Carissa McTague of the St. Thomas University women’s basketball team was named the Tommies Coastal Graphics Athlete of the Month for February.
The fifth-year post from Rothesay recorded 94 points and 73 rebounds in seven games during the final month of the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association regular season. That’s good for an average of 13 points and 10 boards.
McTague finished second in scoring for the Tommies in the 2016-17 campaign with an average of 11 points per contest. She also was the runner-up in rebounds in the ACAA leaderboard with nine per game.
ACAA salutes McTague
McTague was also named to the ACAA second all-star team prior to the conference championships, which were hosted by the Mount Allison University Mounties from Friday to Sunday in Sackville.
In total, McTague finished the season with 150 total rebounds, 30 assists and 173 points.
Clarke, Valanne named Athletes of the Week
Abby Clarke of women’s hockey and Travis Valanne were the Tommies Coors Light Athletes of the Week for Feb. 27.
Clarke, a third-year goaltender from Springdale, N.L., made 26 saves for a shutout in Game 2 of the Atlantic University Sport women’s hockey semifinals between STU and the St. Francis Xavier University X-Women on Sunday, Feb. 26 in Antigonish. The Tommies won 2-0.
Clarke then turned aside 20 of 25 shots from StFX in Game 3 of that series Tuesday night in Fredericton, but STU lost 5-3 and suffered a disappointing end to what looked like a promising season.
Valanne, a second-year guard from Miramichi, shot at a rate of 50 per cent from the field for 15 points in the Tommies’ 65-58 home win over the University of New Brunswick Saint John Seawolves on Saturday, Feb. 25.
The victory earned STU a berth in the ACAA championships at MtA.
Valanne also notched five rebounds, two assists and one block against UNBSJ.
Women’s hockey coach, alumni chosen for provincial squad
STU women’s hockey assistant coach Sara O’Toole and former captain Kayla Blackmore will step behind the bench for Team New Brunswick in the coming months and years.
O’Toole was named an assistant coach of the 2017 New Brunswick Under-18 women’s hockey team, while Blackmore was chosen as head coach for New Brunswick leading up to the 2019 Canada Winter Games in Red Deer, Alta.
Blackmore suited up for the Tommies from 2008 to 2013. She now runs Fortitude Hockey, an athletic development firm.
As well, Blackmore is a teacher and varsity women’s hockey coach at Rothesay Netherwood School.
