February 21 2022 - The Niagara College women's basketball team extended their perfect season record this weekend with two more wins to move to 4-0 on the season.
Friday night saw the Knights get to return home to play the visiting Fanshawe Falcons in front of a small crowd, that was limited to friends and family, after playing two games on the road.
The blue and white set the tone early, holding Fanshawe scoreless with a 13-0 lead through much of the first quarter before the Falcons were able to get on the board.
Niagara held a 30-15 lead after two quarters of play, and continued to control the game through much of the second half despite a low scoring fourth quarter that saw Janee Harrison score the Knights only basket of the fourth quarter.
Despite ending the fourth getting outscored 7-2 by the Falcons, the Knights secured their third win of the season with a 52-36 win.
Taryn Mitchell let the way for the Knights with 11 points, followed up by Harrison with 10.
Fresh off their Friday night home opener win, the Knights traveled down the highway to face the Mohawk Mountaineers (1-1) looking for win number four.
Niagara again came out with a strong start leading the Moutaineers 27-14 to end the first half. Mohawk mounted a bit of a comeback through the third quarter, outscoring the Knights 20-11 and pulling within four points of the Knights 38-34 lead to start the fourth.
Niagara stormed back for a strong finish, outscoring Mohawk 23-8 and going on to record their fourth win with a 61-42 thumping of the Mountaineers.
Harrison again led the Knights with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Terin Hultink pulled down a season high 13 rebounds.
For head coach Christopher Rao, the two wins represented more than just a 4-0 record for 2021-2022. Rao and his Knights have now matched their total wins from 2019-2020, and are on pace to surpass that even with a shortened season.
"Our players put in two great defensive efforts this weekend," said Rao. "We are starting to lean into our identity as a team. Lots of credit to Mohawk and Fanshawe- they are two teams that defend well and play very hard for 40 minutes. We really have to dig deep and I think we learned a lot about ourselves as a group in these two games."
The Knights will look to defend their unbeaten streak on the road Tuesday night at Redeemer, (2-2) before returning home Saturday and Sunday to face St. Clair (4-0) and Lambton (1-2) respectively. St. Clair and Niaagara currently remain tied at the top of the OCAA West Division at 4-0.
For full stats and standings, please visit www.ocaa.ca
