Keltos enjoys being home
Sam Keltos netted 22 points Friday to lead the Brock women’s basketball team to a 78-50 victory over Ontario Tech.
Sam Keltos’ decision to leave the NCAA Division 1 St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers and join the Brock Badgers women’s basketball team just keeps looking better and better for the 21-year-old St. Catharines native.
“I love being home, I love going to this school and I love being coached by (head coach Mike) Rao,” the 6-foot-3 centre said Friday night, after scoring 22 points in 21 minutes to lead Brock to a 78-50 victory over the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks. “He’s a really good coach and guides us rather than telling us exactly what to do to be the best players and the best team we can.
“He tells us he is here to help us and he is not the team. We have to all work together to make this work out for us.”
Keltos has gone from playing sparingly at St. Francis to major minutes at Brock and she is still getting used to that added workload.
“Even now, it takes me the first quarter,” she said. “I am huffing and puffing but you have to get your legs into the game. After that first couple of runs, the adrenaline kicks in. Being in the game, I get that energy and don’t stop.”
One area she knows she needs to work on is getting physically stronger.
“I have never been an overly physical player and I am not a big stocky person but I can be a big, physical presence inside,” she said. “Sometimes I choose not to and sometimes I am afraid of getting hurt.
“But this summer, I am going to be so focused on getting stronger.”
In addition to her scoring outburst Friday, Keltos added five rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
“As a team we are really start to mesh well together,” the biology major said. “Personally tonight my shot was falling — Thank God — and last week it wasn’t.
“Coach Rao really emphasizes effort with everybody. When things aren’t working out, just give effort on something else and everything just falls into place.”
She came into the game second the team in scoring (13.7 points per game) and leading the team and tied for seventh in the OUA in rebounding (8.1 per game).
Rao has been more than happy with her performance
“She fits in great,” he said. “She is a good player, a good teammate and she does all the right things. And she has played hard for us.”
He agrees the next step in her progression would be for her to become physically stronger.
“That’s a fair assessment,” he said. “They are big girls and some of them are a lot bigger than her. She’s working on that now but she does well with her length and her height. It takes some time.”
Friday’s game against the 0-15 Ridgebacks allowed Rao to empty his bench and get everyone lots of time on the floor. No one played more than 24 minutes and 11 Badgers saw more than 11 minutes of floor time.
“It was great in that respect,” Rao said. “We got everybody playing, everybody warmed up and everybody going.”
Brock improve to 12-3 with the win.
STATS PACK
Badgers 78 Ridgebacks 50
BPSN Star of the Game: Brock’s Sam Keltos with 22 points in 21 minutes of floor time.
For the Brock Badgers: Keltos 22; Missy Tatti 11; Kristen Gallant 10; Jess Morris 9.
For the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks: Jolesha Allen-Brown 13; Vanessa Budimunda 10.
Game stats: Field goal percentage: Brock 46.9, Ontario Tech 31.3. Free throws: Brock 15-25, Ontario Tech 6-19. Rebounds: Brock 42, Ontario Tech 35. Turnovers: Brock 15, Ontario Tech 14.
Up next: Brock hosts Queen’s (9-5) Saturday at 6 p.m.
