In a matter of a few days the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks’ women’s basketball team went from riding the momentum of a season-high winning streak to looking for a way to end a two-game winless drought after a pair of losses to the Brock Badgers and the Western Mustangs.
According to head coach Paul Falco, the inability to maintain strong performances that the Hawks displayed this weekend has been the team’s most glaring issue throughout the season.
“Our biggest problem, if you look at our record, is consistency,” he said. “We’ve had some really good games, but we haven’t been able to maintain those good efforts. We have to find a way to play with more consistency in this final stretch of the regular season.”
In their first matchup of the week, the Hawks saw their three-game winning streak snapped by the Badgers, falling 88-57, putting up a season-high in points allowed.
“Wednesday’s game was something we tried to wipe out of our minds right away,” said Falco. “We knew that wasn’t the real Laurier team. We were all really disappointed in that effort.”
Looking to rebound on Saturday afternoon, the Hawks put forth a much better effort against the Western Mustangs – who have only lost four games all season – but still lost 70-67. The game was close right up to the final buzzer when a three point attempt from Hawks’ point guard Amber Hillis clanged off the rim, sealing the Mustangs’ victory.
“I thought we gave a really good effort for the entire 40 minutes,” said Falco. “We really hurt ourselves in the turnover game, but you have to give Western a lot of credit for finishing the game off.”
Led by third-year Christa Mancino – who had 23 points in the contest – the Hawks kept the game close, but in the end the Mustang’s shooters were simply too much, hitting clutch shot after clutch shot late in the game and the Hawks just couldn’t keep up.
“They do a really good job at moving the ball quickly and it’s difficult because you try and help inside and you get caught on a kick out by one of their shooters,” said Falco.
“They have a number of people who can hit shots from the perimeter and they definitely found success out there today.”
The purple and gold will look to get their up-and-down season back on track tonight when they head on the road to take on the McMaster Marauders.
