SG Basketball: Spartans Battle but Fall in Overtime

The Red & White were playing yet another game severely shorthanded, without the services of Lea-Rose, Charlotte, Tammy and Elisabeth, but from the opening tip the girls gave their all to fill the void left by their missing teammates. The forwards – especially Cecilia and Sam – played superb defence, giving up nothing on the wings; Mariama provided great help inside; and the guards rebounded well at the top. At halftime it was 14-10 for the good guys, and we felt locked in.

However, Du Phare’s sharpshooting #17 started hitting from the top of the circle, and we did not adjust well. Or at all. Despite identifying her as the main shooter, she poured in 19(!) points in the second half, which should have been good enough to put the game away.

But Player Of The Game Rosemary Lefebvre, the true embodiment of the Spartans on this day, would not let that happen. Battered and bruised, she fought for every inch. As our main scoring threat, Du Phare focused most of their attention on her, but she soldiered on, bringing the ball up, directing the offence, using screens (set nicely by Sam and Sage), never coming off the floor to get a breather, launching threes (she made 6 threes on the day!), and almost singlehandedly keeping us within reach.

And when she hit the game-tying triple with 30 seconds left in the game, it looked like maybe we would record our first RSEQ league win of the season. But overtime did not treat us well. Du Phare’s #17 stayed hot – 10 pts in the 5-min overtime period – and we finally ran out of gas. Tere played it smart down the stretch, fouling her player to extend the game and force free throws, but unfortunately her player was #17, who, if I haven’t mentioned yet, seemingly forgot how to miss.

Despite the 47-35 OT loss, it was a gutsy effort from your Spartans, and I am proud of the way we battled. “Competing” is never going to be a problem for this team. We are always going to fight hard. The challenge for us is going to be technical, i.e. learning the intricacies and fundamentals of basketball, especially on offense. And the good news is, we’ve got ample time to do this. That’s what practice is for.

Overall Record: 5 wins 9 losses
RSEQ League Play: 0 wins 6 losses
Points for per game: 34.1 Points allowed per game: 34.3