The Quest University Kermodes women's basketball team captured the school's first tournament championship on Sunday (Oct. 9) in an impressive showing at the annual Blues Classic in North Vancouver.
The team went undefeated in the tournament, beating Langara College 80-65 on Friday (Oct. 7), Camosun College 70-50 on Saturday (Oct. 8) and downing the host Capilano Blues 62-57 in the final on Sunday (Oct. 10).
According to head coach Mike Woollard, it was a team effort.
"We had a lot of kids step up," he said. "We had nine different kids hit the scoresheet on Friday and Saturday and were led in scoring by a different player each day."
According to Woollard, several of the new faces on the team made nice first impressions.
"Kelsey Cooper out of Saskatchewan came in and played extremely well for us," he said. "She defended and rebounded well for us, especially when Nicola Hitchcock got in some foul trouble. Shayna Cameron scored 16 for us on Friday and today Katrin Sandbichler really put the team on her back. She scored the last eight points for us and had a bunch of assists too."
The win over the Blues was a nice feather in the cap for the Kermodes, as last year Capilano beat Quest in two crucial home games that ended up costing the team a playoff spot. But despite the stings of last year, Woollard said the team wasn't really thinking about the battles with the Blues of last season.
"They're a good team but to be honest we're so different that last year wasn't even in our lexicon during this tournament," he said. "We just went out and played. They pressured us early and we eventually settled down and chipped away at their lead."
The Kermodes trailed 24-10 after one quarter but didn't give up, narrowing the lead to five at the half and then eventually overtaking the Blues in the fourth quarter. Woollard said he's feeling pretty good about the team as the regular season draws closer.
"I think we're a young team, we work hard and we're getting better every day," he said. "I was actually surprised with how well we played this weekend but we're an intelligent group and as long as we continue to work hard, favourable results will follow us."
The team spent Thanksgiving Day (Oct. 10) hosting the Calgary Storm and winning 56-54. The team will next travel to Nanaimo this upcoming weekend to participate in a tournament hosted by Vancouver Island University and then host Langara College for an exhibition game on Oct. 22.
For more information on the team, visit www.questkermodes.ca.
