The Niagara Knights women's basketball team (3-4, 7th OCAA West) travelled to Southwestern Ontario this past weekend for their annual trip to Sarnia and Windsor to take on the Lambton Lions (5-2, 4th OCAA West) and the St. Clair Saints (4-2, 5th OCAA West).
After ending their three-game losing streak with a win over the University of Toronto Mississauga Eagles at home in their last game, the Knights were looking to keep their winning ways alive.
Their matchup with the Lambton Lions followed the same script as many of the Knights games so far this year, as the team could not find their shooting stroke throughout the game. Some strong defence kept the game interesting, however a 25.7% (18-70) team shooting percentage wouldn't be enough to surpass the Lions. Lambton sent the Knights back on the team bus with a 55-46 loss.
After shaking off the rust from the first game, the Knights would come back in their second weekend matchup against the Saints with a much better shooting performance. As a team, the Knights shot 50.0% (10-20) from long-range and 73.9% (17-23) from the free-throw line. They also increased their field goal percentage from 25.7% to 35.2% (25-71).
Despite nearly doubling their scoring total from the night before, the Knights would still find themselves in a close matchup against a very strong St. Clair team. It took some late game heroics from Hannah Baker (Welland) to secure the victory.
With just six seconds left on the clock and the Knights down by two, Baker would hit her sixth three-point shot of the night to catapult the Knights into the lead. St. Clair failed to score on the following inbound and the Knights would travel back home with the well-earned weekend split.
"It's a real testament to sheer determination and guts that we were able to beat a really good St. Clair team today," said Beccaria of his team's win. "It certainly wasn't easy, but it was very timely."
Hannah Baker (Thorold) had a strong game against the Saints including the game-winning shot. After a tough night shooting the ball against the Lions (0-12), Baker would come out and score 20 points on 43.8% (7-16) shooting.
Bridget Atkinson (Welland) had a strong weekend, scoring 14 points against Lambton and 21 against the Saints. She also added 8 rebounds and 4 rebounds in each of the games, respectively.
Alannah Yates (Hamilton) had her best game of the season after getting the starting nod against the Saints. Yates scored 18 points and completed the double-double with 12 rebounds.
The Knights will travel again next weekend, this time heading on their bi-annual trip to Sault Ste. Marie to play a double-header against the Sault Cougars. The first game will take place Saturday night at 6pm while the second game will take place on Sunday at 1pm.
