The Quest Kermodes women's basketball team is now all set for the British Columbia Colleges Athletic Association (BCAA) season after finalizing its roster earlier this month.
The team recently added Katrin Sandbichler from Germany and Kelsey Cooper from Saskatoon to fill out the 13-player roster. Head coach Mike Woollard was pleased to pick up the final two pieces to his team's puzzle.
"Katrin is a six-foot German who can play the wing and in the post," he said. "She played last season with Division 3 Rosenheim, while practicing all year with the Division 1 German Cup winners from Wasserburg. Her size and ability to play in both the post and perimeter should cause matchup problems for other teams in our league."
Woollard also thinks Cooper should be a nice fit for the team.
"She stands at 5-foot-11 and brings big game experience to our lineup," he said. "She was the starting guard and captain for the Clavet Cougars when they won the 3A Saskatchewan title in March. She's very hard-working and coachable and improved immensely just over her weekend visit with us. We see her as a forward on our team and really expect good things from her as she grows and matures as a Kermode."
Woollard added that he's looking forward to getting the season underway and likes his team.
"We're pretty excited," he said. "We're in way better shape than we were at this time last year and that's a good thing because we've got to keep building. I would say we're a bigger team and more athletic, but our top-end size isn't the same as last year."
The men's basketball team has also been busy, as the Kermodes hosted games against two American teams earlier this month. The Ball State Cardinals came to town on Aug. 10 and despite an opening quarter that saw the Kermodes take the lead, Quest ended up falling to the Indiana-based team, 101-61.
"My assistant coach Dany [Charlery] actually played on the team that night and scored the first 11, but the guys stepped up and played pretty well against Ball State," said Woollard, who served as an assistant coach for the Quest men's team.
Ball State sophomore forward Matt Kamieniecki agreed and pointed out that the Cardinals began heating up as the game went on.
"As the game progressed we began to pull away and we reached the century mark in our 101-61 win over Quest," he said in a blog post on the Cardinals website. "The campus was up in the mountains with some pretty awesome views of the surrounding area."
The Cardinals had six players who hit double figures, with guard Jauwann Scaife who led the way with 19 points. His backcourt partner Randy Davis also had a solid showing with 15 points, eight rebounds and six steals. Charlery led the way for Quest with 16 points.
The Kermodes then welcomed the University of Texas-Arlington Mavericks on Aug. 18, ending up with a similar result. The Mavs controlled the game from the start and beat the Kermodes by a score of 105-53.
"Against Texas we struggled to score," Woollard said. "But they beat Trinity Western - a [Canadian Interuniversity Sport] school - by 44 points and only beat us by six more with another day under their belt, so it's not terrible."
The Mavericks were led by centre Jordan Reves, who had 16 points and forward Kevin Butler, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Woollard said despite a pair of lopsided losses, the experience for the men's team will be valuable.
"I really think it was good for the young guys to get an idea of what they're getting into a little bit," he said. "They'll be able to reference these games all year. Anytime you get a chance to play people that are better than you, you get better."
Both the men's and women's teams will continue to practice in anticipation of the regular season, which is scheduled to start in mid-October.
For more information on the teams, visit www.questkermodes.ca.
