Women's Basketball Huskies top Ooks, extend winning streak to six
The Keyano Huskies Women's Basketball team extended their winning streak to six games with a 74-68 victory against the NAIT Ooks Sunday at the Syncrude Sport and Wellness Centre in Fort McMurray, Alta.
"Our mindset was just don't do what we did in that fourth quarter [Saturday]; don't do that today," noted Kiana Mintz. "We were in our own headspace today. It was still nice to win the game, but I think this just says a lot about what we have to do moving forward.
"It's definitely a learning curve for today."
Mintz once again led the field with 22 points while three other Huskies, Moiyan Toure, Kayla Lutterodt, and Danielle MacLellan also finished in double digits. Toure collected 13 rebounds as well to record another double-double.
"We built a 12-point lead and we didn't finish the game like yesterday," said Head Coach Dwayne Vigilance. "We sat back and allowed them to pressure and we weren't aggressive.
"I thought we deserved to win, but at the same time I thought we didn't finish it again."
The Ooks challenged the Huskies in the first quarter, building upon Saturday's impressive end to the game and found themselves down by just three through the first 10 minutes. The Ooks then took charge in the second quarter to hold a 37-36 lead against the Huskies.
Opening the third quarter, the Huskies retook control of the game, edging the Ooks 55-54. The Ooks would stay hot in pursuit of the Huskies, but let the deficit grow to six by the final horn.
Lucy Wilde and Aphia Ward led the Ooks with 23 and 22 points, respectively. Carly McHarg added seven while Katherine McDougall contributed six points to the visitor's final total.
The Huskies shot 50 per cent from the field, making five-of-19 three-point attempts along the way. Making 26 trips to the foul line, the Huskies made the Ooks pay 21 times throughout the game.
The Ooks countered with 41.3 per cent of their buckets made from the field on 26-of-63 shooting, including 11 made three-point attempts. They also went five-for-14 from the foul line.
A veteran in the league, Mintz said it was good for the team to be on the winning streak, but stressed that nothing was guaranteed at this point in the season.
"Especially personally, I know a winning streak does not mean anything," she said. "You can be undefeated the whole season, you can win as many games as you want, but it does not mean anything until we're in playoffs and we win the games that matter."
The wins also further solidified the Huskies' spot in the top half of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference's North Division. Vigilance echoed the sentiment of Mintz, in that the focus remained on keeping the focused on their goal to be playing into March.
I don't really think about it," said Vigilance. "It's just one of those things that it's nice to win, but the real games happen in March.
"That's when we want to win."
The Huskies are on the road next weekend for a single matchup against the Concordia Thunder at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 6.