Friday’s Super Hoops games at Porter Creek High School were, at best, lopsided.
But the coaches of the victorious Rams teams, undefeated so far in the regular season, are doing their best to avoid fostering a false sense of security.
“I think both teams, last night and tonight, were missing players so it’s nothing to get super excited about,” said Trevor Hale, head coach of the Rams girl’s team. “The girls played well, so that was the nice
thing. Regardless of who was on the floor, they played well and stayed consistent.”
“It’s hard to say, because it’s not the true (Crusaders) team,” said Logan Wedge, head coach of the Rams boys’ team. “They have a lot of Grade 12s down in Mission, (BC), so they’re a really good, tough team.”
With the boys’ Crusaders A team away at the Mission tourney, the Rams came out on top with a 69-26 win. With the Crusaders girls missing their head coach, and three starters due to illness, the team went
down 75-22 to the Rams.
“We were missing some of our key starters tonight, which hampered our game a little bit,” said Crusader girls coach Jonathan Hale – no relation to the Rams coach – who was filling in for head coach Janna Tait.
“Other than that, we just need to work on some fundamentals.
“The girls won’t get discouraged – their coach Janna Tait will be back next week,” added Jonathan.
Earning the Player of the Game title was Ram Amanda Keleher, who scored 11 consecutive points – not just for her team, but between the two teams – in the fourth quarter.
“It was kind of a break-out game for her,” said Trevor Hale. “She’s always been a good player, she’s always been hanging around six, eight, 10 points. It’s nice to see her play like that and get into a bit of a
rhythm.
“She did it all – defensively too.”
Keleher led the Rams with 27 points, followed by Devon Hanson with 14 and Shannon Thompson with nine.
For the Crusaders, it was Terri Publicover with six and Melanie Tait with five.
The previous evening Thompson was named Player of the Game in her team’s 72-55 win over the FH Collins Warriors, leading her team with 19 points.
“She was very dominant last night,” said Trevor Hale. “She played both types of court well. She anticipates where the ball is going very well; she makes a lot of steals.”
Leading both teams in points on Thursday was Warrior Nesha Wright with 29 points.
A slow start for the Crusaders boys created a points spread too immense for the team to overcome, falling behind 21-0 in the first period. It was only when Crusader Ryan Maher put in a rebound from a shot
from Dustin Neufeld did the team get on the board at 21-2, finishing the first down 23-3.
“This is kind of a development squad, we have three or four players on the roster that haven’t played any ball before (this season),” said Crusaders head coach Jason McArthur.
“The other team is in Mission in a tournament. So we just sort of stepped up because there was a scheduled Super Hoops game; we didn’t want to leave Porter Creek in the lurch.”
Named Player of the Game was Ram Charles Hine, registering 12 points and six steals, shooting 44 per cent from the floor.
The previous night, in the Rams’ 84-59 win over the FH Warriors, Ram Cameron Weeks was named Player of the Game with 10 points.
“Cameron really had it under control – had a lot of assists,” said Wedge. “We took over right from the beginning, and he was a big part of that.
“What I like about him is he’s a really unselfish player. If a kid is open, he’s going to look for him. If a kid isn’t doing very well, he’s going to try and find that kid that needs a shot.”
Leading the Rams on Thursday was Dakota Organ with 17, followed by Robin Smith with 15 and Logan Boehmer with 11.
For the Warriors Dylan Salvisburg put up 17 and Ben Robinson had 11.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com