Men's and women's basketball teams start their season off with wins

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: MATT HISCOX PHOTOGRAPHY
The men's and women's Fanshawe basketball teams started off the season with wins against Lambton and Conestoga.

The Fanshawe men’s and women’s basketball teams are off to a great start this season.

Since this article’s publication date, the women’s basketball team has had an undefeated season with an overall win to loss ratio of 3-0 and the men’s team is close with 2-1. Both teams brought home wins for Fanshawe in their games against Lambton and Conestoga.

According to an Oct. 24 Fanshawe Athletics press release, the women’s basketball team won 66- 46 against Lambton on Oct. 24. Bill Carriere, head coach of the women’s basketball team, spoke with the Interrobang about the successes of the team thus far.

“I thought we had a great start against Lambton but because we were up early our energy level dropped to their level and we were not able to sustain momentum to second half,” Carriere said. “This will be a challenge for us going forward.”

Fourth year player, Chuot Angou, had a game-high 20 points for the Falcons in their game against Lambton.

“Chuot has been our best player thus far for this year,” Carriere said. “She brings experience and energy to ever game. She is also a good on-ball defender. Offensively, she scores well and sees the floor well.”

Carriere said that the game against Conestoga on Oct. 27 was an improvement from the Lambton game and the women’s team won 84-47.

“We are beginning to get great contributions from our rookies,” Carriere said. “Alison Cotton has been great for us in both contests and Jessica Jordan had a good game against Conestoga.”

Carriere said that the goal for the year is to continue to improve.

“We will likely be ranked the top team in the province so it will be challenging to not get complacent,” Carriere said. “Our players will need to work on their game if and when they have spare time. It is a big challenge for them but that is what is needed to become national champions.”

Angou, who is playing her second with the Falcons, had positives to share about the season so far.

“Our team’s success so far this year is nothing less than what we had expected and what we have set out for ourselves. We have many talented players this year as well as a hard working coaching staff that realizes that potential we have,” Angou said. “As a whole we realize we can do very well this year, so we realize we need to use each and every game as well as practices to reach our full potential. Although it is only the beginning of the season, we only expect to get better as the year goes on.”

Angou went on to explain more about the team’s dynamic, strengths and weakness.

“Our team dynamics consist of us constantly battling with each other during practices, bringing energy to each and every practice, as well as using every game to work towards nationals. We realize that throughout the season we may face weaker teams which is why we strive to push each other during practices whether it be on defense or in drills,” Angou said. “One of our biggest emphasis this year is to bring communication and energy during all times in practice and games whether it is on offence, defense, as well as on the bench. As a team we realize it is important to have a deep bench so we also hold ourselves accountable to get better outside of practice times.”

Angou, a police foundations student said that she hopes to be on the team next year, which will be her final year, but in terms of the current season, she plans to keep pushing herself to improve each day, but is appreciative of the recognition she has received so far.

“I realize that every day is a competition to prove yourself on the team and knowing that my head coach sees me as [a strong player] only pushes me to want to become better,” Angou said.

In terms of the men’s team, they also won their games against Lambton and Conestoga. According to the Fanshawe Falcon website, the men’s team beat Lambton 92-78 and Conestoga 77-67.

“In the opening quarter, Hanani Ujullu got the Falcons on board with a shot from being the arc,” the Oct. 24 press release said. “Fanshawe point guard Xavier Ellis added four points at the charity stripe, however Lambton held a 16- 14 lead after the first frame.”

The press release said that Fanshawe was up 26-12 in the second frame and 40-28 by half time.

The Oct. 24 press release said that Chris Parker set a new Fanshawe men’s basketball single game scoring record in the game against Lambton. He scored 48 points in the game to beat the previous record of 36 points held by Jemaul Jones in the 2015/16 season.

“In the fourth frame Parker was on fire for the Falcons, knocking down back-to-back triples,” the press release said. “Parker finished the game with 48 points on 59 per cent shooting, including being 8/11 from three point range.”

After the games against Conestoga, the men’s and women’s teams both took on Mohawk on Oct. 30 and will host St. Clair on Nov. 6.