The PacWest basketball season just passed the midway point, and a glance at the stats shows that there’s something special happening with the Capilano University women’s team.
It’s not just that they’ve got a perfect 10-0 record, it’s also how they’re winning their games. They’re destroying teams.
The Blues are averaging 74.9 points per game while giving up 45.9 points per game, an average margin of victory of 29 points. Twenty-nine points!
Through 10 games only one team has managed to come close to the Blues, and that was the second-place Douglas College Royals, who lost by nine on the first day of the season and six on the first day back after the Christmas break. No other team has come within three touchdowns of Capilano.
The blue wave sweeping across the league didn’t come out of nowhere, but still is a bit of a surprise. Capilano finished third in the regular season standings last year and went on to make the championship final, losing on a heart-breaking fourth-quarter collapse against Vancouver Island University. Over the summer the Blues brought in a couple of talented new players – no one, however, who would be labelled a superstar – and said goodbye to leading scorer Michelle Errico.
On paper it looked a lot like last year’s team: a contender, not a soul destroyer. So what the heck is happening this year on the Capilano campus?
“I think our maturity is really showing,” said head coach Ramin Sadaghiani this week after two more blowout wins against Camosun and VIU last weekend. “I think this year we’ve got the experience from our playoff run last year. The skill has always been there, but I think it’s just a different mentality. We’re calm and we have great leadership – we just kind of go out there and do our thing.”
The Blues, coached by Sadaghiani since 2012, boast a roster that includes just one rookie and four players with more than three years of post-secondary experience.
“I would say it’s our most mature team, I wouldn’t say necessarily it’s our most talented team,” said Sadaghiani. “But I think if you put together the talent that we have and the maturity that we have, it might be our best team.”
That maturity has translated into effort and execution on defence, where the Blues have been extra stingy. No team has reached 60 points against Capilano, while in three games they’ve held opponents under 40.
“It’s really been a focus for us,” said Sadaghiani. “I’ve kind of geared some team goals towards our defence. We felt like it was a bit of a weakness from last year. I think everyone has kind of bought into playing really hard on the defensive end.”
Leading the way is fourth-year point guard Ashley De La Cruz Yip, who on most nights is tasked with guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter player.
“She really leads by example on the defensive end,” said Sadaghiani. “She always does a really good job on the defensive end trying to be a shutdown defender. She’s very valuable on both ends of the floor.”
On the offensive end the Blues have what every coach is always searching for: a balanced attack. Four Capilano players are top-10 in the league in points per game, led by the inside-outside game of fourth-year forward Carmelle M’Bikata and third-year guard Sherrie Errico.
A pair of second-year wings – Reiko Ohama and Langara transfer Brittany Wertman – join M’Bikata and Errico in averaging double-digit scoring.
“It’s just scoring by committee – whoever gets the best shot is going to take it for us. That’s just kind of our mentality as a team,” said Sadaghiani.
Add it all up, and the Blues are blowing teams away.
“We’re not really doing anything special or different, we’re just trying to be the best every time we’re on the court,” the coach said, adding that the team never lets the scoreboard – lopsided or not – dictate their play. “We don’t talk about the score too much, we try to play our best every night and actually break it down into possessions. We’re trying to be our best every possession and let the score take care of itself. We’re trying to play as consistent as we can, and I guess it’s led to lopsided games, for now at least.”
The team knows, however, that they won’t breeze through an entire season. For starters, they’ve got one more league game at Douglas College Feb. 3. The Blues eliminated the Royals in an overtime thriller in the provincial semifinals last season and the games have been messy ever since.
“It’s such a rivalry game,” said Sadaghiani. “It’s actually kind of weird because every time we play them, both teams kind of don’t play their best. I don’t know if it’s because people are nervous, or if it’s a rivalry thing where people lose focus. Every time we play them it seems to be a grind it out, defensive game. Low scoring, lots of turnovers. I don’t really know why. But they’re a very good team.”
Beyond that, the Blues know that the game changes in the playoffs. The Capilano women haven’t won a provincial title since 2010, and that was the first victory since 1988.
“We know that someone is going to challenge us, we’re not going to walk over everybody to win a championship,” said Sadaghiani. “We know it’s going to be a hard road and a long road, and we still have a lot of work to do.”
The ultimate goal for the team is to make it to the national championships. This year there’s only one berth to nationals available to the PacWest league, so the Blues know that to cap off their dominant season they’ll need to claim provincial gold.
“We’re a mature enough team that we’ve talked about competing for a championship, but it’s not something we talk about daily,” said Sadaghiani. “It’s just a process – every practice we try to be our best, every game we try to be our best. And we’ll see how we do when playoffs roll around. Obviously it’s a goal of ours to try to qualify for nationals. It’s been the goal every year. … Our goal wasn’t to be undefeated – it isn’t even now – it’s just to try to compete and win a championship.”
Whatever happens down the road, it’s already been quite a ride. Sadaghiani said he was a little surprised at how quickly the team hit its stride this season, but he knew the Blues had the ability to put together a dominant run.
“I knew we had a good team, and I knew on any given night we could beat any opponent,” he said. “I’m having a fun time coaching them and watching them on the court. I’m letting them loose and they’re responding really well, sharing the ball and playing some awesome basketball. It’s really fun to watch.”
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The Blues get a bye this week before returning to action with home games Jan. 26 against Quest University and Jan. 27 against Langara. On both nights the women start play at 6 p.m. with the men to follow at 8 p.m.
