The Chestermere Lady Lakers used a 27-point fourth quarter effort to defeat the Bert Church Chargers 64-53, Jan. 12 at Chestermere High School, and earn its first win of the Rocky View Sports Association season.
Yasmene Saghir had a game-high 29 points and Richelle Rawlyk added 20, including three three-pointers, to lead Chestermere (1W-3L). Hayley Sera led Bert Church, which drops to 0W-4L, with 16 points.
ìIt was a huge win for us,î said Lakers head coach Brian Utley. ìWeíre a young team and weíre still sort of finding our way, so it was big first step for us. Iím proud of our effort tonight.î
ìWe didnít look after the ball when we needed to,î said Chargers head coach Ian Ferguson. ìWe played tentative, we played scared, and they capitalized on it. We got killed on the rebounds in the first half, which really hurt us.î
The Lakers led 31-21 at the half, but the Chargers went on a 10-0 run to start the third quarter and tie the game. Rawlyk then hit a clutch three to put Chestermere back up heading into the fourth.
ìWe had a tough start to the third quarter,î Utley said. ìThey were beating our press deep, so we made a bit of a modification in the third and fourth quarters. There was a lot of turnovers in the game, but we played mentally tough and we havenít always done that this year.î
The Lakers, who lost to the Chargers in the Bert Church Invitational tournament in December, outscored the visitors 27-17 in the fourth, with Saghir, Raqlyk and Rachel Cooke providing the majority of the offence.
ìThey were by far the better team in the fourth quarter,î Ferguson said. ìYas, No. 21, absolutely demolished us. She was the reason they had the lead they had. In the early part of that fourth quarter, we had lots of good looks but just couldnít finish.î
ìI thought they tired out a bit and we started converting in the last five or six minutes of the game,î Utley said.
With a two-week break due to diploma exams, Bert Church wonít play its next game until Feb. 1, when it hosts George McDougall. Chestermere will play at Cochrane on the same say in its next game.
ìWeíve got to keep practicing, keep hitting the gym ñ you donít want to take a step back on a break,î Ferguson said. ìThis is a weird January, as this is the only game weíve got. Then weíll gear up and get ready for the run in February leading into March.î
