NAIT Ooks 74, VIU Mariners 36
The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) Ooks (Edmonton, AB) opened the CCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship with a lopsided victory over Vancouver Island University (Nanaimo, BC) in Windsor on Thursday afternoon. After scoring the game’s first 11 points, the Ooks finished the opening quarter up 14-5 and increased their lead to 26-7 in the early stages of the second quarter. VIU put together a 9-point run to close the half but still trailed 26-14 at the break. NAIT was relentless into the third quarter and entering the fourth quarter led VIU 43-20 allowing the reserves a chance to shine. NAIT’s Malesha Petterson scored 11 of her game high 17 points in the final frame on her way to earning Player of the Game honours. Eleven players for NAIT reached the score sheet and outrebounded VIU 51-24. Jamie McFarlane filled the stat line recording 9 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 steals for the Player of the Game award from VIU.
Humber Hawks 83, St. Mary’s Lightning 47
The Humber College Hawks (Etobicoke, ON) opened their CCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship with a win, handily defeating the St. Mary’s Lightning (Calgary, AB) 83-47 Thursday afternoon at the St. Clair College SportsPlex. Humber led 22-7 after the first quarter scoring the opening 13 points. St. Mary’s fell behind 43-12 by halftime and never really recovered until the fourth quarter outscoring Humber 21-19 but the damage was already done. Humber capitalized on 26 turnovers to score 27 points and had 14 more rebounds in the game than St. Mary’s. CCAA Player of the Year Ceejay Nofuente was named Player of the Game for Humber scoring 19 points adding 7 rebounds, 9 assists and 6 steals. St. Mary’s Player of the Game was Mary-Jean Ritchie, who scored 20 points to go with 6 rebounds and 4 steals.
Dynamiques de Sainte-Foy 56, St. Clair Saints 51
Host St. Clair College put a scare into top ranked Sainte-Foy Thursday evening in their opening round game at the CCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship before falling 56-51 at the SportsPlex in Windsor. Down 19-8 after the opening quarter, the Saints were facing an uphill battle when they fell behind 30-14 early in the second quarter. St. Clair closed the first half well with a 12-0 run and only trailed 30-26 at the intermission. The momentum continued into the third quarter for the Saints and added another 8 points to the run seizing the lead. St. Clair then staked themselves 46-36 lead late in the third quarter. But some pivotal turnovers and open possessions allowed Sainte-Foy an opportunity to get back into the game who were only down 46-42 moving into the final quarter. St. Clair only mustered 5 points in the fourth and Sainte-Foy’s Player of the Game Kim Letang hit a pair of triples to put her team in position for the win. Torrie Handsor earned Player of the Game honours for St. Clair scoring 14 points and added 10 rebounds for the double-double.
Holland Hurricanes 87, Nomades de Montmorency 78
Holland College (Charlottetown, PEI) ended the three-year reign of Montmorency (Laval, QC) handing the Nomades an 87-78 loss at the CCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship Thursday night in Windsor. This will be the first time since 2012 that Montmorency will not be in the final at the National Championship. Holland jumped out of the gate in this game shooting the ball well for a 21-9 lead after the first quarter. Montmorency responded well in the second quarter but still trailed 40-32 at halftime. Holland remained consistent however with over 50% shooting throughout the game. Montmorency shrunk the lead to just 4 points in the third quarter and 5 points in the fourth quarter but Holland maintained their composure to stay in control. Jenea Barrett had a steady game scoring 20 points to go with 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Julie Brosseau led Montmorency with 16 points while dishing out 6 assists for the Player of the Game award.
