The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks’ women’s basketball team managed to go into their holiday break on a high note over the weekend as they snapped their three-game losing streak with wins over the York Lions and the Laurentian Lady Vees.
“We really came to play right from the start in both those games,” said head coach Paul Falco. “A lot of the things we worked on all week really came to fruition, in particular on the defensive end.”
Friday’s game saw the Hawks cruise to a 67-42 win, jumping out to an early lead and holding off the Lions for the rest of the game. The purple and gold managed to keep the Lions bottled up on their way up court, forcing 25 turnovers.
“I thought our defensive pressure was really good in that game,” said Falco. “We were able to take them out of their regular set that they like to run on the offensive end, and force them to make some poor decisions with the ball.”
On Saturday, the Hawks faced a tougher test in the form of the Lady Vees, who rank fourth in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division. After a back and forth first half, Laurier took control in the third quarter, outscoring the Lady Vees 23-14 on their way to an 80-67 victory.
80 points is the highest total the Hawks have racked up since Feb. 11 last season.
“[Over the weekend] we definitely got out of that little rut we were in,” said Falco. “We’ve got a pretty long break now, and hopefully we can keep that momentum going into January.”
Leading the way for the Hawks in both games was veteran Renata Adamczyk. The fourth-year, who was named the OUA west defensive player of the year and an OUA second-team all-star last season, has picked up where she left off, continuing her solid defence and becoming even more of an offensive threat.
Adamczyk was the Hawks’ top scorer in both games over the weekend, putting up 20 points against the Lions and 17 against the Lady Vees. She currently leads the team in scoring, assists and steals, and ranks second in rebounds.
“Renata’s definitely one of our leaders both on and off the court,” said Falco. “She brings us a lot of offence and does a really good job in rebounding. Against York she had 10 rebounds from the guard position and that’s really impressive.”
Over the break, the Hawks will travel to Montreal to compete in non-conference games against Bishop’s, the Université du Québec à Montréal and Acadia. They will look to continue their winning streak against OUA competition on Jan. 6, on the road against the Guelph Gryphons.
