HAMILTON (December 1, 2018) - The Queen's Gaels (7-3) dropped an 86-66 decision to the the No.5 McMaster Marauders (9-2) to close out the first term in OUA women's basketball action Saturday in Hamilton.

GAME FLOW
After a slow start out of the gate in the opening quarter that saw the Marauders take an 18-11 lead, the Gaels found their rhythm late in the second frame to get to within three heading into halftime.

Trailing by 10 late in the second, Queen's stormed back thanks to five points from Emma Ritcey and another four from Veronika Lavergne. The Gaels tied the game at 37-36 but Hilary Hanaka closed out the frame with a three-pointer to put the home side up 40-37 at the halftime break.

The second half saw McMaster continue to put up points on the Gaels while limiting their chances with strong defensive play.

Sarah Gates had 12 of 27 for McMaster in the third quarter and put the Marauders up 76-55 after three frames.

Megan Saftich and Emma Weltz each posted six point fourth quarters but it wasn't enough as the Marauders held on for an 86-66 win. The McMaster trio of Hilary Hanaka, Sarah Gates and Linnaea Harper combined for 56 points to lead the charge for the home team.

FIRST SEMESTER FLASHBACK
Despite dealing with the early season injury bug the Gaels sport a 7-3 record through their first 10 games of 2018-19 season. A few bright spots include having won five of their last seven which included a four game win streak and seeing veteran guard Marianne Alarie sport an OUA second best 20.8 points per game so far this season.

ALARIE CHASING DOWN 1,000
Alaire posted another six points this evening and now sits just 67 away from the 1,000 mark in her career.

BY THE NUMBERS
56 - Points for McMaster trio of Hanaka, Gates and Harper
10 - Points for Laura Donovan, her second time reaching double-digits in her rookie season
4 - Assists for Natalie Froese, a new career best

UP NEXT
The Gaels will return to action in 2019 when they travel to Sudbury on January 4 of 2019 to take on the Laurentian Voyageurs at 6 pm. Catch the action live on OUA.tv.