Basketball, women's
- Origins
- Women compete
- Intercollegiate competition
- Separate rules
- Decline
Women Compete
On 9 February 1904, the Ladies' College basketball trip to Saint John represented the first excursion in any sport by a female team from Mount Allison. Accompanying the team of six on the CPR train trip to Saint John was a male coach, the Ladies' College piano teacher, and ten supporters. The game, which was played in the YMCA gymnasium at 9:00 p.m., was reported in the Ladies’ College student journal, The Allisonia (March 1904):
"The Mt. A. players were very nervous at the start as was natural in their first match game, and various things about the hall, notably its shape, the overhanging gallery at the sides, and the different styles of baskets, bothered them considerably, so that the game was all in St. John's favor the first half."
Entering the second half down 12-4, Mount Allison "began to get accustomed to the hall," and came back to tie the game 14-14. Forward and captain Florence Porter scored more than half of the points for Mount Allison. Saint John, however, won the game 16-14 after playing 15 minutes of overtime. Despite having been defeated, the Mount Allison team was proud of its accomplishment. The Allisonia (March 1904) explained:
"The game was a splendid exhibition of Basket-Ball. If it had one fault, it perhaps consisted in the throwing for free goals, which was a little weak at both ends of the hall. Outside of this, both sides played splendid ball, and the wearers of the garnet and gold think it no disgrace to take defeat in their first match game, by so narrow a margin, at the hands of such a brilliant crowd of players as the St. John girls."
Mount Allison Ladies' College basketball team, 1905
Mount Allison Ladies' College basketball team, 1905
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