The Olds College basketball teams split their double-header against the Briercrest Clippers on Feb. 7.
The Olds College basketball teams split their double-header against the Briercrest Clippers on Feb. 7.
After a slow start in the first quarter, the women came back and cruised to a 71-51 victory.
The men, however, dropped their decision 89-79 in a game that was closer than the score would indicate.
First-year guard Alicia Phillips took home the player of the game award for the Broncos, recording a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Briercrest jumped out to a 20-18 lead after the first quarter, but the Broncos stormed back, outscoring the Clippers 53-31 the rest of the game.
Forward Carmen Deal bullied her way into the paint for Olds, finishing with 14 points, with six coming from the free-throw line.
"She’s the best female basketball player I’ve ever coached and I’ve coached some really good ones," said Olds College head coach Reg Carrick. "When she’s in great shape, she’s going to be scary."
April Freeney was a threat from mid-to-long range all night, with a team-high 17 points on 8 of 14 shooting for the Broncos.
Carrick said tightening up on defence allowed them to slow down the Clippers’ shooting.
"We were giving up too many offensive rebounds and we were giving up too much penetration. They were just penetrating to the basket untouched and kind of unchecked," he said. "We fixed that and their shooting percentage went down as the game went on."
Their male counterparts were unable to overcome their early deficit, though.
The Clippers opened the men’s game on a 12-2 run and led by 11 after the first quarter, which was marked by multiple Broncos turnovers.
Olds cut the lead down to two at halftime and played a close third quarter, thanks to the play of Cody Bouchard and Colton Short.
Bouchard had 26 points and 10 rebounds while Short finished with 20.
Their combined efforts brought Olds within two points in the fourth quarter.
"His game does the talking for him," said Broncos head coach Ben Julius of Short.
"And Cody (Bouchard), we like to call beast mode. He just kind of gets it like (Seattle Seahawks running back) Marshawn Lynch does and flicks a switch and goes hard and he’s a tough player to stop."
However, Briercrest had an answer for every Broncos rally, led by the hot shooting of the Clippers’ James Wohlgeschaffen.
The fifth-year guard drained a long two-pointer that extended the lead to seven before turning and celebrating emphatically at centre court with 1:39 left to play.
Wohlgeschaffen dropped 26 points on 12 of 17 shooting and took the player of the game award on the Briercrest side.
"I think guys, sometimes, we think when we cut it like that, that we’re going to win the game. And we lose focus and we go away from the game plan and it ultimately hurts us," said Julius of the fourth quarter.
"And we lost a couple of guys in (defensive) rotation and defensive transition and they capitalize. That’s what good teams do. They capitalize on your mistakes."
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