Women's basketball slay the Dragons

By Jeff Lloyd

lloy0059@algonquincollege.com

The women’s Algonquin Thunder basketball team continued their exhibition play with a decisive 83–45 win over the Laflèche Dragons from Trois Rivières, Que., on Sept. 28.

The Thunder dominated most of the game, with much of the ball in their control, leaving very little possession for Laflèche.

The game got rougher as it moved along, with most of the battles coming from loose balls.  In the end, the Dragons racked up 20 team fouls to Algonquin’s 15.

Algonquin was led by strong play from Dalya Aywas and Kristen Hibbert, who each netted 19 points.

“We had lots of energy,” said head coach John MacInnis. “We also had good communication, which was a huge positive to take out of this game.”

Laflèche head coach Dominique Semo was critical of his team’s performance.

“There were many turnovers,” said Semo.  “We were not as good as we needed to be.  We need definite improvement, but that will come.”

Laflèche, who are from the Collegial AA division, played Algonquin as part of some tune-up games for both sides in order to get ready for the start of the regular season.

The Thunder had just come off playing an early season tournament in Montreal. 

This season may present some challenges as it does look quite different from last year’s roster, especially with the addition of seven new players.

In order to get familiar with one another, the team got together at a cottage outside of Westport over the weekend to establish team bonding over different activities.

This is a big step towards the team’s success over the course of the year, but it is understood that it may take awhile.

“We are still working out the kinks,” said MacInnis.  “But we should be alright.”

The Thunder get ready to face-off against another exhibition opponent when they meet Trois-Rivières on Friday night and Montmorency on Saturday afternoon, before beginning regular season action, which for the Thunder, starts on Oct. 10.

If it is any indication of this team’s progress, the first game was a step in the right direction.