WBB | Voyageurs Come Up Clutch In Victory

The Laurentian Voyageurs women's basketball team hosted the Nipissing Lakers Friday night at the Ben Avery, holding on to a narrow 67-64 win in a tightly contested game throughout.

The first quarter was a good one for the Voyageurs, as they came out strong with the hometown crowd behind them. Early signs in the game pointed towards Laurentian's presence down low in the paint being be a problem for the Lakers. The Voyageurs went 9-17 from the field in the first and held Nipissing to 0-5 from three, putting the Voyageurs up 19-13 after one.

In the second, things continued to look good for Laurentian. Defensively, they began allowing a few easier looks for their opponent but countered that with a game high 21 points in the second themselves. Led by Héléna Lamoureux, who had eight in the quarter, including shooting 2-4 from beyond the arc, Laurentian extended their lead to nine, up 40-31 going into the break.

The second half was to be a test of resilience for the Voyageurs. Although they had a sizable lead heading into the third quarter, they also knew a run of baskets from Nipissing would make this a lot more nerve wracking come the final buzzer. Laurentian's shooting began tailing away as they went just 31% from the field in the third quarter and only manufactured 13 points.  This allowed Nipissing to make a small dent in the Laurentian lead, cutting it down to seven by the end of the third at 53-46.

The 705 rivalry lived up to the hype in this one as, by the end, no one in the crowd was looking away. Nipissing once again chipped away at the home team's lead and, by the final few minutes, the game was tied at 64. With only 20 seconds to play and shot clock turned off, up stepped one of the Voyageurs leading scorers on the season, Lamoureux, who came up the biggest shot of the game, hitting a three with just five seconds left to take back the Voyageurs lead. From there, Laurentian came up with a huge stop in the dying seconds and would secure their 6th win of the season 67-64

Lamoureux led the way in scoring on the night with 23 points and eight rebounds. Bailey Tabin also had an outstanding game putting up 22 points and eight rebounds of her own in the win.

The Voyageurs will travel to North Bay Saturday night as they complete the home and home against the Lakers.

Andrew Lemieux