Saturday, October 26th saw the Niagara College women's basketball program open their 2013-14 regular season with an impressive 73-50 win over the visiting Sault College Cougars.
Niagara College women's basketball head coach Mike Beccaria was happy with his team's performance commenting "we played well tonight. I think we really stepped up on defense, and got the result that we wanted."
Niagara Falls native Alyssa McCabe was dominant for the Knights in her OCAA debut. After spending the 2012-13 season as a redshirt freshman with the Brock Badgers, McCabe transferred to Niagara College to pursue a diploma in the educational Assistant – Special Needs Support program.
The A.N. Myer graduate was a force for the Knights, finishing the game with 17 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, and two steals.
For the majority of the game the Knights were without veterans Tara Gaillonardo and Miranda Ross. Both starters are recovering from illness. In their absence Coach Becarria felt first-year players Anna Jarworowicz (Midland), Mary Ingribelli (St. Catahrines), and Hayley Tamo (Mississauga) "really elevated their play, and provided us with the hard work needed to get the win."
Also recording a strong game for the Knights was team captain Shelby Johnston. The Welland native shot an impressive 10 of 15 from the floor and finished with a game high 22 points. The Centennial Secondary School graduate also added eight rebounds and four steals.
Despite the impressive outing, Coach Becarria felt his team "gave away too many three point shots, and moving forward we will need to address that as a team."
The Knights will face a short turnaround, as the team will host the same Sault College Cougars on Sunday, October 27th at 1:00pm at the Welland Campus Athletics Centre. Archived footage of Saturday's game and a live stream of Sunday's contest can be viewed at www.ocaatv.com.
