WBB | Voyageurs Start Strong, Hold On for Win vs Badgers

Saturday January 28th saw the Laurentian Voyageurs women's basketball team play host to the Brock Badgers in the Ben Avery Gym. In a tightly contested game, the final score finished 53-50 in the Voyageurs favour.

The first quarter was everything Laurentian could have asked for on the offensive end. They started strong out of the gates, hitting a few decent shots but trailed 7-6 midway through the quarter. It was then a complete turnaround, as shots began falling left, right, and center. Led by Bailey Tabin, who finished with 10 points in the quarter and an impressive 9 points on 3-3 shooting from Arielle Douillette off the bench, Laurentian was in firm control, up 22-15 after one.

In the second, the scoring slowed down a bit but the Voyageurs had a major edge after the outstanding display in the first ten minutes. They were defensively sound in the second, limiting Brock's field goal percentage to just 20%. As a result, the 16 points put up by Laurentian in the second was enough for them to extend their lead to 12, going into half time up 38-26.

The third quarter saw the Badgers fight back, especially on their defensive end. After seeing numerous three-point shots fall in the first half, Laurentian began to lose its stroke, going 0-7 from deep in the quarter and being held to a lowly five points in the third. With the fourth on its way, Brock had cut the lead to 43-38 with ten minutes left to play.

By this time, no one was looking away as the action did not stop in fourth. The Badgers were able to cut the lead to 3 with under a minute to play when Princess Bernardino stepped up to the free throw line, making 1 of 2 free throws to push it to a 4 point lead. Although Brock hit a very late three pointer, the ensuing back to back free throw makes by Héléna Lamoureux iced it for Laurentian as they walked away with a 53-50 win.

Laurentian standout performances on the night were Tabin, with 21 points and nine rebounds, and Douillette, who had 12 points on 50% shooting on the night.

The Voyageurs next opponent are the Nipissing Lakers on Friday night back at home with tip-off set for 6 pm in Sudbury.

Andrew Lemieux