For the tenth straight season, the Niagara College women's basketball (11-7, 5th West) program is once again headed to the OCAA playoffs. The Knights will be headed to Belleville to face the Loyalist Lancers (8-8, 4th East) on Saturday, February 28th. The winner of the game earns a spot in the 2014-15 OCAA women's provincial championship hosted by Centennial College.
The Knights will be looking to make the provincial tournament for the first time since the 2010-11 season, when Niagara defeated St. Lawrence 56-46 in the qualifying round.
Niagara ended the season playing some of their best basketball, ending the year winning six of their last seven contests. The Knights ended the season defeating Sheridan College 60-50 at home and look to be poised to make a long playoff push. Second year point guard Alyssa McCabe (Niagara Falls) scored 15 points in the second half to help lead Niagara to a win. For her efforts, McCabe was named female athlete of the week, her fourth time receiving the honour.
|
Team |
PPG |
FG% |
3PT% |
FT% |
RPG |
APG |
|
Niagara |
64.8 |
34.1 |
26.4 |
65.8 |
53.9 |
14.9 |
|
Loyalist |
54.1 |
31.1 |
18.6 |
52.1 |
48.0 |
9.6 |
With Loyalist playing their games in the East conference, these two programs have not played each other very often. The last time they played was in the 2011-12 OCAA crossover game and Niagara lost 55-49. Niagara veterans Miranda Ross (St. Catharines) and Kaitlyn McPherson (Welland) are the only current student-athletes that participated in the game. McPherson led the Knights with 16 points and seven rebounds.
On paper, Niagara matches up very well against Loyalist. The Knights have a competitive advantage in all statistical categories and averaged ten more points a game during the regular season.
Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00pm.
