The Varsity Blues women’s basketball team competed on Friday night against the Lakehead University Thunderwolves.
The games tested the Blues as Lakehead sits atop of the Ontario University Athletics’s (OUA) central division standings.
The evening began with the women’s game, starting with both teams struggling to score early baskets. Despite this difficulty, Lakehead established early that they would be pressuring full court on defense.
The Blues had difficulty breaking the press, but the offensive side recovered after a timeout. Captain Jill Stratton threw passes that were on point all night.
Additionally, second-year guard Rahshida Atkinson was solid on the offensive end, delivering by driving to the rim, drawing fouls, and displaying great shooting from the perimeter.
Julie Longauer also came off the bench and provided a spark delivering a quick basket right out of timeout.
On the other end, the Blues played great defense, but it was not enough to contain Lakehead’s Jylisa Williams who got most of her points attacking the rim not only in the half court but also converting baskets off the of Blues’ turnovers.
Williams broke an OUA record, delivering 50 points, last held by Brock University’s Cand Lohr with 49 points during the 1982-1983 season.
At halftime, the score was 39-34 in favour of Lakehead.
The second half started off with the Varsity Blues delivering quick baskets. Liane Bailey fired a three pointer, and Abena Addo and Atkinson tied up the score in under two minutes into the half.
Longauer had a chance to take the Blues’ first lead of the game, but misfired from the free throw line.
The Blues’ next few plays consisted of careless turnovers which Lakehead converted into transitional points on the other end. Lakehead separated from the tied score. The third quarter ended with the Blues trailing 63-55.
In the final quarter, the Blues were unable to hold Lakehead’s Williams back. She got to the line to deliver her fiftieth point with less than a minute to go to lift Lakehead to an 86-69 victory.
Stratton was the player of the game with a near double-double with 21 points and nine rebounds, followed by Atkinson’s 13 points and five rebounds.
With the loss, the Blues record dropped to 7-7. On Saturday, the team was able to get back to an above-.500 record with a win over the Guelph University Gryphons. The Blues remain third place in OUA’s East division.
