For the first time in over three years, the Warriors hosted a school day game and women's basketball sent the over 1,300 screaming children home happy with a black and gold victory. The Warriors outscored the visiting Western Mustangs 23-10 in the third quarter and played sound defensive the rest of the way to secure a 64-58 win, their 15th of the season. The win keeps Waterloo atop the OUA west standings with a 15-4 record, two wins more than Guelph who sits in second.
"It was an awesome environment in our home gym today," said head coach Jess Roque. "It was awesome to experience a playoff like atmosphere while seeing our girls step up big when they needed to in order to get the win. A big thanks to all the schools and teachers who brought their students out today to make it a memorable game for our girls."
The Warriors went to work defensively in the third quarter with the full court press forcing Western to multiple turnovers. Overall Western turned the ball over 25 times compared to just 13 for the Warriors. Waterloo had 27 points off turnovers while Western had zero.Â
Waterloo was led by
Vanessa Hughes (Hamilton, ON/) who put up 18 points in her 35 minutes of action going 5-for-21 from the field with three 3-pointers and adding five of six from the charity stripe.
Kaitlyn Overeem (Brantford, ON/) knocked down 15 points while adding four assists and two steals while
Beth Howlett (Burlington, ON/) finished with 10 points including two massive 3's down the stretch to secure the victory.
Ghiselle Poblete (Brampton, ON/) was key on the defensive side forcing Western into three turnovers while
Maddy Adams (Drumbo, ON/) and
Jaime Newell (Brussels, ON/) were big on the glass with 12 and nine rebounds respectively.Â
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The Warriors will now hit the 401 for a road game in Toronto on Saturday night against the Varsity Blues. Tipoff is set for 6pm.Â
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