Lightning Recap Nov 16th

The Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams take to the court on Friday Nov 16th against the Olds College Broncos.

The Women’s basketball team had been preparing all week for the Friday night match up. Knowing they had a tough game ahead of them as the Olds College Broncos are presently ranked fifth in the country only losing one contest on the year thus far and were on a six game winning streak.

The first quarter was a back and forth affair with Olds edging out the lightning 13-12. A second quarter explosion saw the Lightning take control of the game and not look back, outscoring their opponent 30-11 in the frame. The second half saw the Broncos and Lightning continue to battle, with the Lightning edging out each quarter by 2 points each time. The final score in the contest was the Lightning 83 and the Broncos 61.

The Lightning saw strong play by many but a couple of highlight performances were second-year transfer Hannah Helton who filled up the stats sheet with 29 points, 4 Rebounds, 3 Assists and 3 Steals and third-year standout Emily Wagner whose 17 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 1 block really helped the Lightning to Victory.

Player of the game Honors went to Abigail Griffiths, a first-year Biology Student, with 8 points and 5 rebounds. “I was really hard on Abby all week,” said Lightning Women’s Head Coach Coach Shoults. “I knew we had a tough assignment ahead of us and I was really impressed with the response of Abby, she deserved this tonight.”

The men’s game did not disappoint with two teams that came to battle in a back and forth contest all night long. It took OT to decide this match, with the Lightning coming up just short 87-84 after 45 minutes of play.

The men played a strong first 3 quarters edging out each quarter for an 8 point lead heading into the 4th quarter. The Broncos responded well and finished the final frame strong forcing OT to decide this game. The Broncos continued their strong play into overtime edging out the Lightning 87-84. Cordell Minnifee led the way for the Lightning with 24 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.

“Tonight was a step in the right direction for us,” said Lightning Men’s Head Coach Nathan Ruff “We put a much stronger game together with a good team effort”

The Lightning finish off first semester action next Friday Nov 23rd against the Visiting Medicine Hat Rattlers!