You would expect Colby College women’s basketball coach Julie Veilleux to have had some nerves before her first game. Sure, she was an assistant at Bowdoin and Navy, but this was her first time leading her own team onto the floor.

She had to have some butterflies, right?

“Actually, surprisingly, I didn’t,” Veilleux said. “If anything, I was just excited for the team to see them in that setting.”

Colby began the season Saturday with a 79-57 win over Clark and followed that up Sunday by defeating Brandeis, 60-44. Both games were close at the half — Colby led Clark by six and Brandeis by seven — so Veilleux liked how the Mules responded to the challenge.

“It’s not like in practice we have game situations,” she said. “We usually do breakdowns — 3 on 3, 4 on 4 kind of stuff.”

The Mules certainly used the 3-pointer as a weapon over the weekend, taking 23 per game and making 35 percent. Aarika Ritchie hit five 3s, while Diana Manduca and Jacky McLaughlin each made four. Even Rachael Mack, Colby’s leading rebounder at 10.5 per game, already has taken seven 3-pointers.

The Mules defeated UMaine-Farmington on Tuesday, and it was their third game in four nights. Speaking before the game, Veilleux wasn’t concerned about that workload.

“I feel like they’ll respond well,” she said. “I definitely think I can trust in their focus and intensity. I feel confident that they’ll take it step by step. The reality is, even if we have a practice, we try to emulate game speed anyway.”

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The Thomas men’s basketball team started 2-1 and doesn’t play again until Tuesday at Bates. The Terriers might have had a shot in their 84-71 loss to Tufts, but they made just three of their 22 three-point attempts after hitting 10 of 26 the previous game.

“If we shoot the ball well, that gives us a chance to win the game,” Thomas coach T.J. Maines said. “I thought we had good looks on film. They’re just not going in. Last year, we didn’t start shooting the ball well until the fifth or sixth game.”

But the stats are not all negative for Thomas. The Terriers, as a team, actually have more steals (31) than turnovers (27) at this point.

“The big stat to me is our opponents have turned the ball over 23 times a game. We’ve turned the ball over nine,” Maines said. “We’re moving the ball well offensively, (but) I don’t think we’ve passed the ball terrifically to shooters.”

Thomas is still giving up too many offensive rebounds (16 per game), and that’s where Martin Cleveland comes in. Cleveland, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, is still working on his stamina after a few years away from college basketball, but he leads the Terriers in rebounds (25), steals (eight) and blocked shots (six).

“We keep a plus-minus chart,” Maines said. “Against Tufts, we lost by 13. We were plus-14 when he was in the game. He is invaluable protecting the rim and rebounding the basketball.”

Senior guard Antonio Juco had seven points and six assists in the season opener against UMaine-Augusta, but he hasn’t played since due to an injury.

“He’s got problems with his Achilles’ (heel),” Maines said. “They’re not sure what’s causing it. They’re not sure what’s going to make it better. It occurred last year (too). He just woke up with this thing. When he stands on it, it’s just a lot of pain.”

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Winslow graduate Katie Caron will be playing in the New England Women’s Intercollegiate Soccer Association Senior Bowl on Dec. 4 at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.

Caron finished with eight goals and eight assists this season as a senior forward on the University of New England women’s soccer team. She ends her career at UNE in fifth place in career goals (27) and tied for sixth in career assists (19) at the school.

The Senior Bowl participants are voted on by coaches and include players from Division I, II and III schools.

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

 

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