The undefeated streak lives on for the Quest Kermodes women’s basketball team.
Quest continued its hot start to the 2014-15 Pacwest season with a 70-64 win over the Douglas College Royals on Friday (Nov. 21) to improve to a perfect six wins and no losses.
The Kermodes were led by Pacwest player of the week Shayna Cameron, who had a team high 20 points and nine rebounds. The Royals were also undefeated heading into Friday’s game and Cameron said it’s a big win for her team.
“It’s a big statement for us,” she said. “We’re trying to set a standard here at Quest and it’s huge for us to beat them. We really want to try and stay undefeated heading into Christmas but the ultimate goal is just one game at a time for us.”
Quest also had big games from Miriam Baumann (13 points, 16 rebounds and six assists) and Andrea Eidsvik (14 points, six rebounds and three assists) in the win but Cameron said it’s a team effort.
“I’m really ecstatic about this team and we have a great dynamic this year,” she said. “We have a lot of experience on our team and I’d say more potential than last year. The rookies are improving tremendously and gaining confidence and we have a really strong bench.”
The Kermodes took over the game in the third quarter to cruise to the win but Cameron said she thinks teams bring their best against the defending Pacwest champs.
“Everyone wants to chop our heads off,” she said. “They bring their ‘A’ game against us and every game has been a battle.”
Meanwhile, the men’s team continued its equally strong start to the season with a 93-85 win over Douglas.
The Kermodes had big games from Theo VandenEkart (27 points, six rebounds and four steals), Mike Zayas-Duran (19 points, seven rebounds and six assists) and Connor Heinrichs (15 points and nine rebounds).
The win improved Quest’s record to five wins and one loss and head coach Sean Shook is pleased with his team’s early play.
“I’m really happy and I’m excited that we’re only going to get better as we progress into December,” he said. “We’re taking a lot more pride in our defensive end of the floor and we’ve been fairly solid defensively so far this season.”
Shook explained that he aims to keep teams under 60 points and his team has done its best to stay close to that goal.
“It’s a very lofty goal but it’s really 15 point per quarter,” he said. “Things can break down like it did in the first half today but we allowed 34 points in the second half which was good.”
He pointed out that guard Denzel Laguerta returns to the team after the break and he should be another piece to the puzzle.
“Three of our four guards his year are basically new,” he said, pointing out that Zayas-Duran is the only guard that played significantly last year. “When we get Denzel back we can move Theo to the two guard and just build layer upon layer offensively.”
Shook also praised the play of guard Dallas Searles, who made some big shots down the stretch and the team’s improved ball possession.
Both teams return to the ‘Kermode Kave’ on Saturday (Nov. 22) for a battle against the Langara Falcons. The women hit the floor at 6 p.m., with the men getting underway at 8 p.m.
After Saturday the Pacwest is on a break till 2015. The men’s and women’s teams have a few exhibition games scheduled in Washington State in December before returning to regular season play on Jan. 8 when they visit Capilano University.
Quest’s next home game isn’t till Feb. 5 but the teams finish off the season with seven straight games on home court.
For more information on the teams, visit www.questkermodes.ca.
