BU MIDTERM REPORTS: Brandon progressing towards competitive

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This article was published 16/12/2022 (642 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Put your blinders on, cover the scoreboard and watch the Brandon University Bobcats.

Focus on the bench, where an animated women’s basketball team finds plenty of reasons to get up and cheer. In front of them, coach James Bambury paces, hollers out calls and dissects many officiating decisions for the full 40 minutes.

The Bobcats went 0-10, their third straight semester without a Canada West victory after capping the pre-season with three straight wins over Lakehead University. The closest they came to anyone was a 20-point loss at UBC Okanagan, but man, they fight. The results aren’t the focus yet as Bambury rebuilds the team in his second season.

“Growth is the biggest goal and it’s doing to be our goal going forward,” Bambury said. “I think we made growth. The beginning of the year showed we had made our strides, we started to gain confidence but the regular season smacks you in the face when you start out with the number-one team in the country.

“Then we end up playing a team who ended up beating the number-one team in the country. We believe we can compete better than we did but also understand the path in front of us is a rocky one.”

We continue our Bobcats midterm reports with a team that’s yet to take off but is fuelling up.

THROWN TO THE WOLVES

The Bobcats spent last season playing the three Canada West medallists and the Manitoba Bisons, who nearly reached the final four.

The first semester of 2022-23 wasn’t much easier. BU’s opponents have a combined record of 31-13.

UBC Okanagan looked like the best matchup when stacked up against Regina (7-1), Winnipeg (7-1) and Saskatchewan (6-2) and Brandon kept pace in every facet of the game except one. The Heat torched them on the glass with 33 offensive rebounds, scoring 27 second-chance points in a 92-72 game.

“We were frustrated one single aspect of the game could make life that difficult,” Bambury said. “Unfortunately, we have a lot of hurdles to jump in order to get up that hill.”

Brandon is last in the conference at 33.3 rebounds per game, as well as points (50.5) and points allowed (85.4).

That’s translated into a bunch of 30-plus point routs.

Look beyond the final score on some nights though, and Brandon was in games well into the third quarter. It led Winnipeg with 15 minutes remaining in the last game of the semester and was within 10 with four minutes to go before Kyanna Giles pulled the Wesmen to an 84-62 win with her 43-point night.

“Our focus needs to continue with development and growth, not on wins or losses,” Bambury said. “It’s part of our ‘tap tap tap,’ it’s about swinging away and pounding the stone, it’s not about trying to eke out a win here or win there, of course, that’s the goal of it … but really what we’re trying to see is if we can out-compete our competition.

“We saw it on Saturday against Winnipeg. We out-competed them. They had an exceptional basketball player who had an exceptional game.”

INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS

The Bobcats’ offence ran through Piper Ingalls. The five-foot-three guard battled through an upper-body injury and led the team with 12.8 ppg, shooting 39 per cent from the field, 36 per cent from three-point range and 83 from the free-throw line.

Ingalls isn’t your average second-year. She redshirted in 2019-20 and trained through the cancelled 2020-21 season, so it’s her fourth with the program. Her numbers are limited only by BU’s still-struggling offence and Bambury’s rotations.

The Bobcats seldom crack 30 minutes in a game, and Ingalls is averaging more than half a point per minute.

“It’s pretty tough not to see Pipers’s play as anything short of ‘There’s a young player coming into her own and starting to figure it out a little bit,” Bambury said.

“What she’s starting to understand is how and when to turn it on, rather than just keeping the switch on all the time.”

Fifth-year guard Chelsea Misskey is the other Bobcat averaging double-digits at 10.1 ppg, while Finnish import Reetta Tulkki is at 8.1 ppg. Both are struggling at less than 25 per cent from beyond the arc while taking at least four threes a night.

Bambury said it’s just a confidence thing for Tulkki right now.

“You have a ton of it when you don’t want it and don’t need it, then as soon as you need it, it starts disappearing. She’s shooting the ball better than anyone we have in practice, she’s shooting … at a 65, 70 per cent clip in practice every single day,” Bambury said.

“Unfortunately, when you do miss a month of a season and come back and feel these expectations, I think people put additional pressure on selves that I don’t think she needs to put on herself.”

The Bobcats don’t score much inside but have needed Noah Garcia, Eden Tabin and Kelsey Starchuck — who combine for 10 points and 10 boards a game — to contain physical post players. Bambury said they’ve adjusted to the aggressive style and it has translated to a better compete level.

MOVING FORWARD

Bambury’s focus as the Bobcats resume play against UBC (5-3) at home on Jan. 6 is defensive transition. While he wants to play fast offensively, the Bobcats need to avoid easy buckets before setting their defence up.

He likes the way the offence has generated open shots for the right players, but they simply haven’t made enough of them to be competitive.

“Losing always gets old. No one likes losing, I detest losing with every core and fibre of our being. But losing is simply an outcome,” Bambury said. “All we can focus on is the things we control, which are pace, tempo, aggression, physicality.

“We would love to see the ball go in more. From all our statistical metrics, we’re taking great shots. It’s get in the gym, work hard and believe.”

The Bobcats get plenty of chances to see how they stack up against other non-playoff teams in their final four weekends. They host Manitoba (0-8), then visit Alberta (6-2) and Mount Royal (3-5) before closing the season at home against the University of Northern British Columbia (1-7) on Feb. 10-11.

Brandon has already made big strides from a season ago and Bambury wants the team to keep trusting the process.

“Props on the support from people and hope more and more people come out and see the level and quality of basketball we can play,” Bambury said. “I think the second half of the year’s going to be a pretty exciting one.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

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