Brock University Athletics

The Brock women's basketball team arrived in Kingston for the 2022 U SPORTS Women's Final 8 at Queen's University.

Women's Basketball 3/30/2022 5:05:00 PM Dan Dakin

Women’s basketball ready to use OUA loss as fuel for nationals

The Brock Badgers arrived in Kingston and immediately headed to the basketball court at Queen's University for a shootaround. With their campaign at the 2022 U SPORTS Women's Basketball Championships set to begin Thursday, March 31, there's no time for sightseeing.

The Badgers are focused on one thing in Kingston this week: proving that their heartbreaking two-point loss in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Critelli Cup final on Saturday wasn't a good indication of what they can achieve.

"It was super exciting to get here and to get back out on the court," said first-year Badgers guard Madalyn Weinert, a Medical Sciences student from St. Catharines. "It was good to be in the school, getting used to the environment."

The Badgers drew the No. 4 seed and will open the nationals Thursday at 3 p.m. against the No. 5 Acadia Axewomen. Brock went 12-0 in the regular season, losing the Critelli Cup final at home to Ryerson after letting a significant lead slip through their fingers.

"Just knowing we have the chance to play Ryerson again and play our hardest here has definitely motivated us as a team because we want to prove we can hang with the top teams even after that loss," said Weinert.

Acadia went 11-4 in the regular season and won the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) title. Brock head coach Mike Rao knows the Axewomen will present another big challenge for the Badgers.

"They won the AUS championship which means a lot," he said. "They're a good team and they have a few strong players who we'll have to learn to defend. But at the nationals, they're all going to be good teams."

To prepare for a team they've never played, the Badgers' coaches and players have spent hours watching game film of Acadia in action, in addition to practising at Brock Monday and Tuesday.

"We've prepared as best as we can with lots of study this week," Rao said. "We're here and we feel confident and optimistic. We're going to try our best."

For Weinert and her teammates, Saturday's disappointment was a lesson learned.

"It's important to just take it one day at a time, one quarter at a time, one minute at a time," she said. "You never want to underestimate yourselves or the team you're playing. It's important to go in knowing how we can play and knowing they're going to match that and do everything they can to win as well."

Before Brock plays at 3 p.m. Thursday, No. 1-ranked Ryerson will open the championships with another quarter-final matchup against No. 8 UPEI at noon. The rest of the quarter-final schedule will see No. 3 Winnipeg play No. 6 Laval at 5:30 p.m. and No. 2 Saskatchewan, the defending U SPORTS champion, play No. 7 Queens at 8 p.m.

The losing teams will play in the consolation semifinals Friday with the goal of playing in the fifth-place game at noon Sunday.

The winners Thursday will advance to the championship semifinal Saturday at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. with the bronze and gold games set for Sunday at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively.

All games will be streamed live by U SPORTS and tickets are available for games through Queen's University.

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