Two more to the win column

COUGAR WOMEN

January 20, 2012 - The Cougar women’s basketball team ran their record to 10-2 on the season Friday night, with a 71-59 win over the Briercrest Clippers.

All-star guard Emily Larson led the team in scoring, dropping a season high 27 points on 9-18 shooting, including 5-9 from three point range, as the Cougars extended their home record to 5-1.

Katie Pearson and Danica Rybachuk each had ten points for MRU, while Brooke Olmstead was the high scorer for the Clippers, contributing 12 points and 10 rebounds in a losing cause.

The Cougars dominated in nearly every facet of the game, their only blemish coming on the glass, where they were out rebounded 49-32.

Cougars head coach Joe Enevoldson says it’s an area of the game the team is always looking to improve on.

“I give Briercrest a lot of credit,” said Enevoldson. “They played hard, and he’s [Clippers head coach Shane Sowden] got some talented athletes up front. They did a good job on the glass, but we need to be better from our end. Team rebounding is exactly that - rebounding as a team. It’s everybody getting on the glass by committee. We want to be a transition basketball team and that means securing rebounds on the defensive end.”

The Cougars gained momentum throughout the first-half, taking a 24-19 lead in the opening quarter and extending their lead to 11 points by half.

The third quarter was a defensive battle, as both teams struggled to fill the net, with just 20 total points scored in the third. Emily Larson was the quarter’s lone bright spot providing nearly half the quarter’s offense, as she nailed a pair of three pointers and a two point field goal to tie the Clippers in scoring with eight points apiece in the frame.

Despite being outscored by three points in the fourth (16-19) the Cougars would prove to be too much for the visiting Clippers on this night – looking like the best team in the ACAC’s south division, downing the Clip’ 71-59.

Annalise Posein had two points and six rebounds in her home debut, after joining the team in January – transferring over from the SAIT Trojans, where she spent the past three seasons.

The Cougars and Clippers will be back on the hard court on Saturday, January 21 and Enevoldson says he expects the team to come out hard in the matinee affair.

“We plan on coming out strong and playing harder tomorrow. That’s the character and that’s the resolve of our athletes.”

Tipoff is at 1 p.m. on MRU’s Kenyon Court.

Cougar Men

The Cougars men’s basketball team demolished the Briercrest Clippers on Friday night 99-58, tying their largest winning margin of the season at 41 points.

The Cougars beat the King’s University College Eagles (97-56), just one week ago, by that same margin, and matched that feat yet again, grabbing their seventh win in their past eight games.

The rout was on nearly from the get go, as the Cougars jumped out to an eight point lead (20-12) in the first quarter, and had built up a 25 point lead by half-time (51-26).

The Cougars played suffocating defense throughout the evening, limiting the Clippers to just 35 percent shooting from the field, while connecting on 46 percent of their own attempts.

Mount Royal also effectively shut down the Clippers long range shooting, as Briercrest settled for a number of shots well outside the arc, connecting on just 5 of 21 attempts.

Ball control was a major theme on the night, as the Cougars took care of the rock like nobody’s business, turning the ball over just five times in 40 minutes of play, while forcing their opposition into 24 turnovers.

Head coach Marc Dobell said he was pleased with how his team kept in the game throughout the night.

“I thought we did a pretty good job of staying focused and working on what we do,” said Dobell.

“We didn’t get a lot of resistance tonight so it can be tough to keep the guys motivated, but I thought we did a good job staying in there and really valuing ball possession. I was certainly happy with the limited number of turnovers.”

Fourth-year guard Kyle Neman led the team in scoring with 20 points on 8-11 shooting, while fifth-year Steve Trinidad lit it up with 19 points including 3 of 4 from three-point range in his return to Kenyon Court.

“It feels good to be back out there,” said Trinidad. “I definitely have some more work to do on my conditioning and defense. But my main goal is to come back here and win a championship, that’s what I’m motivated to do and that’s what we play for.”

Dobell says having Trinidad back in the lineup opens up a lot of possibilities for the Cougars.

“He can score so easily, that it opens up the floor a lot for us,” said Dobell. “The difficulty is finding minutes for everybody right now - we’ve got some great depth on our team, and Steve warrants some good minutes, so it’s trying to find a balance.”

The win improves the Cougar men to 10-2 on the year, and they’ll look to secure their eleventh win tomorrow afternoon, when the Clippers and Cougars meet up for round two of their double-header at 3 p.m. on Kenyon Court.