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Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference "To be Canada's premiere collegiate athletic conference by developing and inspiring leadership through excellence in academics, sport and citizenship"
Posted: Oct 28, 2022

Defenses Feature in Clipper Win Over Lethbridge

Box Score
Game Leaders
LPK
Pts: Kitawna Sparks - 17
Reb: Kitawna Sparks - 12
Ast: 2 Players (#6, #8) - 3
BC
Pts: Brooklyn Martens - 18
Reb: Amber Fichtner - 12
Ast: Hannah Matuszewski - 4
Team Stats
Full stats

By Jeff Misener

The Briercrest Clippers women's basketball team entertained the Lethbridge Kodiaks in their home opener. Under head coach Anthony Skepple, the hosts opened their campaign with a split against Ambrose; Lethbridge entered tonight's tilt in a three-way tie of undefeated teams.

Clippers' Brooklyn Martens opened the scoring with an inside hoop, followed by Amber Fichtner with a strong offensive board and putback. Eve Duerksen nailed a three for the hosts and Maddison Beattie's bucket gave Briercrest a 10-7 edge. Although Lethbridge went to the free throw line early and often, the home team came out of the quarter ahead 13-8.

Lethbridge cut into the lead thanks to Kitawna Sparks' offensive efforts. When Fichtner was forced to the bench with early foul trouble, teammate Melissa Ellis stepped up and dropped a bucket in heavy traffic. Kodiaks' Tylee Leavitt scored five consecutive points to cut the lead to two. Sparks provided the visitors with a brief edge, but the Clippers amped up their rebounding on the defensive end. Montana Berezay made a triple for Lethbridge to tie the game with a minute left, but Beattie's triple allowed Briercrest to enter the intermission up 26-23.

Briercrest built a seven-point bulge before an offensive flurry by Kodiak's Courtney Deemter, Leavitt and Sparks turned the score in favour of the Kodiaks. Briercrest's Amanda Pelster and Hannah Matuszewski led a defensive burst, but Lethbridge held the edge at the end of three quarters, 38-35.

In the final stanza, Fichtner and Martens worked to erase the Lethbridge lead before Sparks banked a deuce and Berezay splashed a triple. Both teams found their defensive chops, but with seven seconds remaining, the Kodiaks forced Martens to the line, and her free throw gave Briercrest an exciting 48-46 win.

Courtney Deemter of the visiting Kodiaks had 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 steals to earn Player of the Game honours. For Briercrest, Taylor Baerg received the nod, notching 5 points and 11 boards off the bench. Lethbridge's Kitawna Sparks and Briercrest's Amber Fichtner had double doubles for their respective teams.