LCHS Sr. Girl Rams 37 - 64 LTCHS Raiders
Despite a solid gameplan from the Lacombe Composite High School Rams Senior Girls Basketball team, they were unable to overcome the physical style of the Lindsay Thurber Raiders — falling on the road 64-37.
“Thurber is a very tough team,” Coach Murray Cunningham said. “They are always physical and they are always aggressive. Some years, they are really talented as well.”
Peighton Melton and Jenica Swartz led the Rams with nine points a piece; while Raider Hannah Wirtanan led all scorers with 17 points on the night.
The Rams came into the game expecting a tighter result, with the Raiders having played some close games with teams the Rams have been competitive with this year.
“We missed shots even though we started running our offence better. Their physical play was something we didn’t respond to,” Cunningham said.
He added they will look at what they can do in practice to respond to that aggressive play.
“They didn’t do anything we didn’t expect. They have a strong press and they do it all the time,” Cunningham said.
Despite the scoreboard, Cunningham believes this is a game the Rams can build off.
“We were prepared coming in, we just didn’t respond. Sometimes that is going to happen,” he said.
The Rams still have a few more weeks to prepare for the one-game series between one of their 4A city rivals.
“We need wins in league, otherwise we will finish fourth and play away against the best team in 4A,” Cunningham said. “If you get into a one-game series and put it together and the other team struggles — they get scared.”
The Rams play again on the road against Hunting Hills on Feb.13 at 6 p.m.
LCHS Sr. Boy Rams 67 - 76 LTCHS Raiders
A tough third quarter stretch and some shooting woes throughout prevented the Lacombe Composite High School Rams from cutting the gap in the fourth quarter, resulting in a 76-67 LTCHS win.
Some tough rebounding down the stretch put the game away, despite the Rams cutting the deficit to six with two minutes remaining.
“It has given us problems all year. We don’t have a lot of size and you saw it tonight. Thurber is a super long, big team,” Coach Tylor Johannesson said.
Despite the second half struggles, some stifling defence, including holding LTCHS to 12 points in the first quarter, by the Rams in the first half kept this one close. Unfortunately, the Rams only managed 10 points in that quarter due to shooting woes.
“I think we dominated the game, we just couldn’t make any shots. Easy stuff to fix. We are streaky like that. I have some really good shooters and they weren’t on today,” Johannesson said.
Centre Carson Prins led the Rams with 21 points, while guard Gamble chipped in with 20.
“We got good shots and we finally got a low post game going. Our foul shooting, rebounding and shooting was bad but we can fix that stuff,” Johannesson said.
The Rams struggle guarding Basit Karimy, who was hot from behind the arc — finishing with a game high 23 points.
“He is a special player both off the dribble and from beyond the arc. I told the guys to guard him six feet behind the three point line because he will pull it and make it. He made his shots, but I thought we did a good job on him,” Johanneson said.
He added his team hopes to avoid Thurber in the one-game semifinal game coming up in a few weeks.
“The semifinals is a crapshoot because it is a one-game series. We have beat Notre Dame and we beat Hunting Hills last year,” he said.
Johanneson said that would allow the Rams to come in prepared having watched LTCHS film.
“We need to give ourselves a chance to win that semifinal game and give ourselves a chance to go to that best-of-three,” he said.
The Rams also play on Feb. 13 at Hunting Hills starting at 8 p.m.
todd.vaughan@lacombeexpress.com
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