With Pacwest regular season action completed, the Quest University Kermodes men’s and women’s basketball teams made a run for the border to stay in game mindset during the break.
The women’s team took part in the annual Big Bend Classic tournament in Moses Lake, Washington and took on the Spokane Falls Sasquatch on Friday (Dec. 9).
According to women’s team head coach Mike Woollard, Quest weathered an early storm to fight back and win 68-63.
“Spokane came out of the gates hard, to open an early 15 point lead as we struggled to score,” he said. “At half time we solidified a couple of things defensively and really improved our play on that end, forcing them to really concentrate in bringing the ball up. We continued to chip away in the second half collecting defensive stops and scoring enough to get the game tied with just under five minutes to go before we took control and won it late.”
Katrin Sandbichler led Quest with 20 points, 14 rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Woollard also complimented the defensive play of forward Hilary Young and the offensive contributions of Maja Smiljic and Cassidy Osterling, who scored 11 and eight points respectively.
Quest women then took on the Big Bend Community College Vikings on Saturday (Dec. 10), but came up short, losing 76-60.
“On Saturday, we came out of the blocks much sharper and held a 34-33 lead at the half but in the second half we were outrebounded 45-35 and struggled to execute with the efficiency we did earlier,” Woollard said.
Woollard pointed out that the Vikings continually found ways to get to the charity stripe, getting to the line 30 times against only nine for the Kermodes. Sandbichler again led the way for Quest with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Despite the setback to the Vikings, Woollard said the trip was a positive experience for his club.
“All in all, I am happy with our trip down to Big Bend,” he said. “We played two quality opponents which should only make us tougher when conference play opens back up in January.”
The men’s team also travelled south to take on Skagit Valley on Saturday (Dec. 9) and Western Washington University on Monday (Dec. 12). Results from Saturday’s game were unavailable at press time but Quest experienced a loss of 106-61 on Monday. Jose Colorado was the Kermodes’ leading scorer with 19 points.
The men’s team will travel to Idaho to take part in the Lewis-Clark State College tournament on Friday (Dec. 16) and Saturday (Dec. 17) while the women’s team is out of action until Jan. 6 when they take on Langara College.
For more information on Quest athletics, visit www.questkermodes.ca.
