Coronavirus issues stuff Brock women’s basketball
The top-ranked Brock women’s basketball team has been an unstoppable force all season.
The reigning USPORTS silver medalists have rolled to a 12-0 record in Ontario University Athletics play but their regular season will likely end in a most unfortunate way.
Earlier Tuesday, Brock heard that Algoma had cancelled Friday and Saturday games at Brock because of COVID-19 protocols involving its players. Later in the day, Brock itself was forced to cancel its Wednesday home game versus Western because of its own coronavirus issues.
“Some of the girls were not feeling all that well and from what I heard we had a positive test,” head coach Mike Rao said. “We had some girls who were showing symptoms and they shut us down for a couple of days.”
Rao is hoping the majority of his team will escape the virus and he can resume practising Thursday with whoever is cleared to resume action.
“Obviously it is disappointing because I rescheduled the (Western) game,” Rao said. “They weren’t on the schedule but I wanted to play them. They didn’t want to play three games in a week but I said I would play three games in a week so we would at least get one game in against them.”
If all the scheduled games had gone off without a hitch, the Badgers would have played four games in seven days.
Rao believes that league standings will be determined by winning percentage and the Badgers will finish first and get a first-round bye in the OUA playoffs.
“I believe they are going to do it that way because all cancelled games are just cancelled. They are not a forfeit, not a loss, not anything.”
Brock will now have a lengthy break before it resumes play. Next week is Brock’s scheduled bye week and the Badgers will then have to wait until the quarter-final games are played to determine their next opponent.
The cancellations of games likely means the end of Sam Keltos’ career as a Brock player. The 6-foot-3 St. Catharines native is scheduled to leave the team to go play professional basketball in Australia.
“I think she is the best four man in the country,” Rao said. “We have to try and figure out how to replace 20 points and 10 boards (a game). It is what it is and the year has been just a mess.
“I went in this morning ready to get going and have a busy day with a meeting here and a meeting there and all of a sudden in a spin of the wheel, everything is upside down.”
The Brock men’s home game Wednesday versus Western has been rescheduled to 7 p.m.
