SACKVILLE, N.B. – The 2018 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) women’s national basketball championships continued in Sackville Thursday evening with an East-West battle between the Mount Allison Mounties, the top team in the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA), squaring off against the Medicine Hat Rattlers of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.
An opening three from Mount Allison on their first shot of the game brought the near-capacity crowd to its feet, and spurred an early Mounties lead.
While both sides had their share of chances at the offensive end, neither team could score consistently, and both ended the first quarter shooting just over 20 per cent. Instead, the teams concentrated on tough defence.
Point guard Courtney Henry sparked the Rattlers, who by midway through the second quarter had scratched out an 18-13 lead. Two blocks from the Mounties’ Kiersten Mangold stopped Medicine Hat from gaining more ground, and energized a 12-2 Sackville run and a half time lead of 25-20 for the home town squad.
Offense picked up in the second half for both teams; a back and forth chess game in the third resulted in the Mounties holding onto their five-point lead heading into the fourth. An early three from Sarah McGeachy, followed quickly by a Mangold put-back, pushed Mount A’s lead to 10. Though the Rattlers competed hard, the Mounties prevailed by a score of 61-49.
Mangold, a two-time CCAA All-Canadian and ACAA player of the year, led the way for Mount A, with 20 points and 14 boards. Sarah McGeachy scored all 12 of her points in the decisive second half, and Lauren Chitty added nine.
CCAA All-Canadian and ACAC player of the year Kennedy Werre led the Rattlers with 11 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, backed by Kendell Kuntz, Morgan Muir and Courtney Henry, with 10, nine, and eight points, respectively.
Mangold was named the Mounties’ player of the game, while Henry took the honours for the Rattlers.
