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A packed gymnasium and a festive atmosphere greeted the newly minted Okanagan College Coyotes men’s and women’s basketball teams on the weekend at Immaculata Regional High School.
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And while the opening weekend of their inaugural exhibition season produced just one win in four games for the host OC squads against the Ambrose University Lions of Calgary, Dino Gini, president of the Kelowna College Basketball Society, was pleased with the overall outcome.
“It was a great evening (Friday) and an even better crowd,” said Gini, also head coach of the men’s team that came out on the short end of a 85-77 decision on Friday and a 94-86 score Saturday afternoon. “We would have loved to have come up with two wins, but we played hard and both our teams had the opportunity to get a lot of players on the court. We now know our identity a bit better and where we stand.”
Gini, a longtime coach of Immaculata boys’ and girls’ high school teams, added he was impressed with both OC teams — on and off the court.
“We will get better and we’ll work on the defensive side of the game all this week in preparation for our games (at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford) next weekend.”
Meanwhile, Gini’s son Andrew, coached the OC women to a split of their games against Ambrose. The Coyotes fell 83-57 on opening night while bouncing back for a freewheeling 92-87 victory on Saturday.
“Our team shot the ball very well from the three and adjusted to Ambrose’s press after Friday’s game, leading to a lot more transition points for us,” pointed out the younger Gini. “We showed some obvious nerves in our first game, but we were really able to make some necessary changes on Saturday.
“I think everyone was more comfortable and played with more confidence and poise. It was really nice to get a win early on in our program.”
A close game for most of the first three quarters, the women’s encounter on Friday saw Ambrose, a member of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference, pull away in the final 10 minutes for a convincing win.
Danielle Ruocco, a Penticton product, led the Coyotes with 13 points and garnered player-of-the-game honours for her team. Navneet Mann (Oliver) and Megan Admussen-Blair (Penticton) both contributed 10 points in a losing cause.
On Saturday, the Coyotes got off to an impressive start, hitting for 34 points in the first quarter on the way to the surprising push-back win.
Six OC players hit for double figures, including player-of-the-game Ciara Bamford of Princeton (24) and Admussen-Blair (20).
The first men’s game featured several lead changes, but Ambrose put the game away with a superior-shooting fourth quarter.
Jeff Tubbs, a Mt. Boucherie Secondary School grad who played two seasons at Thompson Rivers University, was selected as the Coyotes’ player of the game while Curtis Wilson of Victoria led the team in points with 16. Jesse Vissia (Keremeos) chipped in with 11 for OC.
Wilson again led the OC offensive in Saturday’s rematch, scoring 25 points while point guard, Matt Lafontaine, a UBC Okanagan transfer and Kelowna Secondary Owls graduate, contributed 19 points for the Coyotes.
“We had a much better performance on Saturday,” noted Dino Gini. “We played with more urgency and a better IQ. The most important thing is that we got better and more organized. We now have the opportunity to work on aspects of our game that we saw needed addressing after this weekend.”
Slated to join B.C.'s PacWest Conference next season, the Coyotes will continue their exhibition season in Abbotsford this weekend while they’ll play host to future conference opponents from Capilano College (North Vancouver) on Sept. 29 and 30 at Immaculata.
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