Practice makes perfect, and Canmore Collegiate High School’s senior girl’s basketball team took the old saying to heart as they held an exhibition game on Feb. 23 against Rundle College.
The team wants to get as much court time in as possible before Zones matches take place in March. The team is also currently down three players due to injuries sustained at the beginning of February, and they want to keep momentum and spirits up before qualifiers.
“We’ve got three injuries right now – Abby (Simpson) with a broken collar bone, and we have a broken wrist and a concussion,” CCHS senior girl’s coach Michael Langlois said.
“I just broke it on Friday (Feb. 21), we were playing at Notre Dame in Calgary and I was taking the ball up the court and got elbowed in the side and I immediately heard a crack, so I was out from then on,” Canmore co-captain Abby Simpson said. “I’m out for the rest of the season, I’m in a sling for three weeks and waiting after that to see what happens.”
The other two players injured are Melissa Brunet with an injured wrist and Akiko Ishimoto with a concussion.
“This happened about two weeks ago against George Mac as well,” Brunet said. “I was diving for the ball and I just fell back on it and it might be fractured ... it might just be a sprain, but I’m only in Grade 11, so I have next year too.”
Ishimoto was Brunet’s sub when she was also injured during the same match. “I went in for her and I hit my head when I was guarding and tripped over and hit their knee,” Ishimoto said on sustaining her concussion.
“We’re playing Rundle College and they’re the top two team in the province,” Simpson said. “This exhibition will help us to see where we stand in equivalence to them although they’re such a great team.
“Absolutely, we want to get in as much court time as we can and get in the best shape as possible for Zones – we do have to qualify first to get into Zones.”
Canmore co-captain Nicole Laplace was able to tie up the close match during the final quarter with a free-throw shot, with Rundle College coming back in over time to take the exhibition match by 68 to 64.
