Kodiak women’s basketball worked on getting better during break

By Lethbridge Herald on November 15, 2023.

Herald FILE photo Lethbridge College Kodiaks forward Kitawna Sparks tries to split University of Alberta- Augustana Vikings defenders for a shot at the basket during quarterfinal action at the 2023 ACAC WomenÕs Basketball Championship at Val Matteotti Gym in this March 2023 file photo. Sparks thought it was important for the team to be their mentally and stay in shape during the early season break.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge College Kodiaks women’s basketball team have been off since Oct. 28 due to how the schedule panned out this season ,but were using the time to improve on the court to prepare for some stiff tests this weekend.

The women’s team have been sitting comfortably with a 5-0 record.

“We’ll see what happens because you kind of break the continuity,” said head coach Ken McMurray.

“We (were) kind of on a role, win five in a row, and then (a) two-week break. So the schedule hasn’t been really  friendly to us. But (the) girls are mostly rested up. I lost Montana Berezay to an ankle (injury), but we’ll be ready to go.”

McMurray says you never  want  to even talk about the record.

“You just want to play one game at a time mentality, and we want to be better today in practice than we were yesterday, and just work on the little things, and try to get better on defence and offence and crisper each practice,” said McMurray.

“But the two-week break is a challenge but I think our girls are ready to go. I mean they’ve been without a game for a while and so they’re ready to play.”

The lengthy break has allowed the chance for the players to work on individual aspects of their game.

“When you have a two-week break like that , a lot of times in the ACAC, the season comes on to you so quick that you have to put in all your team stuff,” said McMurray.

“So we’ve had a chance to do some more individual kind of stuff with the two-week break a little bit. But this week will be getting back into the team defence, team offence a  little bit more.  But just trying to do different things, run different drills, keep the girls engaged. If you don’t have a game coming up it’s tough to keep them really high and motivated. But for the most part, they’ve been really good and this week’s a vital week of practice.”

Kitawna Sparks described McMurray’s practices as intense over the break.

“I would say pretty intense but he’s just preparing us for our hard games here,” said Sparks.

“It’s a lot of running but I don’t mind it too much.”

While Sparks felt the break was  nice, it has also been stressful knowing that they have a hard game on Friday against the second-ranked team in the nation from Lakeland College.

“So we just kind of  have to stay mentally in it because it was a real short break ” said Sparks.

“But also it was like still a break. So we just have to mentally remember that we have probably our hardest game of the season …  coming up here. We just got to remember to still stay in shape and stuff.”

Sparks admits the team hasn’t really thought about being undefeated too much.

“Like it hasn’t been like oh we’re undefeated and stuff, which I think is really big, because I think some  teams can get a little cocky and stuff when they get to this point,” said Sparks.

“But I think our team is pretty level headed and so I think it’s actually  helped us a little bit. It’s given us like more of a confidence moving forward.”

The girls resume regular season play tomorrow when they host the second-ranked team in the country in Lakeland College (7-0) at 6 p.m.

“They haven’t lost yet either,” said McMurray.

“We’re going to have our work cut out for us. But I think the girls are up to the challenge and playing them at home will be to our advantage a  little bit, having the home crowd, and so I think the girls are really looking forward to it.”

The Kodiaks will then host the Keyano Huskies (3-3) on Saturday night at 6 p.m. 

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