CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The UPEI Panthers play their final home games of the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) basketball season this weekend.
The St. FX X-Women and X-Men are here tonight for 6 and 8 p.m. games, respectively, while the Dalhousie Tigers visit Charlottetown Saturday for games, also at 6 and 8 p.m.
Women
The women’s Panthers squad (9-9) is in the playoffs, but could find itself seeded anywhere from third to sixth depending on this weekend’s outcomes.
While it would be nice to go into the post-season with momentum, Panthers head coach Greg Gould said it’s no guarantee of further success.
“Playoffs are playoffs,” he said. “It’s a whole new start. You push the reset button, and away you go.”
He said the team recently surpassed the 100th practice of the season.
“They've had enough practice, they want to play,” Gould said. “I think the kids are getting anxious to get at it.”
The X-Women (1-17) are out of the playoff picture, while the Tigers (5-13) need some help to get into the post-season.
“It’s more about ourselves than it is about our opponents this week,” Gould said.
Fifth-year Panthers forward Kiera Rigby enters the weekend in second place in the scoring race at 18.6 points per game. Cape Breton’s Alison Keough leads the circuit at 18.8 while Acadia guard Paloma Anderson is third at 18.4. Cape Breton plays Acadia tonight to close out their regular seasons.
Men
The men’s Panthers (3-15) are playing out the string with games against St. FX (8-10) and Dalhousie (14-4).
While the Panthers have known for a few weeks they would not qualify for the post-season, head coach Darrell Glenn said this week has been the toughest to prepare for. He said the week off on Feb. 9 and 10 made it tough to get the intensity level back up.
“We’re just not the same as we were two or three weeks ago,” he said. “For the rookies, this has been a long grind. . . We’ve got a number of rookies who had to play significant minutes, and they've had to do that over an eight-month season.”
He said he sees some mental fatigue in players, but he is looking for them to respond once the ball goes up tonight.
“We still have an opportunity to get better and to build for next season,” he said.
Vernelle Johnson (concussion) and Dakelle Brooks (knee) are both out with injuries while fourth-year forward D’Adrian Allen will play.
Guard Samy Mohamed and forward Stefan Vujisic are both playing their final games on Saturday. Glenn said he would talk to both players at Saturday’s shootaround.
“They just got to go out and play like it’s any other game, but it’s a difficult game to play in,” he said. “I remember playing in my last game here. You’re just flooded with a lot of emotion, knowing that this is going to be the last time you’ll walk out of the change room with the Panther uniform on.”
Saturday will be Kensington native Sven Stammberger’s final game in P.E.I. The Tigers forward is averaging 19 points per game, fourth in the conference.
