EDMONTON - Third-year Annacy Palmer led the Alberta Pandas with 14 points in a 53-44 victory over her former team the Calgary Dinos Saturday evening at the Saville Centre.
While Palmer was great, it was truly a depth effort for the 2-0 Pandas who recorded seven different scorers and saw a great game from Reece Hall who had 10 points of her own. And while they shot just 33.3% from the field, they hit on 80% of their free throws and were stout defensively, holding the visitors to just a 24.1% field goal percentage of their own.
2023-24 CW Third Team All-Star Myriam Kone was stellar for Calgary in this one, recording a game-high 21 points on top of three steals and largely acted as the catalyst for anything good offensively for the Dinos. Calgary moves to 2-2 with the loss and sit in fifth place in the Prairie Division early in this campaign.
The Pandas were impressive in a few key categories, outscoring the Dinos 15-2 on the fastbreak and a 27-19 margin off turnovers. The Dinos stuck around all game thanks to some stellar runs led by Kone, but they only led for 28 seconds in this one as the Pandas did a good job of lead management.
It was a fast start for the Pandas in the first quarter, who got off to an early 15-5 lead thanks to Morgan Harris who scored once, grabbed two rebounds and assisted on three buckets by the eight-minute mark. Alberta as a whole was incredibly efficient on offence, shooting 50% (5/10) from the field, while maintaining a stout defence that held the Dinos to just nine points in the frame. Signatovich led all scorers with five points in the quarter, while Kone paced the Dinos with four.
Alberta extended their lead in the second with a lights-out performance from the line shooting a perfect six-for-six after Calgary got into early foul trouble and gave the Pandas the bonus. Annacy Palmer was the story in this quarter, scoring eight of her half-high 11 points and leading Alberta to a 32-22 halftime advantage. It would have been a larger deficit, but Mya Proctor and the Dinos tightened up in the last minute and went on an 8-0 run to build some momentum heading into the third quarter.
Kone and the Dinos came out of the gates hot in the third as she scored five points on an early 8-2 run to cut the Pandas lead to just four points. The quarter would decidedly tighten up from there, as the teams combined for just a 9-for-30 mark from the field as both defences ratcheted up the intensity. Alberta headed to the fourth with a slim 43-35 lead.
Kone's relentless attacking of the basket continued in the final frame as another five quick points from her, an overall 7-0 run, made it just a 43-42 Alberta lead with six minutes to go. In what was a very physical frame, the score eventually settled at 46-44 for the home side with two minutes to go when Reece Hall broke a long drought on both sides with a huge three to put the Pandas up five. However, Calgary ran out of gas and four straight Harris hits from the charity stripe closed this one out 53-44.
The Pandas head to Saskatoon next weekend for a two-game set against the Saskatchewan Huskies while the Dinos return home for a series against the MacEwan Griffins.
