Basketball both win and lose

Cougar Women:
The Cougar women’s basketball team had a tough weekend offensively, grinding out a 59-47 win against the NAIT Ooks, before falling the following night to GPRC Wolves 68-56 for their first loss of the season.

The Cougars began their two-game home stand on Friday night against the Ooks, and were able to overcome mediocre shooting from the field to win a low-scoring, defensive battle against their Edmonton-based rivals.

Jamie Morck led the Cougars with 18 points to go along with 13 rebounds, and Celeste Clarke added 15 points and five rebounds. Clarke and Morck dropped seven more points than the rest of the Cougar team combined.

The Cougars shot a pedestrian 34 percent from the field, but it was good enough as they held their opponents to just 30 percent shooting. The Ooks were able to stay within striking distance by relying on their three-point shooting, shooting a blistering 45 percent from behind the arc. Dale-Marie Cumberbatch torched the Cougars for 25 points, accounting for over half of the Ooks’ points on this night.

Though the team showed areas for improvement, the Cougars were happy with the win, extending their season high winning streak to five games.

The Cougars faced off against the Grand Prairie Regional College Wolves on Saturday, and this time their offensive woes would prove to be their downfall. Prior to this weekend, the Cougars’ lowest scoring effort had been 67 points.

Celeste Clarke was the lone bright spot for the Cougs’ on Saturday, finishing with a game-high 21 points on 8 of 21 shooting, including 5 of 12 from downtown. Jamie Morck was the second leading scorer for the Cougars, notching 9 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

The Cougars struggled from the field for the second straight night, managing to hit only 32 percent of their shots, while the Wolves had a solid shooting night, shooting 45 percent from the floor. Andria Carlyon led the Wolves with 20 points and 14 rebounds.

The Cougars are 5-1 on the season, and will look to bounce back next weekend as they begin a two-game road trip Friday against the MacEwan Griffins. On Saturday the Cougars will visit the Keyano College Huskies.

Cougar Men:
After a subpar effort resulted in a 21 point loss to the NAIT Ooks, the Cougar men’s basketball team needed to respond.

And respond they did.

The Ooks beat the Cougars 93-72 Friday night on the Cougars’ home court, and the Cougars must have taken it personally, because on Saturday the Cougar men came out and played hard-nosed, inspired basketball to beat the GRPC Wolves 110-83.

Friday night was the first of a two-game home stand for the Cougars, who were coming off a bye week and looking to get back on track after losing their last game to the Lethbridge College Kodiaks.

The Cougars played well in the first half and were only down three points going into the break. That’s as close as the Cougars would get, as they were outscored 50-32 in the final two quarters.

The Ooks shot the ball extremely well Friday, shooting 55 percent from the field. The real story, however, was the three-point shooting exhibition put on by the visitors. They were absolutely lights out from behind the arc, making 11 of 18 shots from downtown and putting the game all but out of reach after the third quarter.

Steve Trinidad led all scorers with 27 points, but got little help from his teammates on this night.

Jared Cornish added 11 points for the Cougars as they fell to 2-3 on the season.

 The Cougars were determined not to get shown up two nights in a row on their home floor and came out hungry as they dominated the Wolves in the first quarter, scoring 28 points to the Wolves’ 6 on the way to a 27 point win.

Steve Trinidad led the Cougars with 29 points on 12 of 19 shooting, and was one of four Cougars to score in double digits as the home team put together a complete team effort to rout the visiting Wolves.

Dave Ferdinand had 13 points, Ogun Olawafemi added 12 points, and Will Tallman finished with 10 points for the Cougars. Kyle Wilson came one point shy of a double double, finishing with 9 points and 10 rebounds.

The Cougars had their highest scoring quarter of the season as they dropped 34 points in the third frame, and with the win the Cougars move back to .500 on the season at 3-3.

The Cougars will begin a two-game road trip this Friday as they visit the MacEwan Griffins before travelling to Keyano College to take on the Huskies on Saturday.