Athletics
Spartans News

We've Come a Long Way

By Erik Van Dyke
After a dominant performance at the BCS Invitational two days earlier, this past Monday’s tilt vs Triolet was going to be the true yardstick for how far we’ve come. Last December 8 they basically ran us out of their building, shellacking us 42-16.

We slunk out of that gym legitimately humbled, with our tails between our legs, but also with a purpose. You learn more from a loss than you do from a win. Don’t you?

You got that right! In one of our best wire-to-wire games of the season, your Spartans put on a show in front of the home fans. Defensively we allowed only 27 points, leaving one of the best coaches around scratching his head for answers. And offensively we did what we do best, i.e. if you try to take something away from us, we’ll exploit what you don’t cover. You choose to double- and triple-team Kenz in the middle of the offense? Then you’re leaving Emily enough time and space on the perimeter to pump in 15 pts. You collapse on Rina penetrating into the key? Then you’re not paying enough attention to Player Of The GameTM Alyssa MacPherson, whose 24 pts and 6 rebs represents one of the best games of her life.

What a turnaround! Last time Les Harfangs killed us on the fast break. This time we sprinted back on defense. Last time our defensive rebounding was atrocious. This time Kenz and Chloe were vacuums on the glass (22 rebounds between them). Last time their pressure rattled us. This time Rina (and Kenz) calmly broke it. The number of things we learned from the first time we played Triolet, the improvements it forced us to make, made me realize something – if I could go back in time to erase that brutal loss, I wouldn’t. Without it, we wouldn’t be the team we are today. We wouldn’t be the team that just hung a 50-27 loss on arguably the top team in RSEQ Div II.
We are really rolling right now, on one of the best streaks I’ve ever been a part of. But let’s not jinx it… let’s not even mention it…

Mention what?

– Coaches Van Dyke & Wolfe
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