KINGSTON, Ont. (November 20, 2015)- The Queen's Gaels (4-0) women's basketball team maintained their perfect regular season record on Friday evening at the Athletics and Recreation Centre by defeating the McMaster Marauders (3-2) 60-53.
 
Emily Hazlett (Fredericton, N.B) recorded a game-high 13 points, and Abby Dixon (North Vancouver, B.C.) added 12 for the Gaels, who used a potent fourth-quarter offensively to remain unbeaten atop the OUA East. Danielle Boiago also tallied 13 points in a losing cause for the Marauders, who drop to 2-2 on the year.
 
GAME FLOW
After the Marauders took an early lead midway through the opening quarter, the Gaels responded with two-straight three-pointers to push ahead of the visitors. After a three from Jenny Wright (Kingston, Ont.), Maddie Morris (Seeley's Bay, Ont.) came up with a big rejection on the defensive end of the floor. Queen's quickly moved the ball in transition, and Marianne Alarie (Sudbury, Ont.) found Dixon for another long-range jumper. The Gaels held a 14-9 lead after the first quarter.
 
The respective offences went quiet in the early minutes of the second. The Marauders hit just two jump shots, while the Gaels weren't able to extend their point total through the first five minutes. Siobhan Manning's lay-up pushed the visitors back in front, which prompted a timeout from Gaels coach Dave Wilson.
 
Wright finally broke the Gaels scoreless drought at the 3:41 mark of the quarter with her second three-point basket after Queen's went nearly 10 minutes without a point scored. The Marauders maintained their lead throughout the remaining minutes of the half, taking a 22-19 advantage after two quarters of play. Both squads worked at a 25% shooting efficiency in the first half.
 
Wright drained another three-point attempt to draw the Gaels even at the beginning of the third quarter. After the hometown native sunk two-of-three foul shots to give Queen's a slight lead, Hazlett scored a running lay-up off the glass as the shot clock was about to expire, helping extend the Gael advantage.
 
McMaster responded with a 7-0 run, topped from another three-pointer by Manning. Another quick offensive burst by the Gaels, however, gave the hosts a 36-33 lead at the end of the third quarter.
 
The Queen's offence proceeded to explode in the opening moments of the final period, as the women notched 11 points within the first three minutes of the fourth to take a commanding double-digit lead. With the momentum on the host's side, Hazlett picked up a steal and quickly found Dixon in transition, who drained an important three-pointer, extending the lead to 13.
 

??MUST SEE?? WBB- @e_hazlett with the steal @abbydixon7 shakes the defence & drains the three! 50-37 Gaels in Q4 pic.twitter.com/t276FBIU9W

— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) November 21, 2015

 
Marauders coach Anne Marie Thuss called a timeout in an effort to stem the tricolour tide. The Marauders responded by slicing into the Gaels advantage over the next few minutes of regulation, at one point coming within five points of Queen's. The hosts, however, weathered McMaster's final push, extending their win streak to four games in the process.
 
FINAL SAY
"What was really important about this game is that we brought in a defence this week that McMaster hasn't seen before," said Wilson. "Our goal was to take their best player out of the game, and I thought we did a very good job of that. We were able to get them out of their rhythm, which helped us be more successful defensively."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
4- The Gaels regular season winning streak. The women are currently undefeated in conference play.
4- Also the number of Queen's players who hit the double-digit scoring mark
8- The number of lead changes in Friday night's game.
 
UP NEXT
The Gaels return to the ARC on Saturday evening to host the No.6 Brock Badgers. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m.