The women’s basketball team will have a little bit of time now to enjoy thrilling victories against York and Laurentian this past weekend, With the victories the Blues accomplished two feats: They displaced York from first place overall, the first time in three years that the Lions finished out of top-spot, and they also earned a bi into the quarterfinals of the playoff’s giving them exactly 11 days to prepare, but just as importantly, to enjoy their new number one status. With 18 wins on the season women’s basketball matches it single best total, which they last accomplished in 2003. When asked who they would prefer to play in the playoffs, Toronto head coach Michelle Belanger was not about to get ahead of herself. “No, I’m not even going there. Not going there because that’s just way beyond.”
In their final two games of the season, with first-place in the OUA East on the line, U of T came up with a solid 40-minute performance to defeat the seventh-ranked York Lions 79-68 in front of a full house at the Athletic Centre Friday night. It was a different story from their previous meeting when the Lions defeated Toronto 73-70 at York Jan 26. In that game, the Blues played timidly in the first and third quarters and dug themselves a hole too deep to climb out of.
On Friday night however, their game plan was simple: no easy baskets. “We were going to give them the physical treatment tonight, but in the last game against York, we started out extremely tentative,” said fifth-year forward Laila Bellony. “We made a pact between us that we were going to make them earn every basket. Nothing easy tonight.” The score at half time was a little misleading. The Blues were up by only three points despite limiting the Lions to just 32 per cent shooting from the floor. The offence finally shifted into high-gear in the third quarter, starting with a 19-5 run and capped-off with a Christine Cho three-pointer. York went on a small run of their own in the fourth quarter when York’s leading scorer, Brenan Rurak, hit a triple to cut the Blues’ lead to seven.
From there, though, the Blues put the game away. York’s defense could not stop the Blues down the fourth quarter stretch.
Blues forward Christine Cho led all scorers with 20 points in the second half. Guard Kyla Burwash, despite playing with a sore left hand, tallied 14 points, five rebounds, and three steals. Bellony kept her promise by playing aggressive defense every minute she was on the floor. She also made a solid contribution on the offensive end with 15 points and five rebounds in only 13 minutes of play.
Blues head coach Michele Belanger praised the excellent work of her subs after starting forwards Amanda Van Leeuwen and Bellony got into foul trouble early in the first quarter.
“That hurt us at times, but I thought the girls coming off the bench did a great job maintaining momentum,” Belanger said. She was also pleased with the complete 40-minute performance her team gave, especially after the disappointing three-point loss at York.
“We played 40 minutes… We told the girls after the (Jan. 26) game that they played outstanding basketball for six minutes,” Belanger said. “So I said if you could play that well for six minutes, imagine what you could do if you played 40-minutes fairly intensely.”
The team was able to carry the momentum from this game into their season finale against Laurentian. The Voyagers entered the game third overall in the East just behind the Blues, and they battled all the way too the final buzzer. After the first quarter Laurentian had the lead 21-17, but with victory, and first place still within reach, the Blues battled back outscoring their opponents 21-11 in the second to take a six point lead at halftime. Despite a late rally by the Voyagers in the fourth quarter the Blues were narrowly able to capture the win 70-69, on the strength of Allaine Hutton’s 21 points and eight rebounds. Christine Cho also contributed to the victory with 21 points of her own on 7-13 shooting.
