Skip to content

Lakers hold onto lead with win over Ponoka

The H.J. Cody senior women’s basketball team hosted the Ponoka Broncs on Thursday, January 12.
17184sylvanlakeTaylor-Ferguson-12-Laker-Girls
GOING UP - Taylor Ferguson looked to control the Broncs’ defenders during a home game on January 12.

The H.J. Cody senior women’s basketball team hosted the Ponoka Broncs on Thursday, January 12.

The game seemingly played out differently for the Lakers throughout as the game progressed with both teams off to a slow start in the first half before blew it open in the third quarter going up by as much as 20 points. The Lakers unfortunately would let go of the lead in the fourth quarter leading to a tense last five minutes where the Lakers were able to sneak out with a 48-46 win.

“Ponoka played a lot harder then we have seen before. I don’t think we were ready for that,” Coach Matthew Kennedy said. “They came out of the gates flying and we were a little slow. We picked it up in the third quarter and rode that lead to the victory.”

The Lakers were led by Megan Steenbergen’s 16 points and a full court press that stifled the Bronc’s offense. The press led to easy Laker buckets off turnovers.

“I think that we played a good defensive game,” Laker guard Madison Dodman said. “Our offensive game was off a bit but we tried our best. It was a hard fought win and Ponoka played really well.”

The game was littered with multiple fluctuations of intensity - something the Lakers recognized and look to improve upon.

“We want to keep our intensity at a high level throughout the game,” Kennedy said. “We are seeing dips and that’s why we get splits in the game. If we keep that high intensity we will win a lot more games by higher margins. I was hoping they would stay composed and they did.”

Dodman added, “We don’t always have a constant line that is always out there, so we need to work hard and find balance. It was a bunch of different games out there tonight and it was hard to adjust.”

Despite the disjointed nature of the game, Coach Kennedy was pleased with how the Lakers were able to hold on and pay notice to the miscues as something that is easily correctable.

“We will watch the game film and understand why those spots were open and why we weren’t getting out there quick enough,” Kennedy said. “We know we are a good shooting team. It starts with our warm up. We need to take it serious and get focused.”

Dodman added, “We need to take our time and be focused on winning. We need to push a lot harder and rotate our lines in and out.”

The ladies will travel to Olds for a tournament January 27-28 before returning home February 2 for a game against Camrose.

reporter@sylvanlakenews.com