Cougars face lowly competition in two landslide wins
Cougars feed on Rustlers and Rattlers
The women’s basketball team was in pre-season action last Friday and Sunday. On Friday they took on Lakeland College Rustlers in an absolute drubbing 85-46. Honestly, the final score is extremely flattering as Lakeland scored eight points within the last two minutes, essentially averaging less than 10 points per quarter.
Needless to say, the Cougars defense was in mid-season form and this is with balancing minutes for everyone on the team so that each player got some run in the first pre-season game. The Cougars competed extremely hard on defense all night, which likely made coach Taylor very happy. The Cougars nailed a barrage of 3s going 12-34 and shot 41% from the field. The Cougars also dominated on the boards 56-32 led by Emily Dewey and Macaela Crone with eleven and nine, respectively.
Faith Reid led the team in points as she knocked down 6-11 from beyond the arc and finishing with 24. The entire team contributed with a balanced attack with 12 points coming from both Macaela Crone and Emily Dewey; eight points coming from Michaela Kleisinger and Zoe Hartmann; and seven points coming from Alexi Rowden and Madeleine Tell.
The Cougars played a second game on Sunday morning against Medicine Hat College and had essentially the same amount of competition as they had in the first game. The Cougars destroyed Med Hat 82 to 33 in a game that everyone just wished counted in the Can West standings. The Cougars top-notch defense was on display again as the Rattlers scored as many points in the first quarter (13) as they did in the entire second half.
The offense was a bit different in this game relative to the first because the Cougars decided to dominate the paint. They scored 50 of their 82 in the paint and out-rebounded Med Hat 56-28, as Emily Dewey and Faith Reid led the team with 12 and 10 boards, while Micaela Crone and Alexi Rowden grabbed 7 each as well. The balanced offensive attack continued as everyone who played in the game scored and Emily Dewey poured in 21 to give her a double-double with 21 and 12 on a super-efficient 9 of 12 from the field and 3-5 from the line.
Ultimately games like these are glorified scrimmages for the regular season as there is not much competition provided by teams like Lakeland and Medicine Hat. They give the team an opportunity to run through the offensive schemes, get comfortable on the court together and gain some confidence heading into the 2019 Cougar Classic Tournament on the first weekend in October and the Cougar Thanksgiving Invitational the following weekend. The Cougars have 3 games scheduled for the Cougar Classic: the first on Oct. 4, they play Concordia at 6:00 p.m.; they play up-province rival the University of of Saskatchewan on Oct. 5 at 7:00 p.m.; and lastly, they play Lethbridge in an afternoon game at 1:00 p.m. on October 6.
