Box Score Guelph, ON - The final score did not reflect how close things were on Friday night between the Gryphons and the Voyageurs. But in the end, the Gryphons Women's Basketball team was able to pull away from Laurentian in a massive fourth quarter spearheaded by
Bridget Atkinson,
Dana Van Balkom and
Kate MacTavish as Guelph won 82-63 over
Laurentian at the W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre. Atkinson's 7 second half assists, Van Balkom's 27 points and MacTavish's 19 points helped the Gryphons improve to 4-1 on the season. With the loss, Laurentian falls to 1-4.
The Gryphons were forced to make due without their start point guard thanks to some foul trouble early on. Bridget Atkinson was whistled for a pair of fouls within the first four minutes of the game. With Atkinson on the bench, U of G needed someone else to step up. That someone was fifth year guard Dana Van Balkom. Van Balkom, who is 2nd in the OUA with 90 points scored this season, poured in 14 points in the opening half of an efficient 5-of-7 shooting from the floor, including 2-of-3 from beyond. Van Balkom was the lone bright spot in the first half for a Gryphon offence that otherwise struggled, as Guelph held a slim one-point lead heading into halftime.
The Gryphons slowly found their game in the third quarter as the return of Atkinson helped steady the ship as the hosts only committed four turnovers in the quarter. Atkinson's vision on the court and her passing helped calm the offence and it all came together in the fourth quarter as the fifth year duo of Van Balkom and MacTavish could not be stopped. The two veterans would each rack up 10 points in the final quarter, which included a 15-4 run in the early goings. The Gryphons would go on to pour in 29 points in the fourth, while also limiting Laurentian to just 14 en route to a 82-63 victory.
Van Balkom finished 10-18 from the floor including 4-8 from three for a season-high 27 points. Fifth year Waterloo native Kate MacTavish went 8-13 from the field as she finished with 19 points of her own and now sits just six points shy of 1,000 for her Gryphon career. She will more than likely reach that milestone on Saturday night as the Gryphons host the Nippising Lakers at the W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre at 6 p.m.
