Profile: Taminder Dhaliwal

(First in a series of occasional profiles of Kwantlen Eagles’ team members.)

Name: Taminder Dhaliwal
Number: 15
Position: Point guard
Age: 20
Zodiac: Cancer
Favourite basketball player: Michael Jordan. “I like Jordan because he makes everybody around him better.”

 

Taminder Dhaliwal of the Eagles basketball team is a third-year criminology student at the Surrey campus. Like every student athlete, she combines post-secondary learning with a demanding sports time table.

“I really don’t know how I do it, but I guess you have to take it day-by-day,” said the 20-year-old point guard, who worked vigorously on her game in the off-season.

“Our goal this season is to make a difference,” she said. The team looks to improve this season to match Kwantlen’ new university status, and improve on its record from last season.

Asked what to expect from her this season, No. 15 said fans should look for her jump shots and passing. “I have been working on my jumpers, and definitely would be setting up plays.” She also talks about being vocal and more aggressive on the floor to help her team. “We have a pretty good team, and if we continue to do the little things, there is no doubt we will go very far.”

She’s also looking forward to finishing her degree in criminal justice. “I want to work with the criminal justice system, and help shape the future of our youth.”

Women drop tough first exhibition hoop game

The Kwantlen Eagles women’s basketball team didn’t go down without a fight as they lost 51-44 to the Douglas Royals in their first exhibition game of the season at the Kwantlen Surrey campus Friday night.

Emotions were running high at the end of the fourth quarter, as the Royals added 12 points to their score and the Eagle’s Head Coach Gary Pawluk was asked to leave the gym after asking the referee for “a moment of your time.” Assistant Coach Ivan Adrian said that “we liked the intensity that they showed in the fourth quarter” and the “fact that they weren’t giving up.”

The game began with a bang as the Royals scored a two-point basket in the first minute and Kwantlen’s up-and-coming guard Jessica Williams scored within the first two minutes, bringing the score to 2-1 for the Royals.

The back-and-forth action continued with strong passing from the Eagles. The fast-paced offense and defense by both teams resulted in an even match for most of the quarter, which was ending with a two-point lead for the Eagles until the Royals tied the score to 9-9 with 38 seconds left. The Royal’s Cynthia Lawson scored again with one second left in the period, putting Douglas in the lead 11-9.

The Royals took their lead into the second period but the quick passes by the Eagles resulted in a one-point lead of 22-21 going into the third quarter. The score went back and forth, and the third ended 37-34 for the Royals, after Koral Fraser scored three for the Eagles with 23 seconds left in the third quarter.

Assistant coach Adrian said the team had set a goal to work on their rebounding, “especially on our own boards,” but that they didn’t meet their expectations.

“Our rebounding needs to improve in order for us to be a successful team.”

Guard Taminder Dhaliwal, returning for her third year on the team, agrees. She also said the team was slow to start but they did a good job “hustling back.”

Also returning player forward Michela Fiorido says the team is “definitely improving.”

The next game for the Eagles will be against the Langara Falcons on Saturday, Oct. 4, at 6 p.m. in Vancouver.

Alumni come back for exhibition game

Kwantlen’s Surrey campus gymnasium was filled with familiar faces Saturday night as former Eagles swooped in for a friendly game against this year’s basketball team.

Friendly quickly turned fierce as the game was filled with fouls, time-outs and a real battle on the scoreboard.

In the end, the current men’s team proved that they will be just fine, with a 105-92 win over the alumni.

Eagles fall 2-0 to top-ranked Blues

The Kwantlen Eagles suffered a 2-0 loss to the Capilano Blues Sunday, as British Columbia’s two undefeated men’s college soccer teams met for the first time this year.

The patient Capilano squad (6-0-0) had a hard time securing solid chances against the defensively-minded Eagles (3-2-1), until midway through the second half when a momentary lapse allowed Milad Rhamati to weave to the end line before tapping a centring pass to Corey Birza for the winning goal.

“Today wasn’t about winning or losing, today was about respect, and I think we achieved that,” said Kwantlen head coach Vincent Alvano.

After Capilano’s Alan McIndoe scored in the 34^th minute, Kwantlen continued to stack their defense against the top team in the country, preventing any solid chances but at the cost of scoring opportunities for themselves. 

“We’re too young, too inexperienced, and too naïve. So we know that we’re going to make mistakes and give up possession, and we accept that. By accepting that we maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses,” Alvano said.

The Eagles’ Justin Lodge was the lone striker for much of the game, consistently fielding clearing kicks in the midst of four Capilano defenders.

After the Blues’ widened their lead to 2-0, Lodge dropped back to midfield in favour of two fresh Kwantlen attackers, Sasa Plavsic and Jethro Kambere.

Despite a tough second half, Capilano capitalized on one of their only chances, showing just how dangerously efficient they were. The only thing preventing the Blues from notching an additional goal was an amazing breakaway save by keeper Michael Newton.

“It’s not how hard you fall, it’s how fast you get up. And I guess the character of this team will be told next game… I told them from the beginning of the season that this team was going to be defined not by the way they won, but by they would lose. So I’ll get my answer in a week,” said Alvano.

The Eagles defeated Vancouver Island University 3-2 on Saturday. Their next match is at home Saturday against fourth-ranked Thompson Rivers University.

B’ball teams prepped for Sept. 26 openers

The Kwantlen Eagles are getting ready to hit the court on Friday, Sept. 26, when both the men’s and the women’s basketball teams will play the first games of the new season, at the Kwantlen gymnasium in Surrey 

The women will play an exhibition game against the Douglas Royals at 6 p.m., and the men will be playing a Blaze exhibition game at 8 p.m.

It is coach Gary Pawluk’s and assistant coach Ivan Adrian’s first season coaching the women.

“It’s been a terrific situation so far and hopefully it will continue,” said Pawluk in a phone interview.

The women have played some competitive teams in the off-season, said Pawluk. “Competition in the league is strong and getting the girls to compete is always a challenge.”

Pawluk has been coaching basketball for three decades, and is enjoying the challenges of coaching a new team.“We’ve got a good blend as far as personnel wise,” he said and one of the challenges is to “get that team work and team chemistry to get to the point where we are growing and developing and getting better.”

The women’s team has 13 players, five of them rookies and eight returning players.

The men’s team is also looking forward to the season.

Hugh Lynn has been the assistant coach of the men’s team for four years, along with head coach Bernie Love, who has been coaching for seven. Gino Missana and Kevin Van Buskirk are first-year assistant coaches.

Lynn said he would like the team to come together with a “winning, positive attitude and realistic expectations.” 

He would like the team, who he said was in the lower half of the league, to try and “move up the ladder,” so they can “make the play offs and do the best that we can.”

He said the first week and a half of practices have shown some pleasant surprises, such as returning forward Mike Davis and new-to-the-team guard Omid Davini, who is “looking awful good awful early.”

Davis, who is returning to the team after taking time off to travel, said so far the team has great chemistry.

“We are a young team…we are fairly new to each other still, and I think over time it will come together really well, there might be some growing pains, but we’ll be okay.”

Only three of the 13 players on the team are returning players.

Davis says he is looking forward to playing Capilano College. “They play a fast-paced game and it’s a lot of fun to play that way,” and that he would like the Eagles to make the playoffs.

The season will culminate with provincial championships, Feb. 26-28, 2009, at Capilano College for both the men and women.

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