The Competitive Edge

‘Competitive’ is not a word often associated with our women’s basketball team; in fact, many have been quick to judge the Lady ‘Cats as a sort of ‘lost cause’ in recent seasons. But competitive is precisely what they were in their double-header at home versus Lethbridge last weekend.

Lethbridge’s Pronghorns paid a visit to the Bobcats January 16th and 17th as they marked their first home games of 2010. Those around Brandon that missed the match-ups doubtlessly did a double take when it was announced that the ‘Cats had notched their second win of the season, and very nearly pulled off a third.

65-60 was the score of the first game—the first time the Brandon squad has been on the winning end of a scoreboard since their at-home defeat of Thompson Rivers on Nov. 27th. The advantage switched to Lethbridge’s favour in the second match, as the Bobcats lost 72-67. What might be considered heartbreaking to some is seen as a positive for the hometown team, who certainly were not to be taken lightly this weekend. Their game 2 effort proved enough to lead the Pronghorns by more than 10 points at the close of both the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Indeed, defensively the Bobcats shone—holding their opponents to only 12 points/quarter in both of those timeframes.

Although Lethbridge is far from the top of the rankings, in beating them once and coming very close a second time, the Bobcats have shown that they’re certainly improving upon the past. Of the 8-team Canada West Prairie Division in which Brandon currently sits at number 8, Lethbridge has a hold of the 4th place spot—a situation where the Pronghorns had good reason to assume their games in Brandon would be a sure-win.

With these games in hand, Brandon Head Coach Jaime Hickson now has some concrete stats to show for the development that she has intended for her program during her four-year stint with the team. The team that she has grown is finally moving up from the ground, and if her plans come to fruition, they will only go up from here.