The Olds College Broncos women's basketball team are Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) national champions.
In the gold medal game on Saturday night (March 16), the Broncos beat the host Cégep de Sainte-Foy Dynamiques 74-69.
The Dynamiques’ Frédérique Larouche opened the scoring after a minute and 30 seconds on a pass from Sabrine Khelifi, but the Broncos took the lead shortly after.
The deafening crowd tried to get Broncos CCAA Player of the Year Brittney Thibeaux off her game during free throws but she kept her focus, consistently hitting her shots. The score was 21-14 for the Broncos at the first quarter’s end.
The second quarter play was closely fought and very offensive, with the Broncos ending the half ahead by a score of 37-29.
The Dynamiques started the second half with strong play, led by Sabrine Khelifi, and cut the Broncos' lead to 41-35.
However, the Broncos stayed calm and Thibeaux scored basket after basket, maintaining the lead.
The Dynamiques continued to hold tough, hitting their free throws and clawing back to within four points with two minutes to play in the third quarter. The frame ended with the Broncos leading 55-51.
The decisive quarter saw the Dynamiques work hard and slowly chip away at the lead, but the Broncos held their ground in the final minute to win the game.
The player of the game for the Broncos was Kristina Bajovic, who scored 14 points. The player of the game for the Dynamiques was Gabrielle Cloutier, with 12 points and three three-pointers.
This story, edited by the Albertan, was provided by CCAA staff.
