By Jessica Robinson
The Laurentian Women’s basketball team had a tough weekend, losing to the McMaster Marauders and Brock Badgers respectively in back to back games.
On Friday, Jan. 16, the Voyageurs lost to the Marauders 91-60. Though Laurentian started the first quarter strong, scoring the first points of the game, the McMaster team caught up quickly.
Going into the second quarter with a five-point lead, the Marauders continued to pull ahead as the game went on, out-rebounding the Voyageurs offensively and defensively.
Danielle Harris scored for Laurentian in the final seconds of the half, but the score reflected a strong presence by the visiting team: 42-27 for McMaster.
Continuing to control the play in the second half of the game, McMaster scored within the first 15 seconds of the third quarter. The Voyageurs worked hard to lessen the Marauder lead, as Meghan Forestell scored a 3 pointer right at the end of the third, shrinking the points gap so that Laurentian was just 12 points behind at the start of the final quarter.
Ultimately, however, McMaster took the last quarter, stretching their lead once again. The final score left the Marauders in the lead by just over 30 points.
The team did not fare much better against the Brock Badgers the next night, losing 80-54.
Brock started the scoring at the beginning of the game, but the first quarter saw a low and marginally close score throughout.
Though the Badgers led by five points at the end of the first, the play was carried out evenly in both ends.
An array of free throws, layups, and timeouts filled the second quarter as Brock worked to maintain their lead.
Emily Case of the Laurentian Voyageurs was fouled at the buzzer and scored one of two shots, ending the half at 43-37 for Brock, Laurentian trailing by just six points.
The third quarter saw Brock more in control of the play, pulling multiple fouls their way and adding an additional 10 points to their lead. The teams entered the last quarter 59-43 for the Badgers.
The Voyageurs fought hard, but couldn’t manage to catch the opposing team, making this Laurentian’s third consecutive loss.
Meghan Forestell led the scoring in Saturday’s game, with 11 points overall, while Devenae Bryce had the most rebounds on the team, completing six in total.
Women’s basketball head coach Jason Hurley stated that the team struggled most defensively.
“[The game plan] is always sort of similar: try to play hard defence, rebound the ball, don’t turn the ball over, share the ball offensively… I think we had a lot of looks, we just didn’t get the ball in,” he said. “It’s our defence that did not click this weekend.”
However, these losses should not impact the Voyageurs’ likelihood of securing a spot in the playoffs. The team needs to finish third in their division in order to qualify.
“Nipissing is in our division,” Hurley said. “We play them the next two games, so if we take care of those games, I’m pretty sure we’ll be in the playoffs.”
The next two games are also part of Shoot For The Cure, an endeavour that involves fundraising on behalf of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The Laurentian team will be wearing pink uniforms and raising money for the charity during the game.
