NEW GLASGOW – New Glasgow’s Lucia MacKay will join the StFX X-Women basketball team for the 2018-19 season.
“Lu has played the game as a point guard since she was 12-13 years old,” said coach Augy Jones in a release.
“This is a huge plus for her entering the next phase of her basketball career as she already has the basketball IQ required to play ‘quarterback’ at the (university) level.”
The point guard attends North Nova Education Centre, where she has played both basketball and soccer for four years.
“StFX is nice and close by, it isn’t too far from home and my family,” MacKay said, “and they’ll be able to come and watch me play. That was kind of my dream, my end-goal: to play CIS ball.”
She will enroll in the Bachelor of Arts and Science in Health program for the fall and she is expected to join Trenton native Jamie McCarron, who is finishing up her third year on the StFX women’s basketball roster.
“I’m super-excited, but I know it’s another step up from high school basketball, obviously and so I’ll have to prepare. Everyone (in university ball) is bigger and stronger,” MacKay said, adding that she plans on running and continuing to work on strength training in order to meet the more physical demands of AUS basketball.
MacKay has most likely been on the radar of AUS basketball programs for awhile. She has accumulated plenty of experience playing basketball at national competitions and a member of the 2017 Canada Games team that competed in Manitoba last summer. She has also represented Nova Scotia on U14, U15 and U17 provincial squads.
“Lu sees the court wonderfully and can get the ball safely to her teammates on the floor. As it pertains to team chemistry, Lucia is a perfect match for our program,” said Jones.
“She always has a smile on her face, loves connecting with teammates and is extremely coachable. I am personally pleased to welcome a player that I have watched grow up, as I am a close friend to the MacKay family.”
MacKay said she doesn’t have any expectations as to how her freshmen season might go at the Antigonish school. “I’m going to go in and try my best, and see how everything pans out.”
MacKay’s father Andy has been an assistant coach with the X-Women basketball program and is the head coach with the NNEC Gryphons, who will host high school provincials in early March.
Her mother Sol is a Spanish professor at StFX.
