The Queens pull off a huge upset against the Kodiaks, go into the Christmas break with a win
Lethbridge, November 26 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Queens finished off their first-half of the season with their most impressive victory against a team that was sitting atop of the South Division, the Lethbridge College Kodiaks, who came into the match only losing two.
But it was a slow start for the Queens as the Kodiaks came out strong with a 14-4 run to open the game up, but Red Deer faced adversity all season long and went on a 12-0 run to take the lead. Early on, it was guard Amy Szymanek (Bachelor of Education Middle School) that took the team lead with five points but three of her teammates were right behind her with three points each.
The fans at Lethbridge College now had themselves an incredible game to watch with it being back and forth. At the end of the quarter, Szymanek and guard Sophie Melin (Bachelor of Arts Psychology) led their team with five points each.
The Queens continued their strong efforts in the second quarter and would storm out to a 34-23 lead before the Kodiaks called a timeout. At this time, RDP would go on an impressive 18-9 run, which was led by all five girls on the court. The Queens were playing as a team on defense which led to turnovers and then would shift that momentum into their offense. At the end of the half, Szymanek, Melin and forward Lauren France all had eight points each which was the team lead in points.
Both Melin and France had two three-pointers at the half. The Queens outscored the Kodiaks 25-19 in the quarter and would lead 41-33 at the half.
The Queens continued to surge in the third quarter with an impressive ten minutes from Sandra Garcia-Bernal (Educational Assistant), who came out of nowhere and was atop of the team lead in points with 17 points. This extended her teams lead to 14 going into the fourth and final quarter. RDP was capitalizing on the mistakes of the Kodiaks as 31 of their 57 points came off the 23 turnovers by the home team. The Queens were doing a very good job at limiting their errors as they only turned over the ball 11 times.
Red Deer would come away with their most impressive victory of the season so far with a 70-50 victory over a Kodiaks squad that sits atop of the South Division.
Guard Sandra Garcia-Bernal was awarded the player of the game with her late surge in the second half that helped her team to victory. She finished off with 21 points and five rebounds.
The Queens will now head into their Christmas break and will not be in conference action until January 13th when they face off with Briercrest College Clippers at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre.