Basketball Queens host tournament this weekend

Greg Price
Vauxhall Advance
gprice@tabertimes.com

It will be the walking wounded for the Vauxhall Queens girls basketball team as it prepares to host its home tournament this weekend.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been in this type of bind before. Four of my starters are hurt. I got two with knees, one with a quad pull and one with a concussion,” said Allen Matthews, head coach of the Vauxhall Queens girls basketball team. “And we are physically a small team. We are really not going to see who we are until the first of February, to see where we stand on the court.”

Having your playable roster lessened by a third and having only 20 per cent of your starting roster on the floor for an extended amount of time will pose its share of challenges for the Queens.

“Right now our expectations are not that thigh. We’re just going to work on systems. Those expectations will be higher when we get all our starters back,” said Matthews.

“Even when February rolls around, we will still be behind because those starters will just be starting to come back.”

The Queens’ first game is at 6:30 p.m. on Friday against Coaldale Christian. A loss has the Queens playing at 9:45 a.m. on Saturday with a win putting the Queens in the Saturday 1:30 p.m. game.

The team opened up its River Ridge Basketball League season yesterday against Senator Gershaw Gators with results unavailable at press time.

Until every single Queens gets on the hardcourt healthy, Matthews notes it is tough to gauge how the team will fare, but he certainly sees potential there.

“Who knows? I think if everyone is healthy, we are athletic enough that we can do some things. But it is the smallest team I’ve ever had,” said Matthews.

“But the girls are working hard to get back, and they are anxious to get going. I’m thinking at first other teams are going to think Vauxhall isn’t a threat. But as the season goes on, we will be more and more of a threat. The positive side of it (the injuries) is the girls probably if all the starters were there, would not be getting much playing time. But they are now going to get significant playing time and we’ll see how that helps us at the end of the year, it’ll be a bonus where we will have a more well rounded team in the end.”

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