By Mia Ines
 
The Lancer women's basketball team will kick-off 2023 post season action when they host the Brock Badgers on Wednesday at the Toldo Lancer Centre in a race for the Critelli Cup.
 
The Lancers are determined to advance to the OUA Final Four and make a potential U SPORTS nationals championship appearance which has not been achieved since the 2014-15 season. After finishing their regular season 12-10 overall, the blue and gold have reason to believe they can earn the potential win against the Badgers, especially with the home advantage.
 
Head coach Chantal Vallee enthusiastically states, "We're feeling really good and happy to be hosting a home playoff game which means a lot to us."
 
The two teams played against each other only a couple weeks back in February, with the Lancers coming away with a 63-46 victory. As this will only be the second time Windsor will face Brock this year, the team will put it all on the line in a thrilling opening first round.
 
"Being able to host a playoff game for the first time since 2020, we're super happy about it," said Vallee. "It's significant for the program in that we've made big strides over the last three years. It shows that the program is moving in the right direction."
 
Throughout the regular season, the blue and gold showcased confidence on the offensive side where first-year centre Kali Grootenbeor leads the OUA, ranking #3 in field goal percentage with 51.8 FG%. Although with her impressive performance, the Lancers will also have to keep an eye on Brock's guard, Madalyn Weinert who leads sits third in the OUA in points per game and fifth in rebounds per game.
 
"As you will notice, we don't necessarily have a leading scorer on the team," elaborates Vallee. "Everybody on any night can score the ball so we're approaching this as a team."
 
Senior veteran Harriet Carey shared her perspective as to what her team is preparing to do in order to put the pressure on the Badgers for a midweek game.
 
Carey explains, "We don't feel any different than facing any other team in the OUA, we just need to do out best to scout and prepare for whatever we think they will throw at us. They really only have one main scorer, so doing our best to stop her and our best bet to help ourselves move to the next round. We just have to play hard."
 
"Our team definitely experienced some growing pains last year, but we have improved so much in such a short time that we are so excited and ready to go as far as we can into the playoffs. We just have to keep climbing." 
 
Coach Vallee not only emphasized the importance of being able to execute their offense and defense but also the importance of having focus and the team truly coming together in this final leg of their season.