Queens 70 Kodiaks 46
The RDC Queens have been looking to put together a complete 40 minute effort for most of the Alberta Colleges Women’s Basketball League season.
Saturday they did just that in beating the Lethbridge Kodiaks 70-46 which kept their slim playoff hopes alive.
The Queens need to win their final two regular season games against Grant MacEwan and Keyano and have Lethbridge lose to Concordia and Augustana to reach the playoffs.
The Queens were full marks for their victory as they led from the outset.
“We really played together as a team, with a lot of determination after what happened yesterday (a 77-61 loss to the Kodiaks),” said Queens veteran forward Lauren Loyek, who was the RDC player of the game.
Loyek finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season.
“I’m doing a lot of what I did in high school as they’re using me under the hoop . . . it’s a good role for me,” said the third-year veteran, who played her first season with Grant MacEwan before switching to RDC.
“I like it here and it’s working out. I Iike the players and I get a chance to play with my sister (Courtney) and with Jess (Foley-Geldart) who I played with in high school.”
Queens head coach Dawn Smyth needed her top inside player to step up when they lost high-scoring Lisa Ivanics at Christmas and guard Karlen Majcher suffered a leg injury.
“We ran into some injuries with our perimeter players in the first half and we relied more and more on her and she’s done a great job. She’s taking the ball to the hoop and commanding attention. She had a tremendous game today.”
What the Queens did do better than Friday was control the third quarter. They outscored the Kodiaks 22-4 while Friday they were outscored 28-14.
“We were really determined not to have another bad third quarter,” said Loyek. “We did some drills that seemed to help, plus everyone stepped up when we needed them to.”
The Queens dominated the boards with a 56-31 edge in rebounds.
“We had a definite height advantage and we got a lot of second shots and capitalized on them,” said Smyth, who was pleased with the team’s effort in the half-court game.
“That’s something we’ve struggled with at times this season, but did a good job today. In fact the team played like they could . . . like we knew they could.”
Foley-Geldart had her second straight double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds while Hannah Nagy continues to improve and finished with 15 points and eight boards. Katlyn Olsen, who was outstanding on defence, chipped in with seven rebounds and six points.
Jamie Wiebe had 14 points and Natalie Johnson 13 for the Kodiaks.
Kodiaks 110 Kings 77
While the Queens were keeping their playoffs hopes alive the Kings chances were slipping away.
The Kings 110-77 loss to the Kodiaks, coupled with Briercrest’s second straight win over the Rattlers in Medicine Hat all but eliminated the RDC squad.
RDC, 6-10, will need to beat Grant MacEwan and Keyano and have Briercrest, 8-8, lose to The King’s University College, who are winless, and Lakeland to finish in the top four.
The Kings, who turned in a solid performance Friday against the Kodiaks, during a 77-74 loss, didn’t seem to have the same energy Saturday.
“We didn’t for some reason,” said Kings fourth-year guard Adam Shaw. “Maybe we over-extended ourselves last night, but we were missing something.”
Then Kings fell behind the No. 4 ranked team in the nation early and never did find a rhythm, especially on defence. The Kodiaks led 28-17 at the end of the first quarter and increased it to 57-34 at the half.
“We got ourselves in a hole yesterday and were able to get out of it, but that’s not something you can do two days in a row against one of the top teams in the country,” said Shaw.
The Kodiaks also were blistering hot on the offensive side as they hit 54.8 per cent from the field and 13-of-20 from three-point territory.
“We were giving them too many open looks, but to their credit they were hitting them . . . they’re a good team,” added Shaw.
Shaw finished with 20 points and four assists while Eric Bakker added 16 points and six rebounds and RJ Wells 14 points and six boards.
Morgan Duce had 24 points, Dominyc Coward 20 points and 11 rebounds, Logan Reiter 18 points and eight assists and former King Jordan Reiter 16 points and 10 rebounds for Lethbridge.
The RDC teams have next weekend off before hosting MacEwan Feb. 11 and Keyano Feb. 12.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com