Hi Folks,
We wrapped up our pre-season exhibition play on the weekend
with games in Montreal (UQAM) on Friday, and Ottawa (Ottawa U.) on
Saturday. Both were very physical, tough
battles, leaving us with one win and one loss.
Our exhibition schedule has provided us with great competition, with a
variety of styles of play. Hopefully,
this will help us be better prepared as we move into league play. We have this weekend off and then open on the
road the following week at York.
Queen’s 78 – UQAM 74
Our defense was severely lacking in the opening quarter of
this game, as UQAM continually found ways to score in the paint. In fact, they scored 23 points in the opening
frame (to our 20), with all of the points scored from within the key (20) and
from the foul line (3). Sometimes I
should be careful what I wish for, as we closed down the inside a little better
in the second quarter, only to have them shoot 3 of 6 from beyond the arc, and
outscore us 16-19 in the quarter to take a 36-42 lead at the half. Rebounding at the half was pretty close to even,
but that was about to change in the second half. Although we only put up 14 points in the
third quarter, we held UQAM to just 6.
With a two point lead, heading into the fourth, we managed to widen the
gap to 8 points at one point, only to have UQAM bring it back to 4, but never
any closer. Offense for both teams got
rolling in the fourth as we put up 28 points to UQAM’s 26, to finish with the
78-74 win. We out-rebounded UQAM 56-35
in the game, which also helped us get to the foul line 30 times in the game
(converting on 21). Andrea Priamo had another outstanding game with a double-double, 15
points, 12 boards and 4 steals. Marianne
Alarie finished with 14 points, Robyn
Pearson 13, and Abby Dixon with 10. Emily Hazlett had another fine showing
at the point guard position, with 9 points and 7 assists.
Queen’s 52 – Ottawa 59
Well this was the usual slug-fest we have come to expect with
a game with Ottawa. It is not the
prettiest of games to watch (relayed to me many times from those in
attendance), but Ottawa’s highly disciplined defense makes it difficult to get
good looks. And when we got a decent
look, often we rushed more than necessary.
All this to say, we only scored 5 points in the first quarter (1 Field
goal, and 3 foul shots), and still we only trailed by 6. The game continued to be a grind in the
second quarter as we only managed 5 field goals (13 points) to Ottawa’s 4 field
goals (16 points), but Ottawa converted on 8 of 12 foul shots. This left us down 18-27 at the half. Our scoring picked up a little more in the
third quarter (16) to Ottawa’s 19 to trail 34-46. We made a little run in the fourth quarter to
cut into Ottawa’s lead, but only outscored them by 5 overall to leave us with
the 52-59 loss. Turnovers plagued us
badly in the game (21), and poor 3pt. shooting (16.7%). The only double digits we hit were in the
Rebounding category, with Andrea Priamo
grabbing 12 and Robyn Pearson 11.
Re-cap of our Pre-Season
Games
Queen’s 93 – St. Lawrence 35
Queen’s 76 – Acadia 69
Queen’s 66 – Alberta 63
Queen’s 51 – Laval 65
Queen’s 85 – Thompson Rivers 57
Queen’s 73 – Concordia 65
Queen’s 60 – Carleton 67
Queen’s 78 – UQAM 74
Queen’s 52 – Ottawa 59
We will be hosting our annual ID/Training Camp in early December (Sunday the 4th) once again this
year. It will involve on-court sessions
with the Q’s coaching staff from 9:30-11:45am and again 1:30-3:30pm, along with
a facility tour and Q&A session in between.
It is intended for student athletes in Grades 10-12 who may have an
interest in Queen’s down the road. There
is no cost for the Training Camp, but please drop me an email if you would like
to attend, so I can prepare for the numbers.
Up Next on the Road:
Friday, November 11 @ York 6pm (League opener)
Saturday, November 12 @ Guelph 6pm
Up Next at Home:
Friday, November 18 vs. Laurier 6pm
Saturday, November 19 vs. Waterloo 6pm
Have a great week (or two)!
Dave.
