Brent Mutis, CapU Sport Information & Compliance Officer
With four players in their fourth season and six playing their first CapU campaign, the Blues women’s basketball team was equipped for the 2021-22 season with enough youth and experience to contend again in the PACWEST standings.
Veterans Mackenzie Smith, Devon Wood, Emma Jones and Meagan Briggs brought a combined 16 seasons of college hoops to the equation and first-year guard Jenna Griffin had been waiting a long time to show what she could do after only getting practices and scrimmage time with her teammates during the 2020-21 year which saw no season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Griffin led the team in scoring in the season opener, a 72-59 road win over Langara. Point guard Kirsten Abo led the Blues in scoring in three of the next four games which included two home wins over Columbia Bible College (CBC) and two road losses at Vancouver Island University (VIU).
A one-point loss at home to Camosun would follow which dropped the Blues record to 3-3 heading into the final game of November which was the second half of the Camosun visit and Capilano rebounded with an 85-61 win where Griffin led the way with 18 points while Smith posted 14 and Wood netted 13.
CapU’s lone December game was a 72-57 road win at Douglas College with Griffin again scoring 18 to go along with five assists. Capilano had five other games originally scheduled in December but flooding in the Fraser Valley made a road trip to Okanagan College (OC) impossible while COVID-19 case numbers caused the cancellation of a Dec. 17 exhibition at Simon Fraser University and two games in Victoria over the holiday break.
With a bye week to start the 2022 portion of the schedule, the Blues endured a 46-day layoff and did not return to action until January 22 with a home game against VIU. The eventual regular-season winners of the PACWEST again showed their class with a 72-50 victory. VIU’s physical front line kept forwards Smith and Emma Jones in check but the setback would be the Blues only regular-season loss the rest of the way.
Capilano got an injection of size and skill into the lineup in January with the addition of 6-foot-2 Swedish import Ida Jonsson-Ojala. The native of Norrköpping was nervous in her first PACWEST game against, recording just four points and three boards but she was fully adjusted after that and grabbed double-digit rebounds in each of the remaining seven games and had five double-doubles.
The Blues won seven games in a row heading to the postseason, including an 89-79 road win at Camosun Feb. 5 where Abo scored a career-high 26 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point land.
CapU finished the regular season with a 12-4 record which made them the No. 2 seed for the PACWEST postseason hosted March 3 to 5 by CBC. As the second-seeded team, CapU had a bye to the semifinals and awaited the winner of the Okanagan College-Langara game. OC prevailed in their tournament opener and lined up against the Blues as slight underdogs being the No. 3 seed.
Capilano started strong and built a 13-point lead at halftime as Smith and Briggs combined for 23 points in the first 20 minutes. OC adjust in the second half with a three-quarters court press and ate away in the third quarter before exploding for 28 point in the final frame to complete the comeback in an 82-73 final. OC went on to upset VIU in the PACWEST final to claim their first-ever conference title in women’s hoops.
It was an especially disappointing result for the Blues given the PACWEST had two berths to the CCAA national championships and a win in the semifinal would have gotten them a spot in the national tournament.
In the bronze-medal game, CapU faced Douglas College and, like the semifinal against OC, the Blues held a lead heading to the fourth quarter but were not able to hang on in a 67-63 defeat.
It was the final PACWEST game for North Vancouver native Devon Wood who started and posted eight points and four rebounds. Smith continued her fine provincials performance with 13 points and nine rebounds.
All of the Blues other veterans will return for the 2022-23 season which will be the fifth under head coach Chris Weimer.
In the PACWEST end-of-season awards, Abo, Griffin and Jonsson-Ojala were named Second-Team conference All-Stars with Griffin also earning a spot on the All-Rookie Team.
