W-BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: Golden Hawks improve to 6-1 with 87-72 win over rival Warriors
Wednesday, November 26
McMaster 65 @ Western 51
LONDON, Ont. - On paper, the numbers were nearly identical for the Western and McMaster women's basketball teams after the first half of play. But the control slipped away for the Stangs in the 3rd quarter, eventually leading to a 65-51 loss at the hands of the CIS' 7th ranked team on Wednesday night at Alumni Hall.
Maddy Horst led the Mustangs scoring with 16 points, going 6-8 in field goals and shooting perfect from the foul line, sinking all three free throw attempts. Victoria Heine followed with 14 in addition to 6 rebounds. The Marauders had four players in double digits, with Danielle Boiago, Clare Kenney, and Hilary Hanaka scoring 18, 17, and 12 poitns respectively. Guard Linnaea Harper led all players with 12 rebounds in the win.
Western broke out of the gate with an intensity that seemed to catch the Marauders off guard, moving the ball well both down the court and between each other in the offensive zone. Heine's presence under the net helped keep the ball on the home team's side, with four of her rebounds alone coming in the opening quarter.
By the end of first half, Heine had already amassed 10 points and five defensive rebounds. With the score at 24-23, the Mustangs trailed by only a point and matched McMaster in field goals, free throw percentage, and total rebounds after the opening 20 minutes of play.
Things started to unravel in the third quarter, though, when Western committed sevent turnovers compared to one by McMaster. The Marauders capitalized on these turnovers in the form of Clare Kenney, who shot 54% from the field, connecting on seven of her 13 attempts from the floor. McMaster outscored the Mustangs 24-13 in the frame, giving the visitors a 13 point lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
Stronger fourth quarter play has been in the repertoire of the Mustangs this season and tonight's game was no different. The team stayed competitive in the last frame, matching the 15 points put up by the visitors, and staying even keel on turnovers. However, the damage in the third quarter was too much to overcome, and McMaster claimed a 65-51 victory.
"There's been some ownership from players on the team," said Mustangs head coach Brian Cheng about the loss. "We saw that tonight, for three quarters. [McMaster's] the seventh ranked team in the country. If you only show up for three quarters, then that's not going to be enough."
Western is at home again on Saturday when they host the Brock Badgers at Alumni Hall. Cheng said his team has been improving since the start of the season and hopes it will show in the upcoming matchup.
"With young teams there's nothing for sure. You can only prepare them to make good choices The good news is every week we get litmus tests to measure our improvements."
Saturday's game tips off at 6 p.m. at Alumni Hall, and fans can watch all the action live on OUA.tv.
Source: Western Mustangs
York 38 @ Queens 73
KINGSTON, Ont. (November 26, 2014) – The Gaels women's basketball team (3-3) grabbed a 73-38 victory against the York Lions (0-6) Wednesday night at the ARC Main Gym in Kingston thanks to balanced scoring across the board.
The Gaels were led by Jenny Wright (Kingston, Ont.) who has been a powerhouse for Queen's this season putting up 12 points. Abby Dixon (North Vancouver) had a strong performance as well with 10 points and five rebounds, she was matched by Emily Hazlett (Fredericton, N.B.) who also scored 10 points and contributed four assists. Courtney Osborne and Nina Guzina led the Lions with eight points each.
The Gaels owned the court in the first half with Dixon chalking up two baskets in the first minutes to put Queen's ahead with the early lead. The Lions showed good ball movement and infiltrated the Gaels defence in the first quarter but were unable to complete their attacks shooting only 21 % from the floor. Queen's led into the second quarter up by seven points and hit a 9-2 run, pulling further ahead and stretching their lead to 31-20 by halftime.
The Gaels momentum picked up in the second half as they broke through the Lions defence, finding the seams and driving the basket. The third quarter was a highlight for Queen's as they outscored York 23-7 with Wright hitting consecutive trifecta's in the final minute of the third quarter giving them a lead 54-27, their largest in the game, going into the final frame.
The Lions tired in the final quarter giving up 30 turnovers in the game to the Gaels who continued to pull ahead. With a comfortable lead, the last minutes of the game were played by a rookie lineup with Maddie Morris (Seeley's Bay, Ont.) sinking the final point of the game with seven seconds on the clock. The Gaels ended their third win of the season 73-38 over the Lions.
"[The rookies] do so much work for us in practice to help us be better and they don't get as much time in the games," head coach Dave Wilson said after the game. "Our veterans were thrilled to see them on the floor working hard and playing very well for us. All five of them were on the court and they all held their own."
The Gaels will be back in action November 28 for their final regular season game before the winter break against Algoma University. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 pm at the ARC Main Gym.
Source: Queen's Gaels
Laurier 87 @ Waterloo 72
A hot third quarter by the visiting Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks was the difference in the game as Waterloo was on the short end of an 87-72 score on Wednesday night at the PAC. Whitney Ellener had the game high in scoring with 18 points. The game closed out the pre-exam portion of the OUA schedule for both teams in the OUA West Division. Wilfrid Laurier has a 6-1 record and sits in second place while Waterloo falls to 1-6 and is in fourth place.
Marti Killeen (Oakville) started Waterloo off to an early lead before Laurier was able to get into the lead midway through the first quarter. Although Waterloo was never able to get in front again, they did have a number of opportunities to close the gap. Thanks to a 9-0 run by the Warriors midway through the second, Waterloo was down just 4 at the half time break, 39-35. At the break the Warriors were shooting 50% and had a slight 19-18 edge in rebounding.
To start off the third quarter, Laurier went on a 16-4 run to stretch the lead above double digits. It didn't get much better to end the third as Laurier had a 23 point cushion the start the fourth.
Waterloo was determined to make a game of it in the fourth and Killeen, Ally Vonk (Burlington) and Amy Jarvis (Burlington) combined to get Waterloo within an 8-point margin in the final quarter. The gap was too much to overcome, however, and the Warriors finished the game with an 87-72 loss.
Killeen was tops for Waterloo in points and rebounding, scoring 19 points and taking in 7 rebounds. Jarvis added 15 points, while Emily Wilk (Oakville) finished with 11. The Warriors did have the edge on the glass with 41 rebounds to Laurier's 36 but their shooting cooled off in the second half and they finished at 43% for the night.
On the Laurier side, four players were in double figures, led by Whitney Ellenor with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Nicole Morrison chipped in nicely 17 points in the victory.
The players now take a break to write exams and visit over the holidays. The next games on the schedule are when the Algoma Thunderbirds come to town for games on January 9th and 10th.
Source: Waterloo Warriors
