Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Just one game to report on this week; a win over York 66-56.  This marks our 5^th consecutive league win, running our record to 7-3.  It also marks the first league game where we had all of our players healthy as Gemma Bullard returned to the lineup, having been sidelined since the middle of October.

It was a game of quarters as we jumped out to an early lead – as big as 10 points – but York kept battling back.  We led 22-17 after the first.  Our offense was solid, but our defense was inconsistent.  York owned the second quarter as our shooting went cold (4/22), managing only 10 points to York’s 15, to leave us tied at 32 at the break.  Our third quarter was by far our best, going 11/22 from the floor while racking up 24 points and holding York to 8.  The fourth quarter was a repeat of the 2^nd with York cutting into our 16 point lead, but never really threatening the outcome.  Jenny Wright finished with 15 points and 7 boards, while Liz Boag has 12 points and 5 assists.   Andrea Priamo also had 12 points and 7 boards.

Q’s SID Report:  http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2015/1/17/WBB_0117152501.aspx?path=wbball


On a separate note, Emily Hazlett was named Queen’s Athlete of the Week last week for her outstanding performances against Nipissing and Laurentian.

A quick update on our Shoot for the Cure initiative.  Thanks to some recent donations, we have now pushed the total to over $4,000.  Thanks for making this such a successful venture.  Special thanks to Andrea Priamo, Gemma Bullard, Nicole Morse, Abby Dixon and Emily Hazlett for donating their hair for the making of wigs.

Up Next at Home:
Friday, January 23 vs. Toronto  6pm
Saturday, January 24 vs. Ryerson  6pm

Up Next on the Road:
Friday, January 30 @ Windsor  6pm
Saturday, January 31 @ Western  6pm

Have a great week!

Dave.

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Another very successful league weekend as we beat Nipissing 90-34 and Laurentian 89-62 to move our league record to 6-3. Our defence was sloppy to open the game against Nipissing, allowing 13 first quarter points to a team that is averaging only 27 points per game.  We still led 19-13 after the first, but then tightened our defence in the second to surrender only 6 points to our 32.  Our defence caused the young Nipissing team to turn the ball over (34 times) allowing us some easy run out points and a shooting percentage topping 46%.  Jenny Wright finished with 15 points, while 3 players had 12.  Robyn Pearson had 8 boards to go along with her dozen; rookie Maddie Morris notched her career high; and Emily Hazlett also grabbed 7 boards.

We started the game very sharply on Saturday against Laurentian – the best first half of basketball I have seen from our team in a number of years.  Our defence completely smothered Laurentian, forcing bad shots, hurried shots, and many turnovers.  We outscored them 26-9 in the first quarter and 29-8 in the second quarter to lead 55-17 at the half.  Our focus was not as sharp in the second half as we rode the big lead into the 89-62 final.  Five players hit double digits in scoring: Liz Boag with 19, Emily Hazlett 17 (and 7 boards), Robyn Pearson 12 (and 9 boards), Andrea Priamo and rookie Marianne Alarie (a Sudbury native), each with 10.

Q’s SID Nipissing Report:  http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2015/1/9/WBB_0109152322.aspx?path=wbball

Q’s SID Laurentian Report:  http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2015/1/10/WBB_0110151224.aspx

The Nipissing game also marked our Shoot for the Cure initiative to help raise money and awareness of Breast Cancer.  Five players donated their hair for the purpose of making wigs for cancer survivors.  Andrea Priamo took the lead on this initiative and also raised the most amount of money.  In addition to Andrea, Abby Dixon, Emily Hazlett, Gemma Bullard, and Nicole Morse all donated their hair.  Thank you to all who donated: more than $3,800 was raised.  If you would like to donate, please visit:  http://my.e2rm.com/TeamPage.aspx?langPref=en-CA&TSID=529602

I am very pleased to announce that Gael Alumni, Claire Meadows has been named the next Head Coach of the University of British Columbia-Okanagan.  She will assume her new position following the completion of this season.  Claire was a Gael from 2002 to 2007 capturing many awards.  She was named the team’s Rookie of the Year in her first season, followed by the team’s Most Improved Player in year 2.  She was the team’s Defensive Player of the Year in her 3^rd season and followed that with consecutive team MVPs and OUA All-Star selections.  She finished her career as Queen’s second all-time leading scorer.  While working towards her Master’s Degree in Coaching in the summers, Claire interned as an assistant coach at Queen’s for the 2010-11 season.  The following year, she interned with the University of Alberta, before securing the Assistant Coach position at the University of Lethbridge in 2012.  Please see the UBC-O press release for further details:  https://news.ok.ubc.ca/athrec/2015/01/06/26500/

Up Next on the Road:

Saturday, January 17 @ York  6pm

Up Next at Home:

Friday, January 23 vs. Toronto  6pm

Saturday, January 23 vs. Ryerson  6pm

Have a great week!

Dave.

Women's Basketball - Game Report

Hi Folks,

Happy New Year!  I hope you had a great holiday break and were able to relax and enjoy time with family and friends.

We headed to Montreal for the Concordia tournament for 3 games, capturing only 1 win against 2 losses.  We beat Bishop’s 64-56, lost to Concordia 47-66 and to McMaster 48-75.  We are still not at full strength with Gemma Bullard & Gia Spiropoulos out of the line-up with concussions (and Emily Hazlett missing the last game of the tournament with a shoulder injury), but we are still struggling with our “finishing.”  We shot 34% vs. Bishop’s, but only 26% against Concordia and McMaster.  Our offensive execution was actually not bad (considering we had been off on holidays for a while), but our finishing and overall ball handling was questionable.  I am confident our scoring touch will return soon – we are too good a shooting team to be bogged down much longer.

SID game reports:  http://www.gogaelsgo.com/news/2014/12/28/WBB_1228144954.aspx?path=wbball

Shoot for the Cure – Breast Cancer Fundraiser game is this Friday, January 9^th against Nipissing.  Five of our players will be cutting their hair following our game and donating the locks for the making of wigs (Abby Dixon, Andrea Priamo, Emily Hazlett, Gemma Bullard, & Nicole Morse).  We are having a little contest (not that basketball players are competitive J) to see who can raise the most money – of course Breast Cancer Research is the ultimate winner.  If you would like to donate, please visit:  http://my.e2rm.com/TeamPage.aspx?teamID=582540&langPref=en-CA&Referrer=direct%2fnone

You can donate to an individual player or, if you wish to support all of them, you can donate to Queen’s and we will divide the donation equally amongst all 5 players.

I forgot to mention in my last Newsletter, that 2015 recruit, Myriam Fontaine, captured the Gold Medal at OFSAA in Cornwall in late November, leading the way with 16 points in the finals.  Congratulations to Myriam and her father, Steph, coach of the La Citadelle Patriotes.

Up Next at Home:

Friday, January 9 vs. Nipissing @ 6pm (Shoot for the Cure game)

Saturday, January 10 vs. Laurentian @ 6pm (Kingston Impact Day)

Up Next on the Road:

Saturday, January 17 @ York 6pm

Have a great week!

Dave.