Clippers win ACAC women’s basketball bronze medal

Briercrest takes final-seconds 66-64 win over St. Mary’s for first ACAC medal; men’s hockey fall 2-1 to NAIT in Game 3 of quarter-final to drop series two-games-to-one

Randy Palmer - Moose Jaw Express

The Briercrest College Clippers women’s basketball team refused to give up at any point against their opponents this past weekend in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference championships in Lethbridge, and ended up winning the first medal in team history because of it.

The Clippers staged massive comebacks in all three of their games on the weekend, eventually taking a 66-64 win over St. Mary’s on a last-second basket Saturday night to claim bronze.

Like every one of their matches in the tournament, it was a dramatic finish,

Clippers second-year guard Dori Sunderland would drive the length of the court and into the paint before dishing off to Eve Duerksen on the right side, and the Briercrest rookie would make no mistake, putting down a rebound in traffic for the 66-64 lead and one second left on the clock.

St. Mary’s couldn’t find a miracle on the inbound, and Briecrest had their medal.

As she has all season, Amber Fichtner led the way on the scoreboard, putting up 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Brooklyn Martens put up 14 points and added 10 rebounds. Maddison Beattie also had 15 points. Sunderland’s assist was her fourth of the game.

The semifinal saw the Clippers nearly do the same to the Red Deer Queens, but end up taking a 66-63 loss to end their gold medal hopes.

Briercrest trailed by 12 heading into the fourth quarter, but steadily battled their way back into the game, eventually getting to within a pair with 1:19 to play before falling short.

Fichtner had an outstanding game, putting up 22 points on 9-for-13 shooting and tacking on 18 rebounds, 14 in her own paint. Sydney Latrace had 18 points, while Martens put up 15. Sunderland had a good game defensively, bringing in 10 rebounds.

The Clippers set the tone for the weekend in their opener, which also ended up being one of the biggest wins in school history -- Briercrest trailed by as much as 11 in the second half to the North Division top-seed Concordia Thunder but would put together an incredible comeback, going on to a 74-63 upset victory.

Fichtner had 17 points and nine rebounds, while Martens had nine points and 10 rebounds. Beattie also had a good game defensively with seven rebounds.

The Clippers men’s hockey team saw their season come to an end Sunday afternoon with a 2-1 loss to the NAIT Ooks in the third and deciding game of their bestof-three quarter-final series.

Scoring details for Game 3 from the Barkman Arena were unavailable as of press time.

The loss marked the second straight game NAIT defeated Briercrest 2-1 after winning by the same score in Game 2 on Saturday night.

Nursing a 1-0 lead after Daine Milgate scored with 5:02 to play in the second period, the Clippers would see NAIT score twice in the third -- including the game-winner with 2:11 to play -- as the Ooks pulled off a 2-1 win.

Joshua Lazowski scored both goals for NAIT.

Dominik Tmej turned aside 33 shots in the loss.

The opening game of the series continued the theme of dramatic Briercrest comebacks in recent outings, as trailing NAIT 5-3 at the 8:47 mark of the third period, the Clippers would score three goals just over five minutes apart and would go on to a 6-5 win.

Halen Cordoni got things started at the 9:23 mark, Reagan Poncelet tied the game 2:32 later and Theo Citrullo would put home the game-winner with 5:06 remaining o secure the win.

Alex Pellerin and Campbell Ens had given Briercrest a 2-0 lead in the first period, but NAIT outscored the Clippers 4-1 in the second. Pellerin had Briercrest’s lone goal in the frame at 5:06.

Tmej had 30 saves in the win.