Coach Tony Bryce believes his 5-1 VIU women's basketball team has lots of room to improve in the second half of the season. (VIU Mariners)

By Dan Marshall

Pushing Hard

VIU Mariners tied for first in PACWEST at holiday break

Dec 10, 2022 | 6:07 AM

NANAIMO — Mariners women’s basketball coach Tony Bryce isn’t satisfied with an early 5-1 record.

He’s looking towards the future, which includes provincial and national title hopes in March.

“I think we’ve got a lot of room to grow and get better,” Bryce said. “We don’t like losing, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint. We lost a game we deserved to lose and we need to find ways to correct that.”

The lone loss on the season was a 61-55 setback to another 5-1 team the Capilano Blues on Nov. 25.

VIU followed that loss with statement wins in a pair of victories leading into the holiday break outscoring their opponents by a combined 163-78.

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The Mariners were PACWEST and CCAA silver medalists last year and Bryce is trying to mold the current group into contenders in 2023.

“We’ve been pushing for more consistency in practice and hoping that’ll translate into games because that’s one of the problems. We’ve had moments where we look great and we’ve had moments where we’ve looked well below average so we’re trying to get that right.”

There are a lot of new faces in the group which according to Bryce has led to more teaching than usual from the coaching staff.

Veteran Kayla Gregory has been been the most consistent player on the floor.

“She’s been outstanding in every facet from every minute of practice, every training session. She doesn’t need to put up big numbers to impact the game, she’ll rebound for you, she defends like crazy, she does it all.”

VIU doesn’t have a league game until Jan. 13 against Camosun but Bryce said it’s not time for a break yet, the athletes are still pushing hard.

“We look at this time as a time to make gains. They’ll get their rest, about a week off for Christmas to let their bodies recover from the push that we have been making. We’ll head down to the States after Christmas and get a few games in down there, but this isn’t a time to relax, we’ve got to get better.”

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