OTTAWA (January 19, 2019) – The Queen's Women's Basketball Team (9-7) fell to the Ottawa Gee-Gees (14-2) 72-65 on Saturday Night at Montpetit Hall.
GAME FLOW
In a fast paced start, the Gaels found their zone defence exposed and quickly fell behind to the OUA East leading Gee-Gees 14-3. While the Gaels had slightly more success scoring the ball in the final four minutes of the quarter, they would still find themselves trailing 20-8 at the end of the first quarter, shooting only 17% from the field.
While the Gaels did a better job in the second quarter trading baskets back and forth with the Gee-Gees, the visiting side found themselves facing a large halftime deficit for the second night in a row, as they trailed Ottawa 39-23 at the half. One bright spot for the Gaels in the first half was the post play of
Veronika Lavergne, who registered 10 points on 4-6 shooting, while also collecting five rebounds.
The Gaels impressed in the third quarter, putting up 15 points and holding the second-best offence in the OUA to only 10 points, narrowing the Gee-Gees' advantage to eleven points at 49-38 headed to the final
quarter.
With 6:54 remaining in the fourth, the Gaels had reduced the Gee-Gees' lead to nine points at 54-45, marking the first time the deficit had been in single digits since the opening quarter. Over the next five minutes, the Gaels continued to slowly chip away at the Gee-Gees' lead, and with 1:01 left to play, Queen's had cut the deficit to just two baskets. Unfortunately for the Gaels they would get no closer, as Ottawa was composed down the stretch and held on for a 72-65 victory (their 14
thof the season).
Leading the way for the Gaels statistically was Lavergne with an impressive 27 points, two shy of her career high, on 13-17 shooting while
Sophie de Goede led the Gaels with 12 rebounds. The Gaels also had a sizeable rebound advantage in the game, with 56 in comparison to Ottawa's 37, but turned the ball over nine more times than the home Gee-Gees.
MUST SEE MOMENTS
BY THE NUMBERS
5 – Ottawa's Sarah Beeselink went five for nine from behind the arc and scored 17 points.
17 – Veronika Lavergne took 17 free throws.
UP NEXT
Next weekend the Gaels return to home court, taking on the Nipissing Lakers on Friday (Jan 25
th) followed by the Laurentian Voyageurs on Saturday (Jan 26
th). Both games are set 6 pm. Tickets are available at
gogaelsgo.com/tickets or catch the action live on OUA.tv.