ST. LAWRENCE (K) 48, ALGOMA 44

ETOBICOKE, Ont. – The Algoma Thunderbirds took on the St. Lawrence Vikings with a berth in the OCAA women's basketball bronze medal game later today on the line.

Despite a third quarter comeback from Algoma, it would be the Vikings that would come out on top with the 48-44 win.

Player of the Game honours for Algoma went to Anna Stilin who finished with nine points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Player of the Game honours for St. Lawrence went to Haley Gourdier who finished with six points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Algoma began the game with a hot start, taking a 7-2 lead at the 6:05 mark. The Vikings would begin to collect themselves offensively though and take a 13-12 lead going into the second.

The second quarter would remain pretty even until Gourdier recordec a steal and assist to Lacey Knox for a lay-up. Gourdier then hit a three of her own tacked on by another five points from Knox that would put the Vikings up 27-20 going into the half.

St. Lawrence's Jessica Cetoute led all players with 10 points, five rebounds and two steals at the half.

Meagan Delfre led the Thunderbirds with five points, six rebounds and one blocked shot at the half.

The Vikings would return the favour given to them at the beginning of the game, going on a 10-2 run of their own to start the third quarter to make it 37-22.

But as Algoma has shown all tournament, they would not go away. The Thunderbirds had a 13-2 run to close out the quarter, capped by a Delfre three at the top of the key to only trail 39-35 going into the fourth.

Stilin hit another three for Algoma in the opening seconds of the quarter to make it 39-38 Vikings. Laura Cooper completed the comeback about a minute later with a mid-range jumper to make it 40-39, as Algoma led for the first time since early in the second quarter.

St. Lawrence would regain the lead at 45-44 with a Cetoute lay-up at the 3:45 mark. Costly turnovers for the Thunderbirds would prove to be the deciding factor, with Cetoute grabbing a crucial steal with 20 seconds left in the game. She hit 1-of-2 free throws to ice it for the Vikings.

"It was very important for us to lock them down defensively and not panic in the last three minutes, I think those were the two big factors that allowed us to come away with the win this morning," said Gourdier.

St. Lawrence will now move on to the bronze medal game later today at 4 p.m. and will face the winner of the Humber-Seneca bronze semi-final.

Source: Humber College