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The Okanagan College Coyotes continued their hot play this weekend, coming away with 3 victories in 4 games vs the Langara Falcons. Unique to the Saturday games was a very successful tail gate party that preceded the games as well, Saturday marked the first time that the OC Coyotes called the KSS gym home. A bigger venue provided an exciting atmosphere with both the men’s and women’s teams winning their games in front of their biggest crowds of the season. A big shout out to McDonalds for being our game sponsor and for supplying numerous treats to our Kelowna Minor Basketball players and also a big shout out to Papa Johns for supplying pizza for our young future Coyote’s.
The men’s contest featured the Coyotes vs a very talented team from Langara. The Falcons did their best to showcase they’re shooting skills early and often, but our Coyote’s showed they have the talent to match and that was the making of an exciting evening at KSS. The score changed hands numerous times with Langara holding a 1 point lead at half time. The second half was action packed with the lead changing hands several times. OC managed to go up by 9 late in the fourth but Langara shot their way back into it, forcing the contest into overtime. In overtime our Coyote’s showed fight and poise to hold off the Falcons for an exciting 109-105 victory to the pleasure of the packed gym at KSS. Top scorers for OC Davide Ciancio with a career high 39pts and Curtis Wilson with 30pts.Pharmasave player of the game went to Davide Ciancio.
Coach Gini “First of all I want thank all our fans that filled the gym at KSS. We were competing with Halloween weekend and it was so awesome to see the great turnout. The games did not disappoint, both the women’s and men’s games were exciting to watch. They were a bit stressful to coach but all in all a great evening with a display of great shooting from both teams and energy from our fans.”
The second game was back to our home court Immaculata. OC Coyotes looked a step behind the Langara Falcons, who came out on a mission to not have a repeat of the previous night. They shot the ball very well combined with solid post play, they took a 21 pt lead in the 1st quarter and a 16 pt lead at halftime. The second half was a much better half for OC with the Coyote’s fighting back to tie the game late, but just could not hold on and lost a heartbreaker 93-83.
Coach Gini “Hats off to Langara, they shot the ball well again and out competed us for half the game. We definitely dug ourselves into a big hole, but I am proud of our guys in the second half to get it back to a tie ball game. Unfortunately we had to learn the hard way that we cannot sleep on anyone in PACWEST. I was also extremely impressed with a couple of our young players. Trajan Boyd played extremely well and was well deserving of Pharmasave player of the game, also Seth Blundell gave us spark and energy to make that come back, that was the bright spot for us and another exciting part of the growth of this team.”
In women’s action on Saturday the game did not disappoint with a huge come from behind victory vs Langara Falcons. The OC women’s team scored 8 pts in 18 seconds to make a stunning come back and thrill the crowd with an exciting 51-50 victory over Langara. Top scorers for OC in Saturday’s game were Megan Admussen-Blair with 17pts, Danielle Ruocco with 16pts, and Navneet Mann with 10pts. Pharmasave player of the game went to Navneet Mann. A fantastic team effort.
Coach Andrew Gini, “We played with intensity and urgency. It was really nice to see them have success directly related to team play and team hustle. It’s how we are built and how we need to win.”
As in the men’s team the women’s team shifted back to home court Immaculata High School for Sunday’s game. Unlike the men, the quick turn-around definitely did not affect the Coyote’s as they came out strong and finished strong with a convincing 61-39 victory. Top scorers were Jenna Bracken with 16pts, Ciara Bamford with 11pts, and Jessica Bergman with 11pts. Pharmasave player of the gamewent to Anna Carter with one of her best games of the season.
Coach Andrew “It was nice to finally get a complete game and have the ability to play everyone. We played with a higher IQ and really had energy on the defensive side for the entire game. I really enjoyed our team play, making that extra pass, and having our compete level there the whole game. It was very rewarding to have a convincing win against a tough team.”
Both Okanagan College Basketball teams are on the road this weekend. The women’s team travel to the Island to play VIU for 2 games the men’s team travel to Squamish to play Quest and then a short drive the following day to play SFU. Coach Dino Gini “We are looking forward to the upcoming weekend. We will be playing a couple of different teams that we have not seen this year as of yet, and have the opportunity to play SFU which should be a great experience. Our women’s team has a rematch weekend with VIU and those should all be excellent competitive games for both our programs. I am so excited for both programs and the connections we continue to build in our community. There is another team on the block and we’re making a statement. It’s fun to watch”
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