February 3, 2020, WELLAND – The Niagara College Knights continued their battle through the last half of their season in two tough match-ups against Humber (13-1) and Fanshawe (14-1).
Thursday night's road game to Humber saw the Knights go down 95-55 to the Hawks.
Niagara stuck close to Humber through the first quarter, only trailing by two to end the first 10 minutes down 23-21.
Humber's defence kept the Knights to just seven points through the second, while they soared to a 46-28 halftime score.
From there, the Hawks poured it on for the remainder of the game, eventually cruising to a 95-55 win over Niagara.
Having a personal best night for the Knights was rookie Terin Hultink. Hultink recorded a season high 18 points while pulling down 15 rebounds.
After Thursday night's lopsided lost to the OCAA West second place team, Saturday's tip-off against the nationally ranked Fanshawe Falcons (5th) and No. 1 West team was forecasted to be another tough one for the 1-12 Knights.
Niagara however, had other plans.
In perhaps what was their best game of the year, the Knights competed with the first place Falcons for the full 40 minutes.
The Knights ended the first quarter only down by five to Fanshawe's 15-10 lead and continued that momentum into the second to end the half down 32-25.
The Falcons managed to put some distance in their lead through the third to enter the final quarter ahead by 13 at 51-38.
In a final push through the fourth, the Knights outscored the Falcons 19-13 but time wasn't on their side as Fanshawe went on to record their fourteenth victory with a 64-57 win.
" We gave a great effort ahainst a very good team," said head coach Chris Rao. "Fanshawe is the number one team in the province and I don't think I couldn't have asked for a better effort from these girls. Leanne Dekorte was incredible on the outside for us and we did a good job defensivly for most of the game. We still need to take better care of the ball, but things continue to keep getting better and it's due to the hard work and commitment these girls have put in all year."
First- year Jessyka Maliksi recorded 16 points for the Knights, while Kaisen Mackinnon netted 11. Hultink and Elizabeth deBoer each contributed eight, while Leanne Dekorte dropped in nine.
The Knights will now look ahead to their home-and-home series with Sault College (0-14) on Saturday and Sunday. The Cougars have yet to record a win this season, leaving Niagara a chance to capitalize on two wins this weekend.
Tip-off is set for 6:00 P.M. Saturday night.
