ST. LAWRENCE (K) 48, GEORGE BROWN 39

ETOBICOKE, Ont. – The George Brown Huskies were up against the St. Lawrence Vikings in the second game today at the belairdirect OCAA Women's Basketball Championship, with a bronze medal semi-final berth on the line.

On this day it would be the Vikings that would come out on top with the 48-39 victory, eliminating George Brown from competition.

Player of the Game honours for St. Lawrence went to Lacey Knox with 14 points, 16 rebounds and one assist.

Player of the Game honours for George Brown went to Angel Mbikay with six points, eight rebounds and one assist.

The first quarter was frantic with St Lawrence holding a 13-10 lead going into the second, where the Vikings would continue to match every play the Huskies would make, holding onto a 24-21 lead going into the half.

Knox, OCAA Player of the Year, led the Vikings with six points, eight rebounds, and one assist at halftime, while Aria Charles recorded 10 points and four rebounds for the Huskies.

Although the Huskies were severely out-rebounding the Vikings (25-15) in the first half, St. Lawrence was the team that took advantage of their opportunities under the basket.

Even more amazing, St. Lawrence held the lead even though they had not recorded a single trip to the foul line in the first half.

"I have no clue (how that happened), I noticed that too at the break," admitted St. Lawrence head coach Remy Simpson. "I guess we weren't taking it to the rim hard enough and relying too much on the three point shot which is our fault."

They didn't need to; the Vikings were doing all the right things with their mid-range jumper and passing. They would end up recording 18 assists in the game to the Huskies 13.

Alyssa Rodrigues would open the floor to start the third with a nice alley-oop pass to Knox to cap a 4-0 run. Then, with St. Lawrence up 30-25, Cassandra Powell scored in the paint to bring the Huskies within three with 5:06 to go. Just as the Huskies were gaining momentum, St. Lawrence made another 6-0 run capped by a Knox lay-up and foul to put the Vikings back up by nine with under four minutes to go in the quarter. They led 36-29 going into the fourth.

Knox hit a three at the top of the key that put the Vikings up 41-29 with six minutes to go in the fourth. With the Huskies unable to get any sort of offensive coordination going, this proved to be the dagger that gave the Vikings the victory.

St. Lawrence will now go up against the loser of the Algoma-Algonquin game tomorrow at 9 a.m., with a berth to the OCAA bronze medal game on the line.

Source: Humber College