Kodiaks clinch playoff berth
The Kodiaks closed the gap to three and, like Friday night went for some dying second three-pointers.
But the attempts missed as the team settled for the split as the Kodiaks round out the regular season next weekend in Olds against the Broncos.
“They’re a good team,” said Kodiaks leading scorer Juhee Anderson, whose team outscored the Clippers 22-8 in the fourth quarter.
“I felt like we didn’t come out to play in the first thee quarters, we kind of just stuck with them and that’s kind of us, we play to the level of another team. But in the fourth quarter we really toughened up and got down to business and that’s what won us our game (Friday). Today we just started a little too late and couldn’t pull it off.”
Anderson led Lethbridge Saturday afternoon with 22 points. Madi Gladstone and Jocelyn Neilson each had nine. Neilson also had four steals and Anderson had three.
On Friday, the Kodiaks trailed by 12 with a little over three minutes to go before a late 19-4 run eked out the win that also secured their spot in provincials.
“We waited until the last minute, but we got it done,” said Dotts.
“We talked about we didn’t want to have it come down to today. We wanted to go get it yesterday and be done with it and be in playoffs and get to where we’ve worked and then look at what the next check mark is and the goal we’re going after, getting ourselves a good seed going into playoffs.”
Anderson led the charge with a 30-point night and Shayna Mathison added 11.
Neilson pulled down nine rebounds in the win.
After starting the second semester with three straight losses, the Kodiaks proceeded to rattle off seven wins in a row to put them in a neck-andneck race with the Calgary St. Mary’s Lightning, the last team to beat them on Jan. 11.
“These Friday and Saturday afternoon games are tough,” said Heggie. “It took us a little while to get going today. I challenged the starters at halftime to be better and try to get control of the game more.
We were up by 19, but my starters weren’t the reason we were up 19. It was the depth that came in and did their job. So that was good.”
On Friday, Anderson topped the 30-point mark with 32. Porter Jr. hit for 18. Clemons had 12 points and 12 assists.
“I thought the performances both nights were solid,” said Heggie. “We had a good week
of practice. Our backs are against the wall, so we’re really at cliché time. One game at a time. All we can do is play the next game and see what happens when it’s all done. We need to win out and we need some help from somebody. If we get it, great. If we don’t, we’ll just keep playing hard. There’s a thing called the Basketball Gods and maybe
they’ll shine on us.”
It was a much-needed fourpoint weekend, said Clemons.
“We knew we were a better team, but just going out there and showing it and taking care of what we can take care of and hopefully things play out the way we want them to we can slide in.”
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