January 27, 2020 …WELLAND – The Niagara College Knights women's basketball team came up short in both home games this weekend to the visiting Lambton Lions (9-4) and St. Clair Saints (10-3)
Saturday's home game match-up against the Lions saw the Knights get off to a slow start in the first quarter, trailing Lambton 22-9 before coming back to have a big second quarter to pull within three of the Lions 30-27 lead heading into the second half.
Niagara stuck with the Lions, not letting them stray to far on the scoreboard through the third and fourth quarter. Lambton was held to just seven points in the fourth, but would go on to win 50-44.
The Knights have had a strong second half to their season despite not getting on the winning side of games. Last time the Knights and Lions clashed back on October 18th, the Lions took a lopsided 89-43 win. To say vast improvements have been made would be an understatement, in a notoriously competitive OCAA west division.
"The efforts we are putting forward since the start of the second half of the season have been good enough to compete with anyone we've come across," said head coach Chris Rao.
"Defensively we were tremendous only giving up 29 points over the last three quarters but the game comes down to turnovers and we just had way too many to finish the game the way we needed to to win.
Stepping up for the Knights were first year players Terin Hultink, who earned 13 points and 16 rebounds, and Leanne Dekorte who was also big on the boards with 16.
The St. Clair Saints rolled into the town Sunday afternoon fresh off a win against Mohawk the previous night. The Saints, this year's host of the 2020 OCAA women's basketball championship, currently sit in third place with a 10-3 record.
The Saints controlled the majority of the first half, holding Niagara to just one basket in the second quarter to lead 41-14 heading into the halftime break.
The Knights came to life a little bit in the third and outscored the Saints in the fourth, but the damage from the first half was too much to regain as St. Clair went on to the 73-41 win.
"St Clair showed us today why they only have three losses this season," said Rao.
"That being said, we didn't quit either when we easily could have. Our girls have shown that they will continue to play hard and finish, and at the end of the day, I can't ask for more than that."
Niagara will put that attitude to the test again this week when they tip-off against the top two teams in the West. The Knights will travel to Humber College (12-1) Thursday, before returning home to face Fanshawe College (12-1) Saturday afternoon at home.
