Lacombe Composite Senior Boys Rams 61 - 82 Lindsay Thurber Raiders
There was no storybook ending for the Senior Boys Rams season, after a ballooning 30-point Raider lead in the 3rd quarter of their City Semifinal game proved to be insurmountable.
“It was kind of the story of our season,” Coach Tylor Johannesson said. “They are veteran-laden group and we are a very young group. I have three Grade 12s and you could see it — at times we just don’t score the ball well.
“They made everything. Double contested shots and everything seemed to be falling for them and we couldn’t make it up.”
The Raider lead was catapulted by Jacob Hicks, who 14 points on the game
“Jacob made some really nice shots and they pulled away. They well-coached and they play hard,” Johannesson said.
The Rams weren’t going to die easily in this one, however, with Cole Lardner (9 points) and Jared Gamble (23 points) leading a spirited comeback.
“Being down 30 to only being down 12 at one point means we were fighting,” Johannesson said. “It was the best thing I could honestly ask for as a coach. The energy was sucked out of us right at the beginning of that fourth quarter and they went on a 12-0 run to start the quarter.
“I called a timeout and asked them to play hard and run the stuff we are comfortable with.”
Despite the loss, the Rams hopes are high heading into next year with both Lardner and Gamble primed to lead a veteran squad.
“I am already planning. I will have Cole Lardner and he is going to be great for us next year,” Johannesson said.
Rams leading scorer Gamble will also get some seasoning with Raider Coach Joel Carroll, who leads the Red Deer College Kings summer club program.
“He will play for him and hopefully develop a lot under him. I told him I am building around him and he has to be a leader. He has some things to work on in terms of understanding what a point guard is in terms of playmaking. He loves to take shots and he is good at that, but once he is a playmaker — he will be great,” Johannesson said.
He added the Rams JV team will bring some missing height to the senior level that will be a big plus next year.
“Things are looking at,” he said.
Lacombe Composite Senior Girls Rams 42 - 85 Hunting Hills Lightning
The Lacombe Rams Senior Girls Basketball team were in tough against an allstar-calibre Hunting Hills team, who ultimately proved to be too much for Lacombe in the City Semifinals.
“Hunting is a really good team. They finished first in the league and they are really tough to play in their home gym. They have a couple allstar players. We did okay against them for a little bit but they were hitting shots right in our face. They are terrific shooters,” Rams Coach Murray Cunningham said.
Taylor Blais (24 points) and Marissa Richards (17 points) lead the Lightning on the evening, while Peighton Melton and Jenica Swartz both finished with 12 points on the night for Lacombe.
Cunningham said this season was all about building a program.
“We have more kids coming out to practice. We have more kids coming out to play and tryouts to build the team. We won a bunch of games this year that put us almost into third,” he said.
Cunningham was hoping to finish in third, which would have placed them against teams they would have been more competitive with.
“We are tight with Dame and Thurber, but these guys and Wetaskiwin are tops in the league and they are tough to play at home,” he said.
Cunningham added, “I am really proud of our girls. We only lost one game at home all year and we grew a lot. We got a lot better, but we have a long ways to go.”
todd.vaughan@lacombeexpress.com
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