Senior Girls basketball - Hawks defeat Pandas

Pandas vs Hawks
C. Davis photos and video

Chris Davis, Sports

Matthew Halton School's Hawks Senior Girls basketball team put one in the win column last night, defeating the Crowsnest Pandas 68-43 in a hotly contested game at the Crowsnest Consolidated High School gym.

The Hawks outscored the Pandas in each of the first three quarters. They were ahead by a slim 18-14 after the first quarter, 38-27 in the second quarter, and 58-36 after the third quarter. The third quarter was also the most disappointing for the Pandas, who scored 4 points to the Hawks' 20. The final quarter was hotly contested, with both teams at their most aggressive while maintaining very strong defences. Intense. The Pandas outscored the Hawks 12-8 in that final quarter, but it wasn't enough to make up the difference.

Top scorer in the game was Hawks #9 Dakota Rae Van Loon with 25 points, closely followed by teammate #5 Kate Nicas with 22 points. Also scoring for the Hawks was #8 Alyssa Barbero with 14 points, #11 Ashton Duncan with 4 points, and #4 Nicole Davis with 3 points.

Top Pandas scorer Raegan Jackson

Scoring for the Pandas was #4 Raegan Jackson with 16 points, #11 Dakota LaDuke with 11 points, #5 Alexis Bohmer with 4 points, #7 Danika LaDuke with 2 points, and #14 Aislinn Maguire with 2 points.

Hawks Head Coach Randy Whitehead had a simple answer as to what made the difference in this game. "The Hustle."

"We just told them 'hustle' and they started to pick it up in the second half, on defence and on offence they were running up the floor and hustling back. That was the big difference. We got out of foul trouble too, in the first half we got into foul trouble because they were playing lazy defence."

"If they can hustle like that every game, they can be in every game, win or lose."

The Hawks and the Pandas get a couple of weeks off because of upcoming diploma exams but will be making up for it in February.  The Hawks have about 14 games scheduled in February,  including a couple of  home tournaments. "It's going to help us if we can keep that momentum," said Coach Whitehead.

The Pandas and the Hawks are scheduled to face each other again on February 12 at 6:00 pm at the Matthew Halton School gym.  It's a rematch to look forward too, as these long-time rival teams bring out the best in each other.