SHERIDAN 102, REDEEMER 43 (FINAL)

BRAMPTON, Ont. - Two days after their attack was relatively quiet in the fourth quarter of a loss to Niagara, the Sheridan Bruins women's basketball team (11-7, 7-2 OCAA) responded with with their highest scoring output in nearly 22 months, topping Redeemer 102-43.

"We just wanted to come out here and get a good feeling going into the break," interim head coach Veneshia Morrison said. "We are constantly preaching to the girls that their defence must come first and that if they're successful in that, the offence will follow and that was certainly the case tonight."

The biggest difference in the game was that the double-blue forced a whopping 44 turnovers and converted them into 50 points, while limiting Redeemer to just four points on 11 Sheridan giveaways.

The first quarter featured a series of runs from both sides, with the Lady Bruins opening the game on a 17-4 run while Redeemer cut the deficit to seven with a 10-4 run in response.

That seemed to spark the home side though as through the final moments of the first quarter and well into the second, they pushed the game out of reach with a 19-4 run, on their way to 42-22 halftime lead.

The second half was much of the same, with the double-blue holding Redeemer to seven of 27 shooting (25.9 per cent) over the final 20 minutes.  

Nakia Arthur led the way with 30 points - her second straight game with at least 30 points and fifth of the semester - while Dainique Campbell (29) and Michelle Abella (26) each poured in career high totals. Arthur nearly had a triple-double with nine assists and eight steals, while also contributing five rebounds.

Abella had a team season-high with 11 assists.

Considering some of the struggles the team has had with injury - and as a direct corollary, conditioning - Morrison likes where the team is positioned heading into the second semester - in second place, a game back of a division-leading Fanshawe.

"We feel pretty good about where we are," she said. "Are there things we could have done better this semester, sure, but this break will give us a good chance to get totally healthy and go into the strech drive re-energized and at 100 per cent."

They are next in action on January 6 and 7 at a tournament hosted by Seneca, before their OCAA West schedule resumes on January 21 with a home date against Mohawk.

Blue notes: It was the first time the team had surpassed the 100 point mark in a game since a 110-63 win over Humber on February 11, 2010. Arthur's 226 points in the first half of the season (25.1 PPG) leaves her one point shy equaling the top season total posted by a Lady Bruins since returning to the OCAA in 2005 (Donisha Young, 227 points, 2009-10). She is currently on pace for 452 points, which would eclipse the OCAA single season point mark of 433.

Source: Sheridan I.T.