Queens win big over Lions at home

Brent Forster - RDC

Saturday evening, the Red Deer College Queens Basketball team hosted the Ambrose University Lions and with the Queens' diverse attack they earned a convincing 85-49 home victory.

The Queens hit their home court with energy. RDC scored 22 points in the opening quarter but more impressive was limiting the Lions' offence to only 4 points. Eva Bonde led the way offensively for RDC with 5 points.

The RDC Queens had effective ball movement in the second quarter. They quickly transitioned the ball up the court and kept the Lions' defence on its heels. The Queens also hit from long distance. Eva Bonde connected on a pair of three-pointers and Paige Schultz scored from the outside to help the Queens go ahead 46-16 at the half. Over two quarters, Eva Bonde scored 11 points. The third-year Kinesiology & Sport Studies student added 1 rebound and 3 assists. Hannah Enns had 4 points for the Lions.

In the third quarter, Sandra Garcia-Bernal and Mary Krause scored from the field early. Then Eva Bonde continued her hot hand and drained another three-pointer later on. At the end of the quarter, the Queens were up 64-36.

Early in the fourth quarter, Lauren Bailey started from her defensive zone and went coast-to-coast to sink the layup. The Queens had contributions from Sandra Garcia-Bernal from the field and Paige Schultz from three-point range to extend their lead, and RDC eventually earned an 85-49 home win.

Sandra Garcia-Bernal was named the player-of-the-game for the Queens. The first-year guard from Valencia, Spain totaled 13 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Hannah Enns received the honour for the Lions and contributed 19 points, 8 rebounds and 1 steal.  

Queens Basketball Head Coach Ken King liked the dedication from many student-athletes. "It was a good team effort. We had a lot of contributions from a lot of different people in a lot of different ways," said King. "I'd still like to see better defence in the middle of the game. In the third quarter, I thought we came out pretty flat and we lost that quarter. We weren't moving our feet and taking care of some of the little things."

The RDC Queens have two important games remaining in the regular season and they can punch their ticket to the playoffs by defeating the St. Mary's University Lightning in a crucial final weekend series.  "We really wanted to start preparing now with good habits. We wanted to practice things that we want to do next weekend," said King. "By the time those games come around, we will know that we've prepared the way that we need to."

Next weekend, the fifth place Queens (11-8) will compete against the fourth place St. Mary's University Lightning (12-7) in a pair of games. Friday, February 23, St. Mary's University will host the RDC Queens at 6:00 p.m. In their final regular season game, the Queens will compete against the Lightning 24 hours later in the RDC Main Gym. The Lightning have 24 points and the Queens are only 2 points behind in the south standings.