Gryphons pull away from Windsor to open playoffs
GUELPH – The Guelph Gryphons opened their OUA women’s basketball league playoffs with a 74-50 victory over the Windsor Lancers Wednesday at the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre.
While the Gryphs scored the first six points and never trailed in the game, they pulled away in the third quarter to give themselves some breathing room.
Guelph led 23-16 at the end of the first quarter and 39-27 at halftime thanks to hitting a three-pointer and a layup in the final 90 seconds of the half. A 12-3 run to start the third quarter extended Guelph’s lead to a comfortable 21 points in the first five minutes of the second half.
“They’re incredible women and they know (what to do),” Gryphon coach Megan Reid said of her team’s strong start to the second half. “I don’t have to tell them anything. They know. If anything, they could probably tell us.
“They know what to do. Sometimes they need that reassurance that they do know what to do. It’s a confidence piece at times, but really it’s just settling, reminding them this is who we are, this is what we do, this is the game plan and they’re fantastic.”
Julia Colavecchia struck for 16 points for the Gryphs while Hannah Bourdon had 14 and Alexis Wright added 12. Fellow starters Renee Armstrong and Trinity Papamandjaris netted nine apiece.
Bourdon had six rebounds while Armstrong and Papamandjaris grabbed five apiece while Armstrong also had seven assists. Colavecchia had two blocks and four steals while Wright had three steals.
Maggie Denys led Windsor with 15 points while Reine Ndome had 11 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Isabella Anes had six rebounds while Leah Tate had three assists and two steals.
The game did get a little chippy in the final quarter when a total of 11 fouls were called, five against Windsor.
“Windsor’s a very physical team. They’re tough. They’re strong. They’re relentless,” Reid said. “They’re not going to quit at any moment so we knew they were going to come after the ball. They were going to come after it to try to get any possession they could get. That’s how you get back into a game. It wasn’t unexpected and I was proud of the way that we handled the ball, that we got tough rebounds and maintained possession and showed some poise.”
The Gryphs shot 50 percent on field goals, 38 percent on three-pointers and 63 percent on free throws. They also grabbed 28 rebounds, had 20 assists, five blocks and 13 steals, committed 20 turnovers, had 40 points in the paint, 23 points off Windsor turnovers, three second-chance points and received 14 points from their bench.
The Lancers shot 28 percent (18 of 64) on field goals, 26 percent on three-pointers and 47 percent on free throws and had 37 rebounds, eight assists, no blocks, eight steals, 21 turnovers, 20 points in the paint, 12 points off Gryphon turnovers, 10 second-chance points and nine points from their bench.
The Gryphs advance to play the Queen’s Gaels in the quarter-finals. They’re to meet Saturday at 6 p.m. at the ARC Gymnasium on the Queen’s campus.
The teams met once during the regular season with the reigning U Sports silver-medalist Gaels prevailing 67-47 at Queen’s Dec. 1.
“We haven’t played Queen’s since just before Christmas and they beat us by 20,” Reid said. “They’re a phenomenal group. They have veteran players at pretty much every position. Many of them came back because they were unsatisfied with last year — and they went to Nationals. That’s experience we don’t have and you can’t replace that experience. We’re going to be gritty. We’re going to scrap. We’re going to be tough. We’re going to fight and we’re going to give them a game.”
The Gryphs finished the OUA regular season at 15-7 while the Gaels finished at 18-4.
- Guelph Sports Journal