Monday, November 28, 2016

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Just a single game to report on this week as we headed to Thunder Bay to take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves.  In a hard fought battle, we maintained our undefeated season, prevailing 68-61.  With the lower scoring, we have dropped to 2nd in the country in that department, while holding on to the 6th spot in the National Top 10 ranking (and 2nd on the OUA ranking).  We finish out our fall schedule at home this coming Saturday (December 3).

Queen’s 68 – Lakehead 61
We were a little slow out of the gates in this one, only connecting on 5 of 14 first quarter shots.  However, our defence was quite good, only surrendering 8 points to our 12.  The game opened up considerably in the second quarter, as we built on our 4-point lead, only to have Lakehead respond near half time to reduce the lead back to 4.  Each team finished with 21 in the quarter, giving us a 33 – 29 lead at the break.  Once again we built the lead to double digits in the third, and once again Lakehead answered back.  We outscored Lakehead 17-15 to take a 7-point lead into the fourth.  Once more we built a double digit lead, only to have Lakehead claw their way back, getting the margin to 3 points with 3 minutes to go.  We closed out the last 3 minutes well to win the quarter 18-17 and the game 68-61.  We were very much buoyed by the resurgence of our 3-point game, going 6 for 12 on the evening, but were held back by our turnovers – a whopping 28.  Marianne Alarie led all scorers with 22 points, while Abby Dixon had 14 points and 4 steals.  Veronika Lavergne came up big, especially in the fourth quarter, scoring 7 of her 11 points in the frame, to go along with 6 rebounds, and Andrea Priamo continued her solid play with 10 points and 8 boards.

Last call for our annual ID/Training Camp this Sunday, December 4th).  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 at Home:
Saturday, December 3 vs. Algoma  6pm

Up Next on the Road:
Thunder Selects Tournament (at St. Mary’s University) – Halifax, NS
Wednesday, December 28 vs. St. Mary’s  6pm (local time)
Thursday, December 29 vs. Acadia  7pm
Friday, December 30 vs. Dalhousie  2pm

Have a great week.

Dave.


Monday, November 21, 2016

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Our league home opening weekend proved successful with a pair of wins over two previously undefeated teams, Laurier and Waterloo, moving us to 4-0 on the season, and sitting 7th in the national polls.  We also lead the nation is points per game (81.3), offensive rebounding (22.5) and in blocked shots (5.8) in the young season.

Queen’s 84 – Laurier 78
Although we jumped out to an early lead, this game became like most of our games over the last few years with Laurier; a tightly contested, back and forth battle.  The game was tied on 7 occasions and featured 11 lead changes.  Despite grabbing an early 14-1 lead, Laurier closed the opening quarter on a 10-0 run, leaving us with a 24-21 lead.  After shooting 45% in the first quarter, we dropped to 32% in the second, but still managed to outscore Laurier by 1, 18-17 to take a 4-point lead into half time, 42-38.  Laurier’s shooting percentage jumped in the third quarter to 47%, while ours rose to 39%.  Laurier erased the 4-point deficit and the game was tied at 62 heading into the fourth.  Shooting percentage was key in the fourth as ours raised to 41.2%, while Laurier’s dropped to 37%, allowing us the 6-point margin, 22-16, finishing with the 84-78 win.  Laurier played almost 35 minutes of zone defense – our first real test against a prolonged zone.  I am pleased with our point production against their zone.  Our defence, however, is allowing too many points and requires some improvements.  Marianne Alarie continued her stellar offensive production with 22 points, along with 7 boards, 4 assists and 4 steals.  Robyn Pearson recorded another double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds.  Emily Hazlett, in addition to her tenacious defense, continues to shine on offense, with 11 points and 4 assists.  Gemma Bullard showed signs of why she was an All-Star, dropping an efficient 11 points on 3 of 5 shooting.  Andrea Priamo also recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.

Queen’s 93 – Waterloo 63
Waterloo came out strong (following their wins over York and Toronto) and kept pace for the first 5 minutes of the quarter, before we started to pull away.  We shot a very efficient 11 of 19 (58%) to grab a 28-15 quarter lead.  Although our shooting percentage dropped in the second quarter (41%), our defense tightened, outscoring Waterloo, 15-7, to lead 43-22 at half.  We opened the third quarter with a good run, and never let up, outscoring Waterloo, 27-18, while shooting 44% from the floor.  Waterloo found their range in the fourth and matched our scoring at 23 to finish with the 93-63 final.  Our 30-point game margin was also matched by our rebounding margin, 54-24. Marianne Alarie finished with 17, while Emily Hazlett dropped 11.  Andrea Priamo and Bridget Mulholland each had 11 points, while Veronika Lavernge just missed a double-double with 9 points and 9 boards. 

Just over a week away for our annual ID/Training Camp in early December (Sunday the 4th).  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 25 @ Lakehead  6pm

Up Next at Home:
Saturday, December 3 vs. Algoma  6pm


Have a great week.
 
Dave.

Monday, November 14, 2016

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

League play opened this past weekend with us on the road at York on Friday and Guelph on Saturday.  We came into league play ranked 7th in the country, and came away with two wins.

Queen’s 85 – York 54
We opened the scoring in this game and never relinquished the lead, although York was very solid in the opening quarter.  We finished the quarter up 18-15 on the difference of shooting percentage: 39% to 26% -- neither of which are impressive numbers.  It was the second quarter where our pressure defense began to force York into more errors, leading to runouts.  We outscored York 25-12 to take a 43-27 half time lead.  We opened the third quarter the same way we finished the second, blowing the game wide open.  On the back of our defence work, and runouts, we outscored York 24-13 in the quarter.  With the game out of reach, I thought we still stayed quite focused in the fourth, not allowing York to gain any momentum.  We scored 18 to York’s 14 to finish with the 85-54 win.  Both our scoring and rebounding were spread amongst our 12 active players – despite scoring 85 points our leading scorer only had 14, and despite out-rebounding York 52-31, our leading rebounder had 9.  Kat Holt and Marianna Alarie led the way in scoring with 14 points apiece, while Robyn Pearson was 1 rebound away from a double-double, with 12 points and 9 boards.

Queen’s 63 – Guelph 47
This was a very different style of game, as Guelph did a very good job of slowing the pace and bogging down our interior play.  It was also a game of short runs, 6 or 8 points in a row by us, followed by 6 or 8 by Guelph.  Once again, we scored first in the game and never relinquished the lead.  However, both teams also had difficulty with shooting accuracy.  We had our mini-run to go up 12-5, only to have Guelph score the final 6 points of the quarter – we led 12-11 after one, shooting only 28%.  We got untracked a little more in the second quarter, again our defense forcing a number of turnovers.  Our shooting % climbed to 38%, still well below our targets, but allowed us to outscore Guelph 19-16 and hold a 31-27 half time lead.  The mini-runs continued in the third quarter, with us going on an 8 point run to grab a double-digit lead, only to have Guelph come back with a 6 point run of their own.  We finished the quarter with a short 4 point run to outscore Guelph 16-11 in the third.  Neither team could find the bottom of the net for the early going in the fourth.  The spread was only 8 with 2 minutes to go in the quarter.  However, our best execution of the day came in those last 2 minutes, finishing with a 10-2 run to outscore Guelph 16-9 to finish with the 63-47 win.  Our shooting % from the floor was quite dismal (29.6%), but we did have a bright spot from the foul line, going 15 for 18 (83.3%).  Robyn Pearson, despite a very slow start to the game, finished with an impressive double-double, 16 points and 13 rebounds.  Emily Hazlett (who had a terrific weekend running our offenses and creating enormous problems for the opposition’s point guards) finished with 12 points on 4 of 9 from the floor and 4 of 4 from the line.  Veronika Lavergne, like Robyn, was able to overcome some of Guelph’s physical play to finish with 10 points.

Numbers continue to climb for our annual ID/Training Camp in early December (Sunday the 4th).  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 at Home:
Friday, November 18 vs. Laurier  6pm
Saturday, November 19 vs. Waterloo  2pm (note afternoon time)

Up Next on the Road:
Friday, November 25 @ Lakehead  6pm

Have a great week.


Dave.