A small but mighty squad of Olds College basketball players are working hard to secure a spot for their team at the Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference playoffs.
The Olds Broncos women's basketball team had a rough start to the season. With new coaches and only one player returning from a previous season, they kicked off this season with a small losing streak.
Going into their latest action, the Broncos were riding a six-game winning streak. That streak was snapped on Friday when the Medicine Hat College Rattlers stung them 96-70. However, the Broncos rebounded, so to speak, by beating the Rattlers 74-71 on Saturday.
A usual roster would feature 12 to 14 players. The women Broncos have eight.
"We run them to death every night," head coach Avery Harrison said.
"The team has such a great work ethic," he said. This is Harrison's first season with the Broncos, lured from Calgary to Olds by his family connections.
With him came associate head coach Peter Sambu, whom Harrison coached in college. They've known each other for three decades, and Sambu called it a "no-brainer" to come when Harrison asked him to join the team in Olds.
"It's a blessing for me to be able to work with such a good person and such a good coach," Sambu said.
Harrison and Sambu said the team had a rough introduction to the season.
"We had a young team," Sambu said. "It gave us a learning curve the first three games … it was a real wake-up call for our team."
The coaches sat back and considered their tactics and adjusted their approach, going back to the fundamentals with the team.
A few months later, and the coaches' approach and the players' hard work is paying off, despite hitting the court with a smaller roster than most teams usually have.
"Ever since then they've just found their groove and they've been playing really well together," Sambu said.
"We went from struggling offensively to leading the league in scoring," Harrison said.
Sambu said the team members have individual training every day, plus daily practice. Both coaches highlighted the players' excellent physical conditioning, saying it contributes to the team's successes.
With such a tough prep routine, sometimes having to play the whole 40 minutes on the court for game night can seem comparatively easy.
"They'll go ‘Wow, that is easier than practice,'" Harrison said.
The small but dedicated squad includes players like forwards Brittney Thibeaux and Michaela Allen-Gullion.
Thibeaux, who is leading the conference and country in points per game, averaging 25.1, was recruited to play for Olds by Sambu through a U.S. coaching connection. She's from Illinois.
"I'm proud of how far we've come," said Thibeaux. But she's humble about her own achievements.
"I feel like I could do better," said the player whose coaches speculate she could be the conference's MVP.
"She's been just phenomenal, she could be the best player in the conference if not the country," Harrison said.
Thibeaux provided more evidence of her talent during the Rattlers game on Saturday.
She played the whole 40 minutes and went 18/27 from the floor, scoring a season-high 45 points plus 10 rebounds.
Thibeaux was full of positivity about her time with the Broncos so far.
"I love being on this team," she said. "This team is very resilient."
The hard work and the small roster has seen the teammates grow close.
"We're like a family right now," said Thibeaux. She noted during the interview that two players were out with injuries, so the team only had six healthy bodies to play a game that requires five players on the court at a time.
She's looking forward to the rest of the season, and feels like her team is a bit of an underdog right now.
"We're going to continue to work hard and believe in ourselves," she said. "I feel like we're not at our full potential yet, and that should be a scary sight."
Albertan Allen-Gullion said she and her teammates take the game and their training very seriously, and approach each game in a confident manner.
"We're very serious, and we know what we want," she said. The team's been netting a minimum of 75 points a game recently.
Like Thibeaux, she said the team has really bonded and works well together.
"It's amazing how we've all come together," she said. "We're really a team."
Allen-Gullion noted the dedication they all have to the physical conditioning the coaches are looking for.
"We'll get into the gym at least twice a day," she said. She said the training camp they underwent might be the hardest she's had to work physically ever, even with a background in both basketball and dance. But it's worth it, she said, and her eyes are on the potential for the rest of the season.
"I'm just super excited," she said.
"She's having a career season," said Harrison, who previously coached Gullion-Allen at St. Mary's University, and praised her growth as a player.
The coaches are preparing for the rest of the season. Harrison said the goal is to make the playoffs.
‘We're going to keep working on our conditioning for sure," Harrison said.
Sambu is full of enthusiasm for the players and their dedication.
"These girls have been tremendous," he said. "This is my 21st year of coaching and this might be one of my favourite groups to work with."
With several more games to go before playoffs start in March, Harrison encouraged people to come out and watch a game or two.
"We're a very entertaining team to watch," he said.
"We run them to death every night."
AVERY HARRISON
HEAD COACH
