Women’s basketball finds pace one again
By Davie Wong, Sports Editor
The Royals came into the season with a hot hand, but came stumbling into the second semester. Going 2–2 in their first two weeks back from the winter break, the team looked good, but just couldn’t find the winning formula. After a week off to regroup and build back up their form, the team faced off against two challenging middle of the table teams in the Langara Falcons and Quest Kermodes.
An odd schedule blip saw the team play away at the Langara Falcons on Wednesday night. Both teams came firing on all cylinders right out of the gates, with the Royals taking a 4 point lead off their 20 first quarter points to Langara’s 16. Douglas locked down in the second, denying the Falcons more than 10 points. They also managed to drain 17 more points of their own and walked into the half with a 12 point lead, 37–25.
From there, the Royals squad turned on the heat, and closed out the shooting lanes for the Falcons. They ran all over the Falcons for 23 points on the quarter. The Falcons only managed to grab a few buckets in comparison. With things looking like they were in the win column, the Douglas squad was rotated out to make room for the younger, less experienced squad.
The inexperience showed, and the Falcons soared back in the fourth quarter. Their 22 points to the Royals’ 13 was a strong effort and a good showing, but it wasn’t enough. When the final whistle blew, it was Douglas ahead, 73–53.
If you’ve been following the team this season, it shouldn’t be a surprise to you when I say Rachel Beauchamp had a huge game for the Royals. She was one rebound short of yet another double-double, scoring 21 and picking up 9 rebounds. Instead, it was her teammate Sarah Jorgenson that came up with the accolade. Her 14 points and 14 rebounds was enough for her first double-double on the year. Ellen Fallis also picked up 13 points on the night to help the team pick up a huge win.
The squad’s next match was on Saturday at home as they faced off against the Quest Kermodes. The Kermodes have been out of form this year with a record of 4–7 heading into Saturdays game, but the team isn’t too far removed from the squad the won bronze last year at the Provincial championships, meaning the Kermodes were still a threat.
With that in mind, the Royals played cautiously to start the game. Their tactic rewarded them with a 21 point start to the 6 of the Kermodes. The Quest squad did manage to double their score in the second quarter, but the Royals launched themselves way into the lead. They led 36–12 at the half.
A regrouped Kermodes squad came out in the second half, but the Royals were more than ready to go toe to toe with them. They traded 15–12 with the Royals taking the upper hand of that quarter. Backs against the wall, the visiting Quest team needed a miracle to come back into the game. They almost got that miracle, too. A huge 24-point quarter for the Kermodes closed the gap, but it still wasn’t enough as the Royals were just a little too far ahead. The game would close out at 58–48 in favor of the Royals and the Douglas squad picked up their first 2–0 weekend of 2017.
Credit should be given to the Kermodes’ defensive game, though. They managed to keep the Royals starting line-up and inside game to under 10 points each. However, they sacrificed their outside game, and Simran Bir just tore into them from there. She put down 15 points, the most for her team, on the way to helping the team lockdown their ninth win on the season.
