Maidstone hooper wins gold in front of family, friends

As part of a team that dealt with a lot of adversity, Olson faced her fair share. During preseason, she suffered a stress fracture in her foot, which kept her out of the lineup for months. Waiting for the foot to heal, then working her way back into the starting lineup was unlike anything the Maidstone grad had faced before.

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“There were a lot of points where I wasn’t sure if I was going to be coming back at all and was going to have to take an extended leave with it, because it was taking a long time to heal,” she said. “There was a lot of self-doubt.”

By late February, Olson came into her own on the court and saved her best play for March. In the gold medal game, she led all players with a career high 22 points along with 12 rebounds.

“In the last couple of weeks, I felt like I had gotten back to my best self,” Olson said. “I felt more comfortable in those games and the effort on rebounding is so fun to be rewarded for.”

It’s also gratifying after having no 2021 season. The Rustlers were scheduled to compete for a national title in March 2020 before the pandemic hit, then were unable to compete for more than a year.

“After not having basketball and not being able to play in practice and stuff, it’s incredibly rewarding,” she said. “It was so hard being sent home, so it feels really good.”

Olson starred in the Rustlers gold medal game against the NAIT Ooks. (submitted/Rustlers Athletics)

Following the victory, head coach Chris King praised Olson’s performance and her work to get back on the court this season. He noted that the coaching staff knew she was this good prior to her injury based on her performance against university teams in the pre-season.

“I think she’s started to find the form she had at the beginning of the year,” King said.

“She was on that championship team in 2019/2020 and didn’t get to play in those games, so I think for her to be on the floor at home in front of her family and be a major piece of this [win] has to feel pretty amazing.”

Nationals bound

Next week, Olson and her teammates will finally get to take the trip to Nanaimo, B.C. that they were denied in 2020. Due to Saturday’s victory, the Rustlers will enter the national tournament as the top seed, but are without starting shooting guard Jaden Cook, due to a knee injury. Other players in the lineup are nursing injuries as well.

King said that the team’s depth was proven throughout the season and added that they’re battle tested after facing three physical opponents in the playoffs.

“It was good prep for nationals, but we’ll try to ease up to begin the week and start preparing for all these great teams.”

Information on the CCAA National Championship is available online.

Olson and the 2022 ACAC champion Lakeland Rustlers. (submitted/Rustlers Athletics)

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cjnbnews@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW