Jylissa Williams led the Olds College women's Broncos varsity basketball team to a big 90-82 win on Friday night over the Medicine Hat College Rattlers in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference action at the Ralph Klein Centre. Williams scored a game high 36 points and pulled down 19 rebounds in helping secure the victory.
The Broncos got off to a slow start, missing many shots and getting down 16-6 in the first quarter, before cutting the Rattlers' lead to 22-18 at the end of 10 minutes. The play evened out a bit more in the second, with the Broncos trailing by six, 45-39.
In the third, the Broncos' transition game began taking over, with the Broncos taking missed Rattlers' shots and quickly turning up the floor for points. The Broncos grabbed a 64-61 lead after three quarters. Williams said the team talked at halftime about the effort put in during the week's practices and how everyone needed to give a little extra in the second half.
“We had a long talk in the locker room like we practised too hard this week, everybody committed to the system and we … had to come out in the second half ready to play, and that's what we did,” she said.
Williams said everyone on the team is starting to focus more on what they have to do to make the team successful, and the next three games to end the first half of the season will be key to heading into the second half with confidence.
“That's a priority (to make a statement) because we've lost some games we weren't supposed to lose early this year,” she said.
Co-coach Reg Carrick said Williams had a breakout game Friday, the first big game since during the pre-season. He said her performance solidified her as one of the top players in the league and a force to be reckoned with.
“I think the rest of the league should be on notice that this kid is a threat defensively, offensively,” he said.
Carrick said the team has identified the first quarter in games as an issue, and have worked on that in practice, but a lack of experience has hampered the Broncos this season in the opening 10 minutes.
“We put up the season box score at practice the other day, and the first quarter is the only quarter that we get outscored. We've identified it as an issue and … it's something we still need to work on and it's because we're so young. As soon as … something in the game happens for us, then (the players) are into it, and it's just how long does that take from the jump ball,” he said.
Carrick said with more time, he believes the players will become more confident, and that will manifest itself during games.
“We (as coaches) know that they can do it, it always takes some time for them to figure out that they can do it,” he said.
In the rematch with the Rattlers on Saturday, the Broncos lost 86-81. The women now have a 4-5 record on the season.
Meanwhile, the men lost both games to the Rattlers; 71-64 on Friday and 76-65 on Saturday. They have a 3-6 season record.
