Women’s Basketball captures OUA bronze

The Women's Basketball national championship qualifying format may be ridiculously complicated and impractical, but at least it means the Badgers are one step closer to the Final 8 tournament.

The Badgers were in Ottawa, ON for the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Championships Mar. 2-3. Brock would lose the semi-final to the No. 6-ranked and eventual OUA champion Ottawa Gee Gees, but rebound with an overtime victory over the No. 5-ranked Carleton Ravens to capture the bronze medal.

On Mar. 2, the Badgers led at half time 27-25 but the Gee Gees would separate themselves with a strong fourth quarter, kicking off the final frame with a 9-2 run for a 63-49 victory. Samantha de Jong (St. Catharines, ON) led the Badgers' scoring with 15 points and seven rebounds on 6-19 shooting. Nicole Rosenkranz (Niagara Falls, ON) recorded a double-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. Emily McKay went 3-7 from the field and 5-6 from the charity stripe for 11 points in 19 minutes on the floor. The Gee Gees were led by senior Hannah Sunley-Paisley (Toronto, ON) with a 16 point, 16 rebound double-double.

Both teams shot poorly, with Brock registering a 28.3 per cent field goal percentage (17-60) and Ottawa going 22-74 (29.7 per cent). The biggest difference makers were Ottawa's eight three-pointers and out-rebounding the Badgers 65-35.

On Mar. 3, Brock was in for a battle, having played Carleton in several close games dating back to the pre-season. Back in November, Brock out-dueled the Ravens 59-56 at the Bob Davis Gymnasium.

In Ottawa, the Badgers led 18-10 after the first quarter, but the Ravens clawed their way back across the next three frames, trailing by four at half time and by one heading into the fourth quarter. The Ravens clung to small leads throughout the fourth quarter, holding the Badgers scoreless for the first four minutes. Scoring was few and far between for both sides, but as the seconds ticked down, Brock faced a 50-48 deficit with 40 seconds left.

The fourth year veteran McKay, always a dribble-drive threat, would tie the game at 50-50 with approximately 27 seconds remaining, going glass on a layup

The Badgers needed overtime, but definitely turned up their game in the 58-51 victory, outscoring the Ravens 8-1 in extra time. Brock increased their shooting percentage to 33.3 per cent (22-66) while holding Carleton to just a 23.9 per cent field goal percentage.

de Jong took Player of the Game honours with a 12 point, nine rebound effort. Rosenkranz collected another double-double, hitting double digits in points and boards for the 15th time this season.

I don't know who decided on the selection process for the East and West Regional qualifying tournaments, but it is certainly confusing. Despite Ottawa gaining a berth directly to the Final 8, the Gee Gees are scheduled to play in the East Regional tournament as the host school. This unnecessarily denies another school at least the shot at qualifying for the national championships.

The Badgers will now have to head to Saskatchewan for the CIS West Regional qualifying tournament Mar. 9-10. Even more odd is that they will be joined by the Concordia Stingers from Montreal, and that the BC- based Fraser Valley Cascades will head to Ottawa for the East Regional.

Brock can punch their ticket to the Final 8 in Calgary Mar. 17-19 by winning the West Regional, or by being chosen as the one "at-large" berth. Brock's next matchup will be the No. 3-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies Mar. 9 at 7:15 p.m. (EST), with the victor to face the winner of the game between Concordia Stingers (unranked) and top-ranked Regina Cougars.

All regional tournament games will be broadcast online at ssncanada.ca