Rattlers top Lions
Rattlers rebound from loss to Lethbridge with backto-back wins over Lions
The Medicine Hat Rattlers men’s basketball team shook off last week’s tough overtime loss to the Lethbridge Kodiaks with back-to-back victories over the Ambrose Lions this weekend.
The Rattlers followed up Friday’s 108-98 win at Ambrose College with a 77-65 victory on Saturday at the Snake Pit to push themselves to 3-1 on the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference season.
“It was a good comeback after last week’s odd heartbreaker with Lethbridge, that was a game we felt was ours the whole way, we just kind of had a sloppy turnout at the end,” said Rattlers guard Collin Ralko. “It was good to bounce back after that.”
Jon Sappleton led the Rattlers with a game-high 21 points, while fellow guards Aaron Cameron and Ralko added 20 and 10 points, respectively, to lead the Rattlers to back-to-back wins. Sappleton added 15 rebounds for the double-double, while forward Osato Obaseki had a game-high 16 boards.
“We tried to focus a little bit more on our offensive execution down the stretch. We had quite a few 20-to-25point leads, but we didn’t get those last one or two punches to knock them out,” said Ralko. “Defensively we had them to what our goal was, under 65.”
Lions guard Josh Daniel led his team with 20 points on the night while forward Brayden Daniel added 13 rebounds in the loss, dropping Ambrose to 1-2.
While the Lions kept things close at the half, trailing by just two, the Rattlers responded by limiting Ambrose to just 13 points in the third while stretching the lead to nine.
“We discussed that we had to rebound the basketball, they got second chance opportunities and that led to three-point shots so we just tried to contain the boards and I think we did a great job in the second half of doing that,” said Sappleton. “We understand that it’s a process so we’re just sticking to that right now.”
Women stay undefeated
The Rattlers women’s basketball team kept their undefeated start to the ACAC alive with a commanding 86-49 victory over the Ambrose Lions on Saturday at the Snake Pit.
Forward Kennedy Werre led the Rattlers with 18 points and 10 rebounds on the night, while Kendell Kuntz and Morgan Muir both put up 16 points to help send the Lions home empty handed and secure a 4-0 start to the year.
Mackenzie Lightburn led the Lions with nine points on the night, while Catarina Dimonekene added a team-high seven rebounds.
The Rattlers return to the Snake Pit to host the Olds Broncos (0-1) Friday.
Men’s volleyball squad tops Lions
Vitor Pereira led the Rattlers men’s volleyball team to a four-set victory (19-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-18) over the Ambrose Lions on Saturday in Calgary.
The Rattlers outside hitter connected for a game-high 12 kills while Kreggan Scharnatta dug out nine on defence to help guide Medicine Hat back from a first-set loss to a 5-1 record on the ACAC season.
Setter Avery Triggs had 33 assists for Medicine Hat in the victory.
Medicine Hat managed to limit top Lions hitter Keaton Strom to 11 kills on the night, while setter Jacob Reid had five digs and 21 assists. The loss drops Ambrose to 0-4.
Lions defeat women
The Rattlers women’s volleyball team fell back into the loss column with a 3-1 setback (26-24, 18-25, 25-22, 2519) at Ambrose College on Saturday.
Outside hitter Amber Stigter led the Rattlers with 19 kills on the night and Kennedy Lewis added 17, but it wasn’t enough to secure another victory after taking their first from the Lions on Friday.
Lewis added a team-high four digs in the loss, dropping Medicine Hat to 1-5 on the ACAC season. Ambrose’ Madison Williscroft sent a game-high 20 kills to the floor, while Jeena Johner added 16 and Ali Leskow had four digs to push the Lions to 2-2 on the year. The Rattlers return to the court at the Snake Pit Saturday to host the Red Deer College Kings and Queens.