2025 Provincial Team Coaches
| Canada Games Women's Coaching Staff | |
| Haley McDonald (head)
| Haley McDonald is joining us from Canning, Nova Scotia. She played her high school career at Horton High School capturing a D1 Provincial title in 2016. Over her youth career she represented BNS on 5 different occasions, both at the U15 and U17 National Championships. Haley played at Acadia University from 2016 - 2021, and again in 2022-2023. During her time with Acadia University, she captured 2 AUS Championships, she was an AUS MVP, multi-time Atlantic University Sport (AUS) All-Star and All-Canadian. During her final season with the Axewomen, she was awarded by the AUS the James Bayer Memorial Scholarship for her contributions to Athletics, Academics, Leadership, Sportsmanship, and Citizenship. Most recently, she was recognized as a TOP 8 USports Academic All-Canadian and Governor General medal winner. Haley's coaching career started as an assistant coach with the U17 girls' provincial team during the COVID-19 pandemic. More recently, as a head coach, she led the Horton High School D1 Girls team to a silver medal finish in the SSNS provincials in 2022. That summer Haley was the assistant coach for the BNS U15 girls provincial team, and helped them achieve a National Silver Medal. Currently, she is the full-time lead assistant coach with the Acadia Axewomen and the Director of AXE Basketball, a minor club in the Annapolis Valley that gives athletes aged U8 to U16 opportunities to play locally and provincially. "I am so excited to be part of the BNS family in a head coaching capacity. Over the year, I have been working to further my own coaching skills and I'm happy to see my commitment paying off. My coaching philosophy is grounded in competition, accountability, and fun. I hope to provide the athletes with a strong, confident female role model that will push them to a higher standard. I believe our small province is capable of making big waves nationally and I cannot wait to get started." |
| Maia Timmons (assistant) | Maia Timmons is entering her third year as an assistant coach with the MSVU women’s basketball team and brings a wealth of experience from both her playing and coaching career. As a former player in the Basketball Nova Scotia (BNS) system, Maia competed in four National Championships before moving on to play at the University of Ottawa, where she graduated in 2021. Since then, Maia has dedicated herself to coaching, serving as an assistant coach for BNS's U16 girls in 2023 and most recently helping the U15 girls team compete at the National Championships in Saint John’s, Newfoundland. This season, Maia will also be completing her second and final year in the CCAA Female Coaching Mentorship Program, continuing her commitment to the development of young athletes. |
| Laura Brine (assistant)
| Laura has been coaching basketball for the last nine years. Growing up in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia she played for Auburn Drive High School, and went on to play for Acadia University. She has been fortunate enough to live in multiple provinces across the country allowing her to coach Junior High Boys, Junior High Girls, High School Boys and High School Girls. At a club level, she has been coaching u10-u14 boys for the last seven years. Most recently she was the assistant coach for the 2024 u17 BNS Female team. Currently she is the assistant coach for the senior high female team at Armbrae Academy, and head coach for the junior high boys at Astral Drive Elementary. Beyond coaching, Laura enjoys spending her time with her husband and two sons, usually playing basketball. She was a 911 operator and dispatcher for 10 years, recently making a switch to the Emergency Management Office with Halifax Regional Municipality. |
| Canada Games Women's Coaching Staff | |
| Anton Berry (head)
| Anton is a former AUS (MUN 2001-02) and ACAA (MSVU 2004-07) athlete, who represented Nova Scotia as an athlete at the 2000 Nationals and the 2001 Canada Games in London, Ontario. Currently, Anton is an assistant coach for both the men’s and women's basketball teams at Dalhousie University. Anton also serves as the student-athlete and community relations advisor for Dalhousie University varsity athletics. Before assuming his current role at Dalhousie, he was the interim head coach of the Dalhousie women's basketball team during the 2021-22 season after acting as an assistant coach the previous season. Anton was the lead assistant coach with the Dalhousie men's basketball team for seven years (2013-20) and helped the men’s team to five AUS conference championship titles, a USports silver, and a USports bronze medal serving as the team’s defensive coordinator. Anton returned to the men’s team bench this season in a supportive role. Anton was a grad assistant coach from 2007-09 at Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU). Anton also served as head coach of Nova Scotia’s men’s Canada Games developmental team in 2011 and 2012. At the club level, Anton has coached with the Dartmouth Boys and Girls Club, Community Y, and Sting Basketball Club. Anton also coached the Cole Harbour District High School Boys basketball team for 3 years. |
| Damon Cole (assistant) | Damon is a former Atlantic University Sport (AUS) athlete having played with both St. Francis Xavier University (1997-1999) and Saint Mary’s University (2002-2005). Throughout Damon’s basketball career he has earned Nova Scotia High School Provincial title (1993-1994) and has represented Nova Scotia on both the provincial and national stage as a member of the provincial teams (1989-1994). After High School Damon went on to play at Champlain College in Quebec (1994-1996) before returning to Nova Scotia for university. Damon is an African Nova Scotian Student Support Worker with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education and is currently the Head Coach of Millwood High School boys’ basketball team. The Millwood Boys Basketball team continues to earn its place as one of the top basketball programs with several tournament championships and taking bronze back-to-back years for City, Regionals and Provincials. In 2024, Millwood captured the Capital Regional banner, winning their first banner in school history. Damon is also an Assistant Coach with his alma mater, Saint Mary’s University Men’s Basketball team (2012-Present) who were the 2013-2014 AUS Champions. Damon also continues to remain involved at the provincial level having been the Head Coach for the Nova Scotia Provincial Development U16/U15 teams (2014-2018) and this year was an Assistant Coach for the Nova Scotia U17 National team. Damon has several years of experience coaching at various levels and coaching titles from Minor Basketball with the Community YMCA, High School, Provincial and University. |
| Tariq Thomas (assistant) | Tariq hails from East Preston, Nova Scotia, and has an extensive background in basketball both as a player and a coach. He competed with Basketball Nova Scotia’s U15 boys at the 2013 Nationals in Newfoundland and went on to win a bronze medal with the U16 team at the 2014 Western Canadian Championship in Edmonton, Alberta. From 2014 to 2016, he played for Auburn Drive High School, contributing to two provincial championship teams in 2014 and 2015. After high school, Tariq played two years of collegiate basketball at St. Thomas University (2016-2018) before joining Mount Saint Vincent University, where he played from 2018 to 2022. His time at MSVU included being part of the 2022 ACAA championship team, which competed at Nationals hosted by Humber College. In addition to his playing career, Thomas has gained coaching experience with the Cole Harbour Rockets (U12, U14, U16), as well as with Armbrae Academy, where he has served as an assistant coach for the senior boys and head coach for the junior boys since 2022. He is currently an assistant coach at Mount Saint Vincent University (2023-present) and was named assistant coach for Basketball Nova Scotia's U17 boys team in 2024. Outside of basketball, Tariq is a teacher at Armbrae Academy. |
