W-BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: No. 1 Lancers remain undefeated with weekend wins over Brock and No. 7 McMaster
Friday, November 28
Toronto 49 @ Carleton 52
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's basketball team dropped a narrow 52-49 decision to the Carleton Ravens on Friday night (Nov. 28) in Ottawa.
With the loss, the Blues drop to 4-3 but remain in second place in the OUA East division.
Fifth-year guard Jill Stratton led Toronto with 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists, while Liane Bailey and Vanessa Wallace each had eight points in the loss.
Carleton got out to an early 9-3 lead but Wallace rallied the Blues with eight straight points as U of T evened the game at 13-13 after the first 10 minutes of action.
Stratton and Lewin maintained a narrow lead for Toronto throughout the second quarter and the Blues led 24-23 at halftime.
The Blues came out hot in the second half and built a seven-point advantage (32-25) midway through the frame. Carleton narrowed the gap and U of T was up by two (38-36) heading into the final frame.
Lindsay Shotbolt gave the home team a narrow lead with five minutes remaining in the fourth and the Ravens led by three until a late lay up from Natasha Plaskacz made it 50-45 with 47 seconds to go.
U of T brought the game within one (50-49) with an Abena Addo layup with five seconds remaining, but a couple of free throws from Abeer Farhat put the game out of reach.
Shotbolt led all players with a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Lindsey Suprunchuk had 10 points and nine rebounds in the win.
The Varsity Blues wrap up their Ottawa road trip tomorrow night as they take on the Gee-Gees in their final game before the winter break. The game will be streamed live on OUA.tv, starting at 6 p.m.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
Brock 54 @ Windsor 85
The No. 1 Lancer women's basketball team cruised to an 85-54 victory over the visiting Brock Badgers on Friday night at the St. Denis Centre.
With the win the Lancers remain undefeated on the season with a 6-0 record and continue to lead the OUA. The Badgers fall to 2-4 on the year and are in last place in the OUA central division.
Lancer fifth year forward Korissa Williams had a stellar performance with a game high 21 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 steals. Emily Prevost came off the bench with 14 points, while Caitlyn Longmuir had 12. Cheyanne Roger pulled in the game's only double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Windsor built a 20-9 lead late in the first quarter before the Badgers went on a 11-5 run to close out the quarter 25-20 in favour of the home team. The second quarter was another close battle as the Lancers led 42-32 at the half.
The Lancers doubled up on the Badgers in each of the third and fourth quarters to build on their lead and secure the win.
Tomorrow night the Lancers will face a tough opponent in the No. 7 ranked McMaster Marauders. Tip-off is set for 6:00pm at the St. Denis Centre and can be seen live on TVCogeco and www.oua.tv. The game will also be broadcast on CJAM 99.1FM Windsor and CFMU 93.3 FM.
Source: Windsor Lancers
Ryerson 58 @ Ottawa 55
Break downs on the offensive and defensive end cost the uOttawa Gee-Gees in the end as the CIS no. 8 Ryerson Rams held on to top the Gee-Gees 58-55 on Friday night.
"I give Ryerson full credit for the win but that was not our best performance tonight," said head coach Andy Sparks after the game. "We got out of any real kind of flow on the offensive end. We made a couple of shots to keep it close, but realistically we need some players to step up for us to be successful."
Ryerson was led on the offensive end by Nicole DiDomenico from the guard spot and Sofia Paska inside. DiDomenico counted 11 points while Paska picked up ten along with nine rebounds. Danielle Marion was the more efficient Gee-Gee on the night, scoring 14 points on 7-9 shooting.
It was a tentative start for both teams, but uOttawa overcame it to take the first sustained lead. The teams combined to miss their first 12 shots and the first bucket was scored three minutes in. Ryerson missed 21 shots in the opening quarter and made only four. The shooting didn't improve much in the second quarter as the teams combined for 49 missed shots at halftime.
Katherine Lemoine saw just four minutes in her first action for Ottawa since the first weekend of the season. As the Gee-Gees tried to re-esablish an inside game, it saw limited success with just 16 points.
After shaking off a 21 per cent first half of shooting, the Rams grabbed their first lead four minutes into the third quarter. The Gee-Gees then took back that back a few minutes later but only to give it back as the Rams kept rolling into the fourth quarter and stretched the lead to 10, their largest to that point.
The Rams started to have success inside against the smaller Gee-Gee defenders who missed a lot of opportunities to change possession off Ryerson missed shots. Rebounding proved to be a real issue. The Gee-Gees finished with two more than Ryerson but couldn't get the boards when they really needed them.
But uOttawa battled back and got within one on a hook shot from Kellie Ring. A few moments later, she'd tie it up at 53 with 30 seconds left. The Rams came back down on back-to-back possessions to go up three and left the Gee-Gees with an opportunity to tie in the last second. But they couldn't set up a shot from beyond the arc.
"Our experienced players are the ones who are really struggling right now, so we're expecting a little bit more from them and hopefully they'll give us more cause we need it," added Sparks. "We're still getting caught with reaches in the front court, a lot of that's just common sense stuff. I guess we'll continue back the the drawing board. It was both ends of the floor that cost us today but you win it on the defensive end."
With that, the Gee-Gees fall to 4-3 while the Rams improve to 6-1. uOttawa has one more contest before the winter break. They'll host the University of Toronto Varsity Blues Saturday night at 6 pm.
Source: Ottawa Gee-Gees
Algoma 38 @ Queen's 72
KINGSTON, Ont. (November 28, 2014) – Abby Dixon (North Vancouver, B.C.) had her strongest performance of this OUA season leading the Gaels (4-3) with 20 points in their 72-38 win against the Algoma Thunderbirds (0-6).
Along with her 20 points, Dixon grabbed seven steals in the Gaels win. Jenny Wright (Kingston, Ont.) followed with 11 points and rookie guard Marianne Alarie (Sudbury, Ont.) chalked up nine points and four rebounds. Algoma was led by Sydney Resch with 16 points and Laura Meadows with 10 points and five rebounds.
The Gaels had the early lead pulling ahead of the Thunderbirds straight from the tip-off with Nicole Morse (Cottam, Ont.) putting up four consecutive points. By the end of the first quarter the Gaels had gained a 15-8 lead over the Thunderbirds and had doubled them in steals. Algoma tightened up their zone defence in the second quarter and Queen's struggled to get shots to fall from the three-point line. The Gaels hit their rhythm as the half closed and were rewarded with a 34-19 lead at the break.
Wright opened up the second half with a three ball setting the pace for the rest of the quarter. The Gaels dominated the court scoring 25 compared to the Thunderbirds eight points and going 3-3 from the three. Heading into the final quarter the Gaels were up 59-27 and wore down their opponents who gave away 36 turnovers in the game. With a comfortable lead, the Gaels let the seconds run out on their 72-38 victory over Algoma heading into the winter break with a 4-3 record in the 2014-15 OUA season.
The Gaels will participate in exhibition play over the winter break when they head to Montreal for the Concordia University Reebok Tournament. After the break they will return to regular season action on January 9 when they host Nipissing University at 6:00 pm in the ARC Main Gym.
Source: Queen's Gaels
Lakehead 89 @ Nipissing 36
Sometimes it's easier said than done, but despite a loss, the Nipissing Lakers women's basketball team can take positives from their game Friday night.
The Lakers came up against a tough Lakehead Thunderwolves team and lost 89-36, but had positives to take away and bring it into tomorrow night's matchup against Guelph.
The first notable positive is that season-high in points and while it's not a huge number, it proves the team is improving and moving forward.
Once again, Claire Abbott led the attack with 13 points while Kelly Dunk put up seven points, for her season-high.
The Lakers had a strong second quarter, which kept them in the game, but in the end, it wasn't enough for them to walk away with their first win of the season.
Guelph, Nipissing's Saturday opponent, defeated the Laurentian Voyageurs 67-57 and will be entering the game with a 4-2 record.
In Guelph's four wins, they have scored at least 67 points, while in their losses; they have been kept to under 60.
The Lakers will look to close out the first half with a win, when they hit the court tomorrow night at 6 p.m.
Source: Nipissing Lakers
Other Scores: Guelph @ Laurentian
Saturday, November 29
Algoma 33 @ York 69
The York University Lions women's basketball team won its first game of the season by a score of 69-33 against the Algoma Thunderbirds in a home game at the Tait McKenzie Centre on Saturday evening (Nov. 29).
The Lions opened up the scoring with a jump shot from Courtney Osborne (Markham, Ont.), which was quickly followed by two jump shots from the Thunderbirds. Osborne continued to push through scoring a three-point jump shot and two jump shots for the Lions.
Emma Thompson (London, Ont.) pounded in two three-point jump shots for the Lions in the first, ending the quarter 18-9.
Ishanaa Seupersadingh (Markham, Ont.) led the attack in the second quarter, scoring two three-pointers and one jump shot, helping York widen the gap 36-15 at the half.
The Lions continued to charge through the Thunderbirds in the third with Thompson leading the attack, ending the third quarter 48-26.
The Lions pounded a total of 21 points just in the fourth quarter alone, their best of the season, assisted by two jump shots and one three-pointer from Haley Bowie (Ancaster, Ont.), as well as four free throws from Osborne.
Seupersadsingh did a phenomenal job in the fourth blocking three shots from the Thunderbirds, and the Lions came together to prevent Algoma from generating any momentum throughout the contest.
Osborne finished with a team-high 14 points and also had six rebounds, two assists and one steal, while Thompson had 11 points and seven rebounds. Seupersadsingh and Koudys finished with 10 points each.
Leaders from the Thunderbirds included Sydney Resch with 11 points, Taylor McAllister with eight points and Stephanie Jennings with six points.
The Lions are now off for the December break and will return to action in the new year, on Friday, Jan. 9 against the Laurentian Voyageurs at 6pm at the Tait McKenzie Centre.
Source: York Lions
Ryerson 58 @ Carleton 63
OTTAWA – A physical Carleton Ravens squad upset the No. 8 ranked Ryerson Rams women's basketball team on Saturday night at the Ravens Nest, defeating the Rams 63-58.
Keneca Pingue-Giles (Winnipeg, Man.) led all scorers with 19 points on the night while Sofia Paska (Etobicoke, Ont.) also reached double digits with 12 points in the losing effort for the Rams.
After ten minutes of play the Rams held a 15-11 lead but that lead was squandered by a strong second quarter from the Ravens. Carleton outscored Ryerson 18-11 in the second stanza to hold a 29-26 lead at halftime.
Prior to Saturday's game the Rams coaching staff emphasized the importance of rebounding against the Ravens but Ryerson couldn't contain the physical forwards from Carleton. The Rams lost the rebounding battle 42-26 which proved costly down the stretch.
The teams traded the lead throughout the second half of play as the Rams took the lead back at the end of three quarters at 43-41.
After scoring the first two points of the quarter, the Rams offence went dry in the fourth and Carleton capitalized, going on a 14-0 run to turn a four point deficit into a 55-45 lead. The Rams got back to within three points but could never recover from the scoring drought and ultimately dropped the 63-58 decision.
Carleton's Lindsey Suprunchuk led the Ravens with 12 points and ten rebounds for the double-double while Elizabeth Leblanc and Stephanie Carr each added ten points in the win.
The loss extends the Rams losing streak at the Ravens Nest; the Rams have not won at Carleton since 2004.
Ryerson's record falls to 6-2 on the season while Carleton improves to 5-3 on the year. The Rams will now break for the exam and holiday season and will be back in regular season action on Wednesday, January 7 when they face the Toronto Varsity Blues at Toronto.
Source: Ryerson Rams
Toronto 57 @ Ottawa 63
It wasn't exactly pretty, but the Gee-Gees women's basketball team got it done on Saturday night and snapped a two-game losing streak with a 63-57 win over University of Toronto. Ottawa now heads into Christmas with a 5-3 record, tied with rival Carleton for the OUA North division lead. The Gee-Gees get a shot to take sole possession of that division right out of the break when they host the Ravens on January 9th.
Coming off a three-point loss to Ryerson, the Gee-Gees were hungry for a victory.
"I thought we had a good session this morning and I hoped it was going to transfer into the game," said head coach Andy Sparks. "It looked like we started the game with a pretty good flow, but then probably a mistake in substitution early put us into a position where we lost all our flow. Certainly the attacks - moving and sharing the ball wasn't great today."
Stephanie MacDonald had seven of the first 13 points, while Jen Stoqua drained two threes. That made it look like Gee-Gees were ready to roll, building an early 13-2 advantage.
The Gee-Gees benefited from the Varsity Blues only making four shots in the opening quarter. But after going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc in the first quarter, the Gee-Gees were held scoreless for seven minutes. But that made little difference as Toronto continued to shoot poorly and finished the half 8-for-37.
The Blues eventually found a way to score late in the second and got within three at halftime, with the help of the Gee-Gees who scored a season-low six points in the quarter.
Some sloppy plays and fouls to start the second half gave Toronto a brief lead that carried on as the teams continued to trade the lead back-and-forth eight times in the third quarter.
An 8-0 run helped give the Gee-Gees back some control of the game, enabling them to hold out and finish off the Blues.
"I think we're just going to look at the positives in this one, we battled to the end and found a way to win even though it wasn't pretty," said MacDonald, who had a game-high 19 points, despite foul trouble keeping her out for much of the fourth quarter. "We just lost two games in a row, so it was important to leave on the Christmas break with a win."
Toronto's leading scorer, Jill Stratton, was held to 1-for-10 shooting and 7 points. Abena Addo was the leading scorer on the day for Toronto who fall to 4-4 on the season. Maddy Baker helped out with 10 points of her own.
"I think it was a positive that Kellie Ring had probably her best game since she's been back," added Sparks, about the guard who had 12 points. "We've tried, this week, to increase our post touches from our guards. Kellie Ring was a bit of a mismatch for them in the post. She did well to slow it down and got four scores inside."
Other than that, Ottawa's attempts to work it into the post for another area of scoring, wasn't working with any consistency.
"I think we're playing with our heads a little right now. When that takes place, the flow tends to be not so good. It's getting a little stalled in people's hands too. So hopefully we'll grow from it. We're consistently inconsistent. We'll hopefully get a couple of bodies healthy. We have a big tournament at Christmas at Saint Mary's. Two of the top seven team in the country will be there so it will be a good opportunity to see where our game is at against teams from other provinces. Also, we'll be getting into the weight room to try and improve our strength because that's lacking a bit," finished Sparks.
Source: Ottawa Gee-Gees
Guelph 105 @ Nipissing 37
Two grueling games caught up to the Nipissing Lakers women's basketball team as they dropped a one-sided affair Saturday night to the Guelph Gryphons.
The Gryphons got off to a strong start and built up a big lead and ended up with a 105-37 victory over the Lakers, who fought hard, refused to quit and actually had their best quarter in the fourth, but the game was in hand by that point.
For the second straight game, however, the Lakers managed to put up a new-season high point total, hitting 37, one better than last night's 36.
Samantha Therrien lead the Lakers attack with 14 points, while all but to Nipissing players scored.
The Gryphons ended up with five players in double-figures at the end of the night on the offensive side of things.
Kelly Dunk had a strong game, picking up seven total rebounds, as well as chipping in with four points.
Nipissing will now be off of OUA play until January, but will travel to the University of Laval for an exhibition tournament during the Christmas break.
Maddy Horst led the way offensively for the Mustangs with 15 points, while Caroline Wolynski shot 7-12 from the field to net 14, with Mackenzie Puklicz also recording 14 points on the night. Puklicz also picked up eight rebounds, second to Victoria Heine who made herself present under the basket for 13.
The Mustangs came out of the gate strong in the first quarter, running the ball quickly and making their presence felt in the offensive zone. Defensively, Heine played aggressively near the basket with the 6'1" forward winning numerous battles for rebounds. Western's defence limited the Badgers to just four successful field goals, however Brock's success at the foul line helped them tie things up to end the quarter 21-21.
Western's strong play continued in the second quarter, with the Mustangs offense making numerous pushes. Horst was able to through the Badgers' defence to reach the basket on multiple occasions, and by the end of the second quarter the Mustangs led 39-37.
The purple and white defence started to crack in the third quarter as the Badgers took advantage of turnovers and were able to take time to put up their shots. Brock shot 60% from the field for the quarter to take a 13-point lead, bringing the score to 66-53.
As has been the case for the Mustangs all season, they were able to regroup in the fourth quarter and get some good shots up. Western outscored Brock 19-14 in the fourth thanks to an 11-point effort put up by Horst. However, this would not be enough for the Mustangs as the Badgers claimed the 80-72 victory to improve their record to 3-4 on the season.
With the loss, Western sees their record fall to 2-6 on the season. Head coach Brian Cheng said he's proud of his team, but despite hard work and improvements in shooting and rebounding, they need to ensure those fundamentals are sound all game long.
"We're not playing focused as a unit for 40 minutes," said Cheng. "We have to play all 40 minutes to beat any team in the CIS."
Cheng is looking forward to tournament play when the team heads to Windsor for the Windsor Holiday Classic, held from December 27-29, which will be another testing ground for this young team to gain experience and build their skills.
"We're learning tough lessons right now. But I will say that our girls are committed, they're working hard, and our team's getting better," noted Cheng. "We we're gaining valuable experience, pearls of wisdom and we keep adding new skills to our team."
The Mustangs will have lots of time to prepare for the tournament as no more regular season games are scheduled for the 2014 calendar year. OUA action returns in 2015 when Western heads to Windsor to face off against the Lancers on Wednesday, January 7, with game time set for 6:00 p.m.
Lakehead 61 @ Laurentian 66
The Laurentian Voyageurs Women's basketball team halted a 3 game losing streak, defeating the Lakehead Thunderwolves by a score of 66-61 on Saturday night. The game was the last one on the schedule for the Voyageurs before the Christmas exam break. With the win, the Voyageurs improve to 3-4 on the season, setting themselves up to be in contention for a playoff spot in the second half.
The Voyageurs came out strong in the first, an area which they have struggled with this season. The team started on a 9-2 run and took the game to the Thunderwolves. The Voyageurs held a 19-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. Despite struggling on offense in the second, the Voyageurs held of the Thunderwolves and held a 25-24 slime one point lead at the half. The second half was a battle with both teams battling, and the lead changes hands multiple times. The Thunderwolves refused to go away and even took the lead, but the Voyageurs continued to battle and never gave up and held on for the hard fought 66-61 win. Danielle Harris and Adrienne Moreau led the way for the Voyageurs in scoring, scoring 22 and 24 points respectively. Both were on fire from three point land as Moreau had 6 three pointers and Harris was right behind with 5.
The win was huge for the Voyageurs who stopped a three game losing streak and gain some momentum going into the break. The team had been struggling from the field so tonight's performance, where they shot 41%. The key was the three pointer, shooting 45% which is a very strong percentage. Hopefully this is the game that the team looks back on as the turning point for their offense, which has looked stagnant at times but produced in this game. The win keeps the team in third in the division, trailing Ottawa U and Carleton, a team the Voyageurs defeated at home. The team now has the exam break but will return to action on Janurary 9th on the road against York.
Source: Laurentian Voyageurs
McMaster 50 @ Windsor 71
The No. 1 Lancer women's basketball team remain undefeated heading into the holiday break with a 71-50 win over the No. 7 McMaster Marauders on Saturday night at the St. Denis Centre.
Windsor heads into the holiday with a perfect 7-0 record, while the Marauders fall to 6-2 on the season.
Korissa Williams had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Cheyanne Roger scored 13 points and Andrea Kiss added 11 points and 14 rebounds and Carly Steer picked up 11 points.
Windsor led for the entire contest as they opened the game with an 8-2 run, while Roger scoring five of the eight. The Lancers led 22-14 after ten minutes of play.
In the second quarter, the Marauders picked up their game and out-scored the defending national champs 16-14 in the frame.
Windsor led 36-30 at the half, but the Marauders shot an impressive 53.8% from the field in the first frame compared to the Lancers 38.5%.
The Blue & Gold came out flying in the third and dominated the game from then on. Windsor improved from the field shooting 42.4% in the final twenty minutes while the Marauders struggled going only 24.2%.
Windsor also had an impressive game on the boards out-rebounding McMaster 47-27 in the game.
The Lancers will now take a break from the regular season until Wednesday January 7th when they host the Western Mustangs at 6:00pm at the St. Denis Centre.
Windsor will host their annual Lancer Holiday Classic December 28-30 at the St. Denis Centre. Stay tuned to www.goLancers.ca for tournament information and schedule.
Source: Windsor Lancers