The women’s basketball team at Providence University College had a fantastic weekend, winning three games in a row. The Pilots defeated Free Lutheran Bible College (FLBC) 87–23 on December 1. The next day, they claimed victory against Emmaus Bible College (EBC) 79–37, and on December 3 they pulled off a nailbiter against Faith Baptist Bible College (FBBC) with a final score of 78–70.

“The team found great success this past weekend,” says head coach Joel Coursey. “It was just the type of matchups that we needed to build some confidence in the system and grow a winning streak heading into the Christmas break.”

In the first game, Trinity Blair racked up 18 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Amver Navarro added a season high 14 points as the second highest scorer in the game.

For the second game, Blair once again led the team in scoring, tallying 17 points, 14 rebounds, and five steals. Abigail Matuszewski added 11 points and Kate Hanson put together 10 points and six steals.

In the final game of the weekend, Matuszewski was six for eight from the three-point line in the first half, finishing with 23 points. Blair was the second highest scorer with 15 points and five assists.

The men’s basketball team had a less successful weekend, suffering two tough losses: 72–75 against EBC and 75–83 against FBBC. They pulled off a win in a tight game against FLBC, though, with a final score of 83–80.

“Our last road trip of 2022 was a very challenging one,” says Pierre Dubreuil, the team’s head coach. “We started the weekend off strong against FLBC in their brand-new gym. The great performance from our forwards, added to the offensive threats, gave us a 17-point lead in the second half. Unfortunately, in what would be the theme of the weekend, we let them come back.”

The Pilots had to fight hard to regain the lead—literally, in this case, at the second. Joshua Armstrong made the big shot to help the team take its first and only win of the weekend.

“Reflecting on this first semester, the key word is consistency, and learning to manage our game when we are in the lead,” Dubreuil adds. “Game control is going to be a focus next semester if we want a chance at the Northern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (NIAC) and National Christian Colleges Athletic Association (NCCAA) titles.”

The women’s team has a 6–7 record and the men are 7–5 as they enter the holiday break. Both teams will begin their second semester with matches against FLBC.

In women’s Volleyball, Providence lost to Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) 0–3 in their only game of the week.

“It was a tough ending to the first half for our group,” says head coach Kyle Guenther. “Losing the first set was tough and we couldn’t quite recover after that. The encouraging part for us heading into the break is that we have beaten every team in the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference. We will take confidence into the second half of the season that we have the team to give ourselves a chance at a championship run. We will use the break to get healthy after a long, intense first half.”

The men’s volleyball team also lost to CMU 0–3

“It just ended up not being our night as we faced the number ten ranked team in Canada in their gym,” says their coach, Cody Quiring says. “We had a difficult time getting our first contact systems rolling, and by the time we settled into the match it was just too late. While we saw some positives and fine details in areas we’ve been focusing on lately in the practice gym, the squad has some clear opportunities for growth in our systems as we head into the Christmas break.”