Brock women advance to USPORTS semifinals
For the second straight time, the Brock Badgers women’s basketball team will be playing for a medal at the USPORTS national championships.
The Badgers defeated the Acadia Axewomen 85-74 Friday to advance to the semifinals Saturday at 3 p.m. against the top-seeded Ryerson Rams. The result of that game will determine which colour of medal Brock is fighting for.
“It is good but we are just looking towards the next game,” Brock head coach Mike Rao said. “But I don’t look at all that stuff. It is just another game for us and we are looking to do the best we can.”
The Badgers win sets up a rematch of the Ontario University Athletics championship game against the top-seeded Ryerson Rams.
“I’m super excited because it will be a rematch against the Rams,” Madalyn Weinert told the USPORTS website. “That was a good win for us to come back and (Acadia) was a great team, really tough, so it was a good matchup for us to prepare us for Saturday.”
When the two teams last met, Ryerson used its press to befuddle the Badgers and rally from a 22-point deficit in the final seven minutes of the game to record a 72-70 overtime victory.
Rao didn’t want to comment on how much work has been done on breaking the press since that game.
“Do I have to tell you?” he said, with a laugh. “We were trying to plug a hole and it worked well.”
It was no shock what the Axewoman were looking to do against the Badgers.
“Acadia picked us up from the beginning of the game and I would have too,” Rao said. “But we didn’t give the ball up and it was good for us because Ryerson is going to come back with it. We’re not perfect but we are much better than we were.”
Against fifth-seeded Acadia, the Badgers led by as many as 20 in the second half and were able to hold off a late rally.
“They are a really good team and it was an up and down game. We weren’t behind at any point and the game fell our way a lot of the time. Overall I was happy with our effort,” Rao said.
Brock gave up a season-high 74 points in the win.
“They are a very good team. They have two really good players and a couple of good shooters. (Jayda) Veinot scored 23 on us but I thought we did a good job on her. She is the USPORTS Player of the Year.”
Brock received 20 points from Ivana Twumasi and super rookie Weinert was up to her usual tricks with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Madison MacInnis played a season-high 31 minutes for Brock.
“She was up to the task and we need her for those 31 minutes,” Rao said.
STATS PACK
Badgers 85 Axewoman 74
BPSN Player of the Game: Brock’s Madalyn Weinert with 18 points and 15 rebounds.
For the Brock Badgers: Ivana Twumasi 20; Weinert 18; Mackenzie Robinson 16; Victoria Lawrence 15; Allison Addy 7.
For the Acadia Axewoman: Jayda Veinot 23; Olivia Moller 14; Sandy Saunders 12; Elizabeth Beals-Isey 11.
Game stats: Shooting percentage: Brock 42.1, Acadia 40. Free throws: Brock 12-18, Acadia 10-18. Rebounds: Brock 37, Acadia 39. Turnovers: Brock 14, Acadia 22.
Up next: Brock plays Ryerson Saturday at 3 p.m. in the semifinals.
