Women’s Basketball clip No. 3 Ravens, No. 9 Gee Gees in opening weekend

The Brock University Women's Basketball team opened their 2011-12 OUA campaign against the Ottawa Gee Gees and Carleton Ravens on Nov. 11-12 in the Bob Davis Gymnasium. Both Ottawa and Carleton are national powerhouses, ranked ninth and third respectively. It looks as though they will need to make room in the CIS Top 10 after their 59-48 and 59-56 respective losses to the Badgers.

Brock's victory over the Gee Gees was fuelled by Nicole Rosenkranz's (Niagara Falls, ON) 17 points, 10 rebounds and a game high five blocks. The game was close throughout, with the Badgers trailing 12-10 after the first quarter, then leading 27-25 at half time. Ottawa would open the third with an 8-2 run for a 33-29 lead, but Brock clawed its way back into a one point lead by the quarter's end, 42-41. The Badgers dominated the fourth quarter 17-7 for the 11 point victory.

Samantha deJong (St. Catharines, ON) snagged a team-high 13 rebounds and added six points. Rounding out the Badgers' top scorers was the Brantford, ON duo of Andrea Polischuk and Kayla Santilli with nine and seven points respectively. Brock had 10 players record points.

Against the Ravens, the Badgers used their depth for a balanced attack, with eight players scoring in the first half. Brock led 31-22 at half time, sparked by Devyn Cuncic (Carlisle, ON) who scored six points in the half on a pair of three-pointers.

Carleton came out firing in the third quarter, assisted by some favourable calls from the stripes. The imperfect science known as officiating drew ire, spite and contempt from the crowd and was visibly frustrating to the coaching staff.

With 7:14 remaining, Rosenkranz rushed the ball up court, and despite it being a 1-on-3 attack, was charged with a questionable offensive foul. This led to Head Coach Si Khounviseth drawing a technical foul for arguing the call. Carleton got into the foul shot bonus with six minutes remaining, and closed the quarter with the final four points including a buzzer-beating layup for the 47-46 lead.

The fourth quarter saw five lead changes, providing some late game dramatics. With 2:30 remaining, Jessica Del Signore (Brantford, ON) drained a three pointer to establish a 56-52 lead. With the at score 56-54 for the Badgers, Brock would call a timeout with 1:18 remaining.

At the 42 second mark, Carleton's Alyson Bush (Ottawa, ON) would run over deJong, striking her face but drawing the blocking foul. deJong would stay down for several minutes, but is not expected to miss future games. Bush missed both free throws, but grabbed the rebound and was fouled again. This time she made both, but Carleton was forced to foul, sending Emily McKay (Toronto, ON) to the line.

McKay made one of two, then disrupted the Ravens' final possession to force a missed Hail Mary shot. McKay sank five of six free throws down the stretch to finish with a team high 12 points. Rosenkranz scored 10 and added nine boards, three steals and two blocks. Del Signore finished with eight points, with Polischuk and Santilli adding seven apiece.

"We battled for this one," said Khounviseth. "It was a great team effort with a number of contributors. It showed a lot of character against the number three-ranked team in the nation. It was a great one [win] to get."

Indeed it was sweet revenge, as Brock lost twice in the preseason to the Ravens in tournament play, as well as last year in the regular season.

Brock hits the road for their next four games, taking on Laurentian, York, RMC and Queen's. The Badgers next home games will be Dec. 2-3 against Ryerson and Toronto. Both games will take place at 6:00 p.m. in the Bob Davis Gymnasium.