Toilers Shoot Down Rockets
Story and Photos by Robert Thomas
Tuesday evening saw the Peacock Toilers senior girls team easily outpace the visiting Assiniboia Rockets with a final score of 82 to 46.
The Toilers played an aggressive and physical game.
A game where Mattaya Coupland seemed to sacrifice her body fighting in the air, on the ground and even on the floor. An effort that inspired the Toilers on.
PEACOCK TOILERS JAKSON MCCAULEY (LEFT) BLOCKS AN OPPONENT SO CALLISTA MCQUEEN CAN DRIVE TOWARDS THE BASKET
The Toilers out scored the Rockets in every quarter.
The First Quarter score was Peacock 30 and Assiniboia 16.
The Second Quarter was Peacock leading 51 - 31 at halftime. An increase in their lead from the first quarter.
The Third Quarter score was Peacock 65 and Assiniboia 37.
The Final Score was Peacock 82 and Assiniboia 46.
PEACOCK TOILERS JAKSON MCCAULEY HEADS DOWN COURT A STEP AGEAD OF AN ASSINIBOIA OPPONENT
Despite the commanding victory Assiniboia came out gunning for a win Peacock Toilers head coach Brendan Fedoski said.
“They came out fairly strong which is what we kind of game planned. I felt offensively we were transitioning the ball very well which has been a major focus of ours over the past couple of weeks,” Fedoski said.
“It’s much improved from day one for sure.”
Asked if he was worried about the large number of steals by Assiniboia - especially in the second half - he said the coaching staff was.
Peacock Toilers Devlynn McClung (left) goes around Assiniboia Rockets S Simonsen
“We were worried that is the one thing we are trying to learn, to work under pressure. For the most part I was pretty happy with how they handled that,” he said.
Asked further about the amount of pressure by the Rockets he said it was continual throughout a large portion of the game.
“We have a younger inexperienced team the only way we are going to get better is to handle that pressure. I thought Assiniboia pressured all the way up until the fourth quarter.”
Asked about any standouts he said it was the team offensively.
ASSINIBOIA ROCKETS S SIMONSEN (LEFT) AND PEACOCK TOILERS MATTAYA COUPLAND SPAR FOR BALL CONTROL
“I thought overall the team offensively we were sharing the ball nicely,” he said, adding “defensively we saw some things to work on. But they improved throughout the game.”
Asked about the all important communication amongst the team he said it needed work.
“Communication is getting better it is always something we can work on. It’s definitely an area of growth we need to work on.”
PEACOCK TOILERS TAYLOR CRAIK (RIGHT) IS CHALLENGED BY AN ASSINIBOIA ROCKETS M SIMONSEN
Errors such as tossing the ball into play right into the hands of an Assiniboia player is something that needed to be learnt but it really “came with experience,” he said.
Asked what was the most negative thing he saw on the night Fedoski said he didn’t really see anything that was negative.
“I don’t know if I saw any negative things out there honestly. We have been talking a lot about positive body language and supporting each other out there. That’s an area I thought they did really well.”
ASSINIBOIA ROCKETS M SIMONSEN GRABS A REBOUND
About the first quarter and the Toilers taking five fouls - foul trouble - that the Rockets never capitalized on he said it was worrying.
“That’s something you can always clean up. We have to move our feet a little bit better…that again is that experience coming into play.”
