Rustlers Basketball Wins National Bronze Medal

Although the color of the medal they won was not what they were hoping for when they traveled to Nanaimo, BC for the CCAA national championships, the Rustlers Women's Basketball team played some inspired basketball over the 3 days.

The week started off on Thursday with both ACAC Player of the Year Tori Dugan being announced as the CCAA Player of the Year and the ACAC Coach of the Year, Chris King being announced as the CCAA Women's Basketball Coach of the Year. Two significant accomplishments being selected as the top player and coach in the country.

The Rustlers started their tournament against the home team Vancouver Island University Mariners in front a close to capacity gymnasium Friday night. The Mariners who led the PacWest Conference for the entire season were upset in their Conference championship and spent 3 weeks preparing for their next opponent, the Rustlers. The game went back and forth in the first half until the Rustlers were able to build a lead going into the dressing room at the half.  With support of the crowd the Mariners came out in the second half and played some extremely tough basketball chipping away at the Rustlers lead until they were able to pull ahead.The Rustlers worked to keep pace but got into some foul trouble and VIU gained more momentum in their home gym, which resulted in the Mariners handing the Rustlers their first loss of the season 76–71 and relegating them to the bronze side of the draw. Player of the game for the Rustlers was Bilge Topaloglu.

On day two the Rustlers took on the Humber Hawks from Toronto.  The Hawks who also lost their first game on Friday, played a fast-paced game. The Rustlers were able to match the pace of play and played some inspired basketball coming back from the loss the previous day. At the end of the game Lakeland moved on to the bronze medal qualifier defeating the Hawks by a score of 68–55. Hailey Somers continued her strong play for the Rustlers and was awarded player of the game.

Sunday if the Rustlers were to win the bronze medal, they would have to play two games in over an 8-hour period.  First up were the Mount Saint Vincent University Mystics from Halifax. The Mystics lost a semi final game and were paired against the Rustlers.  MSVU has a team that makes several 3 point attempts and plays some aggressive defense. The Rustlers once again came to play starting off strong building a significant lead and played some strong defense of their own keeping the Mystic from scoring for almost 10 minutes in the first half.  The Rustlers went into the half with a 30-point lead. The Mystics battled hard in the second half of the game, but the Rustlers lead was too great which resulted in the final score bring 75–53 in favor of the Rustlers.  Tori Dugan played a solid game for the Rustlers and was awarded Player of the Game.

The Rustler victory set up a game that pitted the top two seeds in the tournament against each other.  For their fourth game in 3 days Lakeland took on the Champlain St. Lambert Cavaliers from Montreal.  The Cavaliers who were also upset on the first day came around from the other side of the draw to take on the Rustlers. This game also went back and forth with St. Lambert's post scoring some tough baskets and Tori Dugan, the Rustlers captain, scoring some huge baskets for the Rustlers.  Once again, the Rustlers built a lead, but the Cavaliers chipped away in the second half slowly drawing closer to the Rustlers. In the end Lakeland took advantage of their opportunities and outscored St. Lambert 86–73 to win Lakeland's first ever CCAA medal in the sport of Women's Basketball. Tori Dugan led all Rustler scorers and was named Player of the Game for the second time in one day.

Tori Dugan was selected as a second team all-star and Bilge Topaloglu was selected as a first team all-star.  Also receiving an award was point guard Bethany Montebon who was award the Judy Smith Exemplary Leadership award for the National Championship.

With all the challenges over the last couple of seasons and for the first time that a women's basketball team from Lakeland has ever attended a national championship, a bronze medal is something this group of ladies can be proud of.