The men’s and women’s basketball teams both came up short during this weekend’s homestand, as the Laurentian Voyageurs visited Bartlett Gym on Friday followed by the York Lions on Saturday. Both Gaels teams displayed valiant efforts against their opponents but were unable to come up with wins.
The men’s team was unable to steal a win on Friday against the visiting Voyageurs. Matt Brown of Laurentian was ultimately the difference in the game as he scored 26 points to lift his team to a 69-67 victory over the Golden Gaels.
The two teams played very evenly throughout the contest and were tied at 65 with less than a minute remaining, but Laurentian scored a crucial lay-up in the final seconds and the Gaels were unable to reply. The loss for the Gaels secured their spot at sixth place in the OUA East Division, while Laurentian maintained their spot as the fifth-place team. High-scoring Gaels in the game were Neal Dawson with 20 and Simon Mitchell with 17.
The Gaels matched up against the York Lions on Saturday and looked to have the game in control with three minutes remaining. The Lions were able to outscore the Gaels in the final stages of the matchup, however, and come away with the victory by a score of 62-61. Tut Ruach of the Lions, who is the third-leading scorer in the OUA, exhibited a strong sense of confidence as he was able to march down the court in the final seconds and score the game-winning lay-up. He led all scorers with 22 points and was single-handedly able to secure the win for the visiting team.
Scoring leaders for the Gaels, who once again were disappointed in the final seconds of a game, were Brendan O’Leary with 14 and Mitchell again with 13. The women’s basketball team had high hopes going into the weekend as they looked to defend their second-place standing in the OUA East Division. It was critical in the Gaels’ quest for home-court advantage in the playoffs that the matchup against the Laurentian Lady Vees result in a win.
Unfortunately for the Gaels, a lack of defensive efficacy and some poor shooting resulted in a 73-53 loss.
Claire Meadows, last week’s Journal Athlete of the Week, struggled with her shot and was unable to record any points in 33 minutes of work. Amanda Northcott picked up some of the scoring slack for the Gaels netting 10 points. Northcott’s performance was not nearly enough, however, as the women’s team was outplayed in every area throughout the game. A major reason for the success of the Lady Vees was the Gaels’ inability to control Cassandra Carpenter, who was able to notch 28 points.
The lack of effective defence on the part of the Gaels continued in their second game of the weekend against the York Lions. Queen’s squandered an excellent effort by Meadows—an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double—losing 69-49.
It was a lack of defensive rebounding along with second-chance points that allowed the Lions to pull away from the Gaels in the end. York was led by the efforts of Sarah Brodie, who was able to exploit her size advantage in the paint to score 21 points.
Next weekend, both teams travel to Toronto for a pair of games against Ryerson and U of T.
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to eic@queensjournal.ca.