Last season saw Simon Fraser finish third in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) with a record of 15–5, their best season since they finished second place in 2012–13. Last season saw point guard Ellen Kett (12.2 ppg, 7.7 apg) and forward Meg Wilson (14.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg) lead the Clan to the GNAC quarter finals, where SFU lost to Central Washington 58–57 in a game where Wilson was injured. But last season was these two players’ senior season for the Clan, and they will no longer be able to suit up for the team.
Combine this with the likelihood that last season’s starting forward Ozi Nwabuko will miss this season due to injury, and this looks like a opportunity for other players to step up. After playing with an injured leg towards the end of last season, Nwabuko got it checked out in July. What ensued was a three-week recovery that turned into a six-and-a-half month recovery, effectively ending her 2017–18 season. “We were ready to lose Ellen, we were ready to lose Meg, we weren’t really ready to lose Ozi,” said head coach Bruce Langford when asked what this loss will mean to the team.
Add in losses to last season’s starters Elisa Homer and Rachel Fradgley, and this season looks like a beginning of new things for the Simon Fraser women’s basketball team.
”It’s a new team in the sense that we don’t have any starter back, it’s a new team in the sense we’re really young,” said Langford. While losing all five starters brings uncertainty, there is plenty to be excited about for the team going forward.
“We’re hoping that Tayler Drynan can come in and replace Ellen, and we have some other people to play the point if we need to.” said Langford. “I think Sophie Swant can come in and do a lot of what Meg did.”
Swant will certainly be looked upon as a leader for this year’s team. As one of two juniors on the team, the other being Tayla Jackson, and no seniors, she adds a level of experience to a young roster. When asked about this new role, Swant responded with: “I think that it was by circumstance that I’ve been thrown into this role. I’m excited to take it on with the new team.” She added, “Our team has a collection of people who love basketball, want to be [here], all want to work towards a common goal, value the ‘we’ before the ‘me,’ and are all leaders in their own right, so I don’t think this new role for me is necessarily different from everyone else’s new roles.”
The five starters were also the five leading scorers for the Clan last season, but Langford is not worried about scoring points. “One of our strengths is that we can shoot the ball. I think we’re gonna shoot the ball better than we did last year.” Claudia Hart and Tayla Jackson are both capable of scoring in different ways as the team’s main bigs. Jessica Jones (who was a redshirt last year), Tia Tsang, Drynan, and Swant are all great shooters returning for the Clan, with Swant also being an adept inside/outside player as well. No, points won’t be the issue.
“The issue is can we play our style if we’re worried about foul trouble, can we play our style if we’re afraid of people getting injured?”
Simon Fraser’s roster currently stands at eleven players. While the team recruited three new freshmen in Sierra Schefer, Juliana Babic and Kendal Sands, both Schefer and Babic are currently injured. While the Clan is “very pleased with [Sands] so far,” Langford also noted that “it’s hard for rookies to fit in.” While this may be true, Sands will be put in a position to succeed right away due to the injuries around the team.
Swant knows what it is like to be a rookie and forced into action. “[It’s] similar to what happened to us in my first year: I came in and there was only eight of us that could play. What I found in my first year is that everyone got just that much better because of the sheer amount of minutes that everyone gets to play because of the low body count. Everyone improves, everyone gets better, everyone learns the system, and is able to play within the system that much more reliably.” She also added that having no seniors on the roster bodes well for the team in the future.
Simon Fraser’s other recruit is sophomore guard Nicole Vander Helm, a division I transfer from Santa Clara. Langford describes her as a good shooter who is capable of taking advantage of mismatches due to her size (six feet tall). He added that she has a “very competitive, very fiery personality . . . so she’ll bring some vinegar to the mix.” Last season saw another division I transfer dominate the GNAC, as Taylor Peacocke led the league in points for Western Washington. While this is an unreasonable standard to set, Vander Helm will certainly be looked upon as a key weapon for a young Clan team.
Despite the exciting new recruits, SFU was ranked No. 5 in the GNAC preseason coaches poll. The ranking is a combination of looking at the team record from the season prior and the amount of returning players on the roster. Given that there are few returning players (Swant, Tsang, Drynan, Nwabuko, and Jackson), with Nwabuko being injured, it is no surprise that the team was given an underwhelming ranking. However, this does not faze the team at all.
“We can upset some people here and show them that we’re better than they think [we are],” said Langford.
Swant added that “it gives us a bit of an advantage . . . everyone on our team knows that we’re better than fifth. I see us in the top three of GNAC and our goal is to make it back to regional championships.”
Witness it for yourself as the Clan’s home opener will take place on November 16, when the team hosts Hawaii Pacific University.
