Women's Basketball
February 6, 2012Eagles Victorious in Must-Win Weekend
METRO VANCOUVER, BC – (February 6, 2012) – As the PACWEST Basketball season enters the home stretch, both Kwantlen Polytechnic University Men’s and Women’s Eagles teams found themselves in must-win situations in the qualification race for Provincial Championships and capitalizing on that motivation to a string of victories.
The Eagles reigned victorious over the visiting Douglas College Royals on Friday, February 3rd as the Women’s team led the charge to a 68 – 53 win, ending their five-game losing streak. Paving the way for the first win after returning from the break was second-year center, Samantha McPhail (Vancouver) with 17 points and 12 rebounds and going 5 for 6 (83%) from the free throw line. Second-year guard, Anna Work (Everett, WA) came back to the stats list with double-digit points on the board (14) and shooting 100% (5 for 5) at the free throw line as did first-year guard, Jessica Villadiego (Surrey), tallying 12 points while pressuring the Royals’ guard. The Women’s Eagles led in total points throughout every quarter and, as a team, shot an impressive 80% from the free throw line.
Continuing their weekend of dominance, the Women’s Eagles traveled to Columbia Bible College on Saturday, February 4th for a show-down with the Bearcats. First-year guard, Cassandra Micona (Mission), led the Eagles with 18 points on their way to a commanding 83 – 43 victory. Adding to this point differential, and following closely with double-digits, was first-year guard, Brittney Church (Langley), with 17 points and going 5 for 11 from the field. “Offensively, we have started to get better scoring chances as was seen in our game against Douglas College”, stated Head Coach Dan Nayebzadeh. “We also did a good job of this against CBC, shooting 13 for 13 from the free throw line. [If we] continue to take good shots and get the high percentages, we will continue to have this type of success.”
After Week 8, both the Eagles Women and Men have taken sole possession of 6th place in the PACWEST standings. The Eagles will host the Langara College Falcons on Thursday, February 9th heading into the final two games of the regular season with tip-off for the Women at 6:00pm and for the Men at 8:00pm.
Complete game results can be found at: www.kwantlen.ca/eaglesJanuary 30, 2012
Close Games, Tough Losses for Eagles Women
METRO VANCOUVER, BC – (January 30, 2012) – The Kwantlen Eagles Men and Women played host for the second straight weekend to their rivals from north of the Burrard Inlet playing Quest University on Friday, January 27th and Capilano University on Saturday, January 28th.
Knowing that it would be a tough game, the Eagles Women came out more cohesively as a team against the Quest Kermodes than when they played in Squamish, but it was still not enough to stop some strong runs late in the game from their PACWEST rivals. Only down by 7 points going into the fourth quarter, the Eagles switched up their defense allowing an opportunity for the Kermodes to sink a bushel of three-pointers which led them to a 55 – 76 finish. Adding to the fourth quarter difficulty, first-year guard, Jessica Villadiego (Surrey) fouled out of the game. Second-year center, Samantha McPhail (Vancouver), kept the Eagles in the game with 16 points and 8 rebounds followed by first-year guard, Brittney Church (Langley) in double digits with 10 points.
On Saturday, the Eagles Women hosted the Capilano Blues in a close game leading in points through three of the four quarters and only faltering in the second quarter with a single digit posting in the 68 - 76 loss. Strong showings by second-year center, Samantha McPhail (Vancouver) racking up 20 points and 12 rebounds as well as first-year guard, Jessica Villadiego (Surrey) with 9 rebounds kept the Eagles in contention throughout the game. Also contributing to the tight match was first-year guard, Christina Brown’s (Langley), coverage of the Blues Jenna Ralsten over the course of her 39 minute playing time keeping the Blue’s highest scorer to only 11 points – a huge decrease from Ralsten’s previous tally of 45 points the night before. Oxana Senyuk (Vancouver), second-year guard, came off the bench in the second half of the game and tallied 13 points and shot 6 for 7 from the field. Assistant Coach Emily Wright stated, “This was the best forty minutes we have played as a team. We made strides offensively and executed down the stretch opening up with three lay-ups right at the beginning of the game. We are now focused on the next game [against Douglas] which is a big game for us to clinch a play-off spot.”
After Week 7 action, the Eagles Women remain in 6th place in the PACWEST standings with some upcoming must-wins needed to clinch a play-off berth. The Eagles look forward to continuing to improve their records this weekend hosting Douglas College on Friday, February 3rd (tip-offs: Women @ 6:00pm and Men @ 8:00pm) and then travelling to Columbia Bible College on Saturday, February 4th.
Complete game results can be found at: www.kwantlen.ca/eagles
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