Desire to win
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Jane McLaughlin isn’t the biggest or most skilled basketball player, but she has a will to win that is appreciated by her UPEI Panthers teammates and coaches.
This story originally appeared in the Guardian on January 4th
The five-foot-10 forward often drew the assignment of guarding the opposition's biggest post player in 2015-16. It has changed this season with the addition of centre Carolina Del Santo, but McLaughlin still finds herself undersized against some of her opponents.
"I just go in there and try to be feisty," McLaughlin said after Tuesday's practice.
Guarding bigger players is something she has become accustomed after facing larger girls for years.
"I wouldn't say I am a super skilled player, so I was just happy to contribute that way," she said in using the word Mucker to describe herself as a player.
The 21-year-old said she tries to use her quickness to her advantage by running in transition and making the bigger players work on defence.
Head coach Greg Gould called the Panthers co-captain a "competitor."
"Jane doesn't back down from anybody," he said. "She actually likes the challenge, I think, of playing against bigger players."
McLaughlin was born in Saint John, N.B., and lived the first eight years of her life in Grand Manan, N.B. She lived the next seven in Fortune and then went Halifax Grammar School for her three years of high school.
"I just felt drawn back home," she said of her choice to come to UPEI. Family and "the nursing (program) here really pulled me back."
She had also played on provincial teams with Kiera Rigby since the two were 11 years old. McLaughlin said the two decided to be teammates and roommates and joined the Panthers for the 2013-14 season.
But after one season McLaughlin decided not to return. She sat out the year and did some travelling.
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