A win was not in the cards this time around for Ponoka Secondary Campus’ senior Broncs basketball squads.
The boys and girls played the HJ Cody Lakers Dec. 19 to a supportive crowd, however, both teams couldn’t gain a foothold for a win.
First up was the senior girls who had a tough first half putting them in a relatively large deficit coming into the second half.
Despite that imbalance the Broncs girls had a stronger showing in the second half by creating openings in the Lakers’ defence. That was accomplished through consecutive passing to find the spot to score.
Coach Cam Horan said the first half was a struggle, partly due to nerves with the Broncs playing their first home game of the season. “The second half was so much better. Much more controlled with turnovers.”
This control helped the team play a better game of basketball in the second half, said Horan.
Being a young team with one Grade 12 player meant the Broncs played with a little more emotion than with control.
The Broncs struggled to find openings in the Lakers’ key so the team had to come up with some creative plays to find the lane. Some of that was found by drawing the foul then creating scoring opportunities.
Where the Lakers showed strength was in a few taller players who found spots to score in the 2-point area and when they shot, the basketball found its mark.
The girls lost 75-40 but at one point were down by more than half the score before clawing their way back up a few.
Next up for the Broncs is the Christmas break where the team will be able to practice and hone their skills before playing a four home game stretch after the New Year.
“Lots of basketball to see in the next little bit,” said Horan, offering that the Christmas break is traditionally a time for turnaround for the Broncs.
Senior boys
For the Broncs boys, a taller Lakers team and somewhat more experienced group kept the home team from gaining points momentum.
The first half of the game went well with the Broncs keeping the Lakers to an 11-point deficit.
“The first half we were playing really hard and rebounding well,” explained coach Scott Brown.
It was during the third quarter that the Broncs appeared able to keep up with the Lakers, even forcing some turnovers. Capitalizing on points was a challenge though as the Broncs players, while able to find some openings, not all shots found their mark.
Brown said one of the biggest struggles was keeping up with the other team. “We have to keep up the grind with hard work. It just got away from us.”
Among the challenges were not closing out the shot and being unable to capture the rebounds. “Just getting away from what was working for us.”
The players were tired in the latter half of the game, which affected their overall performance.
There’s quite a few players who are new to senior basketball.
In the fourth quarter the home team struggled to keep up with the Lakers who eventually secured a win by a wide margin.
The final score was 83-53.
Next up for the senior boys is the break and then two tournaments to give the players some on court experience.
