Pronghorn women defeat Pandas
The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s basketball team earned their first win of the 2018 calendar year and a nice momentum boost as well.
As they wrap up their last weekend of Canada West regular season play, the Pronghorns downed the Alberta Pandas 72-63 Friday night at the 1st Choice Savings Centre to snap a sixgame losing streak and improve to 11-8.
The win moves the Horns two points ahead of the 10-9 Pandas as the teams get ready for the rematch today at 5 p.m.
“That was a good one, we needed that one for momentum,” said Pronghorns assistant coach Dave Waknuk. “I think that one felt good as program, getting a signature win and that’s what I think it classifies as. The U of A is a great team and they’re coached well. They’re a consistent contender every year, so for us to beat that team tonight took a team effort. I think we got contributions from everybody, which is winning basketball for us. When everybody is playing well, it’s tough to defend and tough to stop.”
Kacie Bosch and Kathryn Hankins led the Pronghorns with 12 points apiece, while Danielle Fritzke had 11 points and Katie Keith added 10.
Bosch also had six assists and Zoe Dahl and Isabel Rattai each grabbed six rebounds.
“We knew coming into this semester we wanted a win and a home win is big for us,” said Waknuk. “We’re trying to build our confidence going into the playoffs. We know we’re going on the road and we’re going to play a good team, whoever it is. We’re just trying to build momentum, so (tonight) is the same thing. If we play some good basketball we can hit the road feeling comfortable.”
“I think they’re pretty excited because it feels good to play this level of basketball again,” added Waknuk. “It’s been a little while to find that. But we know that’s a good team and the coaching staff will have them ready so we’ll have to be better than we were today, but that’s the fun part.”
In the men’s game, the Pronghorns were defeated 9388 by the Golden Bears and are 12-7.
Zac Overwater led the Horns with 24 points and Brett Warren added 19.
Awak Piom and Kyle Peterson had 11 and 10 points, respectively. Piom also had nine rebounds.
After missing all of the second semester with a hamstring injury, leading scorer DeJon Burdeaux was in the lineup, scoring a pair of points. The teams wrap up their weekend tonight at 7 p.m.