After a crazy year of no RSEQ basketball, it was finally August!

Bad news... Not vaccinated? Mandatory quarantine for 2 weeks... Ugh!

I completed my second round of quarantine at my place this time which was way better than before when I was trapped in an RV. I was able to go outside (always on the property, of course) and say hi to some friends from a safe distance which made things that much better.

On my first day out of quarantine, I went to get my first shot before it became mandatory with the vaccine passport!

After getting my first dose, I headed to practice… I could not make a shot to save my life. Air balls, air balls and more air balls... my arm hurt, I swear.

Lunches with the team and training camp were back - so exciting!

We started the pre-season pretty well, beating Ottawa by 15 or so (the Gee-Gees were ranked in the Top 5 the entire season). What a great start! However, things didn't go super well after that and we did not get ranked in the Top 10.

But hey, what did I say in Year 2? The important part is the RSEQ regular season!

The fall semester came and at the halfway point of the semester, we were FIRST in the RSEQ standings! We were playing so well! 

December seemed pretty normal with the regular basketball break for finals and then, a return to the court for the annual Christmas tournament. 

But, wait a second... the COVID-19 cases began to rise again which resulted in the tournament being canceled.

I was so worried Year 3 was going to happen again. And it did… we were in the red zone for the entire month! I could not handle it!

Thankfully, I was still able to see my friends and travel a bit, which made things a bit easier. But where was my basketball season? It was the end of January and we still did not have any dates for a return to the court. The month of February came and went and then...

The season started again. I had the chance to organize our annual Shoot for the Cure game with the athletic department, my coaches and my teammates. A few games here and there and that was it - the season was over so quickly!

We did really well, finishing in second position at the end of the regular season and hosted a playoff game. The game didn't go as expected, but we still had some awards to collect!

If I look back on my interview with the FAEQ from Year 3, I stated that one of my individual goals was to win the RSEQ MVP again and try to win the Nann Copp Award (given to the U SPORTS Player of the Year) -  GOAL ACCOMPLISHED!

Being the back-to-back conference MVP was not something easy to achieve, but I think I improved my game in so many different ways that helped me reach that level. My teammates had a great year too - Vic was named the conference Rookie of the Year, Jenn received RSEQ Defensive Player of the Year honours, Ja was named a 2nd Team Conference All-Star, and Stoups was a member of the RSEQ All-Rookie Team! What a year with my team - I could not ask for more! Well, maybe a championship but we'll get it!

I travelled to Kingston for the U SPORTS women's basketball awards to see if I was able to win the Nann Copp Award after being nominated for the second time. After being named a 1st Team All-Canadian, I did not win the award I had hoped for, but I was among four nominees in all of Canada and that's still pretty good.

When I returned to Lennoxville after the event, everything seemed so weird - there were no practices, no mandatory lifts, no basketball anything. I was just a normal student and that was weird!

The only thing left for the year was Athletic Banquet - finally! In my four years, this was only my second banquet at Bishop's which is kind of crazy - thank you, COVID… I  closed out the year with a U SPORTS Academic All-Canadian certificate, the Women's Basketball MVP trophy and was named the Female Student-Athlete of the Year for Bishop's.

And just like that, Year 4 is in the books - who knows what's next!

#GaiterNation | Be Unstoppable!