The Nipissing Lakers are led at the point guard position by a 5'2 guard from Timmins by the name of Taryn Gauthier. Going into her third year, she is trying to lead the Lakers towards the playoffs which she came so close to last season. Her journey now on the edge of a playoff birth, started with her family and Timmins Select.
Timmins Select
Taryn's first basketball experience came as many others has, playing with family. That time getting shots up with her dad and enjoying the essence of the game led her to play with Timmins Select through grade school and into high school as her first club experience.
From grade five through grade eight and beyond she played for Timmins Select. Going into high school she expanded on her experience getting into the AAU cycle that took her through high school.
"It was definitely a great experience in terms of the competitiveness and getting my name out there. It was definitely a step up from playing in Timmins because all of the better competition had moved to the OSBA at that point. It was definitely a big adjustment and it was hard but it was a great thing for my basketball career."
Taryn joined the OSBA and Lo-Ellen Park in her final years of high school, something she said she had "definitely considered for a while."
Getting AAU and OSBA experience after playing for Timmins gave Taryn a taste of some of the better competition, and getting her name out there got her recognized by coaches at the next level, one of them being coach Rachel Van Woezik of the Nipissing Lakers.
Getting to the Lakers
"I was still playing AAU and I think my first goal at that point was to play in the states," Taryn said of the start of her recruiting process, "but as I was playing through Grade 12 I eventually came to the decision that I wanted to play at Nipissing. I had went for a visit and I fell in love with their culture and how the school is very tight knit and small and everyone knew each other."
The close knit team and feeling of the school brought Taryn to Nipissing, and her role had her starting all 17 games she played in her first year.
Though the OSBA experience helped in the transition to the OUA, going into an immediate starting role was still "a big adjustment — the girls are bigger, they're faster, they're older, they have more experience," but she found that the jump would've been bigger if it weren't for the experience she got prior to the OUA.
"I definitely had a lot of adjusting to do and a lot of learning to do. I think that physically I could keep up but mentally that was probably the more challenging part because I had to learn a lot of things that had to do with the tactics of the game. I was kind of put into a position where I had to be the point guard because Nicole Budd got injured. I definitely didn't have that kind of experience before so it was definitely a pretty big adjustment."
Taryn averaged 10.7 points per game in her first year playing 34 minutes per game. She was thrust into a starting point guard position due to injury and with the leadership of players like Nicole on the bench and other veterans helping her along she was able to adjust and be one of the teams top contributors that season.
"Everyone had each others back and I think had that not happened the transition would have been a lot harder."
From adjustments to instincts
If her first year was about getting to know the league and what it was to be the starting point guard, Taryn's second year was about applying her knowledge and trusting her ability.
Knowing she had her teammates trust and knowing she had the trust of the coaches helped Taryn improve on her rookie year as she was now the full time starting point guard playing all 22 games as a starter, and her development took strides with her belief.
The Lakers improved on their record just missing out on the playoffs in 2024. From a team perspective, Nipissing was climbing, and from a individual perspective, Taryn was fine tuning her game to fit what she knew she could excel at.
With less time needing to be put towards figuring out the league, Taryn was able to focus on the little things in her game that would make her a better player, and the results showed on the court.