The Nomades completed the three-peat in Nanaimo.
The Collège de Montmorency women’s basketball team won its third straight Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association championship, defeating the Lethbridge Kodiaks 63-54 in the gold-medal game Saturday at Vancouver Island University.
Montmorency build a big lead through three quarters and although Lethbridge cut the margin to six in the last few minutes, the Nomades held on and won.
“We weren’t really scoring at the start of the fourth quarter, but we stayed tough on defence,” said Gladys Hakizimana, tournament MVP. “We had to stay focused. It happened a lot during the year, so we keep focus and we were used to it already so we knew how to do it.”
She said she “couldn’t ask for more” than to win a third national title in three years, and said it was the Nomades’ sense of team that brought them success.
“We’re just a real big family since the beginning of the year,” Hakizimana said. “I couldn’t ask for better girls than my team. I couldn’t ask for that.”
She led the Nomades with 17 points, while Nadege-Julia Pluviose had 15 points and 10 rebounds. The Kodiaks were led by Emma Lowry, who scored 17 points.
The Holland Hurricanes won bronze earlier Saturday, beating the Humber Hawks 61-54.
The VIU Mariners ended their tournament with a win, 63-51 versus the Mt. Allison Mounties. Jenna Carver, playing her last CCAA game, scored 22 points and pulled down 29 rebounds.
The day before, VIU dropped out of medal contention in a 52-41 loss to the Quest Kermodes. Jamie MacFarlane led the M’s with 16 points.
VIU lost its tournament opener 67-62 to Holland. Carver had 17 points in that one.
The Mariners were selected the tournament’s most sportsmanlike team and Bruce Hunter, VIU athletic director, addressing the crowd at the gym Saturday, said the university has “never hosted a nicer bunch of teams” than it did this past week.
“You … have all been wonderful representatives of your institutions and I’m sure that they are very, very proud of all of you,” he said.
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Congratulations to the Montmorency Nomades, CCAA women’s basketball champions for 2015… #ccaawbb2015 pic.twitter.com/tvZJDtdqCm
— Greg Sakaki (@BulletinSports) March 22, 2015
