Kuntz, Rattlers light up the Lightning in basketball opener

By Sean Rooney on October 13, 2018.

When the St. Mary’s Lightning won the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference women’s basketball title last year, they had a player who would get so hot, you couldn’t stop her.

But she’s graduated. And so on Friday at Medicine Hat College, the shoe was on the other foot.

Fifth-year guard Kendell Kuntz led the Rattlers to a 78-56 opening night win in front of a few hundred fans in the Snake Pit, going 5-for-6 from beyond the three-point arc. She was far from the only one with a hot hand, but having the team leader get in a groove was a perfect way to begin the campaign.

“Yep, it feels good, get the jitters out,” said Kuntz, who wound up with 21 points in the conference final rematch. “We just wanted to focus on our game, we played really well as a team and there was a lot of ball movement. We had some defensive lapses but we’ll work on it, we’ll get better as the year goes.”

Down 6-1 in the opening minutes, the three-pointer kept Medicine Hat barely ahead at the half until they started to find their game after the break. Kuntz had a few of them, Jordyn Kearly had two early while St. Mary’s had none in the first half, finishing the game 2-for-14 from three-point territory.

Kuntz nailed her last three, pulling up on a fast break in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 20.

“It didn’t start out super good, but we found a way to find our legs, find our rhythm and be that team game we’re talking about all the time,” said head coach Clayton Nielsen. “Our defensive intensity went up, sharing the ball was better, a lot of unselfishness that was going on, and that’s what this team is going to do.”

Kearly finished with 16 points, Katelyn Rozdeba had 12 plus 13 rebounds and new addition Kiana Mintz put up 10.

It’s not really fair to say Mintz is new, but the Crescent Heights High School graduate is in her first season with the Rattlers after playing in Olds and Red Deer previously. She’s already played with or against most of her new teammates, whether in college or high school.

“Everybody’s really supportive, everybody’s together, and playing in front of everybody I know, I love it,” said Mintz. “Some of them I’m still learning, but we… have amazing team chemistry already. If we’re like this now, look out second semester, man.”

Emily Wagner had 23 points for St. Mary’s to lead all scorers, her aggressiveness landing her seven points just on free throws, but the Lightning couldn’t keep up the pace for all 48 minutes.

The Rattlers host Olds Saturday at 6 p.m.

Men’s basketball

In the men’s opener, it was really no contest as the Rattlers cruised to an 87-65 win.

Medicine Hat’s Josh Magpantay led all scorers with 19 points on 6-for-11 shooting from three-point range. Jaamel Slack and Jon Sappleton had 13 points each, with Sappleton also pulling down a ridiculous 21 rebounds and delivering six assists.

A16-1 run to start the contest and 20-point first half lead allowed the home team to spread out the playing time in the second half.

Isaac Amsing had 15 for St. Mary’s.

The Rattlers play Olds Saturday at 8 p.m.

Women’s volleyball

The Rattlers women’s volleyball team started with a decisive win in Olds Friday, topping the Broncos 3-0 (25-10, 25-15, 25-21).

According to online scoring, Rattlers coach Kim Stonehouse only used seven players including libero Shaya Suchy, the minimum possible. Returning power hitter Amber Stigter’s six kills led a balanced attack, followed by Brooke Christie’s five.

Suchy and Janelle Neyron had 12 digs apiece, while Megan Hoeber served three aces.

Olds’ Emily Zaleschuk and Megan Gleddie had five kills each in a losing cause.

Men’s volleyball

Also in Olds, Medicine Hat’s men’s volleyball team earned a 3-1 (25-18, 25-23, 21-25, 25-18) win.

KeAndre Evans had a big game with 11 kills, 12 digs, four service aces and three blocks. Alfred Dalevik had 10 kills too.