Sandra Garcia-Bernal breaks the ACAC steals record in the Queens win over the Kodiaks
Red Deer, January 13, 2024 - The Red Deer Polytechnic Queens bounced back into the win column and now sit in sole possession of first place in the South Division with an impressive performance against the Lethbridge College Kodiaks.
This competitive rivalry between these two teams continued a day later in their final game against each other this season. The Kodiaks tough full court press was evident again this afternoon as they continued to pressure the Queens into turning over the ball on their side of the court. But with some great shooting from the home team, RDP took a 16-11 lead into the second quarter.
The Queens strong defensive game was evident in the final 10 minutes of the half. After giving up an early three-point jumper and a free throw shot by guard Hannah Helton (Exercise Science), RDP held Lethbridge College off the scoreboard for over six minutes. In this amount of time, the Polytechnic scored 15 points. But the Kodiaks did not stop fighting. They managed to hold the Queens offence dry for two consecutive minutes but the home team still took a 15-point lead into the second half.
Helton picked up where she left off yesterday as she had a team-high 15 points in the first 20 minutes with guard Sandra Garcia-Bernal (Educational Assistant) leading the Queens offence with 11 points.
The Queens managed to extend their lead by 25 points in a highly offensive third quarter that saw forward Jayden Demchuk (Practical Nurse Diploma) hit back-to-back threes on consecutive plays along with a huge steal at the end of the quarter by Garcia-Bernal to put her team up 60-35 with 10 minutes left to play.
But the Kodiaks kept fighting in the fourth quarter with back-to-back three-pointers made dropping the Queens lead down to 14. Minutes later, Lethbridge College's defence steered aside the Polytechnic's offence on back-to-back plays which led to two shot clock violations. But after 40 minutes of play, the Kodiaks came out on top 70-55
Helton was once again named player of the game for the second time in as many days with her 30-point performance while Garcia-Bernal took home the honours for the Queens with her team-high 20 points. But it was her nine steals that stood out this afternoon as she now has 354 steals in 92 games which surpasses the previous all-time ACAC record of 350 set by Shea-Lynn Noyes of the NAIT Ooks back in 2017.
The Queens will be back in action next week with a couple of games against the Medicine Hat College Rattlers while the Kodiaks host the Briercrest College Clippers. Both games on Friday evening will start at 6 pm.
Players of the game: Hannah Helton (Kodiaks) and Sandra Garcia-Bernal (Queens)