The Lacombe Composite Rams Senior Girls Basketball rode some hot-shooting in the third quarter by Point Guard Nina Secretario (8 points) en route to 63-35 win over the Stettler Wildcats.
Rams Coach Murray Cunningham said Secretario’s shooting help break a tight Wildcat zone defence.
“They shot well. We have to extend out defence and be able to push them out a bit further. As a team, we need to be more ready to shoot. Against the zone, it can be tough to get to the basket so we have to hit 15-footers,” he said.
Cunningham praised Stettler for staying disciplined and said his team showed resilience breaking through their zone
“Stettler is a really well-coached team, so you always know they’re going to be tough. They are fundamentally strong and once they got settled into their zone defence, it was a little tough for us. We were able to exploit that at the start to get a lead,” he said.
Cunningham said the game gives his squad some things to work on going forward.
“We have to work on our shooting and all of our fundamental stuff, but we fixed some things tonight and got a little better on the defensive side,” he said. “It is a good win for us and it is neat to see a lot of girls be able to play and see what they can do in a competitive environment.”
Cunningham said Secretario will be the Rams floor leader for this season.
“She is tough out there and she will hit more of those threes as the year goes on. We need more of that to stretch defences who will load up on us because of our height,” he said.
The Rams will, once again, be up against stiff competition from the Red Deer City teams.
“I think Hunting will be tough; Thurber is always good and Dame has some really good athletes. It is going to be a real tough year, but we think we will perform better than last year. We will challenge them,” he said.
Cunningham said it will be a good growth year for the program, with the Rams having a mix of age and skill.
“We have a lot of Grade 11s and a lot of Grade 10s, but we do have some senior leadership. We are really excited about the program and how it is grown the last few years,” he said.
An early measuring stick for the Rams will be their tournament in Sherwood Park before Christmas. Following that, they will also head north for another tough test in Leduc.
“We have competition in the league. There are some really good 3A school in our league and our 4A school are all ranked middle in the province. We won’t be competitive with the top schools in Edmonton and Calgary, but if we compete well against the Red Deer teams we will be really happy with our year,” he said.
Jenica Swartz lead the Rams with 12 points Peighton Melton added 11 and Faith Curtis shipped in 9 points for Lacombe. Willow Sorenson led the Wildcats with 9 points on the night.
Cunningham added, “I am proud of the girls, they are a great group of kids and the school here is always so good working with us to put a good program together. It is great to see the stands full. It will be a fun year.”
todd.vaughan@lacombeexpress.com
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