Win two lose two

author: nathan mccarville | sports writer

 You win some you lose some/ nathan mccarville

Back to back weekend wins for the basketball teams

The results of the opening weekend were less promising for the Cougars women’s basketball team in comparison to the men’s team. Though the attendance was fantastic and the Cougars had thought they had prepared for an easy game against the Trinity Western Spartans, the Spartans came with the upset, winning both games on the weekend. The first game ended with a result of 74-63 for the Spartans. Though the Cougars managed to keep up for half the game, only down by a point by the end of the second, the third was where the Spartans excelled and where the Cougars fell. The Spartans scored 28 points in the third compared to the Cougars 19, attaining the majority of their lead at this point in the game. Top scorers in the game were Carolina Goncalves with 12 points, Macaela Crone with 11 points, and Michaela Kleisinger with 10 points.  

The following game played on Nov. 3 brought nearly identical results for the end game score, the game ending in favour of the Spartans with a score of 56-47. This game went quite differently, the Cougars going into halftime with a lead of eight points. The Spartans caught up in the fourth, scoring 20 in the third and 22 points in the fourth, compared to the Cougars 15 points and 10 points in the two quarters after half. The game was not won, Macaela Crone shot an astounding 19 points for the game, attaining 40 per cent of the points for the Cougars. Her points were followed by Michaela Kleisinger and Carolina Goncalves with eight points each.  

As for the results for the home opening weekend games, Head Coach Dave Taylor had some thoughts. 

“I was disappointed how we performed as we needed our best effort to overcome the significant injuries we are battling.”  

Knee braces and tape were commonplace on the Cougars side of the court. Assistant Coach Fatih Akser added, “I don’t think any one of our players felt or thought that we were going to be even challenged before the game, not because of arrogance or we thought we were better than them, but we thought we prepared and planned ourselves well all week long before those games. Then several minor injuries happened right before the game and of course Kyanna went down at the four-minute mark and everything started to go down from there.” 

The most recent games that the Cougars have played took place in Brandon against the Brandon Bobcats. Based on the scores of these games, the Cougars seemed to have redeemed themselves, winning their first and second games against the Bobcats with an admirable score of 103-55 against the lesser team in the first game played on November 9, and 90-50 in the second game. The implications for the rest of the regular season based on the games played against the Trinity Western Spartans revealed an unfavourable forecast, though these recent games played against Brandon have restored hope for the team as they try again for the Canada West Championship and later the U SPORTS championship. Coach Akser added, “I know we are going to bounce back stronger than before and we will find our rhythm on the floor and start winning games again. It is hard to predict what league standing is going to look like at the end of the season.”  

Coach Taylor said, “Any time we lose two at home it is unacceptable. It will hurt us down the road in playoff seeding. We need to be much better.” 

The Cougars are set to have a home game against the Manitoba Bisons here at the U of R next weekend on Nov. 16 and 17.