Kings and Queens fall in two close games against the Clippers
Caronport, SK, February 3, 2024 – Despite a second-half push, the Red Deer Polytechnic Queens fell by one point against the Briercrest College Clippers to end their weekend with two straight losses for the first time this season. The Kings would fall in their fourth straight game as they were not able to capitalize on the last second three-point opportunity to tie it up at 90.
See below for more information regarding each game.
Queens Basketball – Queens vs 66 Briercrest College Clippers 67
It was a tough start to the Queens' final game against the Clippers as they fell behind early and were playing catch-up the whole quarter. Guard Sandra Garcia-Bernal (Educational Assistant) picked up where she left off last night and dropped seven of the team's 11 first-quarter points. This kept the Queens in the game and they found themselves down by four points as they went into the second.
Garcia-Bernal would immediately make it a one-point game as she hit a three-point jumper in the first few seconds of the second quarter. The Queens battled back to tie it up at 23 with five minutes left before halftime. But the Clippers pulled away in the last two minutes of the quarter which included back-to-back threes to extend their lead to 10 points. Head Coach Avery Harrison immediately called a timeout. At the half, the Clippers had a 28-25 lead. Garcia-Bernal led the Queens' offence with 10 points after the first two quarters.
At the half, the Queens were having a tough time shooting. They were shooting under 30 per cent from the field and only made two out of 14 three-point attempts.
The Polytechnic's offence came out to play in the second half as they were able to hold the Clippers to just 10 points in the first eight minutes of the third while scoring 18. Garcia-Bernal put the Queens within one point of the Clippers at the end of the quarter after making a buzzer-beating two-point jumper.
The Queens would continue to come up with stops in the final 10 minutes of play which transitioned to points on the other end of the court. This put RDP up by five points three minutes into the fourth. But Briercrest College found its groove on defence and was able to walk away with a 67-66 victory over the Queens to complete the weekend sweep despite a buzzer-beating three-pointer made by forward Peighton Melton (Bachelor of Arts in Multidisciplinary Studies) at the end of the fourth.
The Queens player of the game was awarded to Garcia-Bernal who once again led her team's offence with 17 points.
The Queens will just have one game next weekend when they host the University of Alberta-Augustana Viking on Saturday at 6 pm.
Kings Basketball – Kings 87 vs Briercrest College Clippers 90
The Kings got off to a great start as they put up five points while holding the Clippers scoreless in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the opening quarter. Despite the Clippers finding their groove in the final two minutes of the quarter, RDP continued their strong offensive ways throughout the remainder of the first and found themselves up 31-19 after the end of the opening 10 minutes of play.
The Clippers kept their offence rolling into the second as they outscored the Kings 19-11 in the first seven minutes of the quarter which led to Head Coach Jedell Foster calling a timeout. Despite being outscored 26-20 in the second, the Kings held on to a 51-45 lead as they entered the third quarter.
Centre Jose Mauro (Business Diploma) led the Kings' offence with 13 points while his teammate Bernardo Moller (Business Diploma) was three-for-eight from deep and had 11 points at the half.
The Kings continued to be outscored with the Clippers dropping 26 points in the third to take a 71-70 lead into the final 10 minutes of the game. The Polytechnic was held to just 19 points.
But the Kings got off to a much better start in the fourth as they scored 11 and took an 81-79 lead into a Clippers timeout. Despite a last-minute comeback, the Kings fell short with the Clippers coming out on top 90-87.
The player of the game was awarded to guard Davin Eskins-Isidore (Kinesiology Fitness and Health) who dropped 14 points off the bench in the loss.
The Kings will be back in Red Deer next weekend as they welcome the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings to town for an 8 pm tip-off.