January 30, 2010; the last time women's basketball had beaten the McMaster Marauders. Fast forward 12 years, the Warriors have done it three times in a the span of five months including back-to-back regular season wins over the Marauders to improve their record to 7-5.
In what was a chaotic final 30 seconds in Hamilton last night, the Warriors put together an incredible defensive stand with the score locked at 69-69 before turning it into a fast break as
Kaitlyn Overeem (Brantford, ON/) saw
Vanessa Hughes (Hamilton, ON/) dashing down the court. Hughes took the pass and laid it plus the foul with one second remaining on the clock to give her Warriors a thrilling 72-69 victory. The winning bucket was the first lead Waterloo had since 1:49 into the game where the Warriors led 5-4.
With the victory, the Warriors have clinched their first OUA playoff berth since 2008 when they defeated Brock 45-41 in the opening round and loss to the aforementioned Marauders, 71-40 in the OUA west semi's. If Waterloo can win their final two regular season games over Lakehead, the Warriors not only will make the playoffs, they will host the game, the first time that has happened since 2002.
"I am so incredibly happy for our team. Our athletes have worked hard for this but we're not done yet," said head coach
Jessica Roque. "We still have lots of work to take care of with two more regular season games against a hard working Lakehead team."
Hughes finished the game with 14 points while
Maddy Adams (Drumbo, ON/) led the Warriors for a second straight posting a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Summer Pahl (Kitchener, ON/) had a strong game at both sides of the court, finishing with 12 points, three rebounds and two steals. Kailtyn Overeem rounded out Waterloo's attack with 11 points, four rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
For McMaster it was Amy Stinson leading the way with 15 points while Jenna Button had 12.
Waterloo will close out their regular season next weekend with a pair of home games against Lakehead on Friday at 6pm and Saturday at 8pm.
