By Gabriel Rodrigues
Despite the Laurentian’s women’s basketball team losing by 40 points in their home opening game against Ottawa, the Voyageurs managed to pull off a win the night later, versus Carleton.
On Friday, Nov. 14, the Voyageurs lost 89-49 to the Ottawa Gee-Gees at the Ben F. Avery Gymnasium.
In the first, Laurentian scored the first five points curtesy of Adrienne Moreau and Devenae Bryce. However, the Gee-Gees stormed back going on a 14-0 run helping Ottawa take a 22-12 lead at the end of the quarter.
The second provided much of the same, as Laurentian missed shots while the Gee-Gees hit key three-pointers and made easy field goal attempts giving Ottawa a 20 point lead going into halftime, 47-27.
Coming off the break, Ottawa scored a combined 42 points within the third and fourth while Laurentian managed only 22, handing the Gee-Gees their second win of the season and the Voyageurs’ first loss of their 2014-15 OUA campaign.
Laurentian’s fourth-year guard, Moreau, led the way for the Voyageurs scoring 14 points and collecting four rebounds.
Also, first-year Voyageur, Meghan Forestell, scored 11 points in 22 minutes of play, making three of four shots behind the three-point line.
Bryce scored 10 points, including eight rebounds, five blocks and three assists in the Voyageurs’ loss.
As for the Gee-Gees, Ottawa had five players scoring over 10 points with Stephanie MacDonald tallying 20 points to lead all scorers in the game.
Laurentian struggled in shooting, as the Voyageurs went 18 for 58 in field goal attempts and 6 for 26 in three point shots, while the Gee-Gees scored 35 of 70 and 14 of 31.
Also, the Voyageurs’ misuse of the ball helped the Gee-Gees, as Ottawa scored 32 points off Laurentian turnovers.
On Saturday, Nov. 15, the Voyageurs defeated the Carleton Ravens in comeback fashion 60-57 solidifying Laurentian’s second victory of the OUA season.
In the first, both teams exchanged points early on, but the Ravens pulled away with the opening quarter lead by four points, 12-8.
The second proved to be a struggle for Laurentian, as the Voyageurs managed only six points in the quarter, while Carleton scored 16 to take a commanding 28-14 lead going into halftime.
Although being down by 14 points at the start of the second half, the Voyageurs came out with a little more jump scoring timely shots and forcing Carleton to turn over the ball, cutting down the Ravens’ lead to only 12 points, 40-28, going into the final frame.
In the fourth, Laurentian rallied back and scored 32 points, and within the dying seconds of the quarter, the Voyageurs pulled away with a three point victory, handing the Ravens their second loss of the season.
Laurentian’s Danielle Harris led the way for the Voyageurs, as she scored 21 of her 25 points in the second half.
Forestell also had a strong offensive game, as she scored 14 points for Laurentian.
Bryce did a little bit of everything as well, scoring 10 points, five assists and stealing the ball five times.
Carleton’s Lindsay Shotbolt scored 11 points, adding three assists and 14 rebounds for the Ravens.
Heather Lindsay also scored 11 points for the Ravens, collecting 12 rebounds in Carleton’s loss.
Carleton failed to score one three point attempt throughout the game going 0-8, while Laurentian went 5 for 16 from behind the arc.
The Voyageurs scored 18 points off turnovers and managed to score 16 bench points compared to the Ravens’ 12.
Laurentian coach, Jason Hurley, believes his team allowed themselves to “play together” as one you unit.
“We played with emotion,” he said. “This was a huge learning process for us. If you put it all out there, when it comes time for the game, you are going to be successful and we proved that. We allowed the game to come to us, we shared the ball and made key shots. It was good basketball.”
Although Harris’ 25 points was a major piece to Laurentian’s success over Carleton, the fourth-year player said her teammates are the reason why the Voyageurs were successful in gaining their second win of the season.
“We just really wanted it,” Harris said. “Those points were team points and it came down to playing a team game. There was a lot of good screens and good plays by my teammates. We pushed hard and that’s how we should play every game.”
The Voyageurs’ next set of home games are on Nov. 28 and 29 when they host the Guelph Gryphons and Lakehead Thunderwolves with both games beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the Ben F. Avery Gymnasium.
