The Olds College women's Broncos varsity basketball team continued to show their dominance on the hardcourt last week with two victories, giving them a perfect 9-0 record to lead Pool A of the Alberta Colleges Athletic League standings.
On Saturday, the Broncos dumped the junior varsity Broncos 86-54 in a game that saw the second team stay within five points at the half, 29-24. In the second half, extremely tight defence and excellent shooting allowed the first team to open up a 14 point lead at the end of the third quarter, before pulling away in the fourth.
Broncos varsity coach Jen Donofrio said despite the victory, she was encouraged by the challenge the junior squad put up.
“We're one program and together we want to … be one and two in this league. That team, they battled the entire game. They played tough defence. They're strong inside. I thought (Saturday), this was our most important game,” she said.
Zorica Djordjevic was the first team's top scorer with 27 points while Rebecca Schweighardt led the JV squad with 13 points.
Donofrio said a quick change from a zone defence early in the game to a player-to-player defence worked well, shutting down the junior varsity squad's inside game.
On Wednesday, the Broncos came out with a 74-49 victory against the Prairie Bible Institute Pilots. Zorica Djordjevic led the way for the Broncos with 19 points, including 12 from beyond the arc. MacKenzie Srochenski-Fyfe added 14 points in the victory.
While the Broncos led 16-15 after 10 minutes of play, the margin opened up to 16 at the half. A 16-5 third quarter for the Broncos sealed the victory.
Donofrio said PBI has a relatively inexperienced team and the Broncos were able to exploit that later in the game.
“They battled us the whole game but I think our depth took over in that game,” she said.
Donofrio said for the next matchup with the JV squad on Saturday, the team wants to play with more intensity from the opening tipoff and sustain that throughout the entire game, in order to maintain its first-place standing.
Meanwhile, while the JV squad lost to their varsity counterparts on Saturday, they beat the Abrose University College Lions 59-35 on Friday.
The JV Broncos have a 5-3 record in Pool A of the standings.
The JV men won 71-41 against the Great Plains Sundogs Saturday, placing them third in Pool B with a 3-3 record.
"We're one program and together we want to ... be one and two in this league. That team, they battled the entire game. They played tough defence. They're strong inside. I thought (Saturday), this was our most important game."Jen Donofrio, coach, Olds College women's varsity basketball team
