Shooting woes doom Rattlers women

By Sean Rooney on March 17, 2018.

srooney@medicinehatnews.com @MHNRooney

The numbers are simply not with the Medicine Hat College Rattlers.

Through two games at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association women’s basketball finals in New Brunswick, the Rattlers have shot an atrocious 28 per cent from the field, 16 per cent from beyond the three-point line and a meagre 60 per cent from the free throw line.

The most important number — the wins column — is also 0-for-2 after a 76-64 loss to British Columbia champion Capilano Blues Friday.

“That’s sort of been the whole weekend for us, anyway,” said head coach Clayton Nielsen via cellphone. “Just missing little bunnies, open shots.

“They shot the ball 93 times (Friday), had 27 offensive rebounds and just couldn’t put the ball in the hoop. That’s how our weekend has gone so far, it is what it is.”

Medicine Hat will face similarly frustrated St. Mary’s Saturday for seventh place. It’s a rematch of the March 3 Alberta conference final which the Lightning won 77-66.

Nielsen wasn’t too excited about the prospect of going that far east only to have yet another game against a rival. Then again, he spoke just minutes after the loss to Capilano.

“If it were for bronze then totally different, but for seven and eight… it might be better tomorrow but right now it is what it is.”

Courtney Henry led Medicine Hat with 15 points, followed by Jordyn Kearly with 12, including two of the three three-pointers the Rattlers hit.

See Nielsen, Page A10

Alberta player of the year Kennedy Were only played 18 minutes, pulling down 12 rebounds and scoring six points.

Capilano got 16 each from Reiko Ohama and Carmelle M’Bikata, who also had 10 rebounds. The Blues shot 52 per cent from the field and made half their three-pointers. They led from the mid-way point of the first quarter onwards.

Aside from shooting woes Nielsen was far happier with how his team played in the bronze medal quarter-final.

“It’s night and day, we played way better (than Thursday’s loss to Mount Allison),” he said. “The effort was all there, it’s just the ball didn’t want to fall in the hoop. In a game that close, little things add up.”

St. Mary’s lost 83-66 to Mount Saint Vincent in Friday’s other bronze quarter-final. The two Alberta teams are now 0-4 combined, almost guaranteeing their conference will not get the same wild card berth in 2019 that allowed the Rattlers to be in the CCAA championship as Alberta runners-up.

They’ll play for pride Saturday, and for a handful of players they’ll play as Rattlers for the last time.

“I think just playing for a win,” said Nielsen of what he expects. “We want to come out and not lose every game. That said we don’t want to lose to (St. Mary’s) again. If we beat them we’re tied (in the season series).”

Ontario champion Humber Hawks will play Quebec’s Dawson Blues in the final. Humber beat Montmorency 61-54 while Humber beat the Mount Allison Mounties 65-53 in the semifinals.

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