By Gabriel Rodrigues
This past weekend, Laurentian’s women’s basketball team dropped two games at home against the Guelph Griffons and Lakehead Thunderwolves, moving their record to 1-5 on the season.
On Friday, Nov. 15, the Voyageurs lost 66-51 to the Griffons, giving Laurentian their third straight loss at home this season.
In the first quarter, Laurentian struggled to settle the ball down in the offense zone which led to turnovers for the Griffons, as Guelph outscored Laurentian in the early going 15-3.
Laurentian coach, Jason Hurley, called a timeout within the first five minutes to settle his team, but the Voyageurs could only manage one successful field goal attempt throughout the quarter, finding themselves down by 17 points.
The second quarter was even with the Voyageurs finally able to score some key baskets outscoring the Griffons 19-13, but Guelph continued to hit timely shots of their own and took a 36-25 lead going into to halftime.
In the third quarter, Laurentian started off strong fighting their way back in the early going, finding themselves only five points down to the Griffins, however, after three quick baskets by Guelph, the Voyageurs were down by 10 points going into the fourth quarter.
Laurentian began the last quarter with two quick baskets, but after the Griffons responded with six straight points, Guelph pulled away with the game winning by 15 points.
Hurley believes his teams’ beginning to the game is what “hurt them.”
“We weren’t impressed with our start,” he said. “We have to push ourselves more in practice and translate that intensity into games because we can’t continue to have slow starts like we did.”
Voyageurs’ third year guard, Danielle Harris, led all scorers with 22 points going 8-11 behind the free-throw line and successfully made timely field-goal and three point attempts throughout the game for Laurentian.
Guelph’s Katherine MacTavish had a strong performance for the Griffins, as she scored 18 points collecting 12 rebounds along the way.
Laurentian had 26 turnovers to Guelph’s 17, making the Voyageurs misuse of the ball a significant issue throughout the game against the Griffons.
On Saturday, Nov. 16, Laurentian dropped their fourth straight game at home this season, losing 54-50 to the Thunderwolves in a close contested game.
The first quarter started off slow with both teams missing shots in the early going, but Lakehead would score some points, forcing the Voyageurs to take a time timeout, as Laurentian found themselves down 9-4.
However, after the timeout, Laurentian came out with new life scoring consecutive baskets ending the quarter only down 13-10 to the Thunderwolves.
In the second quarter, the Voyageurs managed to score points taking their first lead at home this season 17-16, which forced Lakehead to call a timeout.
The Thunderwolves took the lead back, but after two quick baskets, Laurentian led by one going into halftime.
The Voyageurs continued their strong play, as Laurentian outscored Lakehead 16-13 in the third quarter, taking a 39-35 lead for the first time in the final quarter at home this season.
In the fourth, after an early basket by Laurentian, the Thunderwolves scored seven straight points, as both teams started to exchange the lead throughout the quarter.
The game was even 48-48 in the last minute, but after Laurentian turnovers, which forced the Voyageurs to foul, Lakehead pulled away winning by four points in a tight fourth quarter.
“We worked hard tonight, but it just didn’t work out,” said Coach Hurley. “This is the first league game where we played as hard as we can for four quarters and the next game we have to do it again, and maybe we will execute.”
Lakehead’s Kelsey Bardsley led all scorers with 20 points, four rebounds and two steals throughout the game.
Harris earned 19 points, four rebounds and three steals leading the Voyageurs. Also, Laurentian forward, Emma Decloe contributed 10 points and five rebounds in the losing cause.
Turnovers played another role in Laurentian’s loss, as the Voyageurs gave up the ball 25 times compared to Lakehead’s 20.
Hurley said his team is still learning a new system.
“It’s a whole process,” he said. “We are young, even though some of these girls are third and fourth years, it is a shock for someone to be doing something one way and changing it with a new leader. They are learning, and again we judge success by how much work we put in. Tonight, I thought they worked as hard as they can, but it just didn’t happen for us.”
Harris produced over 40 points for the Voyageurs this weekend, and said her team met their objectives against Lakehead, but “just came short.”