Celina Guadagni provides the pace for VIU Mariners in season opener win

Prince Rupert's Celina Guadagni had a strong opening night for the
VIU Mariners with 18 points in their match up with Camosun

Former Charles Hays Rainmaker Celina Guadagni is already putting her stamp on the 2016-17 season for the VIU Mariners and the Nanaimo based university basketball squad has only played one game so far.

Saturday she led the Mariners with 15 points in the teams' CCAA Pac West Conference season debut at the VIU gym, with the home team claiming victory in a hard fought back and forth battle with their island rivals the Camosun Chargers. A game which saw the lead change hands a number of times as both squads quickly slipped into competitive form to launch their seasons.

The game went down to the last few seconds of play as the Mariners edged the Chargers in a 53-51 thriller at the Nanaimo campus, with Guadagni showing some good positional play on the night and delivering a strong offensive push when it was needed the most.

She also had an impressive evening when it came to ball distribution, dishing the ball off and keeping the Camosun defenders off balance for much of the evening.

Defensively Guadagni was mentioned frequently for her play and played the pivotal role in what would be the key play of the game, making a steal with but seconds to go that would secure the win for the home side.

Overall she had 38 minutes on the court, sank 3 of 6 three point shots and claimed 7 defensive rebounds, the full review of her play can be found from the game box score here.

Such was her dominance on the court in the Saturday match up that her efforts made for much of the review of the tightly contested game in the reviews from the Nanaimo Bulletin.

VIU basketball teams win their home openers

The Mariners will be calling on Guadagni to  provide the on court leadership that her experience with the Mariners program of the last few seasons has prepared her for.

As one of the core veterans on the team this year, it will be her role to show the path ahead for the younger players and continue to deliver the offensive punch and defensive mindset that will be required as the season moves forward.

The Mariners head into the 2016-17 with the prospects of post season play very much a possibility and will be working towards berths in both the PACWest championship and the national CCAA Championships of March.

Celina Guadagni draining a three point shot in Saturday's
53-51 victory for VIU over Camosun

You can check out the game action and efforts of Ms. Guadagni from Saturday's game through an archive presentation available on the Shaw TV Nanaimo YouTube page here.

Keep that link to the Shaw broadcasts handy, the VIU squad is back on the Court this coming weekend with two games on the schedule.

Friday night the Mariners take on Douglas College with a 6 PM tip off, Saturday they women's team is on the court at 1 PM when Capilano provides the competition.

You can follow the travels of all of the Prince Rupert athletes currently on sports teams spread out across the province from our archive page here.