Women's Basketball News
Women's Basketball Bring in Proven Winner Palmer
The CMU Women's Basketball program is very pleased to announce the commitment of Caeli Palmer for the 2024-25 MCAC and NIAC seasons. The Garden City Collegiate and Attack Basketball product will bring her well-rounded and versatile game to the Blazers next fall.
Playing for a perennial championship contender in the powerhouse Garden City program, Palmer has enjoyed a very successful high school basketball career that saw her Gophers team take home the MHSAA "AAAA" Provincial Championship Title to cap off her junior varsity years, then followed it up with two finals appearances in her grade eleven and twelve seasons. The team entered four tournaments leading up to the provincial championships and made the final in all four weekends, including three championships wins at the Pembina Trails Bisons Classic, the St Mary's Invitational, and the Marples Varsity Girls tournament. The one tournament the Gophers were bested in the final, the St Vital Invitational, Palmer was named a tournament All-Star. She also featured on the Garden City volleyball team as a middle, the school soccer team, and on the track and field squad as a pentathlete. It comes as no surprise then that Palmer is as versatile on the basketball court as she is an all-around athlete, able to slot in down low or on the perimeter as needed.
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Blazers Women's Basketball Land Top Point Guard Maher
The CMU Women's Basketball program is very pleased to announce the commitment of Gina Maher for the 2024-25 MCAC and NIAC seasons. The Vincent Massey Collegiate signing is ready to take her game to the college level after stellar high school and club careers.
The second signing of the week from Vincent Massey Collegiate, joining women's volleyball recruit Imani Rhoden, Maher enjoyed a very successful run as a Trojan, winning the Tier 1 Championship three consecutive seasons en route to Provincial Championship runs. In her grade ten season Maher and the Trojans were MHSAA "AAAA" Provincial Championship finalists, and it was her junior varsity coach, Adam Kahn, who Maher credits with giving her the confidence to make her believe she could succeed. Her two varsity seasons at Massey her team reached the Provincial Championship Final Fours, narrowly edged by Garden City for the chance to play in the title game on both occasions. Of the four tournaments her Massey squad entered this season, the team medalled in all four, including two tournament titles at the Sisler Spartan Classic, and the Buckeye Classic at Miles Macdonell. Maher recently came off an appearance at the MHSAA "AAAA" Graduating All-Star game, playing with and against the top competition in Manitoba. When she's not on the court representing the Trojans in basketball, Maher also suits up for the school's team handball program, as well as the track and field team, where she competes in the sprint disciplines, and hones her speed and agility training with those sports.
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Oluwanifemi Gbadamosi: January's Zueike Female Athlete of the Month
Congratulations to Oluwanifemi Gbadamosi of Blazers Women's Basketball on being selected the CMU Zueike Female Athlete of the Month for January. The third year forward has been a leader both on and off the court all season, and is looking to help lead her team to another title this February.
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Legend of the Loewen DiCurzio Stepping Back into Mentorship Role
After an incredible ten seasons at the helm of the Blazers Women's Basketball program, head coach Joe DiCurzio has made the difficult decision to take a step back from head coaching into a coaching mentorship position with the team for the 2023/24 season.
DiCurzio came to the Blazers in 2013 and re-built the program into the massive success story it is today. Prior to his arrival, the program's only conference title wins were back-to-back in the 2006/07 and 2007/08 seasons in what was the Central Plains Athletic Conference, which later became the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference where the team competes today. With their 2022/23 MCAC Championship win at home this past February, Blazers Women's Basketball completed five consecutive title wins, taking home the banner in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2023 with the 2021 season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team also won the Northern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship in 2020, and featured in the NIAC Championship final this past spring in their first year back after the lifted travel restrictions allowed them to once again challenge their cross-border rivals from the Northern states.
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Blazers WBB Look to Reach New Heights with Addition of Bergen
The CMU Women's Basketball program is very pleased to announce the commitment of Sara Bergen for the 2023-24 MCAC and NIAC seasons. The local St Mary's Academy and Manitoba Provincial Team product will be a commanding force around the basket for the Blazers this season.
Coming off a high school season plagued by injuries, Bergen is as motivated as ever to bring her game to the next level with the Blazers as the team chases a sixth-consecutive MCAC Championship, and looks to make another run at a double-championship season as the team did in 2020 capturing the NIAC Championship Title as well. In her senior year at St Mary's Bergen had the misfortune of breaking her right (shooting) hand just prior to the season start, and not wanting to miss out on her final year of high school play, she taught herself to shoot left handed in order to still be an asset to her team. When she was finally healthy enough to be inserted back into the lineup her impact was immediately felt, helping lift the team to a top ten ranking in the province before her season got cut short due to an ankle injury only two weeks after getting back on the court. Her dedication to the game garnered her an MHSAA Graduating All-Star selection in the "AAAA" tier earlier this year. Bergen's grade eleven high school season was a better indication of the impact she can have on a team, when she helped her Flames to a semi-finals appearance at the 2022 Provincial Championships. After entering the tournament as the seventh-ranked team in Manitoba, Bergen and her Flames dispatched the Miles Mac Buckeyes before upsetting the second-seeded Daniel McIntyre Maroons en route to their final four appearance. Bergen's varsity coach, Joel Neufeld weighed in on his star forward and the influence she can have on a squad stating "Sara is a great leader on and off the basketball court. She has also demonstrated a fantastic work ethic to improve all facets of her game and will be an excellent addition to any team."
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