Senior Broncs girls and boys hosted Camrose Trojans basketball teams on Tuesday, Jan. 14 and got mixed results: Boys retain their undefeated status in the regular league games while girls will need to step up their execution if they are to advance to any provincial level competition.
In the first game, Broncs girls had a kind of heavy start to the game and failed to hold on to a rhythm mainly due to inefficient dribbling and passing. Their lack of intensity allowed the visiting Trojan girls to open up a 24-8 point lead at the end of the first period. With the start of the second period, Broncs showed some signs of coming to life with visibly improved ball movement and more efficiency in getting the ball to the paint and in scoring.
When the first half of the game ended, Broncs girls had reduced the visitors’ lead to 11 points: 28-17. The break after the second period, however, appeared to have killed PSC girls’ momentum to catch up with the Trojans. In the third and fourth periods, endless number of turnovers and unforced errors provided the opportunity for the Camrose side to step up their scoring. When the final buzzer went off, the score was 69 for the visitors and 39 for the hosts.
The game between the boys was a different story. Senior Broncs boys established an early single digit lead at the very beginning of the game and held on to it most of the first half and expanded it in the second to defeat Trojan boys 65-51.
Towards the end of the first period, Trojans made a serious attempt to take the lead after Broncs briefly loosened their grip on their execution, but it did not take too long for the boys to come to their senses and resume efficient ball movement and find scores both in the paint and around the perimeter with long shots.
Senior Broncs coach Blaine Haines was particularly ecstatic with his players’ defensive effort.
“We got the job done and played solid defense, especially in the second half,” he said.
“Offensively we struggled at times, and as a result turned the ball over far too often. Credit goes to Camrose who played tough defense against us,” he added.
Broncs will next host Sylvan Lake on Feb. 4 for league play, but before that they will participate in a tournament in Taber Jan. 30 and 31.