Posted by Sudbury Northern Life 
Laurentian Lady Vees women's basketball head coach Mike Clarke reached a significant achievement in his young coaching career on Saturday, Jan. 24, as he collected his 100th regular season victory in the Lady Vees 64-63 win over the Ryerson Rams.
Clarke needed just six and a half seasons to reach the milestone, and has a career regular season record of 100-46.
Clarke began his first season as head coach of the Lady Vees in 2002 after coaching women's basketball at the college level in British Columbia. Clarke was the head coach at Langra College in Vancouver where he amassed a record of 106-36.
The Lady Falcons would win one provincial championship and made two CCAA national championship appearances with Clarke at the helm.
Clarke also won BCCAA Coach of the Year honours in 2000. As a player, Clarke was a five-year starter for the UBC Thunderbirds where he scored over 2000 points and was the school's fifth leading all-time scorer.
Clarke quickly piled up the wins in the 2002-2003 season, which was his first as head coach of the Lady Vees. The first career win for Clarke came on November 8, 2002, where the Lady Vees beat up on the Windsor Lancers 73-48.
From there, the Lady Vees would roll through their OUA opponents during the regular season as they went a perfect 20-0 to win the OUA regular season championship. The Lady Vees would make a deep playoff run as well and started it off by beating Ottawa in the OUA quarter final 68-62.
However, the Lady Vees came up short in the OUA semi final, losing to Queens 72-58 and would eventually lose in the bronze medal game to Laurier 78-75.
Clarke began the 2003-2004 season with a top recruit and tried and make another run at the OUA championship. Then first year forward Cassandra Carpenter (Kanata, Ont.) started every game for the Lady Vees in her first season and would eventually become the CIS all-time top scorer.
Clarke guided the Lady Vees to a 17-5 regular season record, good enough for a trip to the OUA playoffs. The Lady Vees avenged their playoff loss to Queens the year before by beating the Gaels in the OUA quarter final. However, Ottawa would avenge their playoff loss the year before as well, as they beat the Lady Vees 68-55 in the OUA semi final.
The 2004-2005 season marked Clarke's third straight OUA playoff appearance as a coach. The Lady Vees recorded a 15-7 record that season and would cruise through the first two rounds of the OUA playoffs, defeating Toronto and Ryerson. Ottawa would prove to be too much again in the OUA semi final as the Gee-Gees would defeat Clarke's Lady Vees 57-51.
The 2005-2006 season proved to be the toughest season for Clarke as a head coach when the Lady Vees finished the season 12-10. It was the first time Clarke had 10 losses in the regular season. The Lady Vees continued Clarke's playoff appearance streak and made the playoffs for the fourth straight season losing again to Ottawa in the first round 51-47. It was the third season in a row the Gee-Gees put the Lady Vees out of the playoffs. It was the first time Clarke had been beaten in the first round of the OUA playoffs.
Clarke and the Lady Vees looked to put the disappointment of the 2005-2006 season behind them and start strong in the 2006-2007 season. The Lady Vees struggled to a 5-6 record early on but won nine games in a row over the middle of the season and finished with a 14-8 record. The Lady Vees defeated Carleton in the first round of the playoffs but were then ousted by Queens in the OUA East Division semi final 64-58. In the first five playoff runs, Clarke and the Lady Vees had been eliminated from the OUA championship by only two teams, Queens and Ottawa.
Last season (2007-2008), the Lady Vees improved in the regular season for a second straight year and returned to the 15 win plateau. The Lady Vees would post two five-game winning streaks over the course of the season and finished the year 15-7. It was the sixth straight year the Lady Vees had made the playoffs under Clarke. They easily disposed of Ryerson in the first round but dropped a close 64-61 decision to the York Lions in the OUA East Division semi final.
This season, the Lady Vees had high hopes as they were voted the CIS preseason No. 10 team. They delivered early on as well, as they jumped out to a 5-1 record and looked certain to dominate the OUA East Division. However, the Lady Vees have struggled recently losing eight of their last 10 games before defeating Ryerson on Saturday night 64-63. The Lady Vees currently sit at 7-9 this season, which is good enough for fourth place in the OUA's East Division.
Clarke and the Lady Vees have had one of the best records in the OUA over the past seven seasons. Only the McMaster Marauders and the Western Mustangs have posted more wins and have a better winning percentage. McMaster sits at 112-35 and the Mustangs are 104-43 over the past seven seasons. The Lady Vees stand at 100-46 and have never missed the playoffs under Clarke.
"It's nice to reach a milestone because when you get caught up in the day-to-day operations of coaching you forget a lot about the past and I have been really privileged to have such a great group of players over the course of my time at Laurentian," said Clarke in a release.
"I was really excited about that specific game against Ryerson because we've been working hard to make progress and struggling a little bit and we really needed to win that game."
Clarke and the Lady Vees will return to the court on Friday, Jan. 30 as they travel to Ottawa to take on the Gee-Gees. The Gee-Gees escaped the Ben Avery Gym with a 68-66 win on Jan. 17. The next night, on Saturday, Jan. 31, the Lady Vees will take on the Carleton Ravens. The Ravens won at the Ben Avery Gym on Jan.16, by a score of 63-51. Both games will tip off at 6 p.m.
