By Christine Hosler
[1]The tallest player on the courst on Saturday was Algonquin's Esmat Atem, listed as 6'7. Here Atem looks to get the ball around Loyalist players. The Lancers won the game 72-63 against Algonquin.
It’s like a huge step forward only to fall down and roll down a hill backwards.
That’s how one Loyalist basketball player described the weekend. The Lancers had two games this weekend. Saturday they faced Algonquin at home, and Sunday La Cité came to visit.
Saturday was a display of all the potential the Loyalist Lancers men’s basketball team has as they kept up momentum throughout the whole game, beating Algonquin, the top team in the Eastern Region (and tied with Centennial) 72-63.
“The guys executed what we needed to execute and they played tough,” said Rich Whitfield, head coach for the men’s team.”
But apparently the high of beating a top ranked team wasn’t enough to carry Loyalist over. The Lancers suffered a disappointing 73-71 loss to La Cité Sunday. La Cité is now 2-8, and the Lancers are 4-5 after the weekend.
“We played great basketball against Algonquin and did all of the right things we needed to beat a top team,” said Lancer Matt Miller. “Coming into the La Cité game we started out slow from warm up and played down to their level and didn’t execute near the end of the game and lost a tough one.”
The ladies also suffered a disappointing loss Saturday, falling 62-44 against Algonquin.
[2]Loyalist Lancer Rob Hansen during his on court seizure. Hansen has no memory of any of it, but is epileptic and says it's happened before. The men won 72-63 against Algonquin on Saturday, but lost 73-71 to La Cite on Sunday.
“We were disappointed that we lost by 18 because we fought hard and played well for three quarters of the game,” said Ken Smith, assistant coach for the Lady Lancers. “It’s just that when you look at the score at the end you think, well, we just got kicked, but we didn’t.”
Smith said the girls got a little tired since only seven girls played the whole game. But he also says one player stood out for him.
“Samantha Goff had an outstanding game,” said Smith. “She’s been struggling a little bit offensively and today she contributed 10 points. I thought she was just outstanding.”
Goff agrees that she’s getting her head back in the game.
“Just with each game find improvement and, getting more intense, more of an offense threat than just a defensive player,” said Goff. “As a team we’re just playing more together.”