The first half of the ACAC regular season will come to a close for all five of your Briercrest Clipper teams this weekend.

In this final weekend before the Christmas break, basketball will be at home while hockey and volleyball are on the road.

Basketball
Briercrest men’s and women’s basketball teams will play at home against the Lethbridge College Kodiaks.

The Clipper women will look to jump ahead of the Kodiaks in the standings with a pair of victories. Lethbridge is currently one win ahead of them.

The Clippers played well in losses to Grande Prairie and NAIT on the road last weekend, both strong opponents from the north division.

Lethbridge defeated Keyano College last Saturday, but lost to MacEwan University the night before.

This weekend, the Clippers will look to shut down Natalie Johnson. Johnson is the top scorer for the Kodiaks, averaging 13.5 points per game.

Valerie Robinson, a Clipper, is eighth in the south division, averaging 12.2 PPG, and fifth overall in rebounds per game at 8.3. It should be an intense battle between these two south division rivals this weekend. You won’t want to miss it!

The Briercrest men will face the top team in the south this weekend. Lethbridge has a record of 7-1 and is sixth overall in the CCAA national rankings. The Clippers will look to match their offensive ability, something they showed they can do in a convincing 120-65 win over the Grande Prairie Wolves on Friday. They followed that up with 95 points, losing to the NAIT Ooks in Edmonton on Saturday.

A key for the Clippers this weekend will be shutting down some of the big scorers for Lethbridge. They have four players in the top 10 for points per game in the ACAC south, including the division leader, Morgan Duce, at 22.22 PPG. The Clippers’ Gradyn Childerhose is averaging 19.2 PPG.

Come out and be a part of the exciting action. This will be the final ACAC home game until the second half of the season starts up in January! Game times are 6 p.m. (women) and 8 p.m. (men) Friday, with the rematches at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday.

The games will also be broadcast live on www.sportscanada.tv, with two special guest commentators, Stan Peters and Carl Hinderager. Tune in if you’re out of town!

Hockey
The Briercrest hockey team is finishing up the first half of the season on the road in Calgary, where they will take on the Mount Royal University Cougars.

This will be a rematch the Clippers are looking forward to: In the first weekend of regular season action, the Cougars took the bigger share of the points with a tie in game one and a win on Saturday.

The Clippers are coming off a tough weekend on the road, where they lost a pair of games to the Augustana Vikings in Camrose. Briercrest continues to sit one win out of the playoffs behind Portage College.

This weekend will be another tough test with Mount Royal currently in second place overall, just four points behind the SAIT Trojans, who are in first place.

MRU has two players in the top 10 in ACAC scoring—Barry Horman and Joe Vetere, with 21 and 18 points respectively. The top scorers for the Clippers are Dare Mably and Craig Cornelson, each with 13 points. The Clippers will look to earn some valuable points on the road this weekend with some solid defense and goaltending.

Game times are 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2:00 p.m. Saturday. The guys would love to see you at the arena if you’re in the Calgary area this weekend!

Volleyball
The Briercrest men’s and women’s volleyball teams will also take on the Mount Royal University Cougars in Calgary this weekend.

The men are coming off their first losses of the season, having lost a couple of close battles to the MacEwan University Griffins. The guys will look to get back to their winning ways and regain the top spot in ACAC.

King’s University College, the current number-one team, has a bye this weekend, meaning the Clippers, at 6-2, could take back first place with a pair of wins against Mount Royal.

Mount Royal is coming off a pair of wins over Lethbridge College. They currently sit four points behind the Clippers in the standings with a record of 4-2.

The women’s volleyball team had an up and down weekend: they won a thriller on Friday night against MacEwan University after taking two matches in a row for the first time this season. The score was 17-15 in the fifth set.

Saturday, unfortunately, the ladies lost 3-0 to a MacEwan team that was ready to battle for every point and took advantage of too many Clipper errors.

This weekend will be a huge test for the Briercrest women with Mount Royal in first place. The Clippers are currently third in the country in the CCAA national rankings.

The experienced Cougars are coming off two victories this past weekend over Lethbridge College to improve their record to 6- 0.  The Clippers (2-6) will look to shut down Andrea Price, who averages 3.64 kills per game. The ladies are ready for an opportunity to battle against the best in the ACAC!

Match times are 6 p.m. (women) and 8 p.m. (men) Friday and 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday. Be sure to come out and cheer on your Clippers if you’re in the Calgary area!