Basketball took Ashley McMillan out of Prince George and now it's bringing her back.
McMillan, a 19-year-old point guard, will be a member of her hometown UNBC Northern Timberwolves next season. The 2010 D.P. Todd graduate spent her first year of post-secondary ball with the NAIT Ooks of Edmonton but found she wasn't comfortable within the team's slow-down offence. With the Timberwolves, she'll slide into a more up-tempo attack. That, along with the fact she'll be back in familiar surroundings, has her smiling.
"I'm really happy about it," McMillan said of joining the T-wolves, a squad filled with players from her high school days. "I'm going to have a better year next year than I did this year. Part of it is coming home and just being with people I know. I've known [UNBC head coach] Loralyn [Murdoch] for a long time and I think she knows me so it will help."
When McMillan originally committed to the NAIT program, Curtis Nelson was the head coach. He was later relieved of his duties and replaced by Todd Warnick. As it turned out, Warnick's coaching philosophy didn't mesh well with McMillan's preferred style.
"It's not that Todd Warnick isn't a good coach, it's just that he didn't know me, he didn't know how to get the best out of me," said the five-foot-six McMillan. "It just didn't click."
McMillan still averaged more than 20 minutes of court time per game, which, for a freshman, is substantial.
With the T-wolves, McMillan will share the backcourt with point guards Jenn Knibbs and Danielle Steel. Knibbs, from Saskatoon, will be a second-year team member and Steel will be a rookie. McMillan and Steel already have good chemistry between them because they were teammates at D.P. Todd.
From Murdoch's perspective, the biggest challenge may be finding enough floor time for everyone.
"We have a lot of guards but she's going to bring some experience," Murdoch said in reference to McMillan. "I never found a true [replacement for graduated point guard] Christine Kennedy so I'm going to have a few people that will hopefully fill the void and she'll be one of them. Between her and Knibbs and Dani, we'll have enough people that can play that one-position so we're not going to have trouble getting the ball across half. Then Ashley has that year of experience at the college level and will hopefully bring some defensive intensity and some leadership that we're going to need.
"I think she can play [at shooting guard] as well -- they all can," Murdoch added.
Next season's Timberwolves will be powered by as many as eight local players -- McMillan, Steel, Nicole Schlick, Jennifer Clyne, Mercedes Van Koughnett, Emily Kaehn, Erin Beckett and Chelsey Thorne.
"I think that's going to be so much fun," said McMillan, who is still in Edmonton but will be back on P.G. soil in July. "I know all these girls. We know how to work with each other and I think it shows how good the basketball is up north, not just down south."
Away from the court, McMillan will be working toward a degree in business.
