Pronghorns women rally for the win
It was a tale of two teams for the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s basketball team.
Fortunately, the ending wound up the same as it’s been all year as the Pronghorns rallied to defeat the Mount Royal University Cougars 75-61 during Canada West play Saturday night in Calgary.
The win keeps the Horns undefeated at 6-0, but that appeared to be in jeopardy in the first half as the Cougars carried a 40-26 lead at halftime.
But led by Danielle Fritzke coming off the bench and continuing to hit from threepoint range — going 5-for-8 from beyond the arc for a 15point night — the Pronghorns more than doubled the Cougars in the third and fourth quarters to win by 14.
“A 28-point swing is what it was,” said Pronghorns assistant coach Dave Waknuk. “We were down 14 at the half and we ended up winning by 14. It was a tale of two basketball games. We were a completely different team in the second half.
“We had a really poor offensive half and a really poor defensive half, too. We gave up 40 points to Mount Royal and they scored 56 against us on Thursday and we gave up 40 in the first half.”
Chipping away at the deficit in the second half, the Pronghorns went to the bench.
“(We) started going with shorter shifts, got everybody involved and I think our depth really helped us,” said Waknuk. “It opened up the gap and got people going. Obviously, Danielle going 5-for-8 from the three-point line was a huge help. She’s been shooting so well, so for her to do that really changes the game for us.”
Zoe Dahl and Jessica Zarowny also hit double digits for Lethbridge with 10 points.
Katie Keith grabbed 10 rebounds in the win.
The win puts the Horns atop the Canada West standings and keeps them among three undefeated team alongside Regina Cougars and Saskatoon Huskies, both 4-0
“We said that in this league everybody is good and once you start winning games you start to put more of a target on your back and we haven’t had that in this program for a while,” said Waknuk. “So for us to be undefeated, teams want to come in and give us their best effort. So I think this is a continuation of us maturing and learning to win. We can watch the two halves and say ‘Hey, when we play good basketball, it looks like this. And when we play below what our usual expectation is, this is the result.’ It was a good test us, a good gutsy and gritty win. It’s a testament to everyone on the team.
“I think it’s great for us to have a run like this to learn how to handle expectations and handle being a marked team,” said Waknuk. “I think this is something you have to grow into and we’re definitely taking steps and maturing every time we play.”
In men’s action Saturday, the Pronghorns won 91-76 to also improve to 6-0 on the season.
See Monday’s Herald for the wrapup.