WBB | Vees Back To Winning Ways Against Algoma
The Laurentian Voyageurs women's basketball team hit the road once again this weekend going westward making their final roadtrip of the season to take on the Algoma Thunderbirds.
Laurentian came into the game losers of four straight, winning just one of their five matches so far in 2025 and looking to turn things around with the OUA playoffs right around the corner. On the other side the Thunderbirds sat with just one win so far this season and in last place in the OUA West division. This game would be a big one for the both teams as they try to gain some much needed momentum in the home stretch of the season.
The first quarter was quite evenly matched for the most part as after Algoma went out to an early 10-5 lead Laurentian would battle back, ending the quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 15-12 lead into the second. A major story out of the first quarter was the Vess impact from the bench as in the first quarter 10 of their 15 points came from the bench with Andrey-Anne Lebreche, Princess Bernardino and Melanie Clouthier all pitching in on offense from the bench.
In the second quarter the duo of rookie Cadence Pecore and star player Emilie Lafond took centre stage on the offensive end. Lafond would pick up 6 of her game high 18 points in the second quarter while Pecore went 3-6 from the field and put up eight second quarter points. This coupled with the outstanding team defense in the second which limited the Thunderbirds to 13% shooting blew open a 14 point Laurentian lead going into half.
The second half was more of the same stories we saw in the first. On the offensive end the team continued to be aided by outstanding bench scoring with the aforementioned Clouthier coming up with another seven points in the third quarter while all but four of the team's points in the fourth quarter came from the bench as well. The defense stayed consistent as well, holding Algoma to just 16 points in both the third and fourth quarter with the Thunderbirds shooting sitting at an overall 26% for the game.
All in all Laurentian would have eight different scorers on the day with five of those eight coming off the bench, going back to winning ways in convincing fashion with a 73-49 win over the Thunderbirds in their lone game of the weekend.
The Voyageurs top performers on the day included another double-double from Emilie Lafond who ended the game with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Melanie Clouthier had a season high 15 points along with 3 rebounds as well off the bench.
The Voyageurs will end the season with four straight home games beginning with the Queen's Gaels and Ontario Tech Ridgebacks making their way to the Ben Avery Gym next weekend. The game's on Friday and Saturday night are both set to get underway at 6pm in Sudbury.
- Andrew Lemieux