Photo by: Charlie Martin
Saturday Oct. 22 was the last exhibition game for the women’s basketball team who were one of the top teams in the province last season.
Though there were only two games before Saturday’s matchup with Memorial University of Newfoundland, the preseason has not been a strong one for the Badgers.
The first two exhibition games were losses to Western University and University of the Fraser Valley in London.
Memorial University were 2-2 to start their season coming to St. Catharines.
The score stayed close for most of the first quarter. Brock had some nice steals and some good work on the offensive glass but struggled to capitalize on these opportunities. Memorial also displayed active hands generating a lot of steals of their own, many of which they channeled into transition opportunities and fouls. The teams exited the first with Memorial up 16-12.
Brock started the second strong. Guard Keren Tshinyama Kaso sparked a lot of this, looking shifty and beating primary defenders to find passing lanes and draw fouls. Brock would get as close as one point thanks to a three from Allison Addy, but Memorial would immediately respond with one of their own to stretch their lead back to four.
After this, Memorial would start to pull away, going on a big scoring run. Brock couldn’t seem to find an answer for Memorial’s quick ball movement and transition scoring, and struggled to clean up their turnovers. Memorial stood up 33-24 at half.
Not much changed to start the second half either. Memorial started off the scoring with another steal into another transition bucket. Memorial’s three-point shooting, which had been a strength throughout the whole second quarter, stayed impressive as Brock showed very little adjustment.
At one point, a steal setup Memorial’s third three in a row, giving them a 48-21 lead. Though Badger Oluwatito Akinnusi would finally launch a three for Brock, Memorial would once again instantly respond with a three for a 51-29 lead, which had basically been the story of the night.
Brock’s lack of pace was noticeable throughout. Though they had a similar number of steals to Memorial, the big difference was Brock didn’t get out in transition, opting instead to slow it down and let Memorial get their halfcourt defence set up and pack the key.
Brock did reverse the trend somewhat near the end of the quarter. Brock started to get downhill, attacking the paint and finding cutters as Olivia Fiorucci and Alyssa Palmero both contributed, bringing the score to 39-56 at the end of the third.
Palmero continued her strong work with a nice ball fake and finish to get Brock started in the fourth. Unfortunately for Badgers, Memorial just couldn’t miss. Brock was strong when they pushed the pace, but their halfcourt offence was not strong. Memorial finished the game with 12 threes and won 77-57.
Brock’s first game of the season Nov. 4 against University of Toronto, and their home opener is on Nov. 5 against University of Laurier. For the Badger’s full schedule, check out their gobadgers.com page.