By: Jarrett Matthews
Reporter

Mountaineers women's basketball bounced back with a 63-57 win over the Sheridan Bruins after losing their season opener.

Rachel Guanzon (Guelph, ON) led Mohawk to victory with her first career double-double, scoring 13 points and adding 12 rebounds. The second-year guard also provided four assists and five steals.

Despite a fourth quarter push by the Bruins, the Mountaineers drained some crucial baskets on second chance opportunities in the final minute of the game to seal the deal and get their first win.

Mountaineers assistant coach, Evan St. Hilaire, said the team benefitted from facing some challenges in the first half when they weren't getting the calls.

"It showed us that we had to go through adversity," St. Halaire said. "It's a bad thing that calls didn't go our way, but it was a good thing that we learned from it."

The Bruins attempted 44 shots from the charity stripe, but only converted 25. The Mountaineers converted eight of 15 free throws for the game.

Mohawk outscored Sheridan in the paint 30-16 and the Mountaineers bench provided 20 points.

The Mountaineers defensively held the Bruins to 23.2 per cent shooting and 0-for-11 from three.

"We worked on defence all week after our first game," St. Hilaire said. "That was a huge emphasis. Just team defence versus individual defence."

St. Hilaire praised the play of Guanzon and Lauren Snider (Brantford, ON).

"We made it an emphasis that we need to care about the season and care about our games, and those two really took that to heart."

Forward Tianna Stys (St. Catharines, ON) pitched in with 11 points and eight rebounds.

Mohawk (1-1) will next host the Niagara Knights on Feb. 20 at 1 p.m. in the David Braley Athletic and Recreation Centre.

At this time, no spectators will be allowed for all Mountaineer home games. Every game will be streamed on OCAA Live.