Women's B-ball streaking to keep spot
By Ryan Rogers
Sports Editor
January 30, 2008
 The Lancers Women’s Basketball team continued to put a compelling argument for the playoffs on the court last weekend against the Lakehead Thunderwolves.
Demonstrating their strength, adaptability and depth, they won back-to-back games at home sweeping the regular season series against the Lakehead Thunderwolves in their only match-ups this season.
After the wins, the Lancer ladies are now tied for the third place in the OUA West Division with the Brock Badgers at 20 points each.
The top six teams in each division earn playoff spots. With five games remaining in the season, they are only two points ahead of the sixth-place Waterloo Warriors, so the pressure is on every game.
Their latest win marks the third consecutive game where they’ve defeated their opposition by 14 points or more, including a 61-47 whooping of the Brock Badgers. They battle the Badgers once more before the end of the season, which could be a distinguishing moment in the standings.
Friday’s game started a little slowly, taking a minute and a half before Lakehead scored the first basket.
In a feeling-out process, the two teams were in a dead heat after the first quarter, 11-10 in favour of the Lancers. Raelyn Prince had a strong opening to the game fighting for rebounds and getting good looks at the net.
She was nearly unstoppable under the net, scoring 20 points and grabbing 12 rebounds leading all players in both categories on the night.
Head Coach Chantal Vallee said, “I thought we had a really good game overall. I really liked my posts, who were strong. My guards were strong.”
The Lancers pulled away in the second quarter, ending it 33 – 24, and never looked back. The Thunderwolves countered by employing many full-court passes, using their speed to try and generate offense. Vallee said, “That’s what they do, you see they run, and they’re successful with that. But we’re athletic as well, and we can run with them, and I think that’s where we really came and stopped them.”
She continued, “I didn’t like the fact in the first quarter they ran on us, I don’t like my team to be known as somebody that runs on, so we addressed that very firmly … and we stopped it.”
By making an adjustment on defense, the Lancers were able to stifle the Thunderwolves’ strategies. “So they keep doing what they used to and ‘Whoops,’ the Lancers are there and the Lancers have possession. I think that’s why they were a bit pacified by that,” said Vallee.
Vallee felt that her team carried themselves very well and controlled the pace throughout the game. “I thought my girls came out very strong. We’ve been using the word ‘poise’ a lot, and we remember that we need to be poised and focused.” With that attitude, they were able to carry the play and make good use of their bench, employing all 12 women during the game.
They were so successful they didn’t even take a penalty or a time out in the final quarter. “The girls came in and we showed that our bench can play with their starters, which is really good,” said Vallee. “And then also we can keep our lead, and play, and I think that it’s really important that we have strong bench. Our bench pushes our starters like this all the time. You cannot ask for better than this.”
Their next game is against Waterloo, who is at risk of missing the playoffs as they sit in the final spot, tied with Laurier.
Lakehead was led by Kathryn Verboom, who had 12 points and five rebounds. In the second game of the double-header, the Lancers won 66-50 with Dranadia Roc and Shavaun Reaney both scoring 20 points each, to lead the Lancers. Shannon Vellinga led the Thunderwolves with 15 points and six rebounds.
|
