Feb. 11 Niagara College report: Bridget Atkinson honoured
Welland Centennial graduate Bridget Atkinson was the slam dunk choice as Niagara College’s female athlete of the week.
The Welland native had 24 points, eight assists and five rebounds in 25 minutes of playing time to power Niagara’s women’s basketball team to a 103-64 victory over University of Toronto Mississauga. In a 67-54 loss to Humber, the former junior national team member had 23 points, 12 steals, six assists and five rebounds.
Also contributing in the victory for Niagara were: Holy Cross grad Tia Stys, 17 points and six boards; Alannah Yates, 15 points and nine rebounds; Saint Michael alumnus Rysa Delmundo, 13 points; Thorold grad Hannah Baker and Samantha Baptie, nine points each; and, St. Francis product Sophia Al-Kayed, six assists.
Also performing well for Niagara versus Humber were: Stys, 12 points and seven boards; Baker, four points and five rebounds; and, Steenika Gilbert, six points.
Niagara is tied for fifth place in the OCAA West with a 10-8 record.
Niagara men’s and women’s teams host Conestoga on Wednesday at 6 and 8 p.m.
NIAGARA’S BEST MAN
Men’s basketball player Keveshan Padachey was named Niagara College Male Athlete of the Week.
The Markham native scored 17 points on 6-12 shooting, including three three-pointers, in the Knights 102-95 overtime loss to Humber. He also grabbed four rebounds in 26 minutes.
In a 95-81 victory over University of Toronto Mississauga, Padachey hit six three-pointers en route to a 19-point performance. He also added two rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes of playing time.
Van Hutchinson Jr. had 22 points and 13 rebounds to power the third-place Niagara College men’s basketball team (13-5) past University of Toronto Mississauga.
“Every game coming down the stretch is meaningful and improvement is still key,” Niagara head coach Phil Mosley said. “We are trying to maintain a high level of intensity and compete regardless of our opponent.”
Also contributing to the win were: Jordan McDonald, 15 points and 11 rebounds; Welland Centennial alumnus Alex Elliott, seven points and five boards; Saint Paul product Johnnie Richardson, seven points; Lequan Hylton, nine points and six assists; and, Welland Notre Dame grad Daniel Lokole, seven points.
Earlier in the week, McDonald had 21 points and 19 rebounds and Hutchinson Jr. had 21 points and 17 boards in the loss to Humber College.
“We came to Humber to match talent and intensity with the No. 2 team in the country,” Mosley said. “I believe we did that, but there are still areas in our game that need to be addressed to win games like this.
“It is my hope that our guys take this game and focus on areas of improvement, but also realize their strengths and continue to build on them as well.”
Also topping the scoresheet for Niagara versus Humber were: Elliott, nine points and five assists; Kevin Cooper, eight points; Governor Simcoe grad Rahim Bardi, six points; and, Richardson, five points.
MEN VOLLEYBALL
Niagara’s fourth-place men’s volleyball team finished with an 11-7 record in league play following a 3-0 loss (25-22, 25-19 and 25-18) to Humber and a 3-1 loss (21-25, 25-19, 25-18 and 25-22) to Redeemer.
The Knights had already secured home court advantage for an OCAA qualifying playoff game Feb. 16.
“We had a hard time finding any sustained momentum, although, we did have some moments where we did some really good things,” head coach Tommy Sloan said, following the loss to Humber. “I thought our middles did a good job of containing their middles and our defence was much stronger than the last time we played them, however, their serving and their size caused us some problems and as a result our offence became somewhat one-dimensional.
“They’re one of the best teams in the country and we have to be able to maintain a high level throughout the entire match to have a chance and we were just too inconsistent.”
Leading the way for Niagara against Humber were: Jaydon Milne, 10 kills; and, Ben Fillmore, 20 assists.
Top Niagara performers versus Redeemer were: Eden grad Micah Nieuwet, 12 kills; Milne, 11 kills; Fillmore, 38 assists; and, libero Robert Zalewski, 11 digs.
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
The fifth-place women’s volleyball team completed its regular season at 10-8 following a 3-0 loss (25-21, 25-16 and 25-23) to Humber and a 3-2 victory (20-25, 20-25, 28-26, 25-21 and 15-10) over Redeemer.
Top performers for Niagara versus Humber were: Jordan Koslowski and Welland native Natasha Desjardins, eight points each on seven kills and a service ace.; and Vineland’s Tamara Edwards, eight points on five kills and three blocks.
Leading the way for Niagara against Redeemer were: Zeniah Pinnock, 20 kills and a block; and, Koslowski , 21 points on 15 kills and six service aces.
Koslowski became the Knights’ all-time leader in service aces with 122. The previous record was held by Kerissa Van Amersfoort, who had 118 between 2007 and 2010.
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