BARRIE, Ont. - Hosting the Seneca Sting the Georgian Grizzlies men's and women's basketball teams put up a great effort but couldn't solve the visiting team on Friday night at the Georgian Athletic Centre.

After losing to the Sting by just two points in their last meeting in North York, the Grizzlies men's team looked for some payback at home.

Both teams have battled for the fourth seed in the OCAA's East Division standings all season and it showed again on the court.

In a game that featured 11 lead changes, both teams battled back and forth not giving an inch.  Trailing by just three points heading into the third quarter, the Grizzlies pushed hard but Seneca continued to have an answer to just stay ahead and hold onto a 75-67 victory.

Justin Mitchell (Newmarket) the Grizzlies leading scorer this season had a team-high 17 points while third year forward Ivan Ivic (Croatia) had a season-high 16 points and 13 rebounds in the loss.

With the win the Sting put themselves in a fourth place tie with the Grizzlies with matching 7-6 records.

In the women's matchup the Grizzlies got out to a great start jumping out to an early 14-point lead as part of an 18-4 run to start the opening quarter. The Sting started to crawl back in the second quarter but Georgian held a 33-26 at halftime.

The third quarter was the demise of the Grizzlies game. Georgian could not stop the turnovers as the Sting flipped the script on the Grizzlies going on a 14-4 run to open the half and reclaim the lead.

In the final frame the Sting pulled away leading to a 69-58 victory.

Summer Bly (Barrie) had her second straight double-double scoring 13 points while adding 14 rebounds. Georgian teammate Erial Barnard (Collingwood) had another strong game scoring 11 points for her sixth straight game with double digits in points.

The Grizzlies will continue their stretch of home games next weekend as Georgian hosts Algonquin on Saturday with the women's game at 1 p.m. and the men's at 3 p.m. The Grizzlies men's team will also host the La Cite Coyotes on Sunday, Jan. 26 at 1 p.m.

Source: Georgian College