Both Tommies basketball teams sweep ACAA championships

Both the men's and women's Tommies basketball teams celebrate their ACAA championship wins. (Credit: STU Athletics)

On March 8, the St. Thomas University (STU) Tommies women’s and men’s basketball teams each claimed an Atlantic Collegiate Athletics Association (ACAA) championship at the A. Garnet Brown Memorial Gymnasium. 

The women defeated the Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) Mystics 63-46, the men following with a 91-73 win over the same opponent hours later.

The women went into the final with a 17-1 regular season record. They set the tone early, leading 21-18 at the half before pulling away with a suffocating second half. 

Claudia Steeves led the way with 13 points on seven-of-16 shooting. Paige Leblanc added 14. By the fourth quarter, it wasn’t close, STU outscored MSVU 14-8 to seal it.

Steeves said the season was built on something deeper than basketball.

“Our team is built on a lot of grit and we all just love each other and want to make each other better,” she said. “That’s what we did all season.”

Fourth year forward Charlee Connors, also named CCAA Player of the Year, described the group as unlike any she’d been part of.

“It’s not every day you get a team that loves each other and is willing to work as hard as our group is,” she said. “We can push each other to limits we didn’t know were possible and then go down to the locker room and just be good friends.”

For Connors, winning it in her final season meant everything. Wearing the Tommies jersey, she said, came with a sense of responsibility that went beyond the court.

“St. Thomas doesn’t only encourage us to be good athletes, they encourage us to work hard in the classroom, to get involved in our community and support those who support us,” she said. “That builds strong athletes, but it also builds strong people.”

The men picked up where the women left off. 

STU went into the final at 14-2 and came out sharper from the opening tip, jumping to an 18-15 first quarter lead and never trailing.

Vincent Lyttleton led all scorers with 20 points. River Lanz added 15 off the bench. Caleb Scholten chipped in 13 as the Tommies shot 44 per cent from the field and held MSVU to a 91-73 final.

For wing Ceejay Hanson, the formula was simple.

“We had one really bad practice. I think guys woke up and realized that if we wanted to win a championship, we have to play together,” he said.

Forward Jeven Eddy called it a season of peaks and valleys that ended exactly where the team expected.

“Ups and downs but overall, this group did what I expected from the start,” he said. 

His message heading out was just as straightforward. “We did what we said we were going to do in the preseason. Rest up and do it all again next year.”

Fourth year forward Quinn Devries, pointed to one moment that captured everything.

“That last quarter, seeing us go up by 20, just knowing it was over and then all running to the middle. That was an awesome moment.”