The Badgers’ women’s basketball team opened their 2023-24 season with a pair of impressive victories at home against the Toronto Varsity Blues and York Lions.
Brock began the weekend shooting lights out in the opening quarter against Toronto.
The Badgers shot an impressive 54 per cent in the first leading to 29 points. Madalyn Weinert, the 2022 OUA Second-Team All-Star, scored 14 of Brock’s points in the quarter, making six of her eight field goal attempts including a three-pointer.
Unfortunately for Brock, Toronto also had no problem shooting the ball in the opening ten minutes.
The Varsity Blues shot 45 per cent from deep, making five three-pointers, exploiting the holes in Brock’s two-three zone defense. Toronto’s proficiency with the long ball kept them in the game, accounting for 15 of their 18 points in the frame.
The second quarter was much of the same as Brock continued to be dominant in the presence of Weinert and forward Oluwatito Akinnusi. The duo scored 13 of the Badgers’ 23 points in the quarter to overcome a strong shooting effort by Toronto to go into halftime up 52-34.
However, everything unraveled for the Badgers in the third.
The Varsity Blues outworked the Badgers in all aspects of the game, outshooting and outrebounding Brock while forcing Badger turnovers. Toronto erased a 16-point halftime deficit to end the third tied at 60.
The Badgers didn’t do themselves any favours in that quarter, forcing up low percentage chances and going away from the ball movement and cohesion that earned them the mighty lead at the interval.
In the fourth quarter, defensive prowess took over on both sides. Neither team scored in the quarter until Welland’s Shailah Adams broke the deadlock over two minutes into the fourth to give the Badgers the lead.
From there, the teams traded baskets resulting in numerous lead changes and an intense finish to the season opener. With the game nodded up at 69 midway through the fourth, Brock’s key players took over the game.
Weinert scored a made basket and a pair of free throws, as Adams, Angeline Campbell and Noor Bazzi all scored crucial points down the stretch to give the Badgers the hard-fought 79-69 victory for their first win of the new season.
Following the win against Toronto, the Badgers took on another Toronto-based team, the York Lions. York was coming off a home loss to open their season against the Waterloo Warriors and were eagerly searching for their first win of the new season.
The Lions’ hunger to get in the win column was evident early, as York’s defence limited the explosive Badgers offence to only 16 points in the quarter and only four from Weinert.
But the Brock defence was also stellar, limiting the Lions to 29 per cent shooting in the quarter, as six of their 15 points came from the free-throw line.
The second quarter had the same theme as defensive supremacy was once again on display.
With Weinert on the bench for the entire quarter, Akinnusi stepped up and scored eight of Brock’s 15 points in the quarter. Defensively, freshman Jamie Addy, the younger sister of Badgers guard Allison Addy, registered two steals and two defensive rebounds along with a three-pointer made in only five minutes of action.
The Badgers went into halftime with a two-point, 31-29 lead, before they exploded in the third.
On the defensive end, the Badgers were stingy, forcing 10 Lions turnovers in the quarter leading to strong transition play and fast break points down at the other end. Weinert scored 10 of her game-high 24 points in the quarter, on an efficient five-for-six shooting. Adams added five of her own in the third, making both of her field goal attempts, as the Badgers dropped 24 points in comparison to York’s 13 to take the 55-42 lead heading into the fourth.
In the fourth, Brock continued their domination of the Lions, scoring 27 in the quarter while only allowing nine points against. Weinert once again scored 10 in the quarter, as Akinnusi contributed with seven and Bazzi with six, cementing the 82-51 victory for their second straight win to open the season.
Next up, the Badgers head to Toronto to face the TMU Bold on Nov. 11th. For more information about the Brock Badgers’ women’s basketball team, head to gobadgers.ca.