Kings and Queens fall in Saskatchewan to the Clippers
Caronport, SK, February 2, 2024 – For the first time this season both the Kings and Queens basketball teams lost on the same day as they both fell in game one of the doubleheader against the Briercrest College Clippers on Friday night in Saskatchewan.
See below for more information regarding each game.
Queens Basketball – Queens 63 at Briercrest College Clippers 71
The Queens faced some adversity in the first quarter with the Clippers coming out strong and taking a lead which lasted for a couple of minutes. But the Polytechnic bounced back and finished the quarter with a 24-18 lead.
In the second, it was all Briercrest for most of the quarter. But the Queens in the dying minutes of the half were finally able to start playing defence which transitioned to their offence and was able to cut into the Clippers lead. At the end of the half, Briercrest College had a 43-40 lead. No Queens player had more than eight points after the first 20 minutes of play with seven of their 11 players all getting on the scoresheet. The Polytechnic struggled from the field at the half as they were shooting under 40 per cent. They gave up 10 turnovers which turned into 13 points for the Clippers.
It was an extremely low-scoring third quarter with just a total of 17 points combined between both team's RDP outscored Briercrest College 9-8 but the Queens still found themselves down 51-49 as they entered the last 10 minutes of the game.
The Queens found themselves in trouble in the early goings of the fourth as they were outscored 14-7 in the first six minutes of the game which led to Head Coach Avery Harrison calling a timeout. But after the timeout, the Polytechnic could not find their scoring touch and dropped the first of two games in Saskatchewan 71-63.
The Queens player of the match was awarded to guard Sandra Garcia-Bernal who led the offence with 14 points and 10 rebounds to complete the loss with a double-double.
The Queens and Clippers will face off in a rematch tomorrow at 12 pm.
Kings Basketball – Kings 80 at Briercrest College Clippers 93
Centre Jose Mauro scored the Kings' first six points of the game which tied the game up for the Polytechnic in the very early goings of the first quarter. The Kings would go on a run in the last half of the quarter to take a 24-18 lead into the second.
Despite being down for most of the second quarter, the Clippers battled back to take the lead with under two minutes to go with an alley dunk that put the team up 42-39. Briercrest College would extend their lead with under a minute to take a 47-39 lead into the second half. Mauro led the Kings' offence with 14 points. The Kings struggled from the field and beyond the arc as they shot under 30 per cent in both of these areas.
RDP continued to struggle on offence in the second half but still managed to keep it an eight-point game as they went into the fourth quarter with the Clippers up 72-64. Briercrest College was out-rebounding the Kings after the third quarter 42-25 with most of those rebounds coming on the defensive of the court which meant the Polytechnic was not given those second chance opportunities.
After being outscored 21-15 in the final 10 minutes of play, the Kings dropped their third consecutive game with a final score of 93-80.
Mauro was later named the player of the game after finishing with a team-high 21 points in the loss.
The Kings and Clippers will have a quick turn around with tomorrow's game starting at 2 pm.