It was a heart breaking weekend for the women's basketball team as they opened up 2019 against Algoma in Sault Ste. Marie with a pair of close losses. The games came down to the wire and unfortunately the black and gold came out on the losing end on both occassions.

On Friday, Algoma picked up a 62-60 win despite the Warriors outscoring the T-Birds by 11 in the final quarter. Kaitlyn Overeem (Brantford/) had a great look in the dying seconds but the ball just did not drop for the upstart rookie.

Overeem finished with a game high 17 points and also chipped in with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. Vanessa Hughes (Hamilton/), Beth Howlett (Burlington) and Meghan Sharp (Kitchener/) all finished with eight points in the first of two against Algoma.

On Saturday, Algoma and Waterloo were evenly matched from start to end with the biggest lead at 8 points for the home side late in the third quarter. Waterloo pulled to within three late in the fourth but could not find any baskets in the final two minutes in a 53-50 loss.

Overeem led her squad again with 14 more points giving her 31 in the northern road trip. She also had 12 more boards in strong losing effort. Aphia Ward (Beaumont/) had a solid game with 10 points while Howlett put up eight more.

Waterloo will now return home for a midweek battle with Guelph on Wednesday at the PAC. Tip-off is set for 7pm.