Brock gives Queen’s a scare
The visiting Brock Badgers women’s basketball team gave the top-ranked Queen’s Golden Gaels all they could handle Saturday night in Ontario University Athletics quarter-final action.
Brock (13-11 overall) led 17-14 after one quarter and 34-32 at the half before Queen’s (22-1 overall) rallied for the win by outscoring the Badgers 39-32 in the second half to record a 71-66 victory.
“Our effort overall was really good and our effort together was better and that was the telling tale,” Brock head coach Mike Rao said. “We played better together at both ends of the court and it was because of the willingness to help each other out on the floor. Not one person played defence but five people played defence and we did that better together.
“Offensively, we had our lapses, for sure, but for the most part, it was five people willing to give a little bit more of themselves to help each other get in better positions to score. That was the key.”
Brock managed to take Queen’s down to the wire by holding the Golden Gaels to 2-24 shooting from beyond the arc. The Badgers did that by shutting down Queen’s top scorers and making others try and make shots.
“That was our game plan. We took away their prime targets, 10 (Laura Donovan), 11 (Isabella Belvedere) and 21 (Julia Chadwick),” he said. “We helped out a little more on those people which left other shooters open but they were players who are not accustomed to winning games for them. They were still guarded and defended but not to the degree that the others were.”
Rao’s team over-achieved on the season with an overall record of 13-11, and made the most progression late in the season.
“We had our ups and downs all year. You think you are getting better and then you hit a lull and fall back a bit. You are not quite as far as you think you are,” he said. “We had a lot of those dips throughout the year and it went that way from October until the end of January.”
And then it all changed.
“I saw steady climbs and there weren’t those off days and off nights in practice and in games.”
It left Rao wondering what might have been.
“If we could have got through this game, we would have been better the next game. Unfortunately, we hit the No. 1 team but against any other team we might have hit our notch,” he said. “That’s why the league is so important. If we step up one or two positions (in standings), we get a little easier road.”
Rao isn’t sure how many players he will lose off the current roster other than Theresa Brown, but he’s excited about three members of his recruiting class who should step in and help out sooner rather than later.
“We are adding to our existing framework.”
Eleven players hit the floor for Brock in the quarter-final and Rao expects some of those existing players to take a step forward next season as well.
“Which of those 11 players is going to make that leap for next year is to be determined. I don’t put any limits on that and I think that they are good players. Any one of them with three months of solid work could reach levels that they don’t think they could attain themselves. That will be the telling tale for the next four months.”
STATS PACK
GOLDEN GAELS 71 BADGERS 66
Rachel Stempski Player of the Game: Brock’s Madalyn Weinert with 20 points, five rebounds and five assists.
For the Brock Badgers: Weinert 20; Theresa Brown 12; Madison MacInnis 6; Noor Bazzi 6; Allison Addy 6.
For the Queen’s Golden Gaels: Julia Chadwick 15; Emma Weltz 14; Bridget Mulholland 12.
Game stats: Shooting percentage: Brock 44.6, Queen’s 34.8. Free throws: Brock 4-6, Queen’s 21-32. Rebounds: Brock 27, Queen’s 36. Turnovers: Brock 23, Queen’s 14.
Up next: Queen’s hosts Waterloo in the semifinals Wednesday.
