The women’s basketball team played two home games over the weekend, and with the regular season coming to a close, these were essential.
The Badgers entered the weekend 9-7 having won four of their last six games. Two wins would put them in a tie with Toronto Metropolitan University for second in the OUA Central.
The Badgers’ first game was on Friday against the University of Toronto. One of the five worst teams in the OUA, the Varsity Blues have struggled mightily this year, and having lost their last four, shouldn’t have posed much of a challenge for Brock.
Though U of T would get out to an early 8-2 lead on the strength of two threes, the Badgers suffocated them the rest of the way, emerging from the quarter up 18-8.
In the second quarter, the Badgers piled onto their first quarter advantage, leading by as much as 18. Some continued three-point shooting by the Blues brought them within 15, but the Badgers still held a clear and decisive advantage going into the half.
Nothing much would change for U of T’s fortunes in the third.
Brock quickly stretched out their lead to 19, before U of T once again marginally trimmed this down to 15 with some help from the three ball.
The fourth quarter was where U of T showed their first signs of life, but it was too little too late. U of T was able to outscore the Badgers 13-8 in the quarter, but lost by a final score of 57-47.
Madalyn Weinert once again led the charge for the Badgers, putting up 20 points on 64 per cent shooting, six rebounds, three steals, three assists and a block in only 25 minutes of playing time. Olivia Fiorruci and Noor Bazzi were the other two Badgers to score in double digits, with 10 and 11 respectively.
Back in Bob Davis Gymnasium the next day, the Badgers had a much taller task on their hands with the Guelph Gryphons, who are sixth in the OUA.
Guelph took the initial lead, but they wouldn’t be able to hold onto it. The Gryphons grabbed an early four point lead, but Brock ground away at the difference, before going up by one on an Allison Addy layup with four minutes left in the first.
Up by two, the Badgers were in a solid, if unsatisfying, position heading into the second.
Never able to stretch this lead to more than four, the second quarter repeated the first in a mirrored fashion.
Guelph chipped away at Brock’s small lead before taking a more commanding one of their own when Guelph’s Mackeely Shantz scored eight points in just over a minute to put them up by six.
Shantz is one of the very few players in the OUA who is having a comparable season to Brock’s Weinert. Sitting one slot and 0.3 points per game ahead of Weinert in scoring, the whole night was a head-to-head battle between two of the OUA’s biggest stars.
With Weinert already at 15 points in the game and Shantz at 12, they would not disappoint.
Guelph jumped out to a ten point lead in the third quarter, and though Brock would valiantly whittle down the score, they were ultimately unable to overcome their first-half deficit, losing 70-65.
Though a close, back-and-forth game down to the whistle, Guelph outperformed Brock in a few key areas, like second-chance points, points off turnovers and points in the paint, which spelled the difference.
Weinert had another fantastic double-double performance, with 26 points on 52 per cent shooting, twelve rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block, all while playing the full 40 minutes.
Shantz was no slouch either, scoring 24 on 59 per cent shooting, eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals.
Addy, who shot a perfect 5-5 from the field in the first half added 13 points, while Fiorucci’s ten rounded out Brock’s scoring.
Now with a 10-8 record, the Badgers have only four games remaining in the regular season, with their next two being away games against Windsor and Western on Feb. 10 and 11. For the team’s full schedule and results, please go to their page on gobadgers.ca.
