Saints power past Cougars
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
GAME 1: SAULT COUGARS vs ST. CLAIR SAINTS
WINDSOR – The women's team had a similar challenge to the men's side as they went to Sarnia to face a nationally ranked St. Clair Saints team (13th) and had themselves a good first quarter to start. The Cougars would start off with some strong play and exchange three leads through the quarter but managed to stay out in front thanks to strong play from two of the Cougars post players Cassidy Sabourin and Emma Filion. Sabourin put up 7 points including a 3 pointer while Filion hauled down 4 rebounds to stifle the Saints attack. The 1st would end in a 15-12 lead for the Cougars.
The Saints would start the 2nd quarter with some shots going in and getting some stops at the other end to halt the Cougars offense. The Saints would take the lead in the second and retain it for the remainder of the quarter going into the half with a 38-20 lead. Sabourin (3 points, 3 rebounds) and Taylor Elliott (2 points, 4 rebounds) kept the Cougars afloat in an otherwise frustrating quarter for the team.
The Cougars provided another strong start to a quarter in the 3rd, erasing the 2nd from their memory and outscoring the Saints 17-9 to get themselves back in the game. Sabourin was all over the court again in the 3rd with 10 points doing everything to keep it close.
The 13th ranked Saints proved to be too much in the 4th quarter with Noor Bazzi of St. Clair hitting three 3's and 11 points in the quarter to put the game out of reach for the Cougars, ending with a score of 67-44 in favour of St. Clair.
Cougars Scoring: Cassidy Sabourin (20 points, 10 rebounds, 1 block), Emma Filion (6 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks) Taylor Elliott (4 points, 10 rebounds, 1 block).
GAME 2: SAULT COUGARS vs ST. CLAIR SAINTS
WINDSOR – The second game of the road trip for the women started off completely different from game one, with both teams getting off to slow starts with the first basket coming at 3 minutes in from the Cougars and only 6 total points between the two teams being scored half way into the quarter. St. Clair would send some starters to the bench and have 3 substitutions come in to account for all of their 16 points in the quarter and ended the frame having a 16-7 lead.
The 2nd quarter the Saints offence woke up thanks to strong play by their bench and for the second straight game Noor Bazzi of the Saints had a strong showing scoring 7 points in the quarter. Despite their offence gaining momentum Cassidy Sabourin was able to pull in 4 defensive rebounds and block 2 shots on the defensive end but wasn't enough to hold off the Saints offence and the Cougars would go into the second half down 35-17
The Saints never slowed down after that, as Jana Kucera lead the team in scoring the rest of the way finishing with 17 points in the half and 23 overall. The Cougars tried to narrow the gap in the 4th on the back of 7 points by Skylar Toms, but the 13th nationally ranked Saints kept the pressure on, and thanks to their strong bench play (scoring 58 of the Saints 69 points) they went on to win 69-42.
Cougars Scoring: Cassidy Sabourin (11 points, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks), Skylar Toms (11 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks), Emma Filion (11 points, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks).
Up Next: Cougars are at home for a two game set against the Fanshawe Falcons next weekend. Games are Saturday November 23rd @ 6:00pm and Sunday November 24th @ 1:00pm at the Sault College Health and Wellness Centre.