In the end, the comeback wasn鈥檛 to be for Quest鈥檚 women鈥檚 basketball team at home on Saturday.
Hosting the Douglas College Royals, the Kermodes fell behind early, unable to convert shots and losing the battle of the boards. The team fought back but fell short, losing 70-69 in a nail-biter that went down to the final seconds.
In the first quarter, most of the offence from Quest came on the foul line, and the team trailed 21-14 at the buzzer.
A judicious timeout in the second quarter helped calm them down, as they inched their way back into the game, leaving them only one point behind at halftime.
The team also started winning some interior battles, especially forward Emily Lachenmayer, who came up with three blocks, to go with seven rebounds and 14 points.
Point guard Tessa Needham, who missed almost all of last season due to injury, led the Kermodes in their comeback attempt, with 21 points.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to look up to her a lot this year as a leader,鈥� coach Dany Charlery said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to have her back playing, period鈥�. I think today was a great game for her.鈥�
Jordin Wilkinson also scored in double figures with 14.
While disappointed with the result, the coach was pleased with the team鈥檚 effort.
鈥淭he key for us was to be aggressive for 40 minutes,鈥� he said.
The result was an improvement when compared with the previous night when Capilano blew out Quest 83-43. Eliska Vavrova was the only Kermode scoring in double figures, with 11 points.
Even after a tough stretch, Charlery is optimistic about the team when it regroups for games in the early new year.
In the men鈥檚 games, Quest split the weekend pair of games. On Saturday, they let Douglas College get out front and never caught up, in the end losing 79-64.
After the team trailed by 14 at the half, they came out in the third and stepped up their defensive play, holding the Royals to 12 points but too could only score a dozen.
The 14-point differential held for much of the second half, despite short runs by both teams, and when veterans Dallas Searles and Theo VandenEkart were subbed off with just under two minutes, the teams were still separated by 14. In the end, Douglas only managed another free throw during 鈥済arbage time鈥� to pad the lead a little.
The second half underscored the fact that Douglas was able to get out front early and build a lead not with outside shooting.
鈥淭hey surprised us hitting threes,鈥� coach Alex Van Samang said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 think they could do that.鈥�
Quest also had trouble against Douglas in the rebounding department.
鈥淲e also didn鈥檛 keep them off the glass,鈥� he added.
Searles led the Kermodes with 22 points and five assists. Noah DeRappard-Yuswack had 10 points and 10 points, his second double-double in as many nights. Theo VandenEkart added 12 points while Paul Getz had 11.
The night before, the Kermodes faced the previously unbeaten Capilano Blues, handing the visitors an 84-72 loss.
鈥淲e were firing on all cylinders,鈥� Van Samang said.
Searles also led the way on Friday with 31 points and seven rebounds, while VandenEkart added 27 points and DeRappard-Yuswack had 17 points and 17 rebounds.
Both teams are in fifth place in the PACWEST, and they are now on break from games until January, though they will keep practising with the exception of a short break over Christmas.
Van Samang said he hoped some of the players will load up on a little extra turkey over the holidays.
鈥淪ome of our guys need to bulk up a little,鈥� he said.聽
