Women's Basketball Weekend Recap | November 27, 2017
The Lakeland Rustlers Women's Basketball team split their weekend series against the Augustan Vikings, with each team winning on the opposition's home court. Friday night in Lloydminster, the Vikings defeated the Rustlers 78-66. The Rustlers responded Saturday night with a 66-57 win in Camrose.
The Vikings defeated the Rustlers 78-66 Friday night in Lloydminster. Both teams took good shots early on, but could not get them to fall. The Vikings were able to get their shots to fall first, taking an 8-4 lead. The Rustlers responded with a 7-0 run of their own, forcing the Vikings to take a timeout. The two teams went back and forth to end the quarter, with the Rustlers taking a 19-14 lead after one. The Rustlers came out strong to start the second quarter, finding ways to get the ball inside for easy baskets. The Vikings found their ways to score, driving to the hoop and drawing fouls. The Rustlers increased their lead to 9, but the Vikings responded, cutting the lead to 2 with less than two minutes remaining in the half. The Vikings were able to overcome the 2 point deficit and take a 38-36 lead into the half.
Both teams were slow to start the third quarter, struggling to score in any way. The teams would eventually find their scoring touch and trade baskets for much of the quarter. After three quarters, the Vikings lead 55-54. In the fourth quarter, the Rustlers fought to come back and overtake the Vikings but struggled once again to score. The Vikings built a 9 point lead midway through the quarter and held on for the 78-66 win.
Player of the Game for the Rustlers was first year guard Hailey Sommers who scored eight points for the Rustlers off the bench. The Rustlers also got nine points, five rebounds and three assists from first year guard Jaden Cook and nine points, two rebounds, four assists and two steals from second year guard Meg Ferraz.
The Rustlers defeated the Vikings 66-57 Saturday night in Camrose in what was a better, but still not great game for the Rustlers. The Vikings got out to a 7-1 lead in the opening minutes of the game as the Rustlers struggled to score. The Rustlers responded with a 7-0, taking an 8-7 lead. The teams would then go back and forth for the rest of the quarter, with the Rustlers leading 18-14 after one. The Rustlers were strong defensively in the second quarter, holding the Vikings to just five points. The Rustlers were able to score 14 points in the quarter and led 32-19 at half.
The Rustlers extended their lead to as many as 17 in the third quarter, but could not pull away from the Vikings, as the Vikings cut into the Rustlers lead. After three quarters, the Rustlers led 44-36. In the fourth quarter, the Vikings would cut the Rustlers lead to six, as they applied full-court defensive pressure that challenged the Rustlers. Despite the pressure from the Vikings, both teams had their highest-scoring quarter of the game with the Rustlers scoring 22 points and the Vikings scoring 21. Despite the struggles in the fourth quarter, the Rustlers were still able to come away with the 66-57 victory.
The Rustlers were led by first year guard and Player of the Game Kaitlyn Tonita with 21 points, five rebounds, and four steals. First year forward Bailey Johnson had 12 points, four rebounds and two steals, while second year guard Angela Baran had nine points, three rebounds, four steals and an assist for the Rustlers.
Rustlers Head Coach Chris King was happy with his team getting one win on the weekend, but thought the team struggled on the weekend as a whole.
"Friday night we struggled defensively, getting beat middle," King said, "and then our shots weren't falling either. Saturday we obviously shot the ball a little bit better, but we still struggled when they applied pressure. We lost both of our posts this week in practice (Shania Magnusson and Brianne Hergott) which made us have to change how we attacked things; we couldn't just throw the ball to a big body in the middle anymore. We have a lot of time off now before our next league games, which is good because we have a lot of things to work on."
The Rustlers finish the first semester with a 9-3 record, good for first place in the North division. The team will return to the court January 19th and 20th as they head to Fort McMurray to take on the Keyano Huskies.
The Rustlers next home games are January 26th and 27th against the Grande Prairie Wolves.