Photo courtesy of Medicine Hat College Rattlers

By Scott Roblin

Provincials Approaching

Turnovers cost Rattlers against Lightning, gearing up for provincials

Feb 16, 2020 | 9:12 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Turnovers were the name of the name for the Medicine Hat College women’s basketball team on Saturday night, a game which ultimately they lost.

A slow start cost the Rattlers in their third-last game of the 2019-20 ACAC regular season, dropping a 77-57 affair at home to the St. Mary’s University Lightning.

The Rattlers committed 16 turnovers through the first half against St. Mary’s trailing 51-28 at the break and eventually coming up short in a second half comeback attempt.

“Sometimes they just let things slip away and that’s what happened,” said Rattlers head coach Clayton Nielsen. “We let them shoot too many threes and all of those little things that add up to being down by too much. We don’t have the firepower this year to start launching threes and catch up.”

Out of the break, the Rattlers cleaned things up with just five turnovers in the second half and outscored the Lightning 29-26 over the final 20 minutes of play.

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However, the damage was already done according to third-year veteran Katelyn Rozdeba.

“We have a certain goal and we realized we were way over our goal,” said Rozdeba. “We were like, ‘Okay, we really need to focus on turnovers this half.’ We kept them really low for the second half.”

Rozdeba had one of her best offensive games of the season in the loss for MHC, dropping 22 points and leading all players on the court with 14 rebounds.

She and senior Morgan Muir combined for 38 of their team’s 57 points on the night, getting their feet back under themselves after returning from injury in the second half of the season.

Set to tip off ACAC provincials at home in just a matter of weeks, Nielsen said the biggest thing will be getting his team back to full health ahead of their first game.

“We’ve had some injuries that have messed with our flow and team dynamics a little bit,” he said. “Once we get a couple of games with that full team going I think we’ll be good. I think the week off before championships will be great.”

The Rattlers continue to hang on for fourth place in the South Division with a 9-10 record, dropping their last three games to ACAC powerhouses from Olds College and St. Mary’s.

Entering their final games of the regular season before playoffs, the Rattlers are taking the mindset of finishing top-four in their division even though they’re guaranteed to keep playing.

“We trying to focus on getting a spot,” said Rozdeba. “Even though we are for sure in, we want to earn it for ourselves too. So, we’re preparing ourselves for our last league games and obviously for the championships.”

The Rattlers will open ACAC provincials on March 5, while they face the SAIT Trojans in a home-and-home series beginning Friday night in Calgary to conclude the regular season.

MHC’s men’s basketball team meanwhile had no answer for St. Mary’s guard Caleb Jipp on Saturday, who dropped 40 points on the Rattlers in a 106-84 Lightning victory.

The 4-15 Rattlers stayed close with the Lightning for much of the first quarter and only trailed 24-19 at the break, but St. Mary’s began to pull away in the second to take a 10-point lead at halftime.

St. Mary’s offence exploded in the second half with 56 of their points coming in the third and fourth quarters, snapping a two-game win streak by Medicine Hat.

Kieron Burgess picked up another double-double for MHC with 18 points and 14 rebounds, while Josh Magpantay and Zavier Croft joined him in double-digits for points.

Sitting second last in the ACAC South with eight points on the year, the Rattlers will also conclude their season with a pair of games next weekend against SAIT.

Their final home game of the season will come on Saturday at 8:00 pm, following the women’s tilt earlier at the ‘Snake Pit’ at 6:00.

Rattlers volleyball

It was a strong weekend in Calgary for the Rattlers men’s volleyball squad, as they swept both of their games against the Ambrose University Lions.

Coming off a straight sets victory over Ambrose on Friday evening, the Rattlers staved off a Lions comeback attempt Saturday to win in five sets (25-17, 25-19, 17-25, 19-25, 15-8).

Serbian import Aleksa Zivic starred in the win for MHC with eight kills, five digs, six service aces, and a block for good measure.

He was joined by Dexter Mackie and Justice Lesuk with eight kill nights, while defensively it was libero Ty Moline leading the charge with seven digs.

The pair of wins marks the first win streak of second semester for the Rattlers side, improving to a 6-16 mark on the year.

It was a different story for the Rattlers women’s volleyball team however, as their second half struggles continued with a pair of straight set losses to the Lions.

MHC was unable to take a set off the surging Lions over the weekend after dropping a 25-17, 25-22, 25-19 match on Saturday night in Calgary.

A consistent attack was hard to come by for the girls in black and gold with just 22 kills over the match, half of which came from Megan Hoeber and Amber Stigter.

Brooke Christie had a team-high nine digs in the loss, along with three kills to her credit.

Losing eight straight matches dating back to January 17, the Rattlers women’s team has fallen to an 8-14 record.

Before they kick off ACAC provincials at home on February 27, MHC women’s volleyball caps off their regular season along with the men’s team for a pair of games next weekend at Red Deer College.