SENECA 60, LOYALIST 54

ETOBICOKE, Ont. – On Day 2 of the belairdirect OCAA Women's Basketball Championship tournament, the first game of the day was a bronze medal quarter-final match-up with the Loyalist Lancers taking on the Seneca Sting.

This game would be decided in the final minutes with the Sting pulling out the 60-54 win, eliminating Loyalist from the tournament.

Player of the Game honours for Seneca went to Laura Eggelstone for a fantastic second half that sparked the Sting comeback. She finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.

Player of the Game honours for Loyalist went to Jenni Thompson, who scored 18 of her 24 points in the first half. She also finished with five rebounds and three assists.

With the win, Seneca will now play the loser of the Fanshawe-Humber game taking place tonight at 8 p.m.

Both teams started the game in an offensive rhythm but went cold midway through the first with the game tied 6-6. Loyalist took a 10-6 lead but Seneca scored two consecutive buckets to tie it back at 10 on of an Ashley Nurse jump shot and two free throws. Thompson then hit a short jumper in response with just under a minute left to make it 12-10, a lead Loyalist took into the second quarter.

Seneca made a run early in the second, outscoring the Lancers 9-5 in the first two minutes of the quarter. Two consecutive buckets by Seneca guard Saakan Prieto made it 21-17 for the Sting and force Loyalist to call a timeout. A Thompson corner three would bring the Lancers to within one, and a second three two minutes later put the Lancers back on top 23-21 with four minutes remaining in the half.

Thompson continued to wreak havoc beyond the arc, hitting another corner three to put Loyalist up 30-25 with 1:30 left in the half. Seneca did not go away though, with Sting guard Tina Kagi hitting a lay-up and getting the foul. She would miss the free throw and Thompson made a turnaround jumper at the other end of the court, making it 32-27 for the Lancers at halftime.

Thompson had a monster first half for Loyalist, leading all players with 18 points, as well as grabbing four rebounds and recording one assist.

Nurse also had a very good half for the Seneca, with a stat line of eight points, four rebounds and two assists.

Loyalist went on a 9-2 run to go ahead 39-29 with 5:30 to go in the third quarter.

The game seemed to be out of reach, but once again the Sting would show their resilience and come back to make it 41-38 by the end of the quarter thanks to a seven point and four rebound quarter performance from Eggelstone.

"We knew we were down. We had to talk more and rebound, we couldn't keep giving them third and fourth rebound chances, and when we started doing that on both sides of the court, we were able to convert on our own chances as well and eliminate the deficit," said Eggelstone regarding Seneca's comeback.

The Sting completed the comeback at the start of the fourth off of a Paige Smith three-pointer at the eight minute mark to make it 43-41. The last few minutes would be a hectic back and forth match until Seneca would go up for good with a corner three by Melissa Conroy to make it 53-48 with two minutes remaining.

Seneca head coach Craig Walker said "the game plan didn't change I just believe we did a much better job of following it in the second half and the results showed. Whether it was guarding Jenni or the other four girls on the court, our team really bought into the plan and it resulted in a great win for us."

As far as Eggelstone's performance in the third, Coach Walker believed "(as a senior) she decided to just lay it all on the floor for us. This will be her last time playing for us so I think she (and Nurse) just wanted to do whatever they could to get the win for the team."

Seneca's next game will be tomorrow at 11 a.m. for the right to go to the bronze medal game against either Fanshawe or Humber.

Source: Humber College