The male and female basketball teams had triple celebrations at home last weekend, as both teams won their last home games against the Queen’s Golden Gaels, and at the same time honoured the team’s graduating members. The Saturday games saw the women’s team winning by a whisker over their opponents, while the men cruised to victory.

The women’s game was locked in point trades until the end of the game. The first half seemed to be a very sloppy one, as both teams only made nine of their field goal attempts, combined. However, the Blues made up for this shortfall by getting 33% of their three-point shots right. The Gaels only shot 27% from behind the three-point arc.

The first half ended with the teams virtually deadlocked-Queen’s held a slight 25-24 advantage.

The second half was more of the same, as the two teams battled for supremacy on the court. With just under two minutes to go, Jennifer Coens redeemed an earlier mistake by capitalizing on an offensive rebound to give the Blues the lead. This advantage lasted until the end of the game.

The second half ended on a close note as well. The final score was 62-60 in favour of the home team, which caused the small but faithful crowd to go home happy.

In total, the Blues had 21 assists against the Gaels’ 13, made 43% of field goals against 31%, and each team, unsurprisingly, tallied 34 rebounds. Sarah Cameron of the Gaels led the goals pack with 17 points and a total of 11 rebounds. Blues forward Joanne Chehade followed with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Amy Goodday of Queen’s chipped in 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists in the loss, while Jennifer Coens scored 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists for U of T.

The men’s game, which started after the graduation tribute for seven basketball players, ended in the home team cruising to a blowout victory. It took a bit of time for the Blues men to master the art of breaking through the defence of the Gaels, but with a couple of three-point shots towards the end of the first half, the visitors soon realized that three-pointers alone would determine their fate.

The half finished 29-14 in favor of the Blues.

The second half saw continued thrust from the Blues’ engines as they doubled their lead under the scoring and defensive efforts of Paul Sergautis and Mike Degiorgio, respectively. The game ended 63-39 in favour of the Blues, who got 34% of field goal attempts and 40% of three-point throws to drop.

These are staggeringly high numbers compared to the dismal showing by the Golden Gaels, who only managed to sink 29% of their field goal chances and 27% of their three-point shots.

This victory, however, was not achieved without a tough fight from the Gaels, seen most clearly in the efforts of Neal Dawson. He finished the night with 10 points, 13 rebounds, and one assist.

The man of the match, Blues guard Paul Sergautis, finished with 19 points, five rebounds, and six assists. He was closely trailed by teammate Paul Zyla, who had 14 points, five rebounds, and two assists.

Earlier that night, Tanya Callaghan, Joanne Chehade, Kristin Cullen, Jen Coens, and Vanessa Nobrega of the women’s team, along with Paul Zyla and Kenny Hilborn of the men’s team, were given due recognition for their dedicated contribution to the Varsity Blues basketball program. All seven received thunderous applause and cheers from the fans, who were not only gathered to see the Blues make them proud, but also to show appreciation to these fine men and women.

Both teams had been on fire coming into Saturday’s action, as the men and women each demolished Royal Military College on Friday night. The men defeated RMC 63-39, while the women did even better. In that game the Blues won 79-29 in a cakewalk.