Lightning 68 Queens 62
The RDC Queens continue to make strides in their development, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
That was evident once again Friday as they dropped a 68-62 decision to the St. Mary’s University College Lightning (6-9) in Alberta Colleges Women’s Basketball League play at RDC.
It was a game the Queens (2-13) could have easily won, in fact they led by three late in the final quarter before their defence let them down.
Twice they left St. Mary’s point guard Jenny Leinweber all alone and she nailed a pair of threes, which proved to be the difference in the game.
“There is no excuse for the defence,” said Queens head coach Ken King. “I don’t know if it was fatigue or the intensity of the game, but we fell asleep a little bit.
“We have to learn to carry the game all the way through.”
The Queens didn’t start that well either, falling behind 10-1 before finding their stride and grabbing a 13-12 lead after the first quarter.
They led 30-27 at the half and 48-47 after three quarters.
“That start hurt,” said King. “We need to start a little better and finish a little better. It’s kind of like a hamburger where everything in the middle was good but the bun was gross.”
Statistically, the Queens held an advantage in most areas except turnovers where they had 33 and the Lightning 25.
Starting point guard Morgan Dool was strong when she was in the game, finishing with 13 points and seven rebounds, but she was limited by the flu.
Kennedy Burgess was named the RDC player of the game, finishing with 14 points, six rebounds and four assists while veteran Dedra Janvier had a solid game with 14 points and four boards and Aneca Fretts had eight points and 10 rebounds. Desirae Paterson had nine rebounds.
Leinweber led the Lightning with 18 points.
Kings 93 Lightning 63
The RDC Kings (11-3) went into the men’s contest short-handed with three regulars — Brian Prenoslo (groin), JP LeBlanc (ankle) and Mike Zurakowski (flu) — on the sidelines.
What it did was allow head coach Clayton Pottinger an opportunity to use all of his bench in a 93-63 victory over the last-place Lightning (1-14) .
“It was definitely a case of some of the other guys who don’t get a lot of minutes, a chance to step up and they played well,” he said.
“I’m always looking for ways to improve and there were some areas we can improve on, but all-and-all it was a pretty solid effort, especially from some of the new guys like Henry Bankazo, who was in his first game, and Justin (Jarvis).”
Jarvis was the RDC player of the game, finishing with 19 points, 16 rebounds and two assists. It was his third game with the team.
“Justin is starting to do the things we liked about him when we recruited him,” said Pottinger. “He played with a lot of energy in rebounding and finishing. We need to get him to know the plays a bit more and to execute, but we have time to work on that.”
The RDC squads face St. Mary’s again tonight in Calgary then have a weekend off, returning to action in Medicine Hat on Jan. 30-31.
Despite the easy win, Pottinger indicated they had to make sure they didn’t take the Lightning easy.
“They have been playing better of late and they have some key pieces that make them dangerous. We made sure we shut down their three-point shooting.”
The Lightning finished with just one three on 15 attempts.
Matt Matear added 15 points for RDC, Tyler Wise 14, Matt Johnson 12 and Jacob Cusumano 10. Benny Bankazo, who is also playing with a sore ankle, had nine points and 11 rebounds, while Wise added eight boards and Johnson seven rebounds and six assists.
Awak Awak had 18 points for St. Mary’s.
Danny Rode is a retired Advocate reporter who can be reached at drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com. His work can also be seen at www.rdc.ab.ca/athleticsblog