WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: Badgers stun McMaster 61-55

Wednesday, February 5

Waterloo 53 @ Guelph 97

Guelph, Ont. - The Guelph Gryphons women's basketball team defeated the Waterloo Warriors 97-53 on Wednesday night. The win improves the Gryphon's record to 8-12 on the season.
 
Graduating senior Marlee Freeman was honoured after the game in a ceremony, the guard led all Gryphon scorers with 18 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Also honoured was graduating senior Erin Tilley who finished the night with four points and eight rebounds. Katherine MacTavish also chipped in with 17 points and nine rebounds.
 
Waterloo's Madison Behr led the all scorers with 19 points.
 
The first quarter opened with both teams exchanging turnovers on missed passes. Waterloo notched a three-pointer followed up by a quick lay in to give them an early lead. This seemed to fuel the fire for the Gryphon's as they proceeded to go on a 10-0 tear to take the 10-5 lead and force the Warriors into taking a timeout. Guelph's Marlee Freeman hit a buzzer-beating, circus shot a short time later to extend the Gryphon lead even further. Barbara Inrig-Pieterse drained Guelph's first three-pointer of the game to make it a 12 point, 22-10 game. Guelph looked to establish their physicality over the smaller Waterloo team, ending the first quarter on top of the Warriors 22-13.
 
Guelph continued to push the pace in the second quarter on both ends of the floor. Strong defense and clutch shooting helped the Gryphon's extend their lead to 29-13 with just over seven minutes left in the half. Guelph's stingy defense forced Waterloo into committing 16 turnovers in the first half, including eight in the second quarter. Marlee Freeman extended Guelph's lead to 41-18 after successfully hitting her two free throw attempts. Guelph seemed to be hitting on all cylinders in the first half, shooting 41% from the field. Katherine MacTavish lead the Gryphon's in the first half with a game leading 10 points. Her efforts helped the Gryphon's to a big half-time lead over the Warriors, 43-23.
 
Waterloo tried their best to get back into the game early in the third, but the Gryphon's aggressive attack prevailed. The Gryphon's offense continuously attacked the basket, which opened up many different offensive looks for Guelph. A long three from Dana Van Balkom made it a 56-29 game. The Gryphons diverse offence set combined with continued stingy defense allowed them to take a huge lead heading into the fourth quarter, 71-38.
 
Guelph again came out strong in the fourth quarter. Three-pointers from Guelph's Marlee Freeman and Regan Duff midway through the quarter gave them the lead 83-44. Both teams battled extremely hard until the final buzzer. Erica McFadden drained a three-pointer with less than 30 seconds on the clock to give the Gryphon's the victory over the Warriors, 97-53.
 
Tonight's game marked the last home game of the regular season for the Gryphon's. Guelph will tip off again on the road against the Brock Badgers this Saturday (Feb. 8) at 1:00 p.m.

Source: Guelph Sports Info 



Thursday, February 6

Brock 61 @ McMaster 55

It was almost an amazing comeback, but a furious fourth quarter rally by the McMaster women's basketball team could not prevent a 61-55 defeat at the hands of the Brock Badgers.
 
In a game that was rescheduled from the previous evening because of the winter storm closing the McMaster campus, the Marauders were looking to solidify their fourth-place spot in the OUA West which guarantees a home playoff game in the first-round.
 
It was really a game of two very different halves for McMaster. Tied at 10-10 in the opening quarter, the Badgers ended the period on a 10-1 run and led 20-11 after 10 minutes. The second quarter was also not kind to the Marauders as they struggled at both ends of the court, and by halftime the Badgers held a 36-19 lead.
 
McMaster opened the third quarter on an 8-2 run that cut the deficit to 38-27 and forced Brock into a timeout. But the Badgers withstood the rally and heading to the final stanza, Brock held a commanding 56-38 lead.
 
The fourth quarter saw McMaster start to chip away and Marauder Danielle Boiago got hot from beyond the arc. Slowly the Brock lead diminished as the Badgers were stuck on 56 for more than six minutes, while the Marauders kept creeping closer. McMaster got to within 56-52, with possession of the ball but could not score to make it a one possession game.
Brock's Annie McNeely finally hit a three-ball to end the scoring drought and push the lead back to seven. McMaster could only close to within six over the final three minutes as Brock held on for the win.
 
A positive to come out of the valiant comeback effort is that McMaster now holds the tie-breaker over the Badgers if the teams end up tied in the standings, having won at Brock by 16 in January.
 
Boiago was the top Mac shooter with 17 points, while Hailey Milligan had 11 and grabbed 15 rebounds for a double-double effort. The BIG MAC Player of the game was rookie Lexie Spadafora, who helped spark the Maroon comeback with a strong fourth quarter. Brock got 12 points from both Nicole Rosenkranz and Dayna Howlett.
 
McMaster is now 11-8, while Brock improves to 10-9, and is right behind McMaster in the standings.

Source: McMaster Sports Info