MUN in the regular season, winning all four matches, however the Sea-Hawks secured a last second victory on an Erica Coultas three.
MUN looked
to have the game in hand with just over a minute to play but
had to withstand a late surge by the Tigers to secure the victory.
Ms. Coultas was named player of the game after finishing with
19 points. Ann Murrin, who earlier in the day had been named
an AUAA first team all-star, helped out with 10 points and seven
rebounds. Sandi Ennis had a strong game in the absence of Erika
Stokes, sidelined early due to an injury, contributing 10 points
and pulling down five boards coming off the bench.
Memorial had little time to celebrate. The team took off for Edmonton on Tuesday to compete in the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union championships. The team was scheduled to take on the tournament’s number one seed, the Canada West conference champion University of Victoria Vikes Thursday evening.
MUN last won the AUAA title in 1995.
Members of the Sea-Hawks are Heather Dawe, Melissa Skanes, Erica Coultas, Ann Murrin, Kerri Highmore, Sandi Ennis, Joanne McNeil, Amy O’Reilly, Erika Stokes and Kendra Wheatley. The head coach is Doug Partridge and the assistant coaches are Tami Pennell and Peter Benoite. The trainer is Penny Murphy.