Badgers hang tough with Gryphons

Allison Addy has the best half of her two-year Ontario University Athletics career Saturday night, scoring 13 points in the first half as the Brock Badgers dropped a 70-65 decision to the visiting Guelph Gryphons.

The second-year guard from St. Catharines finished the game with 13 points on 5-9 shooting and she came within one point of her career scoring high. She also added two rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes of playing time.

The Governor Simcoe alumna had a first-half stretch where she made several shots in a row and finished 3-4 from beyond the arc.

“It always helps when you make your first shot. That first layup went in for me and I was confident with my other shots. It felt good not missing.”

As every shooter knows, confidence is everything.

“It is one of the key components,” Addy said. “You have to have confidence with yourself and your team and you have to be confident to make a good pass. Rao (head coach Mike) said before the game that it is just a game and you have to go out there and not put too much pressure on yourself. You have to take a shot when you have a shot.”

Rao liked what he saw Saturday night from the 5-foot-10 player.

“Allie had a great game today. She didn’t panic, she was good, she was calm and reserved and she saw the floor well,” he said. “She did a great job today.”

The former Niagara Juel player feels she is getting better as the season goes on.

“I said at the start of the year that I wanted to be a lot more confident. I still need to work on it a bit but today gives me another boost.”

Saturday’s game was Niagara Night at the Bob Davis Gymnasium. Brock feature Addy and Kaley DeMont from St. Catharines, Madalyn Weinert from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Chloe Peters from Welland and Aleksija Vukovic from Grimsby. Guelph countered with Julia Colavecchia from Niagara Falls, Alexis Wright from Welland and Hannah Bourdon from Fort Erie. Many of the women have been playing with and against each other for years.

“I loved it,” Addy said. “I didn’t love the ones that were from Guelph but they are great and I love playing against Hannah, Alexis and Julia. I have played with all of them. It’s so cool when you walk in and the place is packed. It just brings so much energy to the game.”

At one point, Addy apologized to Colavecchia for fouling her.

“I had to make sure that it was OK,” she said.

Brock hung tough with Guelph (13-5) all game. The Badgers led 19-17 after one quarter and trailed 42-38 and 56-50 after the second and third quarters. Brock outscored the Gryphons 15-14 in the final quarter but couldn’t fight all the way back.

“I think we were one possession away from giving them a go,” Rao said. “We had a few too many turnovers and our foul shooting was not good. I think we would have been up had we shot the ball better from the line.”

One of the biggest issues with the Badgers this season has been the team’s inconsistent play. A player can look great one night and look awful the next for no apparent reason.

“You never know what you are going to get,” he said. “It’s like a Cracker Jack box. You reach in and you don’t know what you are getting. That’s unfortunate but we are building on that consistency and that is what we need to get better at. We learned to trust each other a little better today at times.”

Rao likes where his team is at with four games left in the regular season.

“We are fighting, battling and getting better. We are better than we were a month ago and we are better than what we were two months ago. Every day is a little step forward and that’s the way I coach,” he said. “I want to get better as the year goes on and see where it takes us.”

Addy liked how the team looked Saturday.

“We beat Carleton at the start of the season and we lost tonight by five but it was a great night tonight. It just shows that we can contend with the top teams.”

GRYPHONS 70 BADGERS 65

Rachel Stempski Player of the Game: Brock’s Madalyn Weinert with 26 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.

For the Brock Badgers: Weinert 26; Allison Addy 13; Olivia Fiorucci 10; Therasa Brown 6.

For the Guelph Gryphons: MacKeely Shantz 24; Julia Colavecchia 13; Renee Armstrong 8; Trinity Papamandjari 8.

Game stats: Shooting percentage: Brock 35.3, Guelph 37. Free throws: Brock 10-19, Guelph 9-14. Rebounds: Brock 37, Guelph 39. Turnovers: Brock 17, Guelph 14.

Up next: Brock (10-8) is at Windsor Friday and Western Saturday.