With a pair of wins in Belcourt, North Dakota last weekend, the Providence Pilots women’s basketball team moved to 4-0 in Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference/Northern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play and improved this season’s overall record to 8-9.

Fourth-year guard Taylor Goodbrandson scored 21 points and added seven assists in Saturday’s 88-56 win over the Turtle Mountain Community College Mighty Mikinocks. A day later, she scored a further 16 points as Providence prevailed 68-60.

“We prepared all week for these games and it showed this weekend,” said Goodbrandson. “In the second game, we stuck with our game plan and chipped away at their lead, hitting some late free throws.”

Added head coach Joel Coursey: “I was happy with how our team was able to stick to our game plan on both nights. I don’t believe we would have won both games if it wasn’t for the consistent play and leadership of our senior players.”

The Pilots women have now won eight of their last 10 games across all tournaments.

In men’s basketball, the Pilots dropped Friday’s game 102-86 in Belcourt and then lost 99-82 to Turtle Mountain on Saturday. Head coach Pierre Dubreuil, despite being disappointed with the results, heaped praise on Cash Blanca and Chris Dick.

“Blanca, the true point guard of our team, showed great playmaking in driving the ball to find the open man,” he analyzed. “But two players playing at such a level were not enough to stop five players, and our mistakes in defense were too many to allow us to stay in either game.”

Providence is now 2-4 in MCAC/NIAC action and 4-14 overall.