by Breeanna Hickman
the Carillon

Third time was a charm for the Cougars last year, as they finally won the GPAC title. At CIAU nationals, the team lost the first game by two points to eventual champions U of Alberta, but rebounded on the consolation side to end up fifth in the country.

There are four new recruits hoping to fill in the shoes of graduated fifth year players Amy Mickleborough (Academic All-Canadian), Medorann Harris and Jasmine Weseen, as well as injured post player Reanne Brown, who had reconstructive surgery on her knee two weeks ago.

Two of the recruits are guards from Regina: Cymone Bouchard (O'Neill) and Tenille Kirkland (Balfour).

"Both come from very strong basketball backgrounds," said Stapleton.

Tara Crossman, a six-foot-one forward from Balgonie and six-foot forward Kalla Macaig (originally from Swift Current) round out the other open roster spots.

Meanwhile, Macaig spent the last two years playing high school basketball in Arizona, where her brother is a baseball pitcher.

"It was a good experiment for her she decided to go south and play some really competitive basketball with some real good high school players, so I think it did her a lot of good," said Stapleton.

As for where the team will end up this year Stapleton knows that theyıre in tough.

"Canada West is a tough conference so every weekend we have to be prepared to play. We'll have at least five teams in our conference ranked in the top ten all year. All year.

"So that's pretty tough, and that's just excellent because you're ready to play that tough of team every weekend," said Stapleton.

UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

The team looks good this year with 10 of 13 returning players. They lost Kristy Weibe and Rania Burns to graduation, as well as former first-year Laura Ramsey, who decided not to return. Alberta has recruited 3 or 4 girls.

Alberta won the nationals last year against U Vic, so naturally their goal is to try and repeat. This year they're hosting CIAU Nationals, so the coach figures there's an advantage to play on home court.

Baker feels that U of Vic is still tough, as they always are, and were very competitive when they played them in the finals. She considers Regina as a tough team who know what it takes, Winnipeg as being quite a young team, and anticipates that Calgary will be a little bit better this year.

"When you win everyone wants a piece of you. A real dogfight," said head coach Trix Baker.

UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA

With eleven returning players from last year's second place team in the country, head coach Kathy Shields calls the Vikes a veteran team.

They lost only one player, Lillie Blair, who happened to be their top defender. Last year UVic were the #1 defensive team, and hope to still be with the addition of 6'0" post player, Krystal O'Byrne, who's strengths are rebounding and defensive play.

Shields believes that with the expanded conference to include GPAC, it will contain some of the top teams in the country.

With a really strong league, they can take any teams and be top competition. University of Alberta should be considered the top team, along with Regina being very good and tough for everyone. But she thinks U of Vic will be right in the mix, and at the end be in the top three or four.

UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN

Head coach Lisa Thomaid considers the upcoming season as a rebuilding year.

"When you lose the best players, it's difficult to fill in the large holes," said Thomaid.

However, the U of S team has gained several transfers and some new recruits.

Allison Fairbrother transferred, as did Dallas English from the University of Winnipeg. Carla Bodnarus played one year at University of Manitoba before she came to U of S, and brought her younger sister Lisa Bodnarus straight out of high school as well. Jody Bevar rounds out the list of new recruits.

Last year, U of S ended up in fifth place in Canada West. But this year the Huskies are hoping for a bit of improvement.

"Gunning for a playoff spot. Ending up in at least third place in the conference would be great, but fourth place would be realistic," said Thomaid.

UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA

Young. That's how head coach Colleen Dufresne describes the upcoming Bison team. Six freshmen have been recruited to fill in the four roster spots the team had lost.

Of the four, two were in the starting lineup, including star player Ann Smith. This year, there are no fifth year players and only one fourth-year player.

However, Dufresne declares that this team has the most depth.

"There's more size than ever, but theyıre really young. Rookies are rookies," said Dufresne.

Last year, they made it to the CIAU finals, losing to Alberta in the first round by seven points.

They encountered Regina on the consolation side, and lost to the Cougars again.

"Those doofuses (Regina) weren't supposed to lose," said Dufrense.

UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE

The 1999-2000 Lethbridge Women's Basketball Team looks pretty good according to head coach Dori Johnson.

"They're young but very enthusiastic," said Johnson.

Eight new faces are coming in to fill in the seven vacancies left on the team. There are five returning players, however only one starter from last year. One of the faces Lethbridge has recruited is off-guard Tessa West from Thom High School here in Regina.

Although Lethbridge finished ont the basement of the conference in 1998-1999, she that there will be an improvement on last year. But Johnson does admit that this will be a very competitive league, with the addition of GPAC teams.

Johnson counts Alberta, UVic, Regina, Manitoba and Winnipeg to all be tough competitors.

She predicts that we will see some interesting things between the matchups of GPAC and Canada West.

UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

Coach Shawnee Harlee and her team are very excited about the upcoming season, as it will be very competitive.

The team will have plenty of new faces, as there are nine new players.

Six veterans are returning, while only one player graduated. Harlee replaced a number of players from last season to stay competitive in the league.

One of the team's best surprises is college transfer Jill Beker, a 6'3" post player who played Division II ball in the States.

"She landed in our laps, heard very good things about our program phoned me up one day and said that she was interested in playing on our team if we wanted her," said Harlee.

Last year, U of C finished third in Canada West. This year, Harlee thinks it's tougher to predict as the league grows from six teams to 11.

Harlee predicts to land somewhere in the top four.