NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat Rattlers guard Morgan Muir clutches her ankle in pain during an Alberta Colleges Athletics Conference women’s basketball game against the Briercrest Clippers on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020 at the Snake Pit. Muir returned to help Medicine Hat pick up a 69-54 victory.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
For a moment, Medicine Hat Rattlers guard Morgan Muir feared the worst.
With her team holding a dwindling lead over the Briercrest Clippers on Saturday at the Snake Pit, the fifth-year veteran came down awkwardly on her ankle after having a shot blocked and fell to the hardwood in agony. While she had to be carried off the court for evaluation, Muir came storming back just a few minutes later to lead her Rattlers to a 69-54 victory.
“I just didn’t want to be out. The toughest thing for me is not to be there for my teammates, not to be able to play. That really scares me,” said Muir, who finished with 14 points, five steals and five assists while going 5-for-17 from the field, 1-for-3 from outside the arc and 3-for-4 from the free throw line. “The physio and doctor did awesome and made sure I was strapped up and ready to go.”
Rattlers women’s basketball head coach Clayton Nielsen says he too was holding his breath as Muir was taken off the court, but let out a sigh of relief when she came running back to the bench.
“Morgan going down, that would not have been great,” said Nielsen. “She’s playing phenomenal right now, so for her to go out in her fifth-year like that and miss any kind of games is tough. We count on her to do a lot of things.”
The victory served as a bounce-back after Medicine Hat dropped an 85-68 battle to the Clippers Friday. That result featured a 41-point performance out of Briercrest’s Angenay Williams. She was held to 26 in Saturday’s rematch while going 10-for-27 from the field.
“Twenty-six points seems like a lot, but compared to 41? Morgan did that,” said Nielsen. “Morgan shut the door on her a little bit and made her frustrated and that helped us get our team rolling a little bit and get us going ahead.”
Katelyn Rozdeba led Medicine Hat’s offence with an 18-point, 14-rebound double-double, while Tatiana Dutka added one of her own with 15 points and 11 boards.
“We talked about playoffs and playing with that playoff intensity. (Friday) we didn’t quite have that level but today I thought we brought a better level,” said Nielsen, whose Rattlers will host the ACAC championship at the end of February. “When you’re going against really good teams, and Briercrest is a really good team, you’ve got to bring a little bit more than maybe you normally would. Today we showed we can do that. Hopefully we can use that as we go forward.”
Briercrest slipped to 7-4 with the loss – though two of their setbacks this season were due to forfeiture.
With the victory, the Rattlers sit two points outside of the top-four with a 6-6 record.
“We’re really fighting to be in that top-four, so for us that was a huge win,” said Muir. “To be able to grind out a game like that – that’s not an easy win.”
Men’s basketball
The Rattlers men’s basketball team had its losing streak pushed to four games with a 90-79 loss to Briercrest Saturday.
Kieron Burgess led Medicine Hat with 27 points and 11 rebounds, but Briercrest’s Brandon Tolentino matched his efforts from the field with 27 points and 13 boards.
Zavier Croft followed up with 21 points from the bench for Medicine Hat, while Jevon Fray-Woodbine added 14 points.
The loss leaves Medicine Hat at 2-10 – eight points outside of the playoff picture with nine games left in the regular season.
Briercrest improved to 6-6 with the win, their fourth in a row.
Medicine Hat College’s basketball teams will be on the road Friday to open a home-and-home set with the Ambrose Lions.
Women’s volleyball
The Medicine Hat Rattlers women’s volleyball team fell just short of a bounce-back victory in a five-set loss (25-20, 12-25, 13-25, 25-21, 15-12) to the SAIT Trojans on Saturday evening at the Snake Pit.
Jadyn Leong led the Trojans to the home-and-home sweep with a 16-kill performance, while Katelyn Hayley set up 33 and Kristen Leippi dug out 13.
Brooke Christie had 11 kills for the Rattlers, while Amber Stigter and Megan Hoeber both added 10. Stigter also led the defence with 19 digs, while Janessa Oelke put up 36 assists.
The loss leaves Medicine Hat – who will host the ACAC women’s volleyball championship in February – sitting fourth in the ACAC South with an 8-8 record.
SAIT improved to 4-14 with the win.
Men’s volleyball
Medicine Hat College’s men’s volleyball team dropped a 3-1 match to SAIT to close out Saturday’s action at the Snake Pit.
Riley Grusing led the Trojans with 11 kills in the victory, while Maddux Greves added 33 assists and Brendan Vanderlinde dug out 13 on defence.
Medicine Hat’s Nathan Chernik posted a match-high 16 kills and added 13 digs in the setback. Aleksa Zivic also finished in double digits with 10 kills, while Nikola Sreckovic set up 36 and dug out 13.
The loss drops Medicine Hat to 4-12 on the season – 12 points outside of the playoff picture with eight games left.
SAIT improved to an ACAC South-best 14-4 with the win.
Medicine Hat’s volleyball teams return to the Snake Pit to host the Briercrest Clippers on Friday.
