Broncos Continue Dominance in Medicine Hat
The 8-1 Olds College Broncos made their way into the Snake pit to take on the 4-4 Medicine Hat college Broncos. The Game started with a defensive stop from the Rattlers before scoring their first basket. After misses on both ends the Rattlers came up with another good stop keeping the Broncos off the board early. the Broncos evened the game at 2 after nearly 2 minutes with no scoring. From here they took the lead on the back of Brittney Thibeaux who had 4 of the Broncos 5. A defense heavy first 5 minutes saw only 7 points combined with the broncos up 5-2. The scoring picked up as the teams passed the midway point. The Rattlers trailed 5-7 and were looking to continue to shut down the powerhouse broncos offence. With 3 of their bigger players sidelined with injuries, the Rattlers had a tough time matching up with Brittney Thibeaux inside. Along with her sister Brandi, the Thibeaux sisters packed a one two punch late in the quarter for the broncos. With one minute left in the quarter the Rattlers took a timeout down 14-5 with the Thibeaux sisters accounting for 11 of the Broncos 14. At the end of the quarter the low scoring affair was 16-5 with 13 coming from the sisters.
The second quarter started off with Brandi Thibeaux scoring on the Broncos first possession. Brittney added another two as the Broncos increased their lead. Medicine Hat scored one getting to the line, but were having trouble generating any offence. All their shots were coming from deep behind the arc and many coming up short. The Broncos were able to keep them from getting any clean looks or shots away. Although the Broncos were quite ahead, the Rattlers continued to play tough defense but the sheer size of the Broncos was overwhelming. On average the broncos players were at least 6 inches taller than their mark and were taking full advantage of the situation. With just under 2 minutes on the clock the Rattlers called a timeout with the Broncos ahead 30-8. As the half came to a close the Broncos found themselves up 32-10 over the Rattlers.
The Broncos started the third quarter much like the rest of the game went, with a Brittney Thibeaux bucket coming off a Brandi Thibeaux pass. With 33 of the broncos 38 points the Thibeaux sisters seemed impossible to shut down. The Rattlers continued to struggle to generate consistent offence with the bigger broncos shutting down any penetration from the Rattlers. This combined with inconsistent outside shooting saw the Rattlers struggling to put up points. with 4 minutes left in the quarter the Rattlers were down 16-51, only scoring 3 times in the first 6 minutes. The only scoring was coming from Morgan Muir and Rhiannon Ware shooting pull up mid range jumpers. Muir hit an open 3 off some great ball movement and the Rattlers showed a little life late in the quarter. But at the end of the quarter the Broncos lead 57-27 up 30 points entering the fourth the game was all but over before the start of the final frame.
The fourth quarter started looking much like the first three. The Broncos continually shut down the Rattlers attack and with Thibeaux inside they were able to score at will. When the Rattlers would double down inside, the Broncos would turn to Brandi and slash inside for an open look. With the two headed attack the Rattlers did their best to hang on and keep pushing despite the deficit. No matter what the home side did however seemed to matter as the Broncos were able to keep the Home side firmly in the rear view as they continued to pull away. The Final was 76-43 as the Olds Broncos cruised to victory.
The ACAC Players of the game were Brittney Thibeaux from OC and Rhiannon Ware from MHC.