It's hibernation season, but don't tell the Kermodes that.
This past weekend, the Quest Kermodes women's basketball team clawed their way to a pair of impressive wins against the Douglas Royals on Friday (Jan.10) and Langara Falcons on Saturday (Jan.11) after a 40-day hiatus from Pacwest league play.
On Friday, Quest earned a 64-51 victory as Shayna Cameron led the way for the Kermodes with a game-high 14 points, three assists and three steals. Cynthia Lau also provided a scoring spark with 11 points on a near perfect shooting night (4/4 FG, 2/2 3PT, 1/2 FT).
The Kermodes' smothering defensive presence ultimately won them the game. The Royals shot an abysmal three of 30 from the field in the first half and 25.4 per cent for the game.
"It was our first game back [since the break] and we were really excited to play," Lau said. "We had a lot of energy on the defensive end. We felt like we should have shut them down even more but we'll take it."
It was more of the same on Saturday as Quest put on another impressive defensive performance. Quest held the Falcons to just 26.5 per cent from the field and forced them into 29 turnovers en route to a convincing 59-42 victory.
Defensive staple Katrin Sandbichler stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, 11 rebounds, six steals, four assists and two blocks, while Aimee Johnston chipped in 10 points and four rebounds.
With the pair of wins, the women grabbed sole possession of second place as they head into an important pair of games this coming weekend against Vancouver Island University and Camosun College - the only teams to beat the Kermodes this season.
Like the women, the men handily defeated the Royals, 97-72, on Friday.
The trio of Cartiea French-Toney, Jose Colorado and Shedrick Nelson led the charge for the Kermodes. French-Toney recorded a team-high 20 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two steals, while Colorado and Nelson contributed 19 and 14 points, respectively.
The Kermodes' weekend went south on Saturday, when the Falcons stomped the Kermodes 112-77 in front of a boisterous crowd.
Kwantlen's Brody Greig, torched the Kermodes' defence all night long and had a game-high 34 points and nine assists. As a team, the Falcons shot 50.6 per cent from the field and 37.5 per cent from three-point range while only committing nine turnovers.
The Kermodes struggled on offence, shooting 36 per cent from the field and 20 per cent from beyond the three-point line.
Colorado scored 29 points for the Kermodes while Paul Getz had an impressive showing of 11 points and 10 rebounds in only 21 minutes of action.
The Quest men's and women's teams host Vancouver Island on Friday (Jan. 16) and Camosun College on Saturday (Jan.17).
- With files from Jose Colorado, Quest University
