Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Update - End of the First Half

As some teams are finishing up for the 2012 year, we are just coming up to the break in our marathon season.  The preseason involved a lot of training, playing -- figuring things out.  Now that the season is half way through, we are beginning to reach a more stable form of play (rather than the ups and downs of a roller coaster that new teams often experience). 

   The season started off with us hosting Lakehead at the ARC.  It was a bit of a battle, but Queen's came out on top at the end of a 5-set match.
   The following weekend, we met a first-place York in Toronto, and left with a disappointing 3-0 loss.  However, we could not drown in our sorrows for long, as in less than 24 hours we were to travel and play against Brock University.  The loss from the night before was fuel for our game, and we left St. Catherine's with a 3-1 win.
   Next up: hosting the teams from Toronto!  Ryerson won the 5-set battle on Day 1, but that would be the last time the Gaels would lose in the 2012 regular season.  On Day 2, Queen's took the W against University of Toronto in four sets.
   The Gaels were then back on the road to Guelph and Waterloo, where we took hold of both matches in four sets.
   The last two weekends were both hosted at the ARC.  The first was a 3-0 win for the Gaels over Windsor, while the second was a 3-0 win over RMC.  We finished on a high note going into the winter break!

Now is the time to worry about exams, final assignments, and papers.  But we still have a little bit of downtime.  What do we choose to do with it? EAT of course!! The annual Christmas Potluck was a huge, delicious success.



We are looking forward to our tournament at the end of December in Toronto to get us ready for when the season picks back up int he new year!

Have a safe and happy holiday,

Shannon W.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Wrapped up our fall league schedule with two well-played games, but only came away with another split. We lost to the country’s #1 team, Windsor 72-64, before beating Western, 72-53.

We opened the game very well against Windsor, battling to keep their big and experienced line up off our glass and control the pace of the game. By quarter time we had built a 14-11 lead. In a much-the-same-style second quarter, Windsor grabbed a point back, outscoring us 14-13. Windsor turned up the heat in the third quarter and began to win the battle on the boards, outscoring us 21-17. They built their lead into double digits in the fourth, but with a late surge we closed to 4 points with just over a minute to play. Forced to foul late, Windsor’s final four points were from the charity stripe to secure their 8 point win, 72-64. Liz Boag finished with 18 points, followed by Gemma Bullard with 16 and Hanna Koposhynska with 10.

Q’s SID Report: http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2012/11/30/WBK3-4vsWindsorLancers.aspx?path=wbball

No question, our best start to a game (in a very long time) was against Western. In the first 7 minutes we put up 20 points while surrendering none. We finished the quarter up 22-3. Western settled down in the second quarter, as did the scoring pace for us, but still outscored Western 14-12 to lead 36-15 at the half. Western came out very strong in the third quarter and made their run, but could only reduce our lead by 5 (23-18 in the quarter). In the fourth we began to build on the lead once again, pushing it upwards to 30 points, before Western’s last minute 10 point surge left us with the 72-53 win. Jenny Wright led all scorers with 17 points, while Sydney Kernahan and Gemma Bullard each had 16. Liz Boag also hit double digits with 11 assists to go along with her 9 points.

Q’s SID Report: http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2012/12/1/WBB_1201123438.aspx?path=wbball

Our fall league schedule comes to an end with a record of 4 and 4 and a tie for 3rd in Ontario East. Our four losses were by spreads of 9, 8, 4, & 4. Our four wins were by spreads of 4, 13, 18, & 19. Our scoring is starting to balance out, with four players averaging double figures and a better mix of post and perimeter scoring. Our strength has been in our shooting, as we rank 2nd in the country in 3pt% and 4th in the country in FG%. Another big improvement is in our rebounding, where we rank 9th in the country in rebounding differential at plus 5.6. No question we played our best basketball of the season this past weekend. Now comes the challenge of maintaining this momentum with a month’s break before league play resumes.

We now have over 20 players registered for our ID/Training Camp set for Sunday, December 9th, in what should be a very competitive day on the court. Details can be found on our web site at: http://www.gogaelsgo.com/sports/2011/12/1/WBB_1201115938.aspx?path=wbball

Up Next on the Road:
Saturday, December 29th @ U. Puerto Rico San Piedras 4pm (Atlantic time)
Wednesday, January 2nd @ U. Puerto Rico Bayamon 6pm (Atlantic time)

Up Next at Home:
Saturday, January 5th vs. Toronto 1pm
Sunday, January 6th vs. Ryerson 1pm

Best wishes for a safe and enjoyable holiday season.

Dave.