Queens start strong, Thibeaux and Broncos capture game with solid second half

Brent Forster - RDC

Red Deer, AB - The Red Deer College Queens had an energetic start at home, but Brittney Thibeaux and the Olds College Broncos came on in the second half, picking up an 80-65 decision.

After the Broncos led 17-16 after the first quarter, Lauren Cardinal and the Queens persisted, outscoring the visitors 21-16 to pull ahead 37-33 at half-time. Cardinal had 11 points. Thibeaux scored over half of the Broncos' points with 20. The Queens had some success from beyond the arc, hitting five out of twelve attempts.

Olds College ramped up the offence in the second half, adding 47 points. RDC countered with 28 and the Broncos finalized an 80-65 win. Cardinal (17 points) and Thibeaux (46 points) led their respective teams in scoring.

Lauren Cardinal (8) went 4-for-4 from the line Colby Brochu Photography

Katie Ballhorn was named the Queens Player-of-the-Game, accumulating 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Queens Head Coach Ken King noted Ballhorn's strong defence sparked her offensive play.

"Katie had a really good first half. The biggest thing that we are trying to impress upon her is that her defensive intensity will dictate her minutes," says King. "When her defensive intensity was high, she contributed at a good level on the offensive side. When the defensive intensity dropped, her offensive game faltered a bit. That is something you learn as you age, but overall she had a good day."

Brittney Thibeaux received the honour for the Broncos, finishing with 46 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, and was difficult to contain.

King praised the Broncos' offensive weapon. "Brittney is a really good player. She made some really tough shots - some over double-teams and fading away," he says. "We made her do a lot of things that we wanted to make her do, and she was still able to score. Sometimes players have really good games. We had players score against us when we didn't do our jobs, but I thought that we did a pretty good job on her for two-thirds plus of the game."

Zeina El Barky had nine points. Amy Szymanek and Sandra Garcia-Bernal added eight each. Garcia-Bernal pulled down six rebounds.

Harneet Sidhu (14) had 5 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds Colby Brochu Photography

The RDC Queens had a slight edge on the boards (45-44) and finished six of 22 from behind the three-point arc.

Mallory Uskiw (7) had 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 points Colby Brochu Photography

The RDC Queens have three games remaining, all on the road. On February 16, the Queens will compete against the Ambrose University Lions at 6:00 p.m. in Calgary. Then on February 22 and 23, the Briercrest College Clippers will host the Red Deer College Queens in a pair of games in Saskatchewan, wrapping up regular season competition.