Sports | DrumhellerMail

Dynos take round one in Battle of Drumheller

    Drumheller basketball fans were divided this past Monday. St. Anthony’s School Sabres in the west and the DVSS Dynos in the east met for the first battle of Drumheller.
   The Sabres senior girls, the younger squad, gave it their all against the seasoned Dynos. In the end, the Dynos walked away with the win.
   “We have more experience than them. We have six Grade 12 players and they have one,” said Jennifer Raugust, head coach of the Dynos.
   The Sabres had a strong defensive game and kept the Dynos close for most of the first quarter, but the Sabres couldn’t capitalize on their chances in the offensive zone.
   “We did really good on our zone defence. Now, we just have to work on our offense,” said Chloe Grant, head coach of the Sabres. “It was a pretty good game, it was the best we’ve had so far. It was probably the first game where we really showed signs of developing. It was a gamer where even though we lost, we could see them doing well.”
   Both squads were short players due to the holidays and illness, which meant long shifts for most of the girls.
   There was a friendly atmosphere to the game. Players from opposing sides could be seen chatting with one another during lulls in the game.
   Both are looking forward to getting back on the court for a rematch in the new year.
   The Sabres vow that the game will be different. The young team will come back with more experience. The game is scheduled for February 11, 2013.
   “There’s been so much growth, because we started off being inexperienced. I’d be a bit worried, because in February we’re going to have more experience under our belt,” said Grant. “It’s going to be an exciting game.”
   “I’m looking forward to it,” said Raugust.

    The DVS Dynos senior boys basketball team had a tough tournament last weekend, but when they came back for league play they were all business.
   The Dynos were in tournament play on December 14 and 15 in Strathmore. Coach Jeff Messom said the team struggled defensively and had trouble with turnovers. The Dynos were able to win their first game, but lost the next three.
   On Monday night however, they showed no sign of weakness as they faced cross-town opponent the St. Anthony’s Sabres. The Dynos jumped out to a 30-7 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. Swarming defense led to easy offense and the Dynos ran away 77-32.
   Matt Herman led the Dynos with 18 points, shooting an overall 70%. Zach Thompson had 15, Talon Marshall had 13 points and 11 steals and Mike Cameron was also in double digits with 10 points.
   The Dynos remained undefeated in league play as they head into the Christmas break.
   The preseason provincial rankings were released last week, and the DVSS Dynos, are back among the elite at the 2A level. They received a honourable mention, which means they are somewhere within the top 15 teams.

Momentum continues to build for DVSS Dynos

    The Drumheller Valley Secondary School Dynos are tearing through the competition early in their season.
   Over the past two weeks, the team has finished strong in two tournaments and added another win to their regular season.
   Two weekends ago the Dynos hosted a tournament at DVSS. In that, they placed third against some tough teams,
   “We won our first and third games by quite a bit, and only lost our second game against Acme by five points,” said head coach Jennifer Raugust. “The girls had a lot of fun. Especially our last game was really good, because all the girls got to play quite a lot.
   Last weekend, the Dynos then headed to Acme for a tournament against Acme, Cochrane, and the St. Anthony’s School Sabres, where they placed third again.
   “We played very well. We played Cochrane, which is a 3A team and really good, our girls were down by ten for most of the game,” said Raugust. “The girls played really well and rose to the occasion, especially against Cochrane.”
   The Dynos then followed up on their success in the league, by racking up a 60-36 win against Prairie Christian Academy last week.
   The team will be taking a break until the New Year. When gearing up for the remainder of the season, they will be working to improve their game. Raugust highlighted rebounding under the hoop and making their shots as the top priorities.
   “It’s the beginning of the season, so there’s a lot of things we still need to work on. We need to make the basic things instinctive, so we can then move on to the harder things,” said Raugust. “But, they’re doing really good and improving really quickly.”

Young Sabres squad sharpen their game

    The St. Anthony’s senior girls Sabres are taking a break for the holidays after only three short weeks on court.
   The relatively young team, which consists mostly of Grade 10 students, is working hard to develop their skills and have a great season.
   The Sabres took on a strong squad from Prairie Christian Academy (PCA) and came away with a 48-26 loss.
   The game was close for the most part. It wasn’t until the final quarter that PCA was able to ratchet up the score.
   “It was not a bad game. It was really close for the first three quarters, but in the last they pulled away,” said Chloe Grant, head coach of the senior girls Sabres. “We could’ve beat them, but a few things fell apart.”
   Despite the loss, the game offered a good chance to see where the team is at and where they need to go for the rest of the season.
   “After the half time they improved on the rebounds and aggression. Our offense had to step up their game quite a bit. Prairie Christian is a fast team, so we had to work a lot on dribbling the ball down the court, setting up screens, and helping the post guards,” said Grant.
   “We’re going to be working on shooting, defensive strategies. We’re a really young team and we’ve only had four practices, so there are a few things we have to smooth out. Working cohesively is probably the biggest thing, because we just haven’t had a lot of time together yet.”
   The Sabres were in Acme last Wednesday, but the Redmen proved to be tough opponents. They were in Acme again over the weekend for a tournament where they faced stiff competition against teams from Acme, Cochrane, and Drumheller Valley Secondary School.
   “There were amazing teams there, but we basically have a JV [junior varsity] team. It’s a foundation year,” said Grant. “They’re getting better at running a zone defence, we have a strong point guard [in Bailey Faubion], and working on being more assertive under the hoop.”
   The Sabres will be taking a break for the holidays, but will return in the new year and will be gearing up for their own tournament at St. Anthony’s School in early January.

The ladies of the Sabres seniors girls basketball team are gearing up for a great season. The team consists of coach Melissa Dionisio (back, left), Jaiden Lal, Sam Hirsch, Stepanie Hirsch, Meaghan Peters, coach Chloe Grant, Rebecca Graf (front), Bailey Faubion, Alex Cassesl, and Dianne Importa (missing).

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