SENECA 52, DURHAM 37

After putting some space between themselves and the fifth place team in the OCAA East Division, the Seneca Sting have their sights set on a top two finish and first round bye into the OCAA championship.

Seneca jumped out to an early four point lead and led wire-to-wire to improve to 9-5 on the season with a 52-37 victory over the visiting Durham Lords.

In a tight game for the first 30 minutes, Seneca led early thanks to some hot shooting from beyond the arc by Paige Smith. Smith made three 3-pointers in the quarter, outscoring the Lords on her own. Sharika Smith added a pair of field goals as the Sting took a 14-8 lead into the second quarter. Kelsey Hare led the Lords with eight points.

In an offence-filled quarter, Durham looked to close the gap after Seneca took an eight-point lead. Stephanie Legebokoff did her best to tie the game up, but each time, Seneca responded at the other end of the floor. Durham outscored Seneca 18-17 in the quarter, but still trailed 31-26 at the half. Legebokoff had eight points in the quarter for the Lords while Melissa Conroy had six for Seneca.

Durham continued to chip away at the Sting lead in a low-scoring third quarter. There were just six total field goals made in the quarter as Seneca led 37-35. Sharika Smith was perfect from the free throw line in the quarter for Seneca while Hare led the Lords in scoring.

Seneca's defence came to play in the final quarter, holding the Lords scoreless for the first eight and a half minutes. A three-pointer by Paige Smith with 4:29 to play gave Seneca some breathing room as they took a 44-36 lead. A pair of baskets by Lauren Egglestone gave Seneca their largest lead of the game to that point at 48-36. Durham made a pair of free throws for their only points of the quarter as Seneca outscored the Lords 15-2 in the fourth.

Paige Smith (16), Egglestone (14) and Sharika Smith (10) paced the Sting, who have now won three straight. Ashley Nurse had a game-high 11 rebounds while Egglestone narrowly missed out on a double-double with nine rebounds. Paige Smith had six assists to lead the Sting.

Hare was the top scorer for Durham with 13 points on 6-of-20 shooting. Hare also led the Lords with eight rebounds while Kayla Marshall pulled down six rebounds. Marshall and Kaela Stinchcombe-Brown each had three steals. Hare played an amazing 36:43 out of the 40 minutes.

The Seneca Sting (9-5) will travel to play George Brown (6-6) on Wednesday, February 6 at 6 p.m. while the Durham Lords (3-11) will back in action on Tuesday, February 5 as they travel to play Loyalist (8-4) at 6 p.m.

Source: Seneca College