By Lethbridge Herald on November 29, 2024.
By Justin Seward
Lethbridge Herald
Both of the Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks basketball teams ended their first semesters on high notes with wins over the Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder on home court on Friday afternoon.
The Kodiak women’s team began with a 73-66 win over the Thunder.
“Well, they gutted it out,” said Ken McMurray, Kodiak women’s head coach.
“We turned it over 32 times and we gave up the lead with about four minutes to go there. But the girls gutted it out and hit some big shots down the stretch.”
McMurray thought the team’s defence was outstanding in the last four minutes.
“We turned them over a few times, and got some run outs and some easier baskets,” said McMurray.
“Usually you can always look back at a game and look at how your defence was (in) the last five minutes in the crunch time, and I thought our defence there was pretty solid.”
Courtney Deemter led the way for the Kodiaks with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
“We had a good fight I feel like,” said Deemter.
“(In) every quarter we just had to keep pushing because we weren’t playing our best game … So it was important that we just kept pushing and everyone stayed intense and intentional with our plays.”
The women sit with a record of 5-4 at the break.
As for the Kodiak men’s team, they defeated the Thunder 76-66 later in the afternoon to push their record to 5-4 at the break.
“Some of the keys were when Concordia put a zone on us midway through the second, we went a long time before we could get some shots to fall,” said Ryan Heggie, Kodiak men’s head coach.
“We kind of broke but we didn’t bend. (Ryan) Degner finally hit a big shot for us and we were only down four at half time. So we had a long cold streak and we’re still in the game. So that shows you that we’re still competing on the defensive side of the ball and we’re not hanging our heads.”
Heggie was happy with their defensive effort.
“Our defensive side with only giving up 66 points is really good,” said Heggie.
“It shows the guys are competing, they’re buying into getting stops and we mixed it up with a little bit of zone, … some man to man and some full court pressure.”
Degner led the way for the Kodiaks with 18 points and tied for seven rebounds with Coleson Lake.
Treydon Barton chipped in with 17 points too for Lethbridge.
Both teams are off now until their next action on Jan. 10.
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