MOHAWK 64, LAMBTON 40

WELLAND, Ont. - The Mohawk Mountaineers struggled badly in the early going, but came on like gangbusters in the final quarter, to defeat the Lambton Lions 64-40 in the belairdirect Ontario Colleges Athletic Association quarter-final at Niagara College on Thursday.

Actually Mohawk started quickly, leading 8-2, but aided by an 11-2 run, Lambton ended up leading 20-14 after the first quarter.

The second and third quarters saw the two teams score a total of 24 points as shot after shot were missed. An 11-0 run by Lambton in the first half, left them ahead 28-21 at the break.

Both teams appeared nervous in a game which featured numerous travelling calls, an eight-second violation by Lambton trying to get the ball over the centre line, jump balls and a couple of technical fouls thrown in for good measure.

The third quarter which saw Mohawk outscore Lambton 7-2, brought the Mountaineers back into the picture, trailing only 30-28.

Then in the final quarter, Mohawk went on a tear, outscoring the Lions 36-10.

Mountaineers head coach Kevin Duffy said it wasn't a matter of taking bad shots. "We have a lot of shooters and we encourage them to shoot. We had some good looks - they just weren't dropping for whatever reason. But we just told the players we'd have to win it at the defensive end and I thought our defence was excellent in the second half, holding them to 12 points." Duffy said once they got on a roll, everyone was more relaxed and the shots were being made.

Mohawk was led by OCAA First-Team All-Star JenJen Abella, who received her team's player of the game honours. Abella scored a game-high 16 points and added five assists and three rebounds. Stef Hrymak, 14 points, and Shanien O'Neill, 11 points, were the other two Mountaineers who reached double-digits in the contest. Careena Browne posted 14 rebounds for Mohawk.

The Mountaineers will face Algonquin in semifinal action Friday night at 8 p.m.. The Thunder, from Ottawa, topped host Niagara 70-56.

The other semi will pit Humber and Fanshawe at 6 p.m. The Hawks downed St. Clair 90-81 while the Falcons defeated St. Lawrence (Kingston) 64-49.

Source: Mohawk College