If all goes well the UNBC Timberwolves basketball team could walk a little taller next season.
T-wolves head coach Loralyn Murdoch is spending the weekend with a potential transfer player from the University of Alaska at Anchorage who towers over her at six-foot-six.
"I haven't had anybody over six-foot-two before," said Murdoch about the post player. "If she's a six-foot-six girl that can come in and play like she's six-six it'll be good. She has potential to get up and down the floor and alter shots and rebound for us. It brings a whole new dimension to what we could possibly do."
Before Friday night when Lativa native Ilze Taeilane scrimmaged with members of the T-wolves, Murdoch had only saw the potential recruit on video.
"It showed enough potential that I got her here," said Murdoch.
Taeilane red-shirted (when a player doesn't see game action in a season) in Anchorage last season after spending a year at a Division 1 junior college in Oklahoma.
"She went from Latvia to Oklahoma to Alaska to Prince George potentially, so it's not like the winter is going to shock her," said Murdoch. "She has her eyes wide open. This will be her third year going to school and second of eligibility. It's very different then talking to a first-year person that comes in this is someone who has the maturity and the knowledge to know what she's getting into."
Murdoch became aware of the 20-year-old through the coaching staff at Simon Fraser University as the former CIS school's women's basketball team plays in the same American league as Anchorage.
Taeilane was recruited to Anchorage while she was playing for Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College during the 2011-12 season. Unfortunately the coach that signed her left Anchorage last summer and the new coaching staff had a different philosophy and Taeilane spent the year on the bench.
"I just want to play ball," said Taeilane. "I'm just looking for for a better option."
Oklahoma played in the National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association and during the season Taeilane spent there the women's basketball team posted a 22-9 record, won the District B (region 2) championship and advanced to the national championship.
She began playing basketball in third grade and competed on the under-16 Latvian national team and was on the national rosters for both the under-18 and under-20 teams in her home country.
Taeilane said the style of game is very different in North America to what she was used to in Europe.
"In the United States it's more physical and more individual while back home it's more like team work," said Taeilane. "I just want to learn to be more physical."
She said her favourite part of basketball is blocking shots because "it's what I do best."
Taeilane will scrimmage with the T-wolves again tonight and, Murdoch said she'll know by the end of the weekend if the transfer student will fit into the UNBC lineup.
Next week Murdoch has another potential recruit coming to visit the campus. Jamie McLaughlin graduated from Coquitlam-Gleneagle high school in 2012, playing in the B.C. high school all-star game that season.
"She's a power-forward type," said Murdoch.
After T-wolves played their inaugural CIS season with only 10 players, Murdoch said she expects to have 15 players on the bench for the 2013-14 season.
