February 17, 2024, WELLAND
The Knights women's basketball team (3rd in the west) hosted the 6th place (in the East) St. Lawrence Surge at the Simplii Financial Athletic Centre Saturday afternoon for their first match of the 2023-2024 post season. The Knights started off strong and never looked back with a dominant 95-35 win. The Knights are now 7 of 8 in the 2024 season and will try to use this momentum of a 3-game winning streak to carry them deeper into the playoffs as quarter final games will happen next weekend across Ontario.
The first quarter saw the Knights outscore the visiting Surge by more than half as they made a strong statement to start the game. The Surge did not give up as they come into the second quarter with some urgency and creativity on offence to try to climb their way back into the game. Unfortunately, it was just not enough as the Knights outscored the Surge in each of the remaining quarters and continued to play tough defense holding St. Lawrence to single digit scores in each of the remaining quarters in this game.
The Knights were carried by third year guard/forward Janee Harrison who has been a great utility player for the Knights this season. She had a career high 29 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 6 steals, and 1 block in this game. Her teamwork with Jamira Rousseau on defense helped the Knights force 40 turnovers in this 40-minute playoff game. Lexxus Bell also had a strong game adding 17 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 7 steals. She was able to set the tone early in the game as a starter driving to the rim and getting some great looks for the Knights. Two other starters scored in double digits and both Diana Saoud and Destiny Osadebamwen were fantastic coming off the bench each contributing 7 points and combining for 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals.
Coach Chris had some thoughts on this game: "As far as complete efforts go, I think we put in a pretty good one today. We were really locked into the plan and what we needed to do. As a team we were awesome defensively; between Jamira, Janee, and a few others we forced their best player into 16 turnovers, and I think it just speaks to how physical and disciplined we played on that end. Offensively we really shared the ball, and I was happy with how we played. We had 4 starters in double digits and 8 players with 6+ points".
The Knights will now look to prepare as they will host the Fanshawe Falcons in the quarter finals at the Simplii Financial Athletic Centre on February 24th with tip off scheduled for 2pm. The winner of the quarter final game will head to the OCAA provincial Championship scheduled to take place from March 1st to 3rd.
