Saturday afternoon Laurier’s women’s basketball team, sporting their pink jerseys, hosted the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, in a game that resulted in a 60-52 loss.
The game was highlighted by an impressive performance by Hawks’ rookie guard Felicia Mazerolle, who finished with a career-high 19 points.
The game began with the Blues establishing a decisive lead, finishing the first quarter leading 16-8. They did not relinquish this lead throughout the tenure of the game, despite a strong effort from the Golden Hawks.
With seven minutes left in the first half, the Blues called a time-out and the team returned to the game, looking to make an impression before the buzzer.
They were getting a majority of the rebounds and managed to maintain the eight-point divergence heading into halftime with a score of 25-17.
The Hawks came out strong in the third, narrowing the score to 27-22 in the first few minutes. Sherri Pierce of the Blues put forth a solid, aggressive effort, but was also the source of many fouls and infractions that began to plague the Blues in response to the Golden Hawks’ strong play at the beginning of the third quarter.
The Blues were led by Toronto native Nicki Shultz, who tallied a team-high 14 points and 18 boards, with Erin McNeely contributing with 11 points of her own.
As the third quarter was winding down, U of T was able to restore their original point differential, with a score of 36-26 with only two minutes remaining in the quarter. Mazerolle’s strong playmaking ability and her tendency to convert at a timely fashion really did help in keeping U of T’s momentum marginalized.
Guelph native Bree Chaput also contributed to the Hawks’ effort recording a career high of her own, scoring ten points in the game.
“They played good defence on us, and our shots just wouldn’t drop,” said Mazerolle after the game. She identified U of T’s strong transitional game as something the team found particularly difficult in managing.
Head coach Paul Falco explained that both teams were struggling offensively, but the Blues’ ability to pick up their game towards the end of the third quarter is what enabled them to secure the win.
This was the Golden Hawks’ “shoot for the cure” game, which is why they were wearing pink jerseys.
“Every women’s basketball team in the country has a shoot for the cure game, and all the funds go to a breast cancer foundation,” said Falco, wearing a pink polo himself for the cause.
The team played the Blues just after defeating Ryerson the night before where they recorded a win with a final score of 67-54.
The Golden Hawks head into their break with a record of 6-2 with their next game coming on the road on Jan. 5th, 2011 against the McMaster Marauders.
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