The VIU Mariners women's basketball team celebrated a gold medal win at the CCAA Nationals in MOntreal over the weekend (Image Credit: CCAA)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

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NANAIMO — VIU’s outgoing women’s basketball coach admitted Sunday’s travel day back home from Montreal was a rough ride, but the reason was well worth any discomfort.

Celebrations continued long into the night for the team after they won the CCAA women’s basketball national championship on Saturday, March 21, the second such title for the team in the last four years.

Head coach Tony Bryce, who had announced his retirement earlier this year, said the growth of the team throughout the entire season is something which will stick with him for a long time.

“We weren’t very good early, we made so many changes to what we were doing, and the ride and the progress was out of this world. It took a special group that would stick in and stay with it and trust the process, and they’re just so much fun to be around.”

Bryce admitted celebrations Saturday night were “pretty electric,” with the players relatively quiet on a long return to the west coast, via Toronto, Sunday morning.

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The Mariners’ run to the final saw them dispatch St. Thomas in the quarter finals 55-41 to set up a difficult semi-final game against Géants de Saint-Jean.

A 10-point win was not necessarily reflective of the game overall, Bryce said.

“We’ve played them in the past, and they’re very athletic. It was a back-and-forth game all the way along, and we were just fortunate enough to make some big plays down the stretch and get some stops, but no doubt that was a grind. Getting through that was huge and gave us that next level of confidence heading into the final.”

Bryce said this season was perhaps a little unique, where the team didn’t rely on a single player, or small combination of players to get them to the end.

He said Trista Thorn and Kiayra Hohlweg were instrumental through the regular season, while Mackenzie Cox and Kaia Simpson stepped up through the PACWEST championships.

At nationals, Sarah Cook and Samantha Shields were the standings, according to Bryce.

Both led scoring in the deciding game Saturday night with 18 and 17 points respectively.

“That’s how we get you, we don’t have one star, we have a whole group of 15 stars. Players made plays when they needed to make plays, and it was a full-on team effort.”

Tony Bryce addresses his team after winning the gold medal on Saturday night, his last game as head coach of the program. (Image Credit: CCAA)

Bryce, a former Mariner player, will leave the program in the coming days, having coached the women’s team since 2017.

Finishing his career at the school with a national championship gold medal around his next is something he can’t imagine topping.

“It’s a pretty cool way to go out, and it makes you kind of itch to keep going, but I’m always itching to keep going because I love my girls and I love what I do. But, you’ve got to be realistic about where you’re at in life and where your family is at in life. Some of the things happening at the university and things like that I think are going to demand more out of me for this program to stay elite, and I just don’t have that anymore.”

Bryce said he intends to spend a lot of time with his family before deciding what comes next for him professionally.

The men’s team fell in heartbreaking style 62-21 in the gold medal game against Brebeuf on Saturday night, in front of a capacity crowd at VIU Gym.

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