Pilots women’s basketball team hoping new system will lead to success

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This article was published 27/10/2022 (975 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

by CASSIDY DANKOCHIK

Just a few minutes into the Providence Pilots first basketball game of the season against Briercrest College, five new players came to the scorer’s table to check into the game.

It wasn’t because head coach Joel Coursey was upset with his starters. Instead, he was debuting a new way Providence will play this season. The Pilots are rolling three ‘lines’ of five players heading out onto the court for short shifts. After their time is up, usually around two minutes, five new Pilots hit the floor.

Coursey said he hopes to punish teams for giving big minutes to their top players throughout a game.

“We are re-inventing ourselves,” he said.

“There’s not a lot of teams that are willing to play 15 players… It’s very different, and it encourages it to be a high score.”

It was obvious in their double-header with Briercrest the team was still working out the kinks of their new system, losing 107-50 on Oct. 14 and 62-41 the next day.

“We know that it takes a while to put it all together,” Coursey said, noting it was the first time his players have tried this system in a real game.

“Briercrest happened to be both exceptionally talented… and incredibly deep. They had 19 players. They were kind of an anomaly to the teams we face on a regular basis. (The score) didn’t come as a surprise.”

Coursey said the players have embraced the system, praising his team for celebrating late-game steals even while down over 20 points.

“When you see something like that, you know that there is buy in to what you are doing,” Coursey said.

“Friday night, we were down 57, and we got a steal with seven seconds left. You never see that. You always see a drop in effort and enthusiasm… There’s a lot of enjoyment, it’s a lot of fun, and it brings out the best in people.”

Coursey hopes the new style will lead to plenty of points and exciting games. The Pilots basketball and volleyball teams play in the Niverville Community Resource and Rec Centre.

“When things click, it’s going to be electric to watch,” Coursey said.

“We’re trying to bring as much chaos as we possibly can to the floor, and then be the ones that are more comfortable living in it.”

Like all Providence teams, the Pilots play a schedule against Manitoban teams in the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference (MCAC), but with only three teams in MCAC playing basketball, the majority of their match ups come against American opponents in the Northern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (NIAC).

With COVID-19 border rules still in effect, nearly all Pilots basketball games will be on the road this season. Their only NIAC home games played this season took place on Oct. 21 and 22 when Turtle Mountain Community College came to Niverville.

The Pilots were able to come away with a couple of victories, prevailing in a 82-62 blowout Oct. 22, before hanging on for the weekend sweep 79-77 Oct. 23. The men’s team split the weekend with Turtle Mountain.

That travel-heavy schedule will have Providence student athletes making four road trips per semester outside of Canada.

“In some ways it’s really hard, but in other ways, we embrace it,” Coursey said.

“The bonding you get on the road and in hotels is pretty invaluable too. It’s hard on us coaches and our families but the kids love it.”

The Pilots basketball teams will next be in action at home November 19 when they host Canadian Mennonite University.