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Ponoka Kings triumph over windswept Cyclones

Ponoka's St. Augustine’s Kings and Queens had a bit of a yin-yang performance against the Innisfail Cyclones last week.
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Kings' guard Airon Balatbat somehow finds a hole in the Innisfail Cyclones defence Jan. 12. The Kings had a strong showing

St. Augustine’s Kings and Queens had a bit of a yin-yang performance against the Innisfail Cyclones last week.

Playing at home Jan. 11 the Kings came up with a resounding win against the senior boys’ Cyclones eventually winning 56-39.

Defeating the number three ranked team in the league proved a confidence boost for the Kings, explained coach Adam Bowie.

“We have been placing a lot of emphasis on defence during practices from day one and it paid off only allowing 39 points to a team that averages 64 points per game,” he added.

The Kings started strong in the first quarter and seeing how that worked, the players kept up the pressure holding the Cyclones to under 15 points each quarter.

“We have also been working on getting back on defense which was also evident, only allowing a handful of fast-break points,” explained Bowie.

Indeed, players made every effort to recover rebounds on both sides of the court, which helped when they missed a shot. Bowie was pleased with the Kings’ ability to move the ball up the court, passing to other players and working as a cohesive team.

“Our turnovers in the past have hurt us also. As a fast-break team we expect turnovers, just in our pace of play, but against Innisfail they were significantly lower as our guards did a better job taking care of the ball,” said Bowie.

Queens lose to senior girls Cyclones

The Queens had a tougher time, losing out to a strong senior girls Cyclones by 50 points.

At the end the Queens lost 73-23 with the major breakthroughs happening in the second half, explained coach Katherine Bergum-York. Both teams are in the 2A league, however, the Cyclones played in the 3A/4A league last season, she said.

Bergum-York said the team was nervous in the first half and it showed. The gym was quiet with fans and players saying very little, and by the end of the first two quarters the Cyclones had scored 53 points.

Her focus after the first half was to get the Queens to communicate and have fun.

“That second half they had only scored 20-points on us,” she explained.

“The girls started talking to each other. They just started laughing and having more fun.”

She praised the Queens for taking more shots at the net in the second half and for changing their attitude.

For league play the Queens are yet to win a game but Bergum-York is pleased to see the team improving month over month.