Sea to Sky Challenge.

Last Wednesday we hosted Capilano at home, a nationally top 10 ranked team. Cap had beat us badly in pre season and after a couple of really solid games against Camosun we were ready to go. We came out a little slow in the first quarter and gave up too many points in the second to find ourselves down 39-23 at the half. Our third quarter was one of the best quarters we played all year with strong defense and good execution on offense. We worked really hard to find ourselves down 4 points after starting quarter with a 12-0 run to close it to 39-35. We had a really short bench, shortly than our usual 8 since Brittany Shalagan had the flu and Jaci Hendrickson was on the bench with 3 quick fouls 5 minutes into the first quarter. The starters were being stretched to their limit and i was really happy with their performance. We outscored Capilano 17-13 in the third and we finally ran out of gas and lost the fourth 18-6. Final score was 70-46. The score didn't really reflect the great game that we played with such a small bench. We rebounded really well this game and we were pretty solid in our half court set. 33 turnovers again led to way to many scores for Cap and missed opportunities for ourselves. Allie Chalke was the player of the game with 10 points and an awesome 14 rebounds, 6 of them on the offensive glass. Allie has been playing really well as of late and she has been our most consistent player. Charlotte Lau rebounded from her struggles to lead the team with 13 points with 50 % shooting from the floor, 5 rebounds  and strong defense. We shot 28% from the floor, 9 percent from the three and 56% from the line, numbers that need to increase for better chances to win. Overall i was pretty happy with the performance considering our bench depth.

Friday we headed down to Capilano to play them at home. We just did not have a good game and i think it was a result of being tired and having played 3 really tough games over the last couple of weeks and really leaning heavy on our starters. Britt Shalagan was not able to play due to injury and we did not come out with our usual tough half court defense. We were not able to get out to their shooters and we gave up another 30 turnovers, costly against great teams. Jaci Hendrickson had a good game leading the team with 15 points and a superb 8/8 from the free throw line, and 8 rebounds. Allie Chalke had solid game trying to anchor the defense and getting to the line 12 times. As a team we shot 73% from the line. Final score was 69-45. 

This week we are regrouping for two big games at home against Kwantlen, a great 3 point shooting team. We both have three wins and this will be THE weekend for us. Britt Shalagan will be back so that will help our depth greatly. We are pretty excited about these games and will be a defining weekend for Quest Basketball.

Thanks again for all the support from friends and families.....Coach Hann

Faith

Thanks to Peter Harteveld for this quote.

"It's easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you're a winner, when you're number one. What you got to have is faith and discipline when you're not a winner." 

Stepping up to the Challenge.

GAME 1

This weekend we hosted the Camosun Chargers. They are the number one team in our league and 3rd ranked in Canada. It was a pretty big challenge that laid before us but we have been working hard in practice and came off a good defensive effort the week before against CBC.  In the first game the girls were outstanding defensively in the first half. It was our best half of basketball to date. We were aggressive and competed on every possession. We got to the half down 5 points, 23-18. Offensively we were not great but our defense again gave us a chance to win the game. We also realized that we can play with anyone in the league when we are all on the same page and working intensely. Camosun though, woke up in the third quarter. They shot the ball really well and we were not smart defending their best shooter, Carmen Lapthorne. Camosun put up 29 points on us in the third and outscored us badly in the 4th. I wouldn't say we ran out of gas in the second half because we are pretty fit. I think we didn't play smart defensive basketball in the second half. We also had problems throughout the game with their press. We turned the ball over 34 times. This of course didn't give us a chance to score.......34 times. Unacceptable at this level. We were not disciplined in our attack and we were sloppy with our passing. Final score 71-37. Great first half, poor second half, turnover, turnover turnover. We did realize though that we can play with anyone in this league. Jaci Hendrickson was the player of the game. She had her best game defensively. 

Game 2

Game 2 on Saturday didn't start as well as we had hoped. We found ourselves down 24-11 after the 1st quarter. We did not come out with good energy defensively and we struggled offensively. I ripped into the team at the quarter and we responded with our best quarter this year. Our intensity stepped up a couple of notches and we found some scoring. It was a defining quarter for us. We easily could have continued our uninspired play and gone down 20 or 30 points but instead we decided to compete and battle. With that effort we beat Camosun 18-11 in the second quarter and went into the half down 6. I was very impressed with the girls and their effort and their will to come back and play hard.  We were great defensively in the third quarter holding them to 11 points but our offense was so poor I found it very frustrating to watch. Their defensive intensity was great and we just couldn't get any good looks and only managed to score 6 points. I was pretty frustrated because we had such a good opportunity with our great defense to tie and even lead the game but we did not take advantage of this opportunity. We did run out of gas in the 4th and lost 64-45.  Allie Chalke was player of the game. She was outstanding in the first half, especially on the offensive glass. Again we turned the ball over 34 times, not so much against the press but with poor passing and travels in the half court. Our shooting percentage was terrible.....19% and 9% from the three. Way too many missed lay ups and shots late in the clock.  We did attack the glass offensively as we got to the line over 30 times scoring 20 points from there. We must take better shots and get the shots off earlier in the shot clock if we are to beat the good teams.

I was really happy overall with our performance on the weekend. We worked hard, competed and played a lot more intense than we have in the past. We are improving and getting stronger and better every time we go out. We must work on our offense and find ways to score and to become scorers. We play Capilano at home on Wednesday. Thanks to everyone for their support....Coach Hann

POTENTIAL

"Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcomes. Therefore give yourself fully to your endeavours. Decide to construct your character through excellent actions and determine to pay the price of a worthy goal. Remain steadfast.....and one day you will build something that endures; something worthy of your potential." - Epictetus, Roman Teacher and Philosopher.

TOUGHNESS, INTENSITY, COMPETITION

These three words became our Mantra for our game vs CBC this Friday. It started earlier in the week. After coming to a few realizations after our games against UNBC we came into practice fired up and ready to work hard. We really pushed our defense and worked hard on our help side man to man. Most importantly we needed to battle in practice. You practice how you play and if your soft in practice you will be soft in the game. We needed some fire in our eyes and a look that told our opposition, "it ain't gonna be easy for you." 

Friday night we had an outstanding game, especially on the defensive end of the court. We had great play from everyone top to bottom. There was no difference in the competitiveness and work ethic from each player, nothing lost regardless of who was on the floor. WE WERE CONSISTENT on the defensive end of the floor. This needs to become our identity.......toughness, intensity and competition. 

Our first five minutes vs CBC was the last of our poor and inconsistent play leaving our bodies. AFter that we never looked back. 22-13 1st quarter, 19-11 second quarter. I challenged the girls to keep CBC to single digits per quarter. We did not accomplish that goal in the first half but we did in the second half holding CBC to 9 points in the third and 5 in the fourth. Outstanding job defensively. We won the game 74-38. It was not about the win, it was about HOW we won. Its not if you lose, its HOW you lose. Simply, we must be better, tougher, never giving an inch to anyone, especially in our own house. No excuses. We need to carry this attitude into every game, playing beyond our abilities against the top teams. David vs Goliath. Courage, life and death attitude. Being nice works well off the court. We need to be physical and tough. We must carry this into our game vs Camosun. They are the top team in our league and ranked third in Canada. Wow, what an opportunity for us to see where we are at. To see where are heads are at. Will we go into this game scared and without confidence or will we walk into war with a team who expects to have their way with us? Will we be able to look our teammates in the eye after our game and know that we did all we could, win or lose? I am excited to find out.

Nicola Hitchcock had an All Canadian game and stat line.......22 pts, 16 rebounds and went 8/8 from the free throw line. Nicola can and will be a 20/10 player in this league. Outstanding performance. Charlotte Lau was our defensive stopper again and held their best player down to 2 points and 1-6 shooting. She also contributed 14 points. Britt Harteveld had a good game with 14 points but it was her defense that impressed me the most. Chelsey also had a great performance defensively. Allie Chalke had 9 rebounds and became much more aggressive offensively inside. Jaci ran a great offense, especially against their zone. It was a huge team effort. 

Thanks to the parents, friends and family who were there to support us and thanks so much to Jen, Andrew and the home crew for their work. You guys did a great job and we really appreciate it. 

See you this weekend......Coach Hann

Motivation

Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.- Stephen Covey

Developing Consistency

This past weekend we hosted UNBC, the defending champions from our league. After a good week of practice we had high hopes of playing well at home. We got off to a horrible start in Friday's game. Our offense was nowhere to be found and we turned the ball over against their trapping full court man press. UNBC capitalized on our mistakes and lead 22-5 after the first quarter. The second quarter was much better as we settled into our offense. Pt. Guard Jaci Hendrickson led the way going a stellar 4/4 in the first half from the 3pt line. Half time score was 49-28. We played well in the third and cooled off in the fourth. Final score was 85-45. We also have another new player, Tyler O' Collins-Cook from Oregon. Tyler is just learning our offense and gets more and more comfortable as the practices and games move on. Both Tyler and Allison Black had some of the prettiest free throws(made) in 2009 this game. Jaci was the player of the game with 18 points and our team shot and incredible 83 % from the free throw line which is our best to date and 60% from the 3 pt line, wow. We need to develop some consistency on offense and we will be okay down the road. What's frustrating is I see moments of greatness with our team on both ends of the floor. We have very good potential and we need to continue to develop that potential and get better every time out. Consistency and trust are the keys.

Although I challenged the girl's on Saturday to start well with great effort starting with running a good offense it was like the movie GroundHog Day, I woke up to see the first quarter the same as the first quarter on Friday. Our defense was uninspired and again we turned the ball over. I was having a really tough time on the sidelines as was my water bottle and marker. We were down big again 18-4 after the first. I was somewhat speechless at the quarter but the girls came out and played some outstanding man to man defense in the second quarter. We hustled and were all over the loose balls. We shut them down to 9 points but again our offense was weak as we only scored 9 ourselves. We found ourselves down 27-13 at the half. Poor offense and good defense gave us a chance to get back in the game in the second half but unfortunately we were outscored 24-13 in the 3rd. We turned the ball over close to 3o times for the game which is unacceptable and will not allow us to really compete with teams if we continue to do this. The girls did a great job in the last quarter playing our 2-3 zone. We rebounded well and got out on the break but we couldn't finish. Our nemesis, the missed lay-up, was with us through the evening. I felt the girls battled really well though. We were missing Britt Shalagan and Chelsey Forsberg injured her ankle but played a valiant game. Nicola Hitchcock was our player of the game.

This week we are getting ready for CBC. We need to be ready for them and we hope to get back on the winning track with our home game against them this Friday.

Thanks to every one for coming out to support our team and thanks very much to Jen, Andrew and his home crew team who do an outstanding job each and every home game. We really appreciate you.......Coach Hann

NEVER GIVE IN

"Never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

- Sir Winston Churchill.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Well, happy new year to everyone. After a long break we played two games against Langara this past weekend. In our first game on Friday we showed signs of being pretty rusty and out of shape. Our first quarter was great though as we pushed the ball and ran effective offenses ending the quarter down 1, 17-16. As we have a tendency to do we forgot to play the second quarter. We were outscored 22-3 and that was the ball game. Their post, Carling Muir went on a tear and scored 16 of the teams 22 points. We obviously were not effective trying to stop her and we did not make the necessary changes defensively to help. Our help side and team defense was nowhere to be found.  The third quarter was not much better as we were beat 23-8. I challenged the girls to win the 4th and they did scoring 16 point to their 12. 72-43 Langara. They shot the ball really well going 46% from the field and 40% from the three. We showed flashes of strong play but our long lay off really hurt us. It was also the first game for our new point guard, Jaci Hendrickson. She had an outstanding first quarter but tired quickly as the game progressed. Jaci will be very effective for us as she continues to get into game shape. Britt led the team with 12 points while Charlotte, Nicola and Allie all had 7 points. 

Saturday's game proved to be a lot better for us. Even though we were ineffective offensively in the first half our defense was excellent as we held down Carling forcing her into a 6-23 shooting for the game. Half time score was 23-13, not the most exciting basketball ever played but great from the defensive standpoint. The third quarter was solid for us as we tied the game and lead for most of the quarter. Offensively we started to play a lot better running disciplined offenses  and pushing the ball for fast break points while our defense continued its strong play. We won the third 15-8. Our conditioning hurt us in the 4th as we gave up 19 points. We put up 16 ourselves but it was not enough as we were beat 50-44. We had a great game overall defensively and had a great second half offensively. Britt Harteveld had 15 for the game and Charlotte Lau had 11. Charlotte had a great weekend playing with great energy and strong defensive intensity. Our free throw shooting was excellent. We were 8 for 8 in the second half and went 83% for the game which is our best to date. We also rebounded really well but turned the ball over 24 times to their 12. We have the necessary tools to compete with teams every night but we must be more consistent if we are to get back into the win column. We will be working pretty hard this week at practice. 

We will continue to build for our games against UNBC at home on Friday and Saturday at 6:00pm. 

Take care and thanks for everyone's support over the weekend.....Coach Hann