Kwantlen Eagles basketball squads pick up first win of season

Sun, Nov 15, 2009

For immediate release

November 16, 2009

Kwantlen Eagles basketball squads pick up first win of season

(METRO VANCOUVER, B.C.) The Kwantlen Eagles took to the floor this past weekend for the first road trip of the year. Coming off of a challenging home opener for both the men's and women's teams the Eagles basketball squads were fired up to take on the Camosun Chargers in Victoria.

Friday started off very successfully with both teams finding themselves with their first win of the season. The women's team didn't have a great first half with only 16-points to show for their efforts. Half-time was the moment when the lady Eagles turned it around and came back with an outstanding second half putting up 42-points. Taminder Dhaliwal led the team as the top scorer along with a strong all-around effort by Jessica Williams. "It was the tale of two games" says coach Gary Pawluk. "We made changes at half-time and adjusted to Camosun's press and started to play better."

The men's team came out with a convincing showing beating the Chargers by a score of 86-67. The Eagles were led by rookie Dustin Egelstad with 34-points and nine rebounds on the night. Camosun's team came out to play, and stayed close with the Eagles until the fourth quarter when the visiting side had a 29-10 run. "Our guys played great," says coach Bernie Love. "They shot over 50 per cent from the floor which is awesome, and something we've really been working on." Veteran fourth-year player, Kevin Kokoska also had a key role in the win both offensively and defensively.

Saturday night on the other hand, was more of a challenge for the Eagles' squads. The women's team dropped their second game of the road trip 58-68. "Defensively we didn't get the job done. We scored as much as we did Friday night, but defensively our intensity level wasn't there. We know this is a team that we can beat, but we just didn't have the effort needed to beat the Chargers on the night," remarks Pawluk.

The men's team also struggled, with injuries rather than intensity. Late in Friday night's game lead scorer Eglestad had a bad roll on his ankle, significantly slowing him down for Saturday's game. "We lost Cam Clark to injury; Mike Davis and Dustin Eglestad were both trying to play though injuries but were just not as effective as Friday night. We battled hard, but struggled with our shooting from the floor," comments coach Love.

Both Eagles' teams will rest up this week and begin preparations for their third weekend of league play against the Columbia Bible College Bearcats this upcoming Friday and Saturday nights. Women start at 6:00 pm followed by the men at 8:00 pm. For more information, click on the Eagles' website kwantlen.ca/eagles, or follow us on Twitter: "kwantleneagles"

Kwantlen's varsity athletics teams are the Kwantlen Eagles. In basketball, soccer, badminton and golf, they compete in national intercollegiate leagues. For more information about the Kwantlen Eagles, visit kwantlen.ca/eagles

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For more information about this story or the Eagles soccer programs, contact:
Elise Le Brun
Director, Athletics & Recreation
Tel: 604.599.2005
elise.lebrun@kwantlen.ca

For more information about Kwantlen, contact:
Peter Chevrier
Director, Marketing & Communications
Tel: 604.599.2286
peter.chevrier@kwantlen.ca