Carvery Leads Phoenix In Moncton Ladies Basketball Classic Win

On December 10, 2011, the Citadel Phoenix from Nova Scotia became back-to-back champions of the Moncton Ladies Basketball Classic by defeating the Bernice MacNaughton Highlanders of New Brunswick by a score of 54-32.

Top prospect Angelina Carvery (5’8″, F, 2012) made her impression early in this game by scoring the game’s first five points nailing a short jumper, then calmly draining a 3-pointer, en route to her game high 17 points.

“Carvery is solid”, said Citadel Phoenix Coach, Ian MacRae. “She’s a great leader. She’s one of our captains also, so we really on her. I think her best quality is her leadership. We always know what were going to get from her.”

Pushing the pace of the game and being aggressive were all a part of the keys of the game for Citadel.

“We played them twice already this year, once in PEI and once in and exhibition game in our gym, so we knew how they play. We knew they could shoot and rebound well. Getting ready for the game we talked about our zone offense.”

Making use of Jaylyn Skeir’s (5’5″, G, 2012) speed to push the pace of the ball was one of the key tactics the Phoenix used to unsettle the Highlanders’ defense, forcing them to deal with the Halifax-based defending tournament Champions. “Our goal this year is to be the most aggressive team we can be,” said Coach MacRae.  By doing that, and using some great outside shooting by Carvery and the steadily improving Jane Boyle (5’9″, G/F, 2014), Citadel managed to extend a lead that saw them up by as much as 34-13 in the game’s 1st Half.

However, the MacNaughton Highlanders were not about to make this one too easy for Citadel. Coming out of the locker room after Halftime, they went on a little run of their own to make things closer. Grace Wade (5’6″, G, 2013), who stepped up in this tournament for the Highlanders by averaging 16.2ppg throughout, began to make her presence felt in this one. When the Highlanders switched to man to man defense, she picked off numerous passes and along with decent one on one play on the offensive end from Alysha Bulman (5’9″, Wing, 2013), helped to bring the score to a considerably closer 34-21 and gain momentum on their side.

In the end however, after a few more Citadel adjustments on defense, they clamped down and would go on to convincingly win the tournament’s Championship game game by a score of 54-32.

“Glendeira Smith (5’9″, F, 2013) played some great defense in this game. She was a 1st team All-star and it is because with her defense and rebounding is she creates absolute havoc. I’m so glad that the tournament organizers recognized that because her defense was certainly evident.”

Smith wasn’t the only Citadel Phoenix to collect hardware from their overall play in this tournament. Jaylyn Skeir won the tournament’s Hustle Award and Angelina Carvery won the MVP Offense award.

But the Phoenix Coach was quick to point out that there were others that contributed to their success. “We have seven Grade 10s on our team and we’re happy with all of therem. Desiree Oakley (5’6″G, 2014), Tyleigha Nelson (5’7″, G/F, 2014) and Jayla Verney (5’6″, G/F, 2014) have played significant minutes. If they were on any other teams they would be starting.”

“Tyleigha Nelson received a player of the game in one of our games. Desiree Oakley’s defense was unbelievable for a player in Grade 10. These are not your typical Grade 10s.”

A number of MacNaughton Highlanders also won awards as well. Katie Horsman (5’5″, Wing, 2012)  was a Bursary award recipient, Alysha Bulman was a 2nd Team All-Star, Maddy Hiscock (5’8″, F, 2012) was a 1st Team All-Star and Grace Wade was the MVP Defense award winner.

This is the second tournament win for the Citadel Phoenix in as many weekends. On December 3, 2011, the Phoenix also won the Colonel Grey Classic varsity girls basketball tournament in Charlottetown, PEI. But now that they have these tournaments under their belts, Coach MacRae designed it so that it’s now time for them to take the foot off the gas, in order to make sure they look towards their ultimate goal, the NSSAF (Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation) high school league play and Division 1 Championship.

“Now the focus turns to league play. We have two games this week. The second one being an exhibition game against CP Allen, whom we lost to last year in the Provincial Finals. So, we’re really looking forward to that game.”

“We only arranged for the two tournaments this year. It was our intention to have our two tournaments early so that we can later focus on league play for the remainder of this month, and throughout January. Then when February rolls around, you’ve got exams and then, before you know it, it’s playoffs time.”

On the recruiting trail, Carvery still has not yet made up her mind with where she will land next year, but there is no shortage of suitors north of the border says Coach MacRae.  Angelina is “being highly recruited across Canada, from UVic to Acadia”.  He also mentioned that Jaylyn Skeir and Allie Smye are also some of the Pheonix that are also likely to be playing  post secondary basketball based on the intrest being shown.  Longer term, many of his Class of 2014 girls should be kept on the radar as many of them have been approached as well.