Kings 65 Cougars 55
CALGARY — The RDC Queens snapped their Alberta Colleges Women’s Basketball League 17-game losing streak Saturday and it came on a night when few were expecting it — on the road with a 65-55 win over Mount Royal University.
It was in stark contrast to a sloppy 63-51 loss on their home court the night before to MRU.
That loss inspired a chat between head coach Dawn Smyth and her troops that addressed their will to score and they responded.
“I really put it back on to them, there really wasn’t much change in terms of technical between yesterday and today, but what really happened was our team determination was the big difference,” she said.
”The major difference today is that we were able to score. The girls coming out of high school finally broke their shell and stepped into the college league.”
Adding to the surprise was the win came without veteran post Megan Rauser — one of their key defenders — who sprained her knee in the Friday night loss.
But that opened the door for rookie Viveros Paola who played inspired ball for the Queen’s, coming off the bench to score five points and seven rebounds and snag player of the game honours.
“She was huge on the boards for us tonight,” said Smyth. “She normally doesn’t play, but she made a huge difference on the floor for us.”
But more than that it was the entire team that stepped up and took the next step. Lisa Ivanic scored 11 points; Caitlyn Olsen had 12 points, eight rebounds and five steals; Trudie Lefurgey scored 10 points and nine rebounds; and Megan Ivancic chipped in with 11 points.
It was the kind of game Smyth has been waiting to see for some time now.
“We played some of the tougher teams first — as opposed to some other team’s schedules — so it really prepared us to step forward to this point,” said Smyth. “With a young team you usually take a couple steps forward, step backwards and a couple steps forward, bit I think this is a major step forward for us to take as a team and they really committed as a squad to get it done.”
Cougars 87 Kings 64
CALGARY — It was a rare site Saturday night.
The RDC Kings men’s basketball team was on the bus heading home after a loss, and their head coach Craig Behan was actually at peace with it.
“Tonight was good. I’m actually happy with it,” said Behan. “At least we played a half this weekend, we haven’t played a half all season until tonight.
“It came down to execution. They hit everything . . . and it just seemed every kind of mistake we made they capitalized on it.”
They two teams were tied 42-42 at the half, but then the Kings couldn’t buy a basket in the second half and the Cougars stayed hot.
On a positive note, the indefinite suspension that Behan had laid on star point guard Graeme McCallum lasted only one game. The two spoke got together, spoke their peace and the suspension was lifted in time for McCallum to grab player of the game honours with a 20-point, 11-rebound performance.
“Graeme had an amazing game . . . it was wonderful to have him back,” said Behan. “He was able to deal with some things and we’re moving forward on this.”
Chris Porteus also had 11 points and four rebounds for the Kings.
The Kings and Queens are off next week with a bye. They return to the court Nov. 27 and 28 when they head to Briercrest to finish out the first half of their schedule.