Kodiaks sweep Olds to open season

By Lethbridge Herald on October 24, 2022.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward Lethbridge College Kodiaks' Declan Peterson tips in a rebound during ACAC basketball action against the Old College Broncos on Saturday at Val Matteoti Gym.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge College Kodiaks basketball teams won both of their home games over the Olds College Broncos to open the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference season over the weekend.

The men’s won 91-75 on Saturday after a 67-52 victory on Friday.

Their shooting percentages improved from game one as the bears shot 49 per cent in the field goals, 52 per cent from three-point range and 70 per cent from the foul line.

“Last night, we were in the (percentages of) 30s, 20s and 60s,” said  head coach Ryan Heggie.

“So it’s the tale of two nights on offence compared to each other. So, happy today with our offensive performance.”

Heggie thought the difference  in the second game of the season was shooting the ball better in the second half.

“We had  six team assists in the first half and we ended up with 22,” he said.

Heggie thought the turning point of the game was when Treyton Barton, Mason Hofman, Taylor Barfuss, Motaz Hassanen and Adyn Card came off the bench to sub in for the starters early in the third quarter after the home team was down seven points just three minutes in.

“And we just decided  thar we needed more energy and made that change and it really showed the depth of our team right now,” said Heggie.

“ It showed that those guys that came off the  bench were ready to do their job and they had the starter’s back. You heard when they (the starters) came off the court , when we turned the game around, the starters were the first ones out  greeting them.”

The bench players put up 47 bench points throughout the game.

“You like to take care of your games at home because that’s your home court advantage,” said Heggie.

“Those are ones that you really want to lock into and then when you go on the road in our league, it’s tough, anything can happen.”

The women’s team opened up with a 73-68 win on Friday,  followed by an 81-73 win on Saturday.

“We have lots of growing to do,” said head coach Ken McMurray.

“We weren’t perfect by any means and we learned  a lot about ourselves. But I was actually quite happy with our bench coming in and doing their job.”

McMurray felt Olds had a strong, lean line up and if the LC could use their depth to their advantage they could win.

“I played a lot of girls,” he said.

“I went 10 deep, basically. In fact, everybody got on the court and I just felt like if we continued to pressure them for the whole game, we can wear them down by the fourth quarter and that’s kind of what happened.”

McMurray thought rookie  Gaby Power stepped up in the first game and drained eight points and included two big three pointers.

Emily Hall came in the second game and hit some big shots.

“That really gives our starters a lift when they have confidence in the bench and I can sub freely,” he said.

Both teams will hit the road for games in Briercrest this weekend.

Volleyball

The volleyball teams travelled to Olds over the weekend and won their matches 3-0 and 3-1 on Friday and Saturday respectively.