Queens complete the weekend sweep, Kings fall in the fourth quarter to the Lightning
Red Deer, January 27, 2024 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Queens calm the storm in Red Deer as they defeated the St. Mary's University Lightning for the second consecutive night while the Kings were on the wrong end of a fourth quarter comeback and lost to the Lightning.
See below for more information regarding each game.
Queens Basketball – Queens 74 vs St. Mary's University Lightning 67
The opening quarter featured a back-and-forth battle between these two teams with the biggest lead being a three-point difference. In the final minute, guard Sandra Garcia-Bernal (Educational Assistant) hit a three-point jumper to give her team a 21-19 lead. But on the following possession, Lightning guard Jaida Wallis (Bachelor of Science in Biology) hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to give her team a 22-21 lead at the end of the quarter.
But the Queens' defence came out strong in the second as they held the Lightning scoreless for the first four minutes of the quarter. The Polytechnic scored seven points in this amount of time to give themselves a small lead which they would hold onto for the remainder of the quarter. At the half-time break, the Queens led the Lightning 37-32.
For the second consecutive night, forward Jayden Demchuk (Practical Nurse Diploma) led the offence alongside post Peighton Melton (Bachelor of Arts in Multidisciplinary Studies) who both had eight points at the half. On the other side of the court, Lightning guard Andria Stitt (Bachelor of Science in Biology) led her team with eight points as well.
After outscoring the Lightning 19-5 in the first five minutes of the second half, the Queens forced the visitors to call a timeout. Following the short break, St. Mary's outscored their opponent 12-5 which made it a 10 point game with one quarter left to play.
Pushing to split the weekend, the Lightning came out strong in the fourth quarter and found themselves down by just six as they went into a timeout called by the Queens. In the end, RDP completed the weekend sweep of St. Mary's with a 74-67 victory.
Head Coach Avery Harrison explained the team's defence won them the game tonight.
"I thought our third quarter defence was good. After having a 19 point lead cut down in the quarter, I thought our defence put the game out of reach and hung on to the lead. It is tough to stop a team with that many scorers and that much talent but we worked hard tonight which worked out for us."
The players of the game were awarded to Lightnings Andria Stitt and Queens' Peighton Melton. Stitt with a team-high 19 points while Melton had a game-high 21 points in the win.
The Queens will hit the road next weekend as they head out for a two-game set against the Briercrest College Clippers while the Lightning will head to Olds College next Friday for a game against the Broncos.
Kings Basketball – Kings 94 vs St. Mary's University Lightning 96
For the majority of the first quarter, the Kings found themselves chasing the Lightning but in the dying minutes of the quarter, the Polytechnic made it a very close game. Guard Mac Manyluk (Bachelor of Business Administration) hit a three-point jumper to give his team their first lead of the game. But in the last 10 seconds, guard Caleb Jipp (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) made a wide-open layup to put his team on top 24-23 at the end of the quarter.
In the early goings of the second, the Kings found themselves making stops on one end which generated offence on the other end of the court. This gave them a small lead which they held for the remainder of the quarter. RDP outscored the Lightning 29-23 to take a 52-47 lead into the third quarter. Jipp was once again impressive as he put up 16 points in the first half which led the Lightning while the Kings' offence was led by guard Deandre Rowe (Open Studies) who had 12 in the first two quarters.
The Kings continued their offensive ways in the second half as they outscored the Lightning 22-18 which led to the Polytechnic taking a 74-65 lead into the final 10 minutes of the game.
In what was an intense and wild fourth quarter that saw multiple dunks and big plays, the Lightning came back and took their first lead since the early stages of the third quarter after being down by nine going into the fourth. St. Mary's held on to their late lead and walked away with a 94-94 victory.
Head Coach Jedell Foster explained they knew it was going to be a battle right from tip-off.
"We headed into tonight not thinking about last night's loss and we knew it was going to be a tough game right from the start with how the Lightning having multiple scoring threats on their team. The Kings played well in the third quarter. We were able to take the lead into the fourth but Caleb Jipp got hot in the fourth from deep which we could not match on the ensuing possession."
The players of the game were awarded to Lightnings Caleb Jipp and Kings' Efe Iyamu (Open Studies). Jipp finished with a game-high 35 points while Iyamu had 15 in the loss.
The Kings will hit the road next week as they head out to Saskatchewan for two games against the Briercrest College Clippers while the Lightning will head to Olds College next Friday for a battle against the Broncos.