February 24, 2024, WELLAND
The Knights women's basketball team continued their home game winning streak taking it to 4 games and finishing the second half of the season undefeated at home. They took on the visiting Fanshawe Falcons inside the Simplii Financial Athletic Centre Saturday evening for an OCAA Quarter-Final Matchup, winning the match 75-53 and punching their ticket to the OCAA Final Four.
The Knights meant business starting the game with a run of 12 unanswered points and forcing an early timeout call by the Fanshawe bench. The Knights outscored the Falcons 25-10 in the first quarter and never looked back.
Although the Falcons put up a tough fight and were able to match the Knights' total points in the second quarter, the Knights kept their foot on the pedal and continued to pressure the Falcons defensively. Offensively, the Knights were led by Janee Harrison and Destiny Osadebamwen with 21 and 15 points respectively.
The Knights once again put forward a valiant team effort proving the depth to their lineup and their fantastic communication skills as they worked together both offensively and defensively to win a scrappy game. Molly Taylor was named player of the game as she contributed a double-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists. Full stat lines were also put forward by Jamira Rousseau with 8 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals, and 1 block; and Taryn Mitchell with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 6 steals, and 3 blocks. Diana Saoud also had a presence on the court bringing high intensity off the bench and wrangling 8 rebounds in her 9 minutes.
Head Coach Chris Rao was proud of his team as this was the "last home game of the year and a big playoff game [which] is a very cool opportunity. It comes with a lot of emotions and pressures that can affect a team, but I think our group was veteran enough to handle all of that and focus on the game at hand. Fanshawe is a tough team, and they weren't going to back down no matter what. I thought we started great and did a good job responding when Fanshawe pushed back".
The Knights women's basketball team will spend the week preparing for the upcoming OCAA Championships being hosted by Lambton College in Sarnia. The Knights will play the host Lions in their semi-final matchup at 5:00pm on Saturday, March 2nd while the St. Clair Saints will take on the Algonquin Wolves in the other semi-final.
You can watch the action live at ocaalive.com and keep an eye on our social media outlets for updates over the weekend. You can follow us @nc_knights and check out our website goknights.ca for more information.
