Coach Michelle Belanger has seen it all in 28 seasons as the head coach of the Varsity Blues women’s basketball team. She has won nine OUA championships, and made 14 CIS Championship appearances, winning a national championship crown in 1986. But Belanger, who has been named OUA coach of the year six times (including this season after her team held an impressive 18-4 first place finish in the East) was reluctant to compare the current edition of the Blues to those of recent vintage.
“It’s certainly one of the top teams I’ve coached in terms of their determination and fire, and their ability to work hard continuously.” said Belanger during a recent interview. “They’ve never given up, never folded and gone home when the going got tough.”
Belanger described a game against York on Nov. 15 as the turning point in her team’s season. At that time, the Blues were 14-3, but had yet to register a victory against top competition (all three of their losses came at the hands of Western conference giants McMaster, Brock, and Western respectively).
York also had Toronto’s number over the years heading into the match. The Blues hadn’t beaten the Lions in three seasons, eliminated by their cross-town rivals in the two previous OUA tournaments. In this game, things started off badly as York took an early 18-6 lead after the first quarter, continuing to surge in the third quarter, outscoring Toronto 26-16.
The Blues showed a lot of heart, fighting back from a 21-point deficit with less than four minutes left in the game. They eventually cut the lead to three points on the strength of a 34-point fourth quarter. Despite the loss, the effort showed Belanger exactly how good her team could be.
“We’ve had a lot of adversity throughout the year. And I think it proves that my players have strong character, and what it takes to pull it out of the bag, so to speak.”
Belanger is too diplomatic to rank her teams over the years, the title of “best” clearly not an honor she easily bestows. The explanation dates all the way back to 1985. Then in her fifth season as a U of T coach,
Belanger witnessed one of the most remarkable performances in U of T athletics history. The 1985 team is famous for having gone the entire regular season and playoffs undefeated, 30-0. In a twist of fate, the Mc- Master Marauders (21-1) set to play in the OUA finals Saturday against the Varsity Blues, were led by Coach Theresa Burns, who played under Michelle Belanger on that undefeated U of T team. Burns who played for the Blues from 1983-1988, was named a first-team OUA all-star with Toronto in 1985, leading the team to its third consecutive title.
This history provided an interesting storyline in Saturday’s OUA finals, as Burns squared off against her mentor.
“We played each other a number of times over the years,” said Burns. “The first few times, she’d call her players in the middle of a game, and I would look up. Her voice has always stuck with me.”
As with all great competitors, there was nothing but respect from Burns towards her opponent: “Michelle is a good friend, colleague, and my mentor. I learned so much from her.”
This congenial show of warmth after the game was in stark contrast to the physicality and fierceness of the match itself. McMaster entered into hostile territory and played with an edge, but Toronto was not about to back down.
“We knew it was going to be really physical,” said fifth-year forward Laila Bellony following the game. “The last game that we played against [McMaster] in November we didn’t play well, and I think it was because we weren’t expecting them to be so physical. At this time of the year, everyone’s fighting tooth and nails to get seeded as high as they can, so we knew it was going to be tough.”
Bellony, who led the team with 17 points and seven rebounds provided toughness and intensity for the Blues in the grueling contest.
The game was close early on with the Blues trailing 6-4 at 5:37 of the first. The quarter was a backand- forth affair, with the two teams trading baskets. The Blues showed defensive acumen, limiting scoring opportunities to the Marauders vaunted running game early on, but the score after the first frame had McMaster with a narrow 16-15 lead.
In the second quarter, McMaster pulled away, as their defense shut down the Blues, outscoring their opponents 18-6. The Blues only connected on 1-11 field goal attempts in the second, and a number of turnovers lead to easy baskets for Mc- Master in transition.
“It’s all about defence. Our defence always keeps us in games, and helps us win,” said two-time West MVP Lindsay Degroot. “We have a solid offence as well, but we can’t do anything if you don’t have a defense to back you up.”
Degroot, who led the Marauders with 16 points and 14 rebounds enroute to Player of the Game honors, was paced by teammate Taylor Smith with 13 points and five assists. Smith hit a difficult three-point shot while being guarded closely by Blues guard Kyla Burwash in the second quarter to give McMaster a 29-19 advantage. The Blues trailed at half time, 34-21.
The fourth quarter started promisingly for the Blues as guard Kyla Burwash opened up the scoring with a jumper to cut the lead to 53-46. With the game out of reach, the Toronto crowd, angered by a number of noncalls by the refs threw trash on the court, resulting in a stoppage of play.
McMaster won the game 69-59, to take their second OUA title in the last three years. After falling at home to York in last season’s finals, the team looked to re-establish themselves as the best team in Ontario.
“Last year we were really upset by the loss,” said third-year Marauders guard Taylor Smith, after the game. “This year really meant a lot to us. We had six seniors graduating so we wanted to do it for them. And redeem ourselves from last year.”
Both teams now advance to the CIS championship tournament, hosted by the University of Saskatchewan at Saskatoon on March 7-9. Based on CIS rankings, Toronto will most likely play number 3 UBC in the opening round, while McMaster should play number 9 Cape Breton in the opening round of the tournament.
