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Thunder Women’s Basketball Secure a Pair of Victories

Posted on: Feb 2, 2015

This past weekend the Thunder Women’s Basketball team were looking to get back into the win column.  But early in the first game Friday night, it was the King's Eagles that were the ones to take flight. “King's is hungry; they're looking for their first win of the season and teams like that are more dangerous than the top teams because they're not satisfied yet,” opened Coach Valpreda.  The Thunder responded to the Eagle's early charge and demonstrated their best transition game of the season.  “We rebounded the ball, got the outlet and it was great to see players sprinting ahead of the ball for easy transition points."  At the half, the score was 25-23 for the Thunder.  In the second half, the Thunder started to pull away, going into the fourth quarter with at 48-41 lead. But the fourth quarter turned into a track meet that saw King's hit some timely three pointers. With just one minute left in the game, the Thunder trailed by 2 points. "We didn’t panic and I told the girls (that) 'we're in an ok situation'; we just have to get a stop and get a basket.”  That is just what the Thunder did and forced the game into overtime.  In the extra frame, the Thunder saw a player 'emerge from the shadows.'  “Lindsay Piper has been great for us," enthused Valpreda.  'She has come in and filled Alyssa (Bridgeman's) position and done a wonderful job. She made a big 3 point shot in the OT and some clutch free throws to give the Thunder a 72-70 win.“   Lindsay also collected her first Player of the Game award of the season.
On Saturday night the Thunder were back home to take on the Eagles. King's came out firing and took an early 10-4 lead, but the Thunder hung in the fight and were down just 16-15 after the first quarter. Going into halftime, the Thunder were up 27-23.  "Our chat at halftime was to let the girls know that we're still in a great situation and that we need to be limiting turnovers and defensive rebounding."  As the second half started the Thunder jumped out and set the tempo early. “We made the adjustments we needed to and the tone was set by 4th year player Meagan McIntosh. Meg was aggressive; she rebounded and even ran the transition break and the other players fed off of that."  The Thunder jumped out to a 15 point lead and although the Eagles cut the deficit to 10, the Thunder were able to maintain that spread and cruised to a 55-45 win. “Tonight we were great. We shot 87% from the free throw line and everyone contributed to the stat sheet. These are the games that give some momentum. Now we get a chance to rest and hopefully heal up some injuries," concluded Valpreda. Meagan McIntosh took Player of the Game honours, recording 8 points and 10 rebounds.
The Thunder will now enjoy a week off as they prepare to host their final home games of the season when the Keyano Huskies visit the Ralph King on February 13 and 14th, with game times at 6 and 1 PM, respectively.

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Photo Courtesy of John McIntosh