Late charge leads Varsity Blues over Western
LONDON, Ont. - It was the final minute of play that determined the winner of Sunday afternoon's game, as Western fell short against the Toronto Varsity Blues by a score of 91-87 at Alumni Hall.
LONDON, Ont. - It was the final minute of play that determined the winner of Sunday afternoon's game, as Western fell short against the Toronto Varsity Blues by a score of 91-87 at Alumni Hall.
The loss is the Mustangs' second of the season, and they are now tied for second place with the Laurier Golden Hawks in the OUA West. The win is the Varsity Blues' second this year, and they now sit in third place in the OUA East.
With one minute and nine seconds left in the game, the teams were even at 84 points apiece. Toronto guard Rahshida Atkinson took control for the away team, breaking the tie by sinking two free throws, then continuing to widen the gap by making a steal, scoring a layup, and netting another foul shot.
The game's lead scorer, Mackenzie Puklicz, responded with a three pointer to decrease Toronto's lead to 89-87 with just one second left on the board, but it wasn't enough for the purple in white. Atkinson finished off the game with two more successful foul shots to give the Varsity Blues a score of 91 points to Western's 87.
"Toronto was good. They defended, they rebound, and they scored," said Western head coach Brian Cheng. "I thought we put the ball in the bucket pretty good, but we didn't keep enough out of the bucket."
Atkinson's seven points in the final minute helped her to be Toronto's top scorer. She finished the game with 34 points, followed by Keyire Parke's 18, and Abena Addo's 12.
For the home team, Puklicz tallied a big 36 points, including six three-pointers, giving her the title of the night's top scorer. Four other Mustangs scored into the double digits: Victoria Heine with 12, Maddy Horst and Meredith McLeod each with 11, and Cassidy Crowe with 10.
The Varsity Blues took control following the tip-off, netting the first six points of the game. Five and a half minutes in, the Varsity Blues had their highest lead with a score of 18-8. The Mustangs determined to shrink that gap though, and with just over a minute left Crowe sunk a three to decrease Toronto's lead to 24-22.
In the next frame, the Mustangs maintained their shot accuracy at 45.7% while the Varsity Blues' accuracy declined to 41.2% from 55.6% in the first ten minutes. Halfway through the second quarter, the Mustangs managed to get ahead on the scoreboard, and the remainder of the half saw the teams taking turns asserting dominance. The purple and white ended the half leading 43-40.
The game continued to be close in the third quarter. More baskets for the purple and white, including three three pointers for Puklicz, allowed the Mustangs to head into the final quarter with a ten point lead.
The final quarter determined the teams' fate, and it was the Varsity Blues who managed to finish on top.
"They were hitting threes that we were just leaving wide open," said Puklicz. "We just weren't really playing defense. Letting a team score 90 is not really acceptable."
Moving forward, she said that the team needs to focus on rebounds in order to be successful.
The Mustangs will hit the road for their next game at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 22. They will be heading to Ottawa to face the Carleton Ravens. You can watch the live stream of the game on OUA.tv.
Source: Western Mustangs
