Horns tame the Cougars
The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women's basketball team needed to find their tempo.
Once they did, the results were downright toe-tapping following an 8961 win over the Mount Royal University Cougars in Canada West play Saturday at the 1st Choice Savings Centre.
Nursing a 39-36 lead at halftime, the Pronghorns took control of the pace and ultimately the scoresheet on their way to the win that gives them a key weekend sweep and improves them to 7-7 with two weekends of home basketball ahead.
“I think when you play up-tempo teams like Mount Royal they control the flow,” said Pronghorns interim head coach Dave Waknuk. “They made it fast and furious and it was a very aggressive style. We had to go back and control pieces on the floor and I thought we had better leaders that needed a chance to show off their basketball IQ and we can do that with a half-court tempo. I think we found it and we were able to get extra passes. I thought we moved the ball really well and made a lot of smart decisions on offence all because we controlled the pace of the ball.”
Five Pronghorns hit double digits, led by Danielle Fritzke’s 18-point night, followed by 15-point efforts from Katie Keith and Asnate Fomina.
Kacie Bosch put up 13 points for Lethbridge and Logan Moncks added 10.
“It was nice to get the win again,” said Moncks, whose team lost a pair to the USPORTS sixth-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies last weekend in Saskatoon. “Having our losses against the University of Calgary and the University of Saskatchewan, it was nice to get back on the winning side and hopefully carry it over the next two weekends that we’re home.”
The 2-0 weekend puts the Pronghorns in 10th in the Canada West, two up on the Manitoba Bisons and the Winnipeg Wesmen, who the Horns have two games in hand on.
What’s better, the Horns next four games are in the familiar confines of the 1st Choice Savings Centre.
First up is the 8-6 Victoria Vikes this Friday and Saturday followed by the Trinity Western Spartans Jan. 25-26.
“It’s huge for us,” said Waknuk.
“We obviously had a big opponent in Saskatoon last weekend and to come back and get the wins we need to get to 7-7 going into three important weekends, we’re finally back at home and we have four in a row. So for us to get one here and take care of business in both games is huge. But we’re always kind of looking to next week. So we’ll enjoy this one, but we have a tough opponent coming in here in a couple of days.”
On the men’s side, the Pronghorns settled for a weekend split after a close 104-103 loss to the Cougars Saturday night. The Pronghorns led 103-99 with 18 seconds to play, but the Cougars struck for a basket on an inbound play to pull within two and draw a foul in the process.
Lethbridge’s Brett Warren missed both free throws, leading to some dying seconds heroics from Mount Royal’s Glen Yang, who sank a three-pointer with 2.3 seconds to go.
The Horns were unable to score on the ensuing possession to take the loss that puts them at 7-7 on the season and in a four-way tie for seventh in the Canada West.
Kyle Peterson had 24 points for the Pronghorns and Colton Gibb had 20. Peterson also had four steals.
All of the Horns starters hit double digits as Mike Pierzchala scored 19, Eric Pierce chipped in with 15 and Zac Overwater had 11.
Warren had eight rebounds.
On the ice, the Pronghorns women’s team scored a 2-0 weekend.
The Horns edged the Calgary Dinos 2-1 Saturday night in Calgary to follow up an entertaining 4-3 double overtime win to improve to 7-11-1-1 this season.
On Saturday, Eryn Johanson scored 9:05 into the opening period for her first Canada West goal and Ashley McCabe netted what stood up as the game-winner midway through the second period.
At the other end, Alicia Anderson stopped 27 of 28 shots to backstop the undefeated weekend.
With the wins, the Pronghorns pull to within two points of the Mount Royal Cougars for sixth place in the Canada West.
The Pronghorns men were held goalless on the weekend after a 5-0 losses to the Dinos Saturday and are now 7-11-20 and remain in sixth in the Canada West.
The Horns men return to Nicholas Sheran Arena this weekend when they host the Canada West-leading Saskatchewan Huskies Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. both nights.
The women’s team head to Saskatoon Friday and Saturday to face the Huskies.
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