Transway Lock In 3-0 Weekend With Win Over Brampton

Hamilton Transway’s speed and ability to get to the basket was a major factor in earning themselves a decisive 90-74 victory over the Brampton Warriors in JUEL exhibition play on January 20, 2013 in Mississauga, Ontario.

A strong start by Transway, who managed a 29-15 lead in the First Quarter proved to be too much for the Warriors to overcome.  That 14 point lead was essentially the cushion that they maintained through out the game, to eventually end up with their win.

The very positive result was the culmination of a great first taste of league action for a Transway’s new JUEL members to establish their presence on the league.

“For this game and for the whole first weekend”, said Transway Head Coach Nate McKibbon, “I was really pleased with the way our players adjusted to the high level of play. For our coaching staff, none of us have been involved in JUEL before. For all thirteen of our players, this is their first opportunity to play I this league, so it was a question of how quickly we could make the adjustments, and I think they did.”

For Coach McKibbon, one of his team’s keys to the victory was establishing the pace of the game.  By implementing the Transway tempo onto the game, allowed his team to play to their strengths which in turn made it difficult for their opponents to solve.

“Hamilton teams, Transway teams specifically are a little bit smaller than a lot of teams out there and obviously this year’s no different. We looked awfully small in layup lines even in our first game against Scarborough. And, so for us its establish a tempo, get after people, try to turn people over and I think we we’re able to do that early in all three of our games.”

To the Warriors’ credit, they were able to not only stop the huge momentum that the Hamilton squad was able to amass, but through the Second and Third Quarters actually start to chip away at the lead.  Heading into the Fourth Quarter, the deficit they were facing, was a more manageable 64-55.

Transway knows how to get to the basket.  And in doing so throughout the game, it took a toll on Brampton’s foul count.  That toll came to a head throughout the latter of the Second Half resulting lots of Warrior foul trouble in which the Hamilton team was all to willing to avail themselves of at the charity stripe in order to seal the victory.

Obviously pleased with his team’s favourable results with what showed up on the stat-sheet throughout the exhibition weekend, McKibbon was just as pleased with the things that were not measured at the scorers table.

“They came out and 

they competed and they didn’t back down from anyone, and I think we’re putting ourselves in a great position for the regular season.”

Yes, Hamilton Transway has been a significant force for several years, able to accomplish some awesome feats. And, although the core of this team has been together for a number of years, they have added several new players in to the mix.  A significant contribution to the positive early results so far, come from the ability of the core players, and the new additions to actually get on the same page.  The high I.Q. of those coming into the fold, to be able to pick on the concepts that have already been established, will be a significant x-factor throughout the season.

“It’s been really nice to see the new kids come in and make a contribution and pick stuff up so quickly. The core of our team has been together many years now and it’s all sort of second nature now a lot of our sets and a lot of our defenses. And it’s really aided a lot of the new players in picking up a lot of material. Now that they’re up to speed, now we really fine tune a lot of the stuff because by no means were we perfect in any one of the three games. And I told them, I don’t want you to be perfect now. We don’t want to play our best game in exhibition schedule. So, as I’m pleased with our overall performance, I still think that there’s a whole lot of room for growth and I know that they’re willing to put the work in and really get after it.”

Leading Scorers

Hamilton Transway – Kia Nurse 28 points; Amira Gianattasio 23 points; Emily Piccini 12 points
Brampton Warriors – Shantelle Valentine 16 points; Cassandra Edwards 14 points; Shay Colley 13 points; Hailey Robertson 11 points