Rattlers punch ticket to nationals

By Ryan McCracken on March 3, 2018.

Medicine Hat News

Exactly a decade later, the Medicine Hat College Rattlers are headed back to women’s basketball nationals.

The Rattlers beat the host SAIT Trojans 50-42 in Calgary Friday night, playing hard-nosed defence in an incredibly tight contest at the SAIT gym in Calgary.

“Honestly, it’s amazing,” said head coach Clayton Nielsen. “Our goal was to be here at the beginning of the year and we had a stretch where we weren’t playing the way we could’ve played.

To come back and play the way we were playing in the first semester, better than that, it’s rewarding and something the team should take a lot of pride in.”

As the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference sends two teams to Canadian Colleges Athletic Association finals in New Brunswick March 15-17, the Rattlers have booked their trip, although an ACAC title shot looms against St. Mary’s Saturday night. St. Mary’s upset Lakeland 67-49 in the other semifinal.

The last time the Rattlers sent a team to the national tournament was 2008.

With SAIT trying to stymie ACAC player of the year Kennedy Werre, the Rattlers had to find other ways to win. Unwavering defence from the likes of final-year guard Morgan Muir, dominant rebounding on both ends of the court and a huge 19-4 advantage in bench points were enough.

“We’ve really taken care of the ball and that’s why we’re in the gold medal game,” said Nielsen. “Mistake-wise, there were maybe one or two minutes in the game where we made mistakes. We only turned the ball over nine or 10 times. That’s huge.”

Werre only had five points but 15 boards. Courtney Henry had 11 points, Sheridan Popenia 10 but offence was not the story in this one.

Already without their second-leading scorer Kendell Kuntz, Medicine Hat had to deal with another injury when Kristen Skjonsby went down in the first half. Nielsen confirmed she sustained a concussion, her second of the year.

SAIT was led by Alicia Tan’s 19 points, but Tan and her sister Alexa both fouled out as SAIT ran its starters ragged. Only five Trojans even scored in the contest.

The ACAC final tips off at 6 p.m. Saturday. But an equally gigantic prize is already theirs.

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