W-BASKETBALL PLAYOFF ROUNDUP: Williams drops 42 as Lakehead cruises past Western
KINGSTON, Ont. (February 25, 2015) - The Queen's Gaels recovered from a slow start to finish with a dominant win, 80-52 over the Laurentian Voyageurs in OUA women's basketball playoff action from the ARC at Queen's University and will advance to the next round of the playoffs.
Wednesday, February 25
Williams scores 42 as Lakehead moves on
Jylisa Williams pulled the load once more, this time scoring 42 points en route to a 71-54 win over the Western Mustangs in the first round of OUA women's basketball playoffs.
Lakehead looked like they were ready to put it on cruise control early on, running out to a 15-4 lead through 7 minutes of play. But after calling their second time-out, the Mustangs went on an 8-0 run of their own, and closed the quarter down 19-16 to the home side.
At halftime Lakehead was ahead 37-30.
Most of Lakehead's offense came from its defense, creating turnovers and finishing at the other end with layups.
The third quarter saw Essa Jacobsen enter the game for the 'Wolves, and she went to work in the paint, grabbing 10 rebounds and scoring 5 points in 14 minutes' work to help put the Mustangs away.
Lakehead scored 23 points in the third quarter to Western's 15, and would coast from there. Jylisa Williams finished with 42 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals.
For Western, rookie Maddy Horst scored 13 points with 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
Coach Jon Kreiner:
"Western really battled with us tonight. We struggled to contain them and coach Cheng had a great game plan but we found our spots on offence and our ball movement improved as the game went on. Corina found Jylisa all night and Jylisa put on a great show in transition. Essa had a great second half on the boards for us. We are looking forward to our next challenge; Mac at Mac."
Lakehead moves on to the next round of theOUA playoffs, and will face Central division rival McMaster on Saturday at 1:00pm in Hamilton.
Source: Lakehead Thunderwolves
Boag and Dixon shine in 80-52 playoff win over Laurentian, Gaels will visit Laurier on Saturday
KINGSTON, Ont. (February 25, 2015) - The Queen's Gaels recovered from a slow start to finish with a dominant win, 80-52 over the Laurentian Voyageurs in OUA women's basketball playoff action from the ARC at Queen's University and will advance to the next round of the playoffs.
Queen's next will travel to Waterloo to take on the No.6 Laurier Golden Hawks at the Athletic Complex Gym. The Gaels who finished as the seventh seed in the OUA will look to take the upset over the second seeded and No.6 ranked in Canada Golden Hawks. For ticket information on the game at Laurier click here. If you can't catch the game live it will also be available live online at OUA.tv.
Liz Boag (Kingston, Ont.) made her final home game in the tricolour count as she finished with 19 points to lead all scorers and added four rebounds, four assists and three steals while sinking four from beyond the arc. Second year guard Abby Dixon (North Vancouver, B.C.) paced the Gaels in the first half scoring 12 of her 16 on the night in the opening 20 minutes. Just shy of a double-double on the night was Andrea Priamo (Guelph, Ont.) who finished with 13 points and nine rebounds in 22 minutes of action. The Voyageurs saw strong efforts from Devenae Bryce and Danielle Harris who each finished with 12 points for Laurentian.
"We had prepared as well as we could for what they do well and what we wanted to do against it," said head coach Dave Wilson after the game. "We struggled with the execution at the start but got more and more comfortable as they game went along and started putting more pressure on them. Our goal was to get them off the three point line. We made sure we ran at them and made them drive so they would have to pull up and shoot."
In the first quarter Laurentian took the lead with the first bucket of the game but post Priamo responded with a successful three point play after getting her hook shot to fall from the paint and hitting her free-throw after being fouled. The two teams began trading buckets and at one point went shot for shot with four straight three pointers, two from each side and two from Dixon for the Gaels. Boag joined in on the three-point party and the Gaels found themselves in front 16-14. Despite only shooting 31% from the floor the Gaels finished the first quarter with a 20-14 lead with the help of six turnovers from Laurentian to the Gaels three.
Queen's began to put their foot on the pedal in the second quarter as Dixon continued to shine starting with a three point shot then grabbing an assist as she found Emily Hazlett (Fredericton) who hit an open look three and Queen's took a 10 point advantage. Laurentian struggled from the floor shooting only 4-17 in the quarter which included one possession where they put up four attempts but could not convert. The Gaels great ball movement got Boag an open look and she made no mistake to make it 41-26 with a three pointer. Tricolour vets continued to shine as Boag found Bullard for three and the Gaels lead by 20 points 46-26 at the half.
To start the third the Voyageurs looked to cut into the large Gaels lead but could only cut the lead by a few points as the tricolour continued their sharp-shooting from beyond the arc. Queen's shooters went cold for a stretch late in the quarter but Laurentian could not capitalize. Boag then took over hitting a three and followed with a steal that she took down court for an uncontested lay-in. The Gaels headed to the fourth quarter with a 67-45 lead.
"Liz is that player that when you need something, it's Liz. She can relax everyone when she's on the floor and everybody feels comfortable when Liz is running the show."
Queen's closed out the Voyageurs in the fourth adding another 13 points compared to only seven for Laurentian to take the 80-52 victory.
Source: Queen's Gaels
Blues bump Badgers, advance to quarterfinals
The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's basketball team defeated the Brock Badgers 77-61 in OUA playoff action on Wednesday night (Feb. 25) at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.
With the win, the Blues advance to the OUA quarter-final round and will travel to Windsor, Ont., to take on the No. 1 Lancers this Saturday, February 28 at 7 p.m.
The veterans led the way for U of T, with fifth-year guard Jill Stratton leading all players with a double-double of 24 points and 14 boards, while adding six steals and three assists on the night.
Fifth-year forward Liane Bailey notched 15 points, five rebounds, three rebounds and three steals, while Alanna Garner had 13 points and nine boards. Julie Longauer also tallied nine points in the win.
Source: Toronto Varsity Blues
Gee-Gees Get Revenge over Ravens and Advance to OUA Quarters
The uOttawa Gee-Gees made amends for last season's playoff lost to the Carleton Ravens and returned the favour on home court Wednesday night, ending the Ravens' season with a 74-58 victory. uOttawa advances to the OUA quarter-finals to take on the three seed and CIS no. 7 Ryerson Rams on Saturday night in Toronto.
There was much anticipation of tight, low-scoring game in this one but a frantic pace to the first half gave way to a smoother, more controlled final three quarters for the Gee-Gees.
Carleton had the clear edge in the first 15 minutes, coming out with the little bit more jump offensively. But the Gee-Gees took the lead at the five minute mark of the second quarter by creating turnovers and pressuring the ball, allowing them to take more control of the game. A 17-0 run helped Ottawa take a 39-27 lead into the break.
"We had some defensive lapses which really can't happen on Saturday against Ryerson so we'll clean that up," said Kellie Ring who finished with a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds, scoring nine points in the fourth quarter to help ice it. "We talked about it at halftime and after the first quarter. They were beating us off the dribble and one-on-one. We definitely wanted to take pride in whomever we're defending and keep them in front of us. I think we definitely did in the second quarter. That's what helped us be successful in the second quarter."
Gee-Gees had a much easier time creating lanes to the basket in the second half. Ravens needed to do more than tie the third quarter if they wanted to have a chance in the fourth. But the Ravens got within only as many as seven in the fourth.
"Everyone was really solid for us tonight," said Ottawa head coach Andy Sparks following the game. "We had to just stay down defensively and be patient. There were a lot of times they were pulling back and we were biting on it. We were chasing shooters and jumping in the air. Typically if they're going sideways, you don't help. But we were over helping and I think that's what caused some open shots for them."
"They were a very good defensive team as they always are," added Sparks. "But the offensive end wasn't as big a key as the defensive end. We really locked down a bit after the first quarter. They've lost two very key players so they're not the same team. So give them credit."
Ravens' guard Stephanie Carr got free for 19 points in the losing effort and played every minute. The Gee-Gees reduced the number of looks Carleton was able to generate inside to Lindsay and Leblanc but they both finished in double-digits, 15 and 12 respectively. uOttawa really took away dribble penetration by the Carleton guards who had their way in the early going. The majority of the 19 Carleton turnovers came on the drive.
Despite the size disadvantage and Carleton's rebounding ability, the Gee-Gees won the battle on the glass 36-34 with the way they hustled and fought for loose balls. But now the Gee-Gees prepare to play a different type of team in the OUA quarters.
"Ryerson is completely different from Carleton," said Sparks. "They've been consistently one of the top five teams in the country. They're the third ranked team in Ontario. So we knew after this one we were going to be in tough all the way along. We played a very close game with Ryerson here. I think we can compete. They're a guard-oriented team. They push the tempo a lot. We're going to have to be ready for it."
Source: Ottawa Gee-Gees
