By Reegan MacAulay
The Holland Hurricanes’ basketball teams have arrived at championship weekend. The women’s and men’s squads will head to Saint John, N.B. and look to bring home regional titles at the 2025 ACAA Basketball Championships hosted by the University of New Brunswick Saint John (UNBSJ) Seawolves.
While the championships begin on Friday, both teams play their first games on Saturday due to receiving byes to the semifinals based on their regular season finishes.
Here’s what’s happening in Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) competition between Saturday, March 1 and Sunday, March 2.
Women’s Basketball
The women’s basketball Hurricanes enter the championships as the second seed in the women’s conference, which they earned in a tiebreaker with the Mount Allison Mounties, after going 14-4 during the regular season.
Entering the weekend with a three-game winning streak, 10 wins in their last 12 games, and as one of the country’s best (recently ranked 10th by the CCAA), Holland is one of multiple teams carrying huge momentum at a crucial time. Over the regular season, the squad produced numerous high-scoring performances and played with great intensity, and both the veterans and rookies showcased incredible skill. Now, they’re ready to put it all on full display and at their best ability this weekend as they seek their first ACAA championship and CCAA nationals berth since 2017. Since then, across six seasons (excluding 2020-21 due to COVID-19), they’ve lost in the semifinals five times.
The Hurricanes will play the highest remaining seed in semifinal action on Saturday, which is guaranteed to be one of three teams; the third-seed Mounties, fourth-seed St. Thomas University (STU) Tommies, or fifth-seed University of King’s ¼â½ÐÊÓƵ (UKC) Blue Devils.
If Mount Allison beats UNBSJ, Holland will play the Mounties regardless of the result between STU and UKC. If UNBSJ beats Mount Allison and STU beats UKC, Holland will play STU. If UNBSJ beats Mount Allison and UKC beats STU, Holland will play UKC.
Against the Mounties and Tommies, Holland went 2-1 against each team, most recently splitting doubleheaders between both teams. Against the Blue Devils, Holland swept the regular season series across three games, most recently winning back-to-back matches earlier this month in Halifax, N.S.
Veteran leader and third-year guard Lauren Armstrong (Canberra, Australia) has had a phenomenal season with the Hurricanes. She looks to continue her ACAA career by finally achieving something that has alluded her and her squad for years – a championship. She ended the regular season as the conference’s points leader with 307 (a whopping 69 over second place) and recorded the most points per game with 17.1. She also finished second in three-point percentage with 40.4, and third in rebounds per game with 8.8 and in field goal percentage with 44.
Fellow stars Alexa Rancourt (fifth-year forward, New Dominion, P.E.I.) and Amy Plaggenhoef (fourth-year guard, Stratford, P.E.I.) have been just as elite in their ways. Rancourt was the second-highest points scorer for Holland and finished sixth in the conference with 222 points; she also finished second with a 46.6 field goal percentage, and fourth in points per game with 13.9 and rebounds per game with 8.8. Plaggenhoef finished third for Holland and 10th in the conference in points with 187.
Third-year guard Molly Steadman (Coldbrook, N.S.) and first-year guard Isabelle McGeoghegan (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) add valuable depth on the court, while rookie guards Nykeva Brown (Halifax, N.S.) and Karissa George (New Glasgow, N.S.) look to add to the multiple breakout performances they generated during the regular season’s second half. Brown finished fourth in points for Holland and 15th in the conference with 152.
Saturday’s game is at 3 p.m. If the Hurricanes advance to the championship game, they will play on Sunday at 1 p.m. Watch them live at for $7.95 per game.
Connect with the women’s basketball ‘Canes at and
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Men’s Basketball
Over in the men’s conference, the men’s basketball Hurricanes also enter the championships as the second seed after ending the regular season at 13-5 and finishing it with a monstrous eight-game winning streak.
After a middle-of-the-pack 2023-24 season that saw the squad go 9-9 and lose in the semifinals on their home court, Holland has made a statement this season that they’ve quickly regained the form that earned them seven consecutive championships between 2013 and 2019, and another in 2023. They rebounded from a 4-4 first half by winning nine of their 10 second-half games, five of which they recorded 90 or more points.
As the second-best team momentum-wise (behind the first-seed MSVU Mystics, who won all 18 of their regular season games), the Hurricanes must ensure they stay on track and cause minimal mistakes as several teams in the quarterfinals are hungry to experience and apply their form of Holland and MSVU’s stardom and build an underdog storyline.
Just like the women, the men will be tasked to play the highest remaining seed in semifinal action on Saturday, which could be any of three teams: the third-seed and hosting UNBSJ Seawolves, fourth-seed Crandall University Chargers, or fifth-seed STU Tommies.
If UNBSJ beats UKC, Holland will play UNBSJ no matter what occurs in the other quarterfinal match. If UKC beats UNBSJ and Crandall beats STU, Holland will play Crandall. If UKC beats UNBSJ and STU beats Crandall, Holland will play STU.
Against the Seawolves, Holland went 1-2 in three games, most recently splitting a doubleheader in early January on the same court they will play on this weekend. Against the Chargers and Tommies, Holland won all six games; in January, they played each team on back-to-back weekends in doubleheaders at the McMillan Centre, winning every game.
The Hurricanes have consistently counted on two superstars to carry the fort each game. The dynamic duo of fifth-year guard Bryce Corless (Quispamsis, N.B.) and second-year guard Aaron Simmons (Nassau, Bahamas) will look to give the program its first regional title since 2023. Simmons and Corless finished second and third in the conference in points with 325 and 322, with the two flipping spots in the points-per-game category (20.1 for Corless, 19.1 for Simmons).
Second-year forward Owen Parsons (Hebbville, N.S.) and third-year guard Spencer Rossiter (Summerside, P.E.I.) also found themselves toward the top of multiple conference stats during the regular season. Parsons recorded the conference’s best field goal percentage at 58.2 while Rossiter claimed the fifth-best three-point percentage at 37.8. Rossiter finished 18th in the conference in points with 211 and Parsons finished 20th with 204.
Third-year guard Zachary Dawkins (Edmonton, Alberta) returned solidly to the lineup in January after missing the regular season’s first half. Across nine games in January and February, he recorded 73 points, a 26-for-60 field-goal record, an 8-for-17 three-point record, a 13-for-24 free-throw record, 31 rebounds, 26 assists, four steals, and four blocks. After facing the same situation last season as a steal of an addition during the second half, Dawkins is eager to help his team execute a different outcome this time.
Saturday’s game is at 7:30 p.m. If the Hurricanes advance to the championship game, they will play on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Watch them live at for $7.95 per game.
Connect with the men’s basketball Hurricanes at and
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For more information on the Holland Hurricanes, visit , , and .
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