Men win two, women go 1-1

Cougar Women
The Cougar women’s basketball team continues to battle with consistency issues, finishing their two game road trip with a win and a loss.

Friday, the Cougars visited the MacEwan Griffins, and were subsequently beaten 77-58. This was the first game in which the Cougars allowed their opposition to score over 70 points, as their defence simply wasn’t up to par on this night.

Nikki Golding led the Cougars with 17 points, while forward Jamie Morck had 10 points and nine rebounds.

The Cougars managed only 32 percent shooting for the game, while their opponents shot 44 percent.

The Cougars certainly didn’t play like the team that started the season 5-0, and with their second consecutive loss, moved to 5-2 on the season.

The Cougars showed their resiliency on Saturday as they travelled to Keyano College to visit the Huskies for game two of the Cougars’ road trip. They bounced back from back-to-back losses to thump the Huskies 81-62, ending their road trip on a high note.

In their previous two losses, the Cougars couldn’t shoot better than 35 percent from the floor. On Saturday, they reversed the trend, shooting a scorching 61 percent from the field, including 45 percent from long range.

Celeste Clarke led the way for the blue and white, dropping 16 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Jamie Morck had another strong game, with 13 points and eight rebounds, while also contributing to the passing game with three assists. Carrie Campbell added 13 for the Cougars, who gave a much better effort on Saturday, at least offensively.

The Huskies led by 2 after the first quarter, but the Cougars would take over in the second quarter and led by 3 at the half.

Despite allowing their opponents to shoot nearly 48 percent from the field, the Cougars outscored the Huskies by 16 points in the second half to seal the win, and move to 6-2 on the season, good for second in the south conference.

The Cougar women will be back in action next Friday as they pay a visit to Red Deer College, before returning home to Kenyon Court to take on the Red Deer Queens in the second game of their home-and-home series. Tip-off on Saturday will be at 6 p.m.

Cougar Men
Now that’s the type of weekend the Cougar men’s basketball team was looking for.
The Cougars took off Friday on a two-game road trip, paying a visit to MacEwan University to take on the Griffins on Friday, before heading up to Keyano College to take on the Huskies.

The Cougars played strong defence on Friday night, and Jared Cornish had his best game of the season, leading the Cougars with 19 points as they beat the Griffins 81-63 for their second consecutive win.

Cornish didn’t miss much, going 8-of-11 from the field, and the Cougars got the start they wanted to their first of back-to-back games away from home.

Steve Trinidad added 14 points, Cam Dodd had 13 points and Awet Abraha added 11 as the Cougars had four players in double figures.

The Griffins shot just 32 percent from the field, and couldn’t find their rhythm as they were smothered and pressured constantly by the Cougars.

The Cougars finally registered their first two-win weekend of the season as they followed up their efforts on Friday against the Griffins with an absolute rout of the home team Keyano Huskies. The Cougars won 86-54 on Saturday, and achieved a feat they might never come close to reaching again, holding the opposing team scoreless for the entire second quarter, while dropping 21 points on the helpless Huskies.

Olawafemi Ogun had his best game of the year, leading the Cougars with 14 points in less than nine minutes of playing time. The Cougars had six players in double figures on this night, as Will Tallman, Awet Abraha and Jared Cornish each had 12 points, while Cam Dodd and Steve Trinidad each added 10 points.

After leading by just four points heading into the second quarter, the Cougars put on a defensive masterpiece as they stymied any efforts by the Huskies to put the ball in the net, finishing the quarter on a 21-0 run, leaving the home team embarrassed and frustrated.

The Cougars would cruise to the win as the starters got some well-deserved rest.

The Cougars will be in action next Friday as they head to Red Deer to take on the Kings. Then the Cougar men will be back on Kenyon Court as they welcome the visiting Kings in the second game of the home-and-home. Tip-off will be at 8 p.m.