Memorial Sea-Hawks women’s basketball coach Doug Partridge won’t be on the sidelines for his team’s opening game when the Sea-Hawks take on Cape Breton Capers in Atlantic University Sport (AUS) play next Saturday at the Field House.
Partridge was thrown out of a pre-season game against Carleton University in Ontario last weekend and has been suspended for one game.
Partridge said he can’t comment on the ejection as per the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) no tolerance rule.
The veteran MUN mentor faces a longer suspension if he gets tossed again, but he doesn’t anticipate that will happen based on his coaching career so far.
Though known to be a little volatile at times over the years, Partridge pointed out, “This is the first time I've been tossed in a pre-season game,” he said. “It’s the first time in 15 years and just the third time in my career.”
Partridge said he can be in the building during his team’s season starter, but, he added, “I can’t communicate with my team for a half hour before the game and until after the final buzzer.”
Partridge said assistant coach Nathan Agnew will act as head coach and Judy Byrne will be his assistant for the game.
Other than the ejection, Partridge said there were some positives out of the team’s last pre-season games before the home opener despite the fact the Lady Hawks lost all three games.
“Overall, we lacked energy and focus in the Bishop’s game, came out flat against Concordia as well, but we did turn that one around and play better as it went on.
“We played a very good game against Carleton which is a good basketball team,” he added.
“We showed progress in a number of areas over the weekend,” noted Partridge. “We listened better, we executed some of our stuff better and we learned some valuable things for the regular season.”
In terms of individual play, Partridge said Brittany Dalton has continues to play well.
“Our posts — Jen Parsons and Ally Forsey — are doing a lot of good things for us. We need our shooters to make some plays to keep the lane open for us and we need to give more consistent effort at the defensive end of the floor.
“If we can get those two areas to be more consistently productive, then we will be tough to play against on a nightly basis,” Partridge said.
“We have a week to get ready for what comes next.”
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