By Kyle Balzer (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: November 23, 2011
The UFV Cascades basketball teams were in Canada West action once again this past weekend, as both the men and the women battled the UBC-Okanagan Heat.
The ladies began the first quarter with solid offensive play as they shutout UBC-O for the first six-and-a-half minutes of the game. Guard Sarah Wierks displayed tremendous skill, especially at the free-throw line where she went 100 per cent (6/6). Following the game, Coach Al Tuchscherer said, “I think both Sarah [Wierks] and Nicole [Wierks] are key players of our team. They’re both very athletic, they both score a lot of points, and they have good chemistry together.”
A shaky second quarter got the Heat to within six points, but the Cascades were able start a 13-0 point streak in order to prevent any possible comeback. Alexa McCarthy was one of those contributors, scoring 75 per cent from the free throw line.
The score at the half was 42-29. UFV ran away with the game in the third quarter, as guard Courtney Bartel displayed amazing skill and ability in the offensive end. After 40 minutes of play, the Cascades had shown that they can win with their offence. Nicole Wierks and Tessa Klassen made it clear that the team can play aggressive basketball and that their experience in this league can be a decisive factor in a win like this.
The final score was 81-53 and the top scorer was Sarah Wierks with 20 points. Although Coach Tuchscherer was satisfied with the win that night, he believes that the score at this point does not matter. “Offensively we did some good things but at this point we are not looking at the score. It’s about us and we want to continue to work on the things we need to work on.”
After the women, it was the men that got to duke it out with the UBC-O Heat and they also got off to a good start. The Cascades were able to shutout the Heat as well, but only for the first five minutes. Then both teams went back and forth on the floor to the point where the Heat came back to within four points. Joel Friesen and big man Jasper Moedt showed skill in the key, and coach Barnaby Craddock was impressed with the level of play. “He [Moedt] really helped us out by getting six offensive rebounds tonight. He’s cleaning out some of those missed lay-ups that no one seems to be getting.”
In the second quarter, the entire team played a strong offence with incredible passing skills and as a result, there were eight different scorers. Some of those scorers included Sam Freeman, Spencer Evans and Sheldon Bjorgaard.
At the half, the score was 38-25 for the Cascades, who were to take over the third quarter. This time it was Kyle Grewal and James York that displayed aggressiveness in the key in which the Heat committed numerous fouls. The Cascades were 86 per cent (6/7) from the free throw line in the third.
Finally the fourth quarter was made easy for the men in white, who went on to win the game by a score of 74-52. The top scorer was Jasper Moedt with 24 points. Coach Craddock says that they have had their good moments, but they still need to improve. “We’ve had some quarters where we have been a little sloppy, but we just need to continue to improve before the season is over.”
The Cascades will continue their season on the road in Alberta and Saskatchewan before the Christmas break. Their next set of home games won’t be played until January 6 when they take on Calgary.
