AROUND OUA: Badgers down Thunderbirds 66-45

SCOREBOARD

Ottawa 62 @ York 54

Lakehead 67 @ Guelph 64

Toronto 38 @ Ryerson 71

Laurentian 68 @ Nipissing 44

Algoma 45 @ Brock 66

Badgers down Thunderbirds 66-45

ST. CATHARINES, ON - The Brock University women's basketball team defeated the Algoma Thunderbirds by the score of 66-45 Friday night at the Bob Davis Gymnasium.

The Badgers held a 36-27 lead at the half. 

In the third quarter, the Badgers put together a 21-3 run to take a commanding 57-30 lead at the end of 30 minutes.

Algoma outscored Brock 15-9 in the fourth quarter, but the Badgers cruised to a 21-point home victory.

Brock guard Melissa Tatti (Ancaster, ON) lef all scorers with a game-high 21 points, She also added five assists, five steals and three rebounds. Alex Symonds (Pelham, ON) added 13 points and five rebounds while Bridget Atkinson (Welland, ON) chipped in with 12 points and eight rebounds in the win.

Algoma was led by Rebecca Wylie who recorded 13 points in the loss.

Brock shot 40.0% (26-65) from the field, including 35.3% (6-17) from beyond the arc and a perfect 100% (8-8) from the charity stripe. Brock's defense held Algoma to just 26.2% (16-61) from the field, 15.4% (4-26) from the free throw line and 75.0% (9-12) from the free throw line.

The Badgers close out the OUA regular season next week when they are on the road versus the Western Mustangs (Feb. 15) and Windsor Lancers (Feb. 18).

Source: Brock Badgers

Soriano boosts offence in York victory

The Gee-Gees women's basketball team is back in the win column thanks to a 62-54 victory over the York Lions on Friday night. uOttawa came from behind in the first quarter and held the Lions at bay to secure the win. Sarah Besselink had a huge second half tonight finishing with 13 points. Veteran Julia Soriano had an incredible first game back from injury scoring 12 points with nine boards.  

"She was the difference in the game, for her to come back and be a good contributer like that at the start was really positive," explains Ottawa head coach Andy Sparks.

York took an early lead as the Gee-Gees were rebounding well but their shots were not hitting the mark. It was a team effort to close the gap to one point heading into the second quarter with points coming from several Gee-Gee players. Sparks says, "it was a shaky start. We had lots of good opportunities but we were rushing things, I think."

In the second quarter uOttawa became extremely aggressive on defence to regain possession, but continued to have trouble scoring. After five-minutes of back-and-forth play, Besselink and Soriano scored a stream of points to take the Gee-Gees into the lead. Sparks explains, "defensively we were much better, it took them out of step, we turned them over quite a bit, we kept them off the offensive boards." 

Ottawa scored twenty-five-points off of York turnovers. Kellie Forand had a great defensive game with four steals. Both the first and second quarters ended in Gee-Gee buzzer beaters by veterans Soriano and Besselink, respectively.

Besselink got into the zone offensively in the third to stretch the garnet and grey lead to fourteen points. Sparks explains, "She does that every game for us. It's nice to have that steady player you can rely on. She has been playing like an all-star this year." At five minutes to play, Soriano scored an impressive jump-shot over her defender to beat the clock. York pushed back late in the fourth quarter but they could not repair the damage the Gee-Gees offence inflicted in the second half.

Following Besselink and Soriano in scoring was Brooklynn McAlear-Fanus who scored ten points. uOttawa shot well from the free-throw line at 75 percent, McAlear-Fanus without mistake in her four attempts. York out-rebounded uOttawa 33-28.

Source: Ottawa Gee-Gees

Lakehead hold on for win over Gryphons

he Lakehead women's basketball team (7-9) beat the Guelph Gryphons (4-13), 67-64, tonight in the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre.

The Thunderwolves and Gryphons were back and forth in the first quarter, finishing with both teams tied at 14. Lakehead came out strong in the second quarter, going on a 10-2 run. The 'Wolves continued to push and finished the half leading 39-23.

Lakehead struggled to score in the second half only scoring 28 points compared to Guelph's 41. After minimizing their deficit and bringing it within 3, the Gryphons had a last second shot but were unable to sink the basket.

Coach Jon Kreiner:

"Well we got the W and we did it with heart and will. We had a lot of good looks but they didn't fall tonight and we struggled finishing but overall our offence wasn't too bad. Defensively we really struggled with Guelph's movement and to defend their length. Credit to Guelph and Coach Walton's preparation and work he's done with these ladies, we really struggled to hold on down the stretch. Gillian was huge for us tonight. We don't win without her and Zen was equally huge for us especially in the second half when we were struggling to finish"

Two Thunderwolves finished the game with double-doubles with Gillian Lavoie having 17 points, 10 rebounds and Katelyn Zen with 14 points, 11 rebounds. Nikki Ylagan and Rachel Webber each had 11 and 10 points.

The 'Wolves shot only 18% from the three and 58% from the free throw line.

The Thunderwolves will face the Gryphons again tomorrow at 6pm in Guelph.

Source: Lakehead Thunderwolves

Offence shines in win over rival Varsity Blues

TORONTO - The Ryerson Rams women's basketball team had their best defensive showing of the season, easily defeating the cross-town rival Toronto Varsity Blues 71-38 on Friday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

BOXSCORE

Sofia Paska had a game-high 20 points to go along with eight rebounds for Ryerson while Kellie Ring finished with 15 points for the Rams.

Ryerson opened the game on a 12-0 run over the first 4:08 of the game before Toronto's Charlotte Craig finally got the Blues on the board. After ten minutes of play the Rams were in front 20-9.

Turnovers and fouls plagued the Blues all night and the Rams were able to capitalize, scoring 26 points off turnovers and making 25 trips to the free throw line.

The Rams turned in another +11 quarter in the second to lead 42-20 at the half.

Ryerson's C'airah Gabriel-Robinson had a strong third quarter including a tidy offensive put-back. Later in the frame, you could tell things were going the Rams way when Devenae Bryce took the ball strong through the lane, lost it while trying to go up, but had it fall right to an open and streaking Kellie Ring who finished uncontested. The Rams led 59-30 heading into the final frame.

In the fourth, head coach Carly Clarke made sure all of her senior players saw ample court time in their final appearance in a regular season game on home court. 

Nicole DiDomenico and Devenae Bryce both finished with seven points, Tashana McDonald added four, and C'airah Gabriel-Robinson and Faatimah A each finished with three points in their last home game.

The Rams improve to 13-4 on the season while Toronto slips to 7-10. Ryerson will conclude the regular season next weekend when they travel to the nation's capital to take on the No. 5 ranked Carleton Ravens and the Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Source: Ryerson Rams

Lakers fall to Vees in home finale

Despite a strong start, the Nipissing Lakers women's basketball team fell short in the final home game of the regular season Friday night.

The Lakers posted 17 points in the first quarter, but only 15 in the middle two quarters, as they dropped their matchup with the Laurentian Voyageurs 68-44 in their second to last game of the year.

The Lakers, offensively, got off to a strong start, but allowed 25 points through the first 10 minutes of play.

In the second, Laurentian extended their lead by five, taking a 37-24 lead into halftime.

Nipissing was unable to bounce back in the third quarter, scoring just eight points while allowing 16, as the Voyageurs built on their lead once again.

Nipissing played hard, as they always do, but when they needed a big basket, it always seemed to hit the rim and roll out, while Laurentian got those fortunate bounces.

In the final quarter, the Vees put the game away, outscoring Nipissing 15-12 to cap off their victory and sweep the season series with Nipissing.

As has been the case all season, the Lakers were strong on the boards, pulling down 37 rebounds compared to 29 by Laurentian.

Unfortunately, that wasn't enough.

Leading the Lakers offence was veteran and graduating player Claire Abbott with 16 points, Jamie Soffer had nine and the Lakers second grad, Mackenzie Bahm put up six.

Nipissing will look to finish their season on a high note when they hit the road for the season finale on Feb. 18 in Sault Ste. Marie.

The matchup with the Algoma Thunderbirds will close out the third season of play for Nipissing.

Source: Nipissing Lakers