WBB - Voyageurs lose to Varsity Blues in OT

On Friday night, the women's basketball team traveled to Toronto to take on the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The Voyageurs sent the game into overtime with a last-minute three-point shot but ended up dropping the match 82-75.

In the first quarter, the Varsity Blues scored the first points of the game, with Claudia Pellerin answering with a 3-point shot shortly after. With a little over six minutes remaining, Lauren Robertson-Martin netted a layup and Pellerin made another 3-point shot. While driving to the net, Pellerin got fouled, resulting in the first free throws of the game for the Voyageurs, with Pellerin making both of them. The next few minutes were scoreless for both teams until Aneisha Rismond made a layup and Audrey-Anne Labreche scored a 3-point shot, but the Varsity Blues had a 22-17 lead at the end of the quarter.

In the second quarter, Pellerin repeated the same motion and scored a 3-pointer, followed by two free throws a minute later. Emilie Lafond and Melanie Cloutier scored their first layup of the game, catching up to the Varsity Blues. With great defense from both teams, no points were scored for over a minute. Molly Adams, Lyndelle Joseph, and Princess Bernardino scored a combination of 6 points and Cloutier added a layup on the board, giving Laurentian a two-point lead. With less than two minutes to go, Pellerin scored a layup and two free throws, Cloutier scored another layup and Robertson-Martin added two free throws to the scoresheet. The Voyageurs headed to halftime with a 42-34 lead.

Coming back from halftime, Pellerin scored two layups and Robertson-Martin made another layup. At the halfway point, Labreche, Robertson-Martin, and Rismond scored a combined 6 points, keeping the lead by 3 points going into the last ten minutes.

In the last quarter, the Voyageurs were scoreless for four minutes, until Pellerin scored a layup and Adams made two free throws. In the last three minutes, the Voyageurs had to get organized to keep the lead on their side. Adams and Cloutier scored a combination of 7 points, with the Varsity Blues still up by two points, leading to a timeout call by Laurentian. In the last twenty seconds, Megan Axiak scored 4 points, and the Varsity Blues added two to the board. The Voyageurs needed three points to equalize the game, which was an easy task for Axiak, sinking a three-pointer with 3 seconds left in the game and sending the game into overtime.

In overtime, the Varsity Blues scored first, but Axiak quickly answered with another 3-point shot. Unfortunately, the Voyageurs weren't able to score more points, leading to a 75-82 victory for the Varsity Blues.

The standout performers were Claudia Pellerin with 23 points and 10 rebounds, Molly Adams with 10 points, and Megan Axiak with 10 points and the equalizing three-point shot.

The Voyageurs are back in action on Saturday, as they take on the TMU Bold in their last away game of the weekend. Tip-off is scheduled for 6pm.

-Madison Boileau