Queens win back-to-back against the Lightning

Red Deer, January 27, 2024 - The Red Deer Polytechnic Queens made it back-to-back victories against the St. Mary's University Lightning with a victory on Saturday evening.

The opening quarter featured a back-and-forth battle between these two teams with the biggest lead being a three-point difference. In the final minute, guard Sandra Garcia-Bernal (Educational Assistant) hit a three-point jumper to give her team a 21-19 lead. But on the following possession, Lightning guard Jaida Wallis (Bachelor of Science in Biology) hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to give her team a 22-21 lead at the end of the quarter.

But the Queens' defence came out strong in the second as they held the Lightning scoreless for the first four minutes of the quarter. The Polytechnic scored seven points in this amount of time to give themselves a small lead which they would hold onto for the remainder of the quarter. At the half-time break, the Queens led the Lightning 37-32.

For the second consecutive night, forward Jayden Demchuk (Practical Nurse Diploma) led the offence alongside post Peighton Melton (Bachelor of Arts in Multidisciplinary Studies) who both had eight points at the half. On the other side of the court, Lightning guard Andria Stitt (Bachelor of Science in Biology) led her team with eight points as well.

After outscoring the Lightning 19-5 in the first five minutes of the second half, the Queens forced the visitors to call a timeout. Following the short break, St. Mary's outscored their opponent 12-5 which made it a 10 point game with one quarter left to play.

Pushing to split the weekend, the Lightning came out strong in the fourth quarter and found themselves down by just six as they went into a timeout called by the Queens. In the end, RDP completed the weekend sweep of St. Mary's with a 74-67 victory.

The players of the game were awarded to Lightnings Andria Stitt and Queens' Peighton Melton. Stitt with a team-high 19 points while Melton had a game-high 21 points in the win.

The Queens will hit the road next weekend as they head out for a two-game set against the Briercrest College Clippers while the Lightning will head to Olds College next Friday for a game against the Broncos.

Players of the game: Andria Stitt (Lightning) and Peighton Melton (Queens)