NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat College Rattlers forward Katelyn Rozdeba battles contact for a lay-up in the fourth quarter of the Rattlers 66-38 win over the Red Deer Polytechnic.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat College Rattlers women’s basketball team got their playoffs started on a high note.
The Rattlers beat the Red Deer Polytechnic Queens 66-38 Friday night at Big Marble Go Centre to advance in the post-season.
Head coach Clayton Neilsen said the Rattlers battled nerves early but it was a good win.
“It was just awkward, we were out of sync a little bit,” Neilsen said. “That’s to be expected in a game where you’ve missed a year of playing and now we are in a big game where you win you move on, lose you go home. We talked at halftime about having a really good third quarter and we’ve had some good third quarters.”
After leading 25-22 at the half the Rattlers exploded for a 23-6 third quarter that propelled them for the win. Neilsen said it was coming out of the half with high energy that got them the victory.
“I think that wore them down and they couldn’t sustain their defense against our offensive intensity,” Nielsen said. “Our defense was awesome, we were switching, held them outside and didn’t let them shoot threes, so it was good.”
Medicine Hat College outshot Red Deer 29.9 per cent to 24.6 per cent and made 21.6 per cent of their 3-pointers to the Polytechnic’s 9.1 per cent.
The Rattlers vastly out rebounded Red Deer 60-31, that was led by Katelyn Rozdeba’s 20 boards. Both her and Abygail LaRochelle had double doubles, with Rozdeba knocking in 18 points with her rebounds and LaRochelle contributing 17 points and 11 boards.
Neilsen said the Rattlers did what they were supposed to do and it led to success.
“We had people doing what they were supposed to do,” Neilsen said. “Kat and Aby had double doubles… and then once they did their thing Jasmine (Gardiner) came out in the second half and she did the things we wanted her to do. She attacked the basket, she looked for her teammates and made good shots, played much more under control and that’s why she got 13 points in basically 10 minutes and that’s what we need her to do.”
Gardiner had eight rebounds and three steals to go with her 13 points.
Sophie Melin led Red Deer offensively with 11 points in 36 minutes of play.
With the win, the Rattlers women’s basketball team heads to the second round of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference playoffs. They will face St. Mary’s University Saturday, who finished the season in first place of the South division with a record of 15-1.
Their one loss this season came at the hand of the Rattlers. Neilsen said his thoughts heading into the game are that they’ve shown they can beat the Lightning.
“There’s a wee bit of we’ve done it, we beat them,” Neilsen said. “This year if we play like we are supposed to or can, I think we will be close and then you just have to see. I think their team they have some vets but they also have some people that haven’t been in this position before either.”
Neilsen said he thinks the fact the Rattlers played Friday night gives them an advantage heading into the 7 p.m. road match Saturday. “We get the legs going, we get to battle a little bit and we’re just not coming from nothing,” Neilsen said. “So I am hoping that helps us in the first quarter get a better start.”
