Despite not making it to the finals the St. Augustine Queens senior girls played some of their best games at their home tournament last weekend.
That strong play was exemplified in the team’s second game Feb. 18 where the Queens were ahead for much of the contest. Despite a strong performance the Queens ended up losing right at the end. They did, however, redeem themselves in their third game against Vegreville.
One of the challenges the team has been contending with is having a winless regular season. That has created a hole in the team’s confidence where they end up playing defensively against opponents. That was clear in the Breton Cougars game (the Queen’s second).
The players had a strong showing on offence, making valuable turnovers and creating scoring opportunities.
The challenge was in capitalizing on those chances, with the Queens unable to sink key baskets to add to the their points.
Coach Katherine Bergum-York said the Queens came out strong in the first half. “There were good passes. They were seeing things.”
“We’re starting to run our offense the way it should be run,” she added. “We’re seeing the passes that can be there.”
She’s proud of the ball movement and the momentum that players were able to put forth in their game. It’s just finishing the play with points that’s missing.
“We don’t know how to finish that game.” Bergum-York says with team sports sometimes it’s a mind game. “If they don’t get out of their heads there’s not a lot I can do.”
Assistant coach Rhyliegh Patterson offered that what worked well in the game against Breton was in trying new things and seeing those attempts work. “They didn’t get down on themselves.”
“It was a good game,” added Bergum-York.
After the game, Bergum-York encouraged the girls to speak on how the Breton game went. Whatever came out of that discussion seemed to resonate with the Queens who ended up winning their last showing of the tournament. Bergum-York says the game was quite similar to that of Breton’s, “But we were able to bring that intensity going into the second half and we won.”
Bergum-York was excited to see some exceptional basketball come out of the tournament and from her team.