WBB | Frantic Comeback Falls Just Short

Wednesday night saw the Laurentian women's basketball team take a midweek trip to Guelph University to take on the Gryphons.

The first quarter for Laurentian started off poorly, going down 11-3 early on. A combination of early turnovers and missed shots meant that, from the start, the Voyageurs had points to make up. Although they matched the Gryphons after that early Guelph run, it was still a tough spot to be in post-first quarter, down 17-10, after shooting just 28% from the field and not attempting a single free throw in the first ten minutes.

From there, the story then came about turnovers. As the teams got back under way in the second quarter, Laurentian was finding extreme difficulty holding onto and protecting the ball. To their credit, the shooting did pick up somewhat in the second, but a whopping 12 turnovers in the quarter led to easy fast-break points for Guelph.  With the opportunity to extend their lead even further, a strong side like the West Division-leading Gryphons would not let it go to waste, going up 36-24 heading into half.

The third quarter was more of the same for Laurentian, this time with 10 third quarter turnovers. However, they were able to not let the game get completely out of hand with stronger defense then they demonstrated in the first half. Holding Guelph to just 12 points in the third, on just 25% shooting, kept Laurentian in with a small chance at a comeback heading into the fourth, down 13.

With just over a minute left Guelph hit what many thought was a dagger three pointer to make it 60-49. The ensuing final minute was chaos. Starting with two massive 3-point makes by Megan Axiak and a clutch layup from Héléna Lamoureux, the lead was cut to 3 with 2.2 seconds to play and a Laurentian inbound. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be, as Bailey Tabin's last second three point shot came up short. A valiant last minute effort was not enough to overcome the mistakes of the previous 39 minutes, as Guelph would hold on for a 60-57 victory.

The game's top performers saw Lamoureux with 9 points and 7 rebounds and Axiak with 9 points off the bench, shooting 50% from beyond the arc.

Andrew Lemieux