The Summer of 2023 was a busy one for the players and coaches in the Basketball New Brunswick high performance pathway. After tryouts to form the teams at the end of April, practices and training the rest of May, June & July with competitions ranging from Montreal to Halifax to Charlottetown to Boston, all 6 BNB provincial teams wrapped up their summer seasons in August. Here are the recaps.
15U Women: Led by head coach Madeline Belding and assistants Marc-André LeBlanc and Emily Briggs, the women represented New Brunswick at the 15U National Championship in Calgary, AB the week of July 31st to Aug 5th.
Heading into the tournament as the 6th seed, they faced many tough matches in the first round including fellow Atlantic Canadian teams Nova Scotia (67-59) and Newfoundland (59-58). They lost a close matchup to Saskatchewan (47-38) in the quarterfinals and were defeated by Manitoba (85-54) in the consolation bracket. In their final action of the summer, they fell to PEI for a 10th place finish for the week.
15U Men: Led by Head Coach Nate Horsman and assistants Dominic Laviolette, Kevin Hansen and Ben Mowat, the 15U men went into the National Championship in Sherbrooke, QC as the 8th seed and beat Saskatchewan (76-71) and Northwest Territories in their opening round of pool play.
After winning both games out of the gate, the 15U men received a path to the quarterfinals against a tough British Columbia team. After a good battle, BC claimed victory, knocking New Brunswick out of the running for a medal.
They fell to Manitoba the next day in the consolation bracket which led them to a 7th place game against Newfoundland on the final day. Unfortunately they ended up on the wrong side of a 83-74 scoreline to finish 8th.
16U Women: Led by head coach Pauline Lordon and assistant coaches Charlene Woolaver, Keira Dyck and Ali McGill, the team finished off their season at BNB’s annual Summerfest tournament with a series of very competitive games.
Their pool consisted of many 15U national Championship teams including our own 15U women’s team that competed in Calgary, AB. After a close match up with one of their fellow New Brunswick teams, 16U women lost 62-46 to the 15U women. This left them ranked second in their pool and ending their season.
16U Men: Led by head coach Mitchell Webber and assistant coaches Brett Curtis, Brett Speedy and Marc Hofer, the team concluded their development season at BNB’s annual Summerfest tournament after a long weekend of close games.
Among their pool play, the U16 men got a chance to square up to our 15U men’s team that competed in Sherbrooke, QC at the 2023 National Championship. After a close battle, the 16U men won the game 65-59, thereby ranking them number one in their pool. They unfortunately lost in the final of the tournament to YHZ basketball from Nova Scotia, leaving them in second place.
17U Women: Led by head coach Bram Russell and assistants Dale Murray, Allie Berry and Leonie Elbert, the team entered the 17U Women’s National Championship at the University of Calgary as the 6th seed. With a 9-team tournament, the women had 4 games of pool play over the first three days of the event.
The women started off strong with wins against Saskatchewan (76-71) and Nova Scotia (58-50) but unfortunately fell to Newfoundland (77-55) and Manitoba (77-57) leaving with a 2-2 record which left them in the consolation pool.
They were placed in a three-way round robin to determine seventh place going into next year. They started the round robin by beating Saskatchewan but fell to Nova Scotia for a final position of 8th.
17U Men: Led by head coach Peter Hickey and assistants Jim Watters and Cooper Jones, the team entered the 17U Men’s National Championship at Bishop’s University as the 6th seed setting them up in a very competitive pool.
They started off the week with a win against Newfoundland (83-77) followed by a loss to Manitoba (85-66). This was followed up by a win against the Northwest territories allowing them an opportunity to play in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, they faced a really strong Quebec squad and were sent to the consolation side.
They faced off against Manitoba and fell in a close game and ended up against Nova Scotia in the 7th place game on the final day. Another hard fought battle went the wrong way and the team ended up finishing 8th.
After a summer of great individual and team growth, the players will now take a healthy break before a Fall Sr EDP weekend in October and the start of the high school basketball season.
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