Women's basketball wins twelfth straight
By Michal Tellos
Sports Editor
January 28, 2009
 The Lancers women’s basketball team, second in Canada, showed no signs of stopping last week, as they picked up two more wins to make it 12 in a row.
The victims this time were the Western Mustangs, who the ladies hosted, and the Brock Badgers, who the Lancers beat up on the road.
It was the same story as it has been recently for the girls, who started slow but came out on fire in the second half.
Head Coach Chantal Vallee has acknowledged this problem.
“I feel that we’re very tentative in the first quarter, and we haven’t had the greatest starts in the past five games. I haven’t pinpointed it yet – whether we need a better warm-up or what, I’m just not sure,” she said.
Although the team is an OUA-leading 15-1, this would be a good problem to resolve before the playoffs.
The team played a shaky and somewhat unrefined first quarter against Western, missing shots and passes alike. But the girls did not lose their composure or confidence at any point, and it showed.
The final score was 70-57 Lancers, even though the team did not take the lead until a few minutes into the third quarter.
Vallee cited a tiring Western defence as a spark for the Lancers.
The team shot a disappointing 20.8 per cent from beyond the arc, making only five out of 24 attempts. Most of the misses came in the first half.
The girls were nonetheless led by second-year Iva Peklova who scored 16 and grabbed seven rebounds, and Emily Abbott who scored 13.
The game saw a standing ovation for Dranadia Roc early in the fourth quarter, as she became the all-time leading women’s Lancers scorer in just her third year.
“I think it’s fantastic for her, and I hope she plays all the way to fifth year,” said Vallee.
The game was labeled “rivalry night” by the athletics department, and a healthy turnout provided a vocal and enthused crowd.
Vallee is quite familiar with the rivalry.
“Every game we play we try to create a rivalry. But they’re the closest team we play, so it’s going to be excited every time,” she said.
Vallee is also aware of it on a more humorous and personal level. During her first year coaching, she wore a purple jacket to a game, forgetting that purple is one of the Mustangs’ colours.
She joked that it has been at the bottom of her drawer ever since.
The game at Brock saw less of the end-to-end action that characterized much of the previous game, as the Lancers blew the Badgers out 75-54.
The girls outscored Brock in three of four quarters, including an 11-point margin in the final frame.
The team was again led by Roc who scored 15 points, including a perfect three of three from the three-point line.
Alisa Wulff also put in a solid defensive effort, earning yet another double-double, scoring 11 points and reaching up for 17 rebounds – 15 of which were in the defensive end.
The girls will next play against the Guelph Gryphons on Wednesday night in Guelph, while there next home game takes place on Feb. 4 against the McMaster Marauders.
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