The wins just keep adding up for the Briercrest College Clippers women’s basketball team, and after another successful weekend in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference action, they find themselves within striking distance of the South Division leaders.
The Clippers picked up a 70-60 win over the SAIT Trojans on Friday and followed up with a 68-55 victory in Saturday’s rematch to extend their winning streak to six games. That gives Briercrest an 11-7 record overall, good enough to sit two points back of Red Deer and Lethbridge for second place in the division.
The Clippers only led by a pair 34-32 at halftime in their opener, but outscored SAIT 23-13 in the third quarter and never looked back.
Brooklyn Martens led the way with 18 points and 13 rebounds for BC, while Amber Fichtner had 16 points and nine rebounds to go along with 12 points each from Dori Sunderland and Maddison Beattie.
Briercrest got off to a great start Saturday at Margaret P. Reimer gymnasium, leading 20-8 after the first 10 minutes, but SAIT clawed their way back to within four at the half. That lead was two points much of the third quarter, but the Clippers would pull away for their comfortable win.
Fichtner had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Martens 14 points and eight rebounds and Beattie 11 points.
The Clippers women’s volleyball team also find themselves on a six-match winning streak after back-to-back wins over SAIT in Calgary.
Briercrest rolled to a 3-1 (25-18, 25-23, 25-27, 25-20) win Friday’s opener and followed up with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-19) victory in the rematch. That’s good enough for a 10-7 record and a three-way tie with Lethbridge and Red Deer for second in the South Division.
Rachel Stead and Julia Beer each had 12 kills in the opening win, while Kelsey Simes put down 10. Brynn Hardy led the defence with nine digs, setter Jess Zacharias had 36 assists and eight digs. Moose Jaw’s Summer Okerstrom had five kills and three digs.
Simes led Briercrest with 10 kills Saturday, Beer added nine and Okerstrom four. Zacharias had 29 assists.
Briercrest returned to their winning ways in men’s volleyball with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-18) win over SAIT in their opener and 3-2 (25-17, 19-25, 18-25, 25-21, 15-12) victory on Saturday.
The Clippers are now 10-7 and sit in fourth place in the South, two points back of Olds College.
Karym Coleman had a stellar outing Friday despite the short match, putting down 23 kills. Jackson Anderson added 12 kills, Jeremy Martens had 24 assists.
Coleman picked up 22 kills and eight digs on Saturday, while Tyson Nachtigall had nine kills. Cole Johnson led the defence with 12 digs, Martens had 45 assists.
It was a tough weekend for the Clippers men’s hockey team, as they lost a pair of heartbreakers to first-place Red Deer, dropping a 3-2 decision Friday and following up with a 4-3 loss Saturday.
Colton Aikens opened scoring for Briercrest 4:28 into the weekend's first game, but Red Deer would score three straight through the remainder of the contest to take a 3-1 lead into the final minute. Jacob Arsenault got one back for the Clippers as time ran down, but they’d be unable to find the tying goal.
Dominik Tmej made 33 saves in taking the loss.
The Clippers got off to an even better start on Saturday at the Barkman Arena, as Zachary Thususka and Trey Doell scored in the game’s first seven minutes for a 2-0 lead. Red Deer got one back before the period was out, though, and outscored the Clippers 3-1 in the second before going on to their 4-3 win.
Halen Cordoni scored Briercrest’s other goal, Tmej turned aside 36 shots.
Briercrest took a couple of tough losses in men’s basketball, losing 94-81 in their opener against SAIT and falling 90-69 in the rematch.
The Clippers are now 2-16 and in eighth place in the South Division.
Zach Martens led Briercrest with 14 points and seven rebounds in game one, with Central grad Kaedyn Banilevic joining Matthew Bryant in putting up 13 points each. Brolin Simes added 12 and Lual Piok 10.
Piok put together his best game of the season Saturday, scoring 18 points with five rebounds, while Moose Jaw product Riley Seaborn picked up 18 points and seven rebounds. Simes had a 16-point outing, Martens hauled in 11 rebounds.
All five teams are back in action this coming weekend, with men’s and women’s basketball hosting Keyano College Friday and SAIT on Saturday. Men’s hockey makes the trip to Edmonton to face NAIT for a two-game set, while men’s and women’s volleyball are at Keyano Friday and Lakeland Saturday to close out their regular season.
