By Sam Cortes, Communications Coordinator
A tenacious bunch is one way people can describe the 96’ and 97’ University of Manitoba Bisons basketball team. Coached by Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame member Coleen Dufresne, they went on to win back-to-back national championships.
In the 96′ finals played in Laval, Quebec, they won a tightly contested game vs the Toronto Varsity Blues 81-77 in overtime. They were lead by 3 time CIAU All-Canadian Terri-Lee Johannesson, who scored 30 points in that game.
These back-to-back championships saw the team use their full-court press system to perfection, swarming teams and making them commit turnovers. The second championship was only slightly easier, beating a very good York team in the national championship. This time they did not need overtime to do it, winning 73-62 at Lakehead University in Ontario. Once again they were led by Johannesson, who took home the GPAC scoring title with a 26.2 points/game average.
The team was known to have tremendous character, fighting through adversity through those two seasons in a very tight GPAC conference and at national tournaments. Already a part of the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame, they are a worthy addition to the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.
