The Grade 9 Innisfail Cyclones girls basketball team has lost its first game of the 2014-15 basketball season to Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School (LTCHS) by a score of 46-12 on Dec. 3.
In an end-to-end game in which both teams showed early season rust, LTCHS and the Cyclones both improved throughout the game, moving from confusion and jitters in the first quarter to more team play by the end of the game.
“You could see the improvement in the girls' play from start to finish,” said Jeff Anderson, athletic director and vice-principal of Innisfail High School. “When they started their practices, many of them had not played basketball before and Coach Tylor Johannesson was into skill mode. The first game was an eye-opener for them but come February, this team will be nothing like the girls we saw play today.”
The game was characterized by breakaways, steals, penalty calls and missed opportunities for both teams with long missing streaks of 10 to 13 shots not uncommon.
“LTCHS made more shots,” said Anderson. “As a result, they won the game.”
At the end of the first half, LTCHS was up 22-6 and despite a better effort by the Cyclones came out on top by a margin of 46-12.
“I was pleased that the girls came out to play and play as a team,” said Johannesson. “We know what we have to work on.”
Anderson added the Junior Varsity (JV) boys and girls have also played their first games with the boys dropping their first 56-42 to Camrose and the girls winning 63-34 over the Camrose girls team.
“There is a common trend among all our teams,” said Anderson. “Ed Cole (JV boys), Derek Baird (JV girls) and Johannesson (Grade 9 girls) have to work on skills from shooting to playmaking.”
The basketball schedule is available online at the Innisfail High School website at www.innisfailhigh.ca.
Jeff Anderson
"You could see the improvement in the girls' play from start to finish."
