Women’s Basketball Offense Struggles at Niagara

Welland, ON – The St. Clair College Women's Basketball team finished their regular season with a 7-9 record after losing 74-31 to Niagara College in Welland on Sunday afternoon.  The Saints hold the 6^th seed in the West Division and will travel to Loyalist College (Belleville) on Saturday in the crossover playoff game.  Loyalist is 8-6 and the East Division 3^rd place finisher.   The winner of the crossover matchup advances to the OCAA Championship tournament in a field of eight teams which is being hosted by Niagara March 3-5. 

The Saints fell behind 18-10 after the opening quarter and Niagara poured it on the second for a 42-17 halftime advantage.  St. Clair could only match their second quarter output in the third and were down 61-24 heading to the last frame.  Their offensive woes continued in the fourth as the Saints only scored seven more points before the final buzzer. 

St. Clair suffered through a miserable shooting game and converted 16.7% overall including only one make from the beyond the 3-point arc in 19 attempts.  Niagara shot nearly 44% from the field and made 8 trifectas while outscoring the Saints 25-4 off the bench and 36-12 in the paint.  St. Clair could not control the home team on the glass where they were outrebounded 45-30. 

Shae-lyn Murphy (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) was the only St. Clair player to reach double figures with 11 points. 

Niagara's Taryn Mitchell (Port Colborne, ON) made 5 triples and led her team with 23 points in the win.