Gaels outlast No.6 Golden Hawks to take 85-78 double overtime win and advance to OUA Final Four

With the win the Gaels now advance to the OUA Final Four, which will be held by the highest remaining seeded team after the conclusion of tonight's games. Check back at OUA.ca for more information on the Final Four. The Gaels will face the winner of Ottawa and Ryerson in their opening game. 

"It was a bit of a game of runs for a stretch and then it just became a back-and-forth affair," said Gaels coach Dave Wilson after the victory. "There were things that we were trying to do to keep them off-balance and changed things up and played four different defences at one point or another in the game. After that we had a lot of options offensively and  it was just trying to find the right comination of offence to run to combat their defence." 

Queen's saw a strong performance from a large contingent of Gaels in the marathon match. Jenny Wright (Kingston, Ont.) led the Gaels offence with 24 points while adding six rebounds and Robyn Pearson (Toronto) finished with a double-double scoring 12 and matching that with 12 rebounds. Three other Gaels were able to reach 10 or more points while Emily Hazlett (Fredericton) scored nine but nabbed five rebounds, four assists and four steals while going 7-10 from the charity stripe. Laurier had five Golden Hawks reach double-digit point totals and were led by Whitney Ellenor who dropped 21 and added 12 rebounds. 

The two teams traded buckets early but the defensive game took hold after that. Ellenor started strong for Laurier with all six points early as the two teams were deadlocked at 6-6. The score stayed low as neither team could muster much offensively for a good five-minute stretch, Pearson picked up a big block and board to lead the Gaels defensive effort. After Laurier pulled ahead by seven 17-10 it was Liz Boag (Kingston, Ont.) and Gemma Bullard (Guelph, Ont.) with back-to-back lay-ins to cut the lead to 17-14 after the first. 

The Golden Hawks offence got off to a quick start in the second as they opened up an 8-2 run to start the quarter. Bullard found her groove hitting a long two but Laurier continued to press and opened up a 14-point lead. It took a long-distance three point shot to get the Gaels first triple of the game after starting 0-4 from beyond the arc but Boag's shot cut the Laurier lead to 11. Queen's kept the pressure on the Golden Hawks defensively and were able to climb back into the game. Abby Dixon (North Vancouver, B.C.) scored on a quick lay-in to cut the Laurier lead to 36-31 at half thanks to a 9-0 run for the tricolour. 

In the third it was Laurier pulling away again opening up a 7-0 run to start the quarter and push their lead to double-digits and as many as 14 once again. Wright continued to stay hot in the paint for the Gaels scoring seven in the quarter helping cut the lead to eight. Hazlett made an athletic play tip-toeing the baseline to find Pearson for an easy two as the Gaels built momentum. Next it was Bullard who took over hitting back-to-back three's, giving the Gaels their first lead of the game 52-51. From there Queen's pushed ahead 55-51 at the end of the quarter. 

Boag started out the fourth with a jumper as Queen's pulled ahead by six. Laurier climbed back to tie then re-took their lead 61-59 with a lay-in from the key. Priamo responded in kind with a head-fake that she took to the bucket for two of her own. A Boag three was followed by a Morrison offensive board and bucket as the two teams traded leads late. Dixon went 1-3 after being fouled beyond the arc and the game was knotted at 67-67. Laurier had a chance to win on the final shot but missed sending the game to overtime. 

"Our team loves overtime," continued Wilson. "Our kids have never lost in overtime, so they were very confident heading in and almost even more heading into the second overtime, it was a very calm feeling on our bench." 

Overtime started with Wright stepping back for a three-pointer to put the Gaels in front. Laurier battled back and after Person fouled out Ellenor hit both free throws making it a 73-72 lead for Laurier. With the Gaels in need of a bucket Queen's inbounded to the veteran Bullard who connected on a jump shot to put the Gaels in front. With only 8.2 seconds left in overtime Laurier went to the basket and picked up a foul but could only connect on one shot as the game moved to double overtime. 

Morrison was next to foul out as the Gaels Hazlett converted both free throw attempts. She followed up slicing through the paint to beat the shot clock and give the Gaels a four point lead early in the five-minute frame. Dixon picked up a steal that led to a Wright lay-in and the Gaels were in control. Hazlett drove to the hoop again thanks to an around the back move forcing Laurier to foul, she hit both putting the Gaels up eight. From there Laurier ran out of gas at the end and were forced to foul, the Gaels were able to hang on for the 85-78 win. 

The Gaels won their fourth straight overtime game with their three previous wins coming in the last two seasons over Carleton, in last year's East final, Ottawa and Lakehead. Queen's has not lost an overtime game since November of 2011. 

Queen's will travel to the highest remaining seeded teams home court in the Final Four as they look to return to the OUA Championship game for the second straight year.

Source: Queen's Gaels