OSHAWA, Ont. - The St. Clair College women's basketball team came from behind Saturday night in Oshawa, Ont., to defeat Durham College 73-58 and punched their ticket for the OCAA championship tournament hosted by Niagara College (Welland, Ont.) March 3-5. The Saints now face Humber College (Etobicoke, Ont.) who is the second ranked team in the country with an unblemished 18-0 record this season.
St. Clair had a slow start in the game as the home team took an early 11-4 lead and Durham closed the first quarter up 18-8. The Saints responded in the second quarter to take a brief 25-24 lead but Durham answered right back and held a 10-point lead with under 20 seconds to go in the half. However, St. Clair forced three turnovers in those final first half seconds and entered the break down just 35-29.
The Saints carried the momentum into the second half and outscored Durham 23-16 in the third quarter. St. Clair then sealed the game in the final quarter by holding the Lords to just seven points while scoring 21 of their own. St. Clair had a decided advantage on the glass out-rebounding Durham 56-37 and scored 26 second-chance points in the game. The Saints were near perfect at the free throw line shooting 17-of-18 in the contest.
St. Clair second-year forward Torrie Handsor (Wallaceburg, Ont.) had a team-high 17 points completing a double-double with 11 rebounds and added a pair of blocked shots for good measure. Fifth-year Saints guard Jaide Lyons (Windsor, Ont./FJ Brennan) scored 15 points to go with four rebounds and four steals.
Shannon Kennedy (Windsor, Ont./St. Joseph's) returned from injury to score 12 points while pulling down eight rebounds with three assists and three steals. Second-year forward Nicole Tamm (Windsor, Ont./Holy Names) chipped in with 10 points and narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds.
St. Clair held OCAA leading scorer Lindsay Panchan (Ajax, Ont.) to 17 points on 5-of-17 shooting but she was a force in the game pulling down 12 rebounds while going 7-of-7 from the free throw line for Durham. The Saints are now 9-0 against Durham in this crossover playoff game.
Source: St. Clair College