Women win a pair, men split opening weekend

It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win.

The Mount Royal Cougars’ women’s basketball team overcame a night of poor shooting to narrowly beat the Medicine Hat College Rattlers 69-68 in the Cougars’ home opener on Friday night.

Guard Emily Larson led the Cougars with 19 points and added four rebounds and four assists, and made a clutch free throw at the end of the game to give the Cougars the one point win.

Collectively, the Cougars shot 38 percent from the field, and were even worse from downtown, going 2-12 on three point attempts. The Cougars also managed to shoot only 45 percent from the free throw line.

Carrie Pickering had a strong game for the Cougars, posting a double-double with 10 points on 5-8 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds.

The Rattlers jumped out to a 10 point lead after the first quarter, but the Cougars clawed their way back into the game, overcoming their shooting woes with some formidable defence and solid rebounding. The Cougars outscored the Rattlers 58-47 over the final three quarters to escape with a one point victory.

Saturday was a new day, and the Mount Royal Cougars were a different team altogether.
Led by Jamie Morck’s 22 point, 10 rebound performance, the Cougars raced out to a 15 point lead in the first quarter and outplayed the Rattlers in every facet of the game as they trounced the hometown team 92-72.

Coach Joe Enevoldson was much happier with his team’s effort on Saturday, crediting strong rebounding and good team defence with the win.

“We came out flying on Saturday and really took it to them,” said Enevoldson. “We rebounded the ball really well and that helped us get second, third and fourth chance opportunities.”

The Cougars will look to continue their winning ways next weekend, when they face the Lethbridge College Kodiaks on October 29th.

Cougar Men

The Cougars’ men’s basketball team opened their season on Friday night against the Medicine Hat Rattlers, with a familiar face leading the charge.

All-conference guard Cam Dodd dropped 24 points in just 25 minutes of action, and added seven rebounds and eight assists as the Cougars beat the Rattlers 94-81 to kick off the 2010-11 season.

The Cougars have high expectations as they attempt to return to the level that took them to ACAC and CCAA supremacy in 2008-09.

Dodd shot 9-16 from the field, including three of four from behind the arc. Dodd ran the offense smoothly and efficiently from the opening tip as the Cougars outscored the Rattlers 25-15 in the first quarter. The Rattlers played the Cougars evenly throughout the rest of the game, but could not cut into the deficit.

Steve Trinidad added 17 points for the Cougars, while Nick Loewen and Will Tallman each added 12.

The Cougars shot 52 percent from the floor and a blistering 45 percent from downtown, but managed to shoot only 59 percent from the charity stripe, keeping the game closer than perhaps it should have been.

On Saturday, the Cougars faced a much tougher test as they visited the Rattlers in the second game of the home-and-home series.

The Cougars were without Nick Loewen Saturday night after he sustained an injury in the final minutes of Friday’s game.

It was a tightly contested battle for the full 40 minutes, and the two teams were tied after regulation and headed into overtime.

The Cougars fell short in the extra frame, losing 91-82 to move to 1-1 on the season.

Both teams will be back in action this coming Friday, Oct.29 when they take on the Lethbridge College Kodiaks, before heading back to the ‘bridge on Saturday for the re-match.

Game time is set for 6:00 p.m. for the women and 8:00 p.m. for the men at MRU’s Kenyon Court.