Horns assemble a good mix of players

By Lethbridge Herald on October 6, 2022.

University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s basketball coach Dave Waknuk.

By Justin Seward

The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s basketball team continue preparations for the upcoming season, as they begin exhibition play in Regina on Saturday.

Head coach Dave Waknuk is excited about the group that has been assembled after  a season removed from a Canada West Final Four appearance in Saskatoon.

“We’ve added five new faces and I think it’s a good mix of some pretty talented high school rookies, we have a college transfer in there that has experience playing and we’ve added the two international students from the Ukraine,  which bring in a whole different background of experience,” said Waknuk.

“So I think we’ve got a good mix of people coming in. We’ve kind of added some youth, some experience (and)we’ve added some basketball IQ (intelligence quotient). I think those are all important pieces to add to our team and hopefully strengthen us as we go forward.”

Waknuk’s message is he preaches patience in the offseason.

“I think for me, I’m not worried about the result,” he said.

“I’m worried about the process and you know in years past we’ve had games where we’ve lost and you kind of deal with people saying what’s going on, why are we losing, what’s happening and really you’re just trying to improve. We have six preseason games and we want to get better in all six. We need to be our best come the start of November. We don’t have to be our best now. So I don’t put a lot of stock  into the results of preseason, I put a lot of stock in the quality of play.”

Waknuk thinks if the team can determine their style of play through exhibition and how to execute it well, then it was a successful preseason.

“So you know it’s exhibition,” he said. 

“We’re trying some things out. But I think out of that, there’s is some tremendous opportunity for other players. I think there’s a tremendous chance for our new players to come in to find a role and really carve their niche here because our line up is kind of fluctuating with who’s in, who’s out, who’s healthy, who’s not. I think there’s a great chance of opportunity for people on the roster.”

The Horns are dealing with a couple key injuries to start the preseason including to fifth year forward Jessica Zarowny dealing with a hip injury and Savannah McMahon healing from knee surgery.

“I think the advantage for both those players is I’ve coached (them) for a number of years — you know both here and with provincial teams in past,” said Waknuk.

“I know them very well and the team knows them very well. So they’re easy to put back into the team, into what we’re doing because they’re familiar with our systems. They’re familiar with our style of play and the team is familiar with them.”