On a night when the women’s basketball team had every excuse to come out flat, they did just the opposite. Friday evening the Blues (10-4, 2nd OUA East) used a suffocating press to squeeze the life out of their visitors from Ottawa while putting away a 62-44 victory in front of 174 fans at the Sports Gym.
“We just wanted to start strong here,” said second-year guard Vanessa Nobrega. “Everyone was focused and had their mind on defence, for sure.”
U of T charged to a 15-3 run in the game’s first four minutes and never looked back, as the visiting Gee Gees (1-15, 7th OUA East) had trouble breaking the Blues’ full court press.
Ottawa committed 24 turnovers that contributed to the sixteen shot advantage (64-48) the hosts had over their guests.
“I thought they really worked hard defensively,” said coach Michelle Belanger of her team. “They made really strong efforts to get in the [passing] lanes and to pressure Ottawa.”
Even after going into halftime with a 40-23 lead, the Blues kept the pressure at full throttle, holding Ottawa without a point in the second half until Genevieve Laroche hit a couple of free throws with 13:15 remaining to bring the score to 50-25.
Starting guard Holly Pagnan put in a solid 25 minutes of work, collecting 5 steals (team high) to go along with her 11 points and 4 assists. Rachel Franssen hit the boards hard, tallying 8 rebounds in addition to her 2 steals on the night.
The Blues were playing without the strong low post presence of rookie Paula Romkey, who was sick. However, a number of players, led by fourth-year Vanessa Richardson (14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists) and Nobrega (13 points, 8 rebounds, 0 turnovers) put together strong performances to ensure a comfortable win. Catherine Chorney came off the bench and tallied 4 steals in her 17 minutes of play.
“We missed her size down low,” said Belanger of Romkey’s absence. “But it gave other players the opportunity to get out there and show their stuff.”
Kristen Moyle led the Gee Gees with 15 points on 6 of 11 shooting from the field to go along with her team leading 3 assists.
The victory started what will be a seven-game home stand to end the regular season. The Blues extended their untarnished home record to 4-0 and have won 9 of 11 games with visits from Windsor (6th OUA West) and Western (2nd OUA West) to come next weekend.
“It’s nice to be home,” said Belanger, following a weekend split against McMaster (77-63 loss) and Lakehead (85-74 win) last week. “Every game we play, we have to get closer to championship form to show our fans and ourselves that we’re deserving of hosting and potentially winning the Ontario [playoffs] at home.”
Saturday night the women improved to 11-4 with a 83-65 win over Carleton (5-11, 6th OUA East). They were led by Jacquie Armour (18 points, 10 rebounds, 4 steals), Nobrega (25 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists), Richardson (21 points, 8 assists, 5 steals), Pagnan (9 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals) and Franssen (10 rebounds). Paula Romkey returned and had 4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 6 turnovers in 20 minutes of play.
