CIS women's basketball Wednesday roundup: Laurier, Ottawa, Ryerson, Lakehead advance to OUA quarterfinals

"We came out ready to play, we were on fire. At the start of the game everyone was hitting their shots, we got off to a big lead and stayed that way for the game," said team captain Renata Adamczyk.

Laurier will travel to Windsor to face the second seed Western Mustangs, who beat Laurier in both regular season meetings between the two clubs.

Guelph made the first basket of the game, and that was the only lead they held all night as the Hawks played a strong first quarter, grabbing the 17-10 lead. Laurier extended their advantage in the second to 17 points, thanks in large part to Felicia Mazerolle (Elliot Lake, Ont.) who had a seven point effort.

"We focused on our defence and our offence came along with that," said Mazerolle following the game.

The Hawks had a 37-20 lead at half and didn't allow Guelph to draw closer in the third. Laurier outscored Guelph 17-12 to take a 54-32 lead into the final frame. The fourth saw more of the same from the Laurier offence, who shot an outstanding 27-for-54 (50%) from the field. Laurier stifled the Guelph offence, outscoring the Gryphons 19-15 for the easy 73-47 victory.

Laurier's defence was outstanding in the game, forcing Guelph to shoot 35.1% from the field and 16.7% from three point range. Laurier also outrebounded Guelph 37-25, and had 18 assists to Guelph's seven.

Renata Adamczyk (Greensville, Ont.) led the Golden Hawk attack with a game-high 15 points and five assists. Rookie Felicia Mazerolle had 13 points and two steals in her first career playoff game, while Christa Mancino (Port Colborne, Ont.) scored 13 points. Mallory Kohlmeier (Sarnia, Ont.) had 10 points and five assists, and Megan Grant (Thunder Bay, Ont.) recorded eight points and seven rebounds.

"The veterans have been why we are where we are," said head coach Paul Falco. "We've got great leadership from Mallory, Megan and Renata and Christa has really stepped up."

Kayla Goodhoofd (Oakvillle, Ont.) had 12 points and five rebounds to lead the Gryphons. Samantha Russell (Paradise Valley, AZ.) had 10 points in the losing effort.

Laurier now advances to the OUA quarter-final to take on the 19-3 Western Mustangs who are ranked third in the CIS, and had a bye in the first round of playoffs. Top-seed and the second ranked Windsor (20-2) will take Brock (14-8) in the other OUA West playoff game. Both games will take place on Saturday, February 26th.

Source: Laurier Sports Info

"It was not a good performance by us tonight," said head coach Andy Sparks, "I give York all the credit; they did some stuff that gave us a lot of trouble. We didn't respond as well as we needed to."

It wasn't the quickest of starts for the Gee-Gees, but slow and steady they began to build up their lead through the first quarter. A pair of back-to-back treys from fifth-year guard Alexandra Roy, Montreal, Qué., gave the Gee-Gees an eight point lead to close the frame. The second was a more even battle, though the Gee-Gees extended their lead up to ten at the half.

The Lions slowly began to chip away at the Gee-Gees lead throughout the third until the score was tied with a minute remaining in the quarter. This match would come down to the fourth and final frame to decide a victor, though both teams would struggle to find the basket at the start of this deciding quarter. But then the Gee-Gees slowly began to rebuild their lead to close with the win.

Fourth-year centre Hannah Sunley-Paisley, Toronto, Ont., notched a double-double once again, leading the Gee-Gees with 26 points and 18 rebounds. First-year guard Kim Cupid, Toronto, Ont., tallied 11 points in her strong first half.

"I think we played ok, but we're going to have to play a lot better if we want to do good this weekend," said Cupid. In commenting on the mask she's been forced to wear since breaking her nose, Cupid said "The mask has been a distraction to me. I'm getting used to it and feeling a lot better than I did when I first started to wear it; I'm starting to adjust to it."

"It was nice to see us respond in the last four minutes," said Sparks on his team's comeback, "That certainly showed some character after things going bad for such a long period of time."

"We played like we were a team that was trying not to lose, not a team that was trying to win," concluded Sparks, "And lack of confidence; there was not nearly enough desperation by our team."

The Gee-Gees will now travel to Toronto for the OUA East final four to face the second place Carleton (18-4 OUA, 0-0 playoffs) on Saturday, February 26 at 4:00 p.m. for an OUA quarter-final playoff game.

Source: Ottawa Sports Info

Both teams looked nervous in the opening minutes of the contest, as a jumper by Jill Wheat were the only two points scored by either the Rams or Gaels through the first three minutes. Alexandrea Tkaczyk (Cambridge, Ont.) got the Rams on the board with a strong move to the basket where she picked up two points plus a foul shot. Her fellow post player Tilk then dropped three points as Ryerson opened a four-point lead. However, Moore answered for Queen's with two straight baskets, and nailed a three with time winding down in the opening quarter to bring her team within one.

The visitors took an early lead in the second, but the Rams quickly woke up and went on an 8-0 run capped off with Wright picking up a steal, and converting a three pointer to put them up by three. Key turnovers plagued the Gaels, as they would continue to give Ryerson opportunities. Veteran Ashley MacDonald was relentless, picking up four steals in the first two periods. However, fellow sharp shooter Moore was beginning to heat up for Queen's, as she nailed two more three's and finished with 11 points in the half.

Tilk was the primary producer for the Rams, recording 10 in the half to keep her team on pace with Queen's. The Welland, Ont. native sunk three straight free throws at the end of the half to send the respective teams to locker rooms with the contest locked at 31-31.

Ryerson came out of in the third quarter hot, as MacDonald (Port Colborne, Ont.) opened the half with a three. Wright followed with a pair from beyond the arc herself, and the Rams opened a 10-point lead. Meanwhile, the Gaels were snake-bitten the entire quarter, as they began settling for long jumpers that were not finding the basket. They managed just four points in the quarter, and went into the final period down by nine points.

Queen's would find their rhythm more towards the bottom half of the fourth, as Moore would once again find the net from long range on a couple of occasions. After cutting the lead to just three on a shot by Liz Boag, Wright would answer with four straight points to solidify the Ryerson advantage for good.

"Basketball is a game of runs, and you just have to persevere and keep fighting. You have to play to win and not to lose," said Kissi.

Tilk would go on to drain three of four foul shots in the last minute, and the Rams booked their place in the OUA East Final Four with the victory.

"She was confident going into tonight and played that way," said Kissi of third-year forward Tilk. "She's done a phenomenal job."

The women will head to the University of Toronto this Saturday, and match-up against the host team. The Blues are currently ranked the No. 6 team in the nation, and the Rams were defeated in both meetings this year.

However, the Rams gave Toronto a good run in their final regular season match-up last Friday, and Kissi is optimistic about his team's chances come Saturday.

"I'm looking forward to (playing them) again. I thought we gave one away against (Toronto) last time, we could have won that game. This gives us a lot of confidence going into Saturday."

The Rams and Blues will match-up in the second semi-final of the day on Saturday, which will take place at approximately 6:00 p.m.

Source: Ryerson Sports Info