A head coach removed from the bench, Pacwest provincial tournament hosting duties stripped and a crushing loss to arch-rival VIU Mariners in the Pacwest championship – none of that ultimately mattered to the Columbia Bible College Bearcats women's basketball team. The Bearcats dusted themselves off from the setback to VIU, shook off all the other noise surrounding the team and travelled across the country to compete at CCAA women's basketball championships in New Brunwick and proceeded to win it all on Saturday (March 15). They knocked off Quebec's Géants de Saint-Jean 67-61 on Wednesday (March 12), stunned the second-ranked SAIT Trojans 63-55 in the semifinal on Thrusday (March 13) and capped it off with a 77-70 win over Alberta's St. Mary's University Lightning on Saturday. It completes a remarkable turnaround for a program that suffered through a 54-game losing streak from 2018 to 2023 and had never won a Pacwest playoff game prior to this season. Saturday's final was a back-and-forth game that the Lightning lead 24-20 after one, but CBC took a 37-33 lead into halftime. That lead was cut by one after three quarters, but CBC poured it on in the final quarter to secure the 77-70 and the first-ever national basketball title in school history. Bearcats guard Grace Park stepped up offensively and contributed 20 points on 9/15 shooting. She added six rebounds and four assists to earn player of the game honours. CBC's Madeline Beerwald (5'11''-F) was effective on both ends of the ball, with 20 points and eight rebounds. CCAA championship tournament most valuable player Elissa Vreugdenhil (6'1''-F) added 19 points and 12 rebounds. CBC dominated the rebound battle against SMU and posted a 44-26 advantage. Points in the paint was also a 44-24 edge for the Bearcats. The Bearcats shot 43.8 per cent from the field and held SMU to 37.3 per cent. Another factor in the win was the Bearcats ability to get to the free throw line, they reached the charity stripe 27 times (making 18) as opposed to just seven free throw attempts for SMU. CCAA player of the year Maitlynn Miller (5'7''-F ) of the Lightning was shut down by CBC and she managed just 11 points on 5/13 shooting. Making CBC's title run even more notable is that they were playing for some of the season and for the entire playoffs without head coach Taylor Claggett. She was removed from the bench following a Pacwest investigation of an incident involving a transgender player on the VIU Mariners in October. CBC also lost Pacwest tournament. Assistant coaches Alexis Worrell and Victoria Jacobse handled coaching duties during Claggett's absence. Douglas College was then awarded the tournament, which concluded on March 3. The Mariners defeated the Bearcats 69-59 in that game, but both teams qualified for the nationals. The Mariners lost to SAIT in the bronze medal semifinal game on Friday (March 14).
Courtesy of: vicnews.com